The Satyajit Ray Foundation is delighted to announce Katell Quillévéré debut feature 'Love Like Poison', premiered in the UK at the Times BFI London Film Festival, as the winner of the 15th Annual Satyajit Ray Award.
LOVE LIKE POISON - A bittersweet French gem from Director Katell Quillévéré
Anna, a young teenager, comes home from her Catholic boarding school for
the holidays and discovers her father has left. Her mother is
devastated and confined in the company of the local priest, who is also a
childhood friend. Anna clings to her beloved grandfather. She also
grows close to Pierre, a free-spirited teenager who cares little about
God. Anna is preparing for her confirmation, but her budding desire for
Pierre shakes her faith. She longs to give herself over, body and soul
but doesn't know if it is to God, or something else...?
France 2010 | Colour | 92 mins | Cert 15 | Drama
Cast: Clara Augarde, Lio, Michel Galabru
2009 SAMUEL MAOZ FOR 'LEBANON'
The Satyajit Ray Foundation is delighted to announce Samuel Maoz's striking debut feature 'Lebanon', premiered in the UK at the Times BFI London Film Festival, as the winner of the 14th Annual Satyajit Ray Award.
Special Award Screening Tuesday 27th April, BFI Southbank 6.20pm
Renowned British producer Jeremy Thomas to present Samuel Maoz with the 14th Annual Satyajit Ray Award. Q&A to follow the screening.
The film is based on Maoz's experience as a young soldier during the first Lebanon war, shot inside the confines of a
tank. (Israel-Germany 2009)
A directorial debut from one of Italy's most celebrated screenwriters,
Gianni di Gregorio (co-writer of Gomorrah).
Special screening 26th May 6.30pm NFT1
Q&A with director Gianni di Gregorio. Philip French to present the award.
Clyde Jeavons, Head of Satyajit Ray Foundation Jury
It was unanimously agreed the 13th Annual Satyajit Ray Award, 2008, goes to Gianni di Gregorio for his film 'MID-AUGUST LUNCH' (Pranzo di Ferragosto) Italy 2008, premiered in the UK at the Times BFI London Film Festival.
A charming, convincing, compassionate and life-affirming first feature directed with humour and an assured light touch by Gomorrah script-writer Gianni di Gregorio. "A small gem of a film from Italy which fulfills all the Satyajit Ray Foundation's Award criteria"
The jury gave honourable mentions to: 'SHIFTY' (director Eran Creevy, UK 2008) and 'RAMCHAND PAKISTANI' (director Mehreen Jabbar, Pakistan/USA 2008).
MID-AUGUST LUNCH (ITALY 2008)
2007 - Cristian Nemescu for California Dreamin' (Endless)
Clyde Jeavons, Head of the Satyajit Ray Jury
"We gave this film the Award as a contemporary epic, East European satire on International relations, made with great skill and promise by the late, young Romanian director, Cristian Nemescu".
Hard to believe this is a first feature: the ambition is huge, the degree to which it is fulfilled almost as great. But California Dreamin' will be Christian Nemescu's only feature as he and his editor were killed in a car crash while still working on the film hence the 'Endless' (which should really be 'Unfinished'). In 1999 a secret NATO train fulfilled with US Marines is halted by a bolshy local station master-cum-black marketeer. What follows is a rambunctious Balkan farce which shades inexorably into tragedy as the soldiers and the townspeople try to fraternise. A happy outcome was never possible and, as the town implodes, the Americans move blithely on to Kosovo, unaware of the violence they have unleashed.
Winner of the Un Certain Regard Award as Cannes this year, California Dreamin' is an epic satire, with both modern-day Romania and US foreign policy firmly in its sights. Nick Roddick
Director: Christian Nemescu - Scr Cristian Nemescu, Tudor Voican
2006 - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck for The Lives Of Others
"An ambitious, confident, intelligent and extremely
well-acted, début feature which deals honestly and openly with a painful
period in recent German history. We also give a very honourable mention to an Italian
film by Kim Rossi Stuart,
ALONG THE RIDGE (Anche libero va bene), which would have been a worthy
winner had we not chosen THE LIVES OF OTHERS." said Jury President
Clyde Jeavons.
Lord Attenborough presented the award to Florian Henckel von Donnersmark at a special award screening at the BFI Southbank.
"The Jury acknowledges the high standard of many
of the first features in this year's Festival, and particularly admired
Bouli Lanners' Ultranova, Lee Yoon-Ki's This Charming Girl,
and Maria Procházková's Shark in the Head. We are unanimous, however,
in giving the 10th annual award to the Irish film, Pavee Lackeen,
Perry Ogden's skilfully dramatised and deeply committed portrayal of the
traveller community in Dublin and its struggle with bureaucracy, poverty
and prejudice." said Jury President Clyde Jeavons.
Ken Loach presented the award to Perry Ogden at a special award screening at the BFI Southbank.
The Woodsman,directed and written by Nicole Kassell, has won the
9th Satyajit Ray Foundation Award for a first feature film pemiered in
the UK at the London Film Festival. "We were unanimous," said
Clyde Jeavons, who chaired the Foundation's prize jury. "It was an
extremely well-crafted film debut by Nicole Kassell, which treats the
controversial theme of paedophilia with great insight and sensitivity,
thanks not least to Kevin Bacon's fine performance in the leading role."
Nicole Kassell was unable to attend the Film
Festival as she is nearly nine months' pregnant. However, the Ray Foundation
is hopeful that she may attend the official Award ceremony and screening
of the film early next year.
The world of nine-year-old Hodder Jacobsen is a strange
place to live. His mother dead he lives alone with his uninterested,
night-shift working father. It's a solitary, routine world featuring
a daily trip to the bakers for a rum whirl, random and seemingly impertinent
questioning of his teacher Miss Asta K and a perplexingly optimistic
approach to difficult circumstances. As the established class scapegoat,
he finds that relationships with his peers don't come easily but his
life develops a sense of purpose when a fairy appears to him and tells
him that he has been chosen to save the world. Hodder soon discovers
that life as the chosen one isn't nearly as rewarding as he had first
thought but he sets about organising an expedition to the African
island of Guambilua where his world trip is to begin. Frederik Christian
Johansen as Hodder perfectly captures the silent strength but inner
despair of the boy who finds reality and fantasy blurring around him
in this amusing and offbeat story. Genz deals bravely with the themes
of childhood loneliness and loss while also making something uplifting
and wonderful that shouldn't be pigeon-holed for younger audiences
only.
Justin Johnson - Notes from London
Festival Progamme
This first feature by Yamina Bachir-Chouikh is
a courageous, violent, provocative and disturbing film about the sickening
social and political situation in Algeria during the worst years of
terrorism. Rachida (a striking performance from Bahia Rachedi)
is a 20 year old teacher in a popular region of Algiers. One morning
on her way to work she is surrounded by a group of terrorists who
try and force her to take a bomb into the school - she refuses, she
is shot and left for dead. Though she recovers, she flees the city
to live with her mother ( Rachida Messaouden) herself in self imposed
exile since her divorce. Presenting a time in Algeria's history when
both fundamentalist and government militias perpetuated crimes against
the most vulnerable in the community, and the public felt impotent
against the force, this is not easy viewing. Yet the portrayal of
courageous women fighting its gratuitous, unjustified self-destructive
violence, gives some room for hope
One of this year's most auspicious feature debuts, In the Bedroom is
a considered, slowly unfolding examination of a decent American family,
and the solid New England community in which they have lived all their
lives. The Fowlers are respectable and well liked - he is doctor, she
tutors the local school choir, they have a son who they evidently love,
who is preparing to leave home for college. Specifically, the film explores
with great candour the impact of a swift and sudden tragedy on this
upper middle class marriage, and the undercurrents of anger, blame and
frustration which are propelled to the surface. Then, from these private,
personal interactions at the heart of the family, In the Bedroom moves
outward to reveal a complex and entirely credible picture of wider social
dynamics and divisions. The film never strikes a false note, and the
restraint and control which is evident in both direction and in a clutch
of superb performances simply serves to make the emotional impact of
the film all the more intense. Even by their own usually excellent standards,
Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek give remarkable, beautifully precise
performances (and were rewarded accordingly when the film aired at Sundance),
with Marisa Tomei and Nick Stahl arguably no less impressive. In short,
unmissable. This film is nominated for The Sutherland Trophy.
Sandra Hebron - Notes from London
Festival Progamme
Jean-Pierre Sinapi's brittle, funky comedy is
without a doubt the most no-nonsense, bracingly bolshy film about disability
yet made. It's set in a home for the disabled, where 50-year-old former
activist René is the despair of his new young carer Julie. Enraged by
life in a wheelchair, René demands the chance to make love again, and
Julie finds herself exploring the hard shoulder of the Route Nationale
7 to recruit a likely prostitute. René's exploits soon transform the
whole community, including a wheelchair-racing Clash fan and a young
gay Muslim with a Johnny Halliday fixation who is attempting an uneasy
conversion to Catholicism. Sinapi's film is shot digitally, which at
once gives it a crisply no-nonsense docudrama feel. But the mobility
of the new camcorder technology also becomes a metaphor for the hard-won
mobility of its characters - a militant gesture for a militant film
which has more than a touch of Mike Leigh humour about it. Sinapi's
film knocks down more than one preconception - not just about disability,
but about sexuality, religion and politics too. The crisp sparring between
Nadia Kaci and Olivier Gourmet (known for his roles in the Dardenne
brothers' Rosetta and The Promise) is just part of the pleasure of this
vibrant, provocative piece.
Jonathan Romney - Notes from London
Festival Progamme
"An ambitious, confident, intelligent and extremely
well-acted, début feature which deals honestly and openly with a painful
period in recent German history. We also give a very honourable mention to an Italian
film by Kim Rossi Stuart,
ALONG THE RIDGE (Anche libero va bene), which would have been a worthy
winner had we not chosen THE LIVES OF OTHERS." said Jury President
Clyde Jeavons.
"The Jury acknowledges the high standard of many
of the first features in this year's Festival, and particularly admired
Bouli Lanners' Ultranova, Lee Yoon-Ki's This Charming Girl,
and Maria Procházková's Shark in the Head. We are unanimous, however,
in giving the 10th annual award to the Irish film, Pavee Lackeen,
Perry Ogden's skilfully dramatised and deeply committed portrayal of the
traveller community in Dublin and its struggle with bureaucracy, poverty
and prejudice." said Jury President Clyde Jeavons.
The Woodsman,
directed and written by Nicole Kassell, has won the
9th Satyajit Ray Foundation Award for a first feature film pemiered in
the UK at the London Film Festival. "We were unanimous," said
Clyde Jeavons, who chaired the Foundation's prize jury. "It was an
extremely well-crafted film debut by Nicole Kassell, which treats the
controversial theme of paedophilia with great insight and sensitivity,
thanks not least to Kevin Bacon's fine performance in the leading role."
The world of nine-year-old Hodder Jacobsen is a strange
place to live. His mother dead he lives alone with his uninterested,
night-shift working father. It's a solitary, routine world featuring
a daily trip to the bakers for a rum whirl, random and seemingly impertinent
questioning of his teacher Miss Asta K and a perplexingly optimistic
approach to difficult circumstances. As the established class scapegoat,
he finds that relationships with his peers don't come easily but his
life develops a sense of purpose when a fairy appears to him and tells
him that he has been chosen to save the world. Hodder soon discovers
that life as the chosen one isn't nearly as rewarding as he had first
thought but he sets about organising an expedition to the African
island of Guambilua where his world trip is to begin. Frederik Christian
Johansen as Hodder perfectly captures the silent strength but inner
despair of the boy who finds reality and fantasy blurring around him
in this amusing and offbeat story. Genz deals bravely with the themes
of childhood loneliness and loss while also making something uplifting
and wonderful that shouldn't be pigeon-holed for younger audiences
only.
This first feature by Yamina Bachir-Chouikh is
a courageous, violent, provocative and disturbing film about the sickening
social and political situation in Algeria during the worst years of
terrorism. Rachida (a striking performance from Bahia Rachedi)
is a 20 year old teacher in a popular region of Algiers. One morning
on her way to work she is surrounded by a group of terrorists who
try and force her to take a bomb into the school - she refuses, she
is shot and left for dead. Though she recovers, she flees the city
to live with her mother ( Rachida Messaouden) herself in self imposed
exile since her divorce. Presenting a time in Algeria's history when
both fundamentalist and government militias perpetuated crimes against
the most vulnerable in the community, and the public felt impotent
against the force, this is not easy viewing. Yet the portrayal of
courageous women fighting its gratuitous, unjustified self-destructive
violence, gives some room for hope
One of this year's most auspicious feature debuts, In the Bedroom is
a considered, slowly unfolding examination of a decent American family,
and the solid New England community in which they have lived all their
lives. The Fowlers are respectable and well liked - he is doctor, she
tutors the local school choir, they have a son who they evidently love,
who is preparing to leave home for college. Specifically, the film explores
with great candour the impact of a swift and sudden tragedy on this
upper middle class marriage, and the undercurrents of anger, blame and
frustration which are propelled to the surface. Then, from these private,
personal interactions at the heart of the family, In the Bedroom moves
outward to reveal a complex and entirely credible picture of wider social
dynamics and divisions. The film never strikes a false note, and the
restraint and control which is evident in both direction and in a clutch
of superb performances simply serves to make the emotional impact of
the film all the more intense. Even by their own usually excellent standards,
Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek give remarkable, beautifully precise
performances (and were rewarded accordingly when the film aired at Sundance),
with Marisa Tomei and Nick Stahl arguably no less impressive. In short,
unmissable. This film is nominated for The Sutherland Trophy.
Jean-Pierre Sinapi's brittle, funky comedy is
without a doubt the most no-nonsense, bracingly bolshy film about disability
yet made. It's set in a home for the disabled, where 50-year-old former
activist René is the despair of his new young carer Julie. Enraged by
life in a wheelchair, René demands the chance to make love again, and
Julie finds herself exploring the hard shoulder of the Route Nationale
7 to recruit a likely prostitute. René's exploits soon transform the
whole community, including a wheelchair-racing Clash fan and a young
gay Muslim with a Johnny Halliday fixation who is attempting an uneasy
conversion to Catholicism. Sinapi's film is shot digitally, which at
once gives it a crisply no-nonsense docudrama feel. But the mobility
of the new camcorder technology also becomes a metaphor for the hard-won
mobility of its characters - a militant gesture for a militant film
which has more than a touch of Mike Leigh humour about it. Sinapi's
film knocks down more than one preconception - not just about disability,
but about sexuality, religion and politics too. The crisp sparring between
Nadia Kaci and Olivier Gourmet (known for his roles in the Dardenne
brothers' Rosetta and The Promise) is just part of the pleasure of this
vibrant, provocative piece.
