Saturday, January 31, 2009

38th Rotterdam International Film Festival Award Winners


The 2009 Tiger Awards were announced at the award ceremony that was last night and here are some of the winners.

VPRO Tiger Awards

Aram Bash Va Ta Haft Beshmar (Be Calm and Count to Seven), Ramtin Lavafipour, Iran, 2008
“For us, this film did what all films strive to do: it represented and dramatized a way of life in terms that were at once specific and universal, not to mention unfailingly vivid.”

Ddongpari (Breathless), Yang Ik-June, South Korea, 2008
“A powerfully rendered and acted film with a keen sense of reality in its portrayal of a situation that has been seldom seen in cinema. We were also surprised to see an extremely troubling subject matter treated with a welcome sense of warmth and humor.”

Uzak Ihtimal (Wrong Rosary), Mahmut Fazil Coskun, Turkey, 2009
“a uniquely creative film of the most eloquent simplicity, a film built from a feeling of immediacy, moment by moment, breath by breath; a film that builds an absolutely unique form of suspense; a film that stays true to itself from beginning to end.”

NETPAC Award: Dadi (The Land), He Jia, China, 2008
Special Mention: Agrarian Utopia, Uruphong Raksasad, Thailand, 2009

FIPRESCI Prize: Babi buta yang ingin terbang (Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly), Edwin, Indonesia, 2008

KNF Award: Tony Manero, Pablo Larraín, Chile and Brazil, 2008

MovieSquad Award: Slumdog Millionaire, Dany Boyle and Loveleen Tandan, UK, 2008 (amazing that "finally" a fest recognizes the co director)

To read the official press release with all the winners go here.

CineMart Awards
Prince Claus Film Grant: Birdie, Byamba Sakhya
ARTE France Cinema Award: Him, Lance Weiler
Lions Film Award: Francaise, Souad El-Bouhati

To learn about the CineMart awards given to film projects go here.

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