FIPRESCI Grand Prix 2009

Yesterday this prestigious award was announced for the current year and here are the news releases from FIPRESCI and the San Sebastian fest.

From FIPRESCI official site

Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon" (Das weisse Band) will receive FIPRESCI's Grand Prix 2009 for the Best Film of the Year. The film was chosen by the 223 critics throughout the world that took part in our poll. The award will be handed out on Friday, September 18th, during the opening ceremony of the San Sebastian International Film Festival which hosts the Grand Prix since its creation in 1999.

From San Sebastian site

The film Das Weisse Band/The White Ribbon, directed by Michael Haneke, will receive the Fipresci (International Federation of Film Critics) Grand Prix for Best Film of the Year at the San Sebastian Festival opening gala on Friday September 18.

Michael Haneke (Munich, 1942) is one of contemporary cinema’s most greatly admired directors and a recipient of multiple plaudits for his work. Winner of the Golden Palm at Cannes 2009 for Das Weisse Band/The White Ribbon, Haneke has garnered countless accolades, including the Best Director Award for Caché (1995) and the Grand Jury Prize for La pianiste (The Piano Teacher, 2001), both at Cannes Festival. He has also carried off the Fipresci Prize at various festivals, and the award granted by the Federation at the European Film Awards, the first of which went to Benny’s Video (1992).

The Fipresci Grand Prix for Best Film was chosen by members throughout the world of the International Federation of Film Critics, who can vote for any feature film internationally premiered since July of the previous year.

Awarded annually at the San Sebastian Festival, the Fipresci Grand Prix at former editions have gone to the directors: Pedro Almodóvar (Todo sobre mi madre / All About My Mother, 1999 and Volver / To Return, 2006), Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, 2000, and There Will Be Blood , 2008), Jafar Panahi (Dayereh / The Circle, 2001), Aki Kaurismäki (Miles Vailla Menneisyyttä / The Man Without a Past, 2002), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Uzak, 2003), Jean-Luc Godard (Notre musique, 2004), Kim Ki-Duk (Bin-jip / 3-Iron, 2005) and Cristian Mungiu (4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile / 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 2007).

They didn’t included the 2008 winner in the above list and if you’re curious let me tell you that the winner was Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood.

On other news about Das weiße Band it’s official that the 2009 Cannes top winner is Germany's Official Submission to the 2010 Academy Awards in the Foreign Language film category. The news come as NO surprise for me, I was expecting the film to be Germany’s submission and surely (if the new Academy system prevails) will be in the list of five (or this year will be more?) films with a nomination.