18th Stockholm International Film Festival Winners

Today the festival closed and here are the award winners.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Paul Schrader
Visionary Award: Wes Anderson

Best Film: 4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 Zile (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days), Cristian Mungiu Romania. This brilliant film expresses the impact of societal repression on its characters with honesty and devastating humanity. Every aspect of the film – script, photography, performances and most importantly direction – uncovers profound truth in the smallest gestures. With its opinionated use of long takes and off-screen space, Cristian Mungiu understands the power of simplicity.

Best First Feature: La Zona (The Zone), Rodrigo Plá, Spain and Mexico. This film features an intelligent and original execution of an increasingly evident and alarming global problem. Through its microcosm and thriller-like suspense, The Zone keeps the audience alert to the good and bad and the fear we all carry within. The simplicity of the storytelling and the genuine characters, combined with an elegant and subtle musical score, result in a film that stays

Honorable mention, Best First Feature: Control, Anton Cobjin, UK. Never resorting to clichés about the iconic Ian Curtis, Control creates a stark, fully realized world. Featuring powerful performances throughout, Anton Corbijn goes beyond the genre of the “rock film” into an evocative portrait of these characters lives. The spare simplicity of the camera and compelling use of music captures the emotional despair and alienation of Joy Division’s sound.

Best Script: Stellet Light (Silent Light), Carlos Reygadas, Mexico, France, Netherlands, Germany. Carlos Reygadas’ screenplay in Silent Light captures the essence of life. With sparse, poetic and often painfully simplistic delivered dialogue (and through an almost documentary feeling), the film features genuine performances enhancing the cruelty of the silence. With an incredible backdrop of grand nature, Silent Light is a raw and truthful tale about human’s incapability for dealing with love, desire and responsibility.

Best Acress: Anamaria Marinca, 4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 Zile (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days), Cristian Mungiu Romania
Best Actor: Jason Patric, Expired, Cecilia Miniucchi, USA

Best Music Award: Oliver Bernet for Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud, France. In this mesmerizing and original animated film, the music of Oliver Bernet enhances and contrasts the emotional experiences of the characters. His original score intertwines and explores different genres in a skillful and precise way.

Best Cinematography: Januz Kaminski for Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Julian Schnabel, France and USA. Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography brings expressive subjectivity and an original, off-kilter point of view to this powerful story. His bold photographic choices succeed in grounding us in the unforgettable perspective of the film’s protagonist, Jean Do. Combining visual economy with poetic lyricism, the photography of The Diving Bell and The Butterfly looks at the world with a fresh eye.

FIPRESCI-prize for Best Film: Caramel, Nadine Labaki, Lebanon and France.

Audience Award: Juno, Jason Reitman, USA

ifestival – World Wide Web Award: Two Times Now, Michalis Konstantatos
Guldbubblan – Let’s Make a Film: Nikklas Fröberg