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Press Releases AFI FEST 2009 PRESENTED BY AUDI ANNOUNCES NEW LIGHTS COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS Film News And Views - Press Releases - AFI FEST 2009 PRESENTED BY AUDI ANNOUNCES NEW LIGHTS COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS Press Releases,,AFI FEST 2009 PRESENTED BY AUDI ANNOUNCES NEW LIGHTS COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS,recommendation,shopping,advice,simple,movies,films,film news and views,news and views,film industy,movie reviews,film news,film,news,views,television,made for tv movies,interactive entertainment,hollywood,hollywood news,celebrity news,insiders perspective,film reviewer,watch film,film trailer,new releases,new release,new release movie,new release film,movie reviewer,opinion,viewpoint,forum,discussion
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AFI FEST 2009 PRESENTED BY AUDI ANNOUNCES NEW LIGHTS COMPETITION AWARD WINNERS
Nov 05, 2009
LOS ANGELES (November 5, 2009)—AFI FEST 2009
presented by Audi tonight announced Andrea Arnold’s FISH TANK and Javier
Rebello’s WOMAN WITHOUT PIANO as the joint winners of the inaugural AFI FEST
New Lights Competition. A Special Jury Mention went to Scandar Copti’s and
Yaron Shani’s AJAMI. The New Lights Competition was created to acknowledge and
honor vital, groundbreaking films by first and second time feature filmmakers
from around the world.
The winners were announced at AFI FEST’s
reception in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel following the Closing Night Gala
presentation of Tom Ford’s A SINGLE MAN at Grauman’s Chinese
Theatre. The star-studded event included appearances by the director and the
film’s stars Colin Firth, Ginnifer Goodwin, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode, and
Ryan Simpkins as well as celebrity guests Cindy Crawford and Randy Gerber,
Robert Evans, Harry Hamilin and Lisa Rinna, Kenny Ortega, Brett Ratner, and
Rita Wilson among others.
The awards were presented by actress and filmmaker
Angela Bassett, who chaired the jury, following an introduction of her fellow
jury members: fellow actress and filmmaker Julie Delpy, noted film journalist
and author Bill Krohn, Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival
(BAFICI) Artistic Director Sergio Wolf and Hong Kong filmmaker Yonfan. FISH
TANK cast member Michael Fassbender was on hand to accept on behalf of the
film.
AFI FEST Artistic Director Rose Kuo said, “The
establishment of the AFI FEST New Lights Competition has been one of many
highlights for this year’s festival. Led by Angela Bassett, our jury enjoyed
and deliberated over a truly outstanding group of films, and ultimately decided
that the award should be shared by these two amazing works of art.”
NEW LIGHTS COMPETITION AWARD WINNER
FISH TANK Cast: Michael Fassbender, Harry
Treadaway, Katie Jarvis, Kierston Wareing DIR: Andrea Arnold PROD: Kees
Kasander EXEC PROD: Christine Langan, David M. Thompson, Paul Trijbits UK
WOMAN WITHOUT PIANO (LA MUJER SIN PIANO) Cast:
Jan Budar, Esperanza De la Vega, Tomás del Estal, Nadia de Santiago DIR: Javier
Rebello EXEC PROD: Damián Paris, Stefan Schmitz, María Zamora Spain/France
SPECIAL JURY MENTION
AJAMI Cast: Fouad Habash, Nisrine Rihan, Elias
Saba, Youssef Sahwani DIR: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani PROD: Moshe Danon,
Thanassis Karathanos EXEC PROD: James Richardson Israel/Germany
AFI FEST 2009 NEW LIGHTS COMPETITION JURY
MEMBERS
ANGELA BASSETT
Angela Bassett trained at the Yale School of
Drama before going on to appear on-and off-Broadway. Bassett’s first breakout
role in movies was in BOYZ N THE HOOD (1991). She earned the Golden Globe for
Best Actress in a Drama and NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a
Motion Picture for her portrayal of Tina Turner in the biopic WHAT’S LOVE GOT
TO DO WITH IT (1993). Among her other movies are: MALCOLM X (1992), HOW STELLA
GOT HER GROOVE BACK (1998), MUSIC OF THE HEART (1999), WAITING TO EXHALE
(1995), and AKEELAH AND THE BEE (2006). Bassett joined the final season of ER
(2008-2009) and will make her directorial debut with the film UNITED STATES
(2010), adapted from Percival Everett’s novel Erasure.
JULIE DELPY
Julie Delpy has made a name for herself as a
director, actress, singer and writer in Europe and the US. She was recently
nominated for an Academy Award as a writer (with co-writers Ethan Hawke and
Richard Linklater) for BEFORE SUNSET (2004), a follow-up to BEFORE SUNRISE
(1995). She also starred in both films. Delpy has worked with the esteemed
directors Jean-Luc Godard on DETECTIVE (1985), Agnieszka Holland on EUROPA
EUROPA (1990), Krzysztof Kieslowski on the TROIS COULEURS trilogy (1993, 1994,
1994), Roger Avary on KILLING ZOE (1993), Jim Jarmusch on BROKEN FLOWERS (2005)
and Lasse Hallstrom on THE HOAX (2006). Delpy made her directorial debut with
the short film BLAH BLAH BLAH (1995). In 2007, she wrote, directed and starred
in 2 DAYS IN PARIS.
BILL KROHN
Bill Krohn has been the Los Angeles
correspondent for the French magazine Cahiers du cinema since 1978. In 1994 he
co-directed, co-produced and co-wrote IT’S ALL TRUE: BASED ON AN UNFINISHED
FILM BY ORSON WELLES for Paramount Pictures and Films Balenciaga, Paris. He is
the author of the Hitchcock au travail/Hitchcock at Work (Cahiers du
cinema/Phaidon) monograph; a monograph for Stanley Kubrick for Cahiers du
cinema/Le Monde; and Luis Bunuel: Chimera (Taschen Books). He also edited Joe
Dante et les Gremlins de Hollywood (Locarno/ Cahiers du cinema). He reviews
films for The Economist and is completing Serial Killer Dreams for Reaktion
Books, London.
SERGIO WOLF
Sergio Wolf is a critic, professor, screenwriter
and filmmaker. He was a programmer at the Buenos Aires International
Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) from 2005 to 2007, and has been the artistic
director of BAFICI since 2008. Wolf has written Cine Argentino: La otra
historia (1992), Cine/Literatura: Ritos de pasaje (2001) and Nue¬vo Cine
Argentino (2002). In addition, he wrote the screenplays for the Raúl Perrone
films LA FELICI¬DAD (UN DÍA DE CAMPO) (1998) and ZAPADA (1999), Anahí Berneri’s
ENCARNACIÓN (2006) and POR TU CULPA (2008) and Inés de Oliveira Cézar’s
EXTRANJERA (2006). Wolf directed the films YO NO SE QUÉ ME HAN HECHO TUS OJOS
(2003) and LAS ORILLAS (2007).
YONFAN
A true auteur of Asian cinema, PRINCE OF TEARS
director Yonfan writes, directs and produces his own films. He also serves as
art director for his projects. Born in Hunan, China, he moved to Taiwan with
his parents in 1952. Yonfan spent his adolescent years in Taichung before
moving to Hong Kong in 1965. Yonfan began directing his own features after
working in movie distribution and as an acclaimed photographer. He has made 13
films. He first received international acclaim with BISHONEN (1998) at the 1999
Berlin International Film Festival. His next production, PEONY PAVILION, opened
the 2001 Hong Kong International Film Festival and won the Best Actress Award
at the Moscow Film Festival for Rie Miyazawa. It was voted one of the Ten Best
Films by Time Magazine. He then worked on COLOR BLOSSOM (2004) starring Keiko
Matsuzaka, Harisu and Theresa Cheung. He has just completed PRINCE OF TEARS,
his first film shot in Taiwan.
AFI FEST 2009 OVERVIEW:
The first film festival of its size and
magnitude to offer free tickets to all of its screenings, including Gala
presentations, AFI FEST 2009 rolled out the red carpet with the highly
anticipated North American Premiere of Wes Anderson’s THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX on
October 30. Starring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason
Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson, the event featured appearances by
Murray and Schwartzman as they joined Anderson for a rare West Coast premiere
for one of his films.
Other highlights of the Festival included the
Centerpiece screening of Terry Gilliam’s THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS with
Gilliam and AFI FEST Tribute subject Christopher Plummer in attendance,
Gala screenings of Lee Daniels’ PRECIOUS, BASED ON THE NOVEL “PUSH” BY SAPPHIRE
with the director and nearly the entire cast as well as executive producers Oprah
Winfrey and Tyler Perry in attendance, EVERBODY’S FINE with Robert DeNiro, Kate
Beckinsale and Drew Barrymore on hand to support director Kirk Jones, and a
Tribute to Viggo Mortensen preceding a screening of THE ROAD.
DigiFest opened its doors to the public,
production design legend Bob Boyle – who turned 100 this year -- was celebrated
with a tandem screening of Daniel Raim’s documentary SOMETHING’S GONNA LIVE and
a special 50th Anniversary screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic NORTH BY
NORTHWEST - including a conversation with cast members with Martin Landau and
Eva Marie Saint that was moderated by director William Friedkin.
Additional attendees at AFI FEST 2009 included
Paula Abdul, Judd Apatow, Mel B., Fairuza Balk, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey and
Nick Cannon, Lily Cole, Jennifer Coolidge, Joe Dante, Charlize Theron, Eva
Mendes, Ivan Reitman, Jamie Foxx, Brian Geraghty, Maggie Grace, Shawn Hatosy,
Harmony Korine, Ali Landry, Samm Levine, Mario Lopez, Eva Longoria Parker,
Paula Patton and Robin Thicke, Amanda Plummer, Sidney Poitier and his daughter
Sydney Poitier, Corneliu Porimboiu, Sherri Shepherd, Mallika Sherawat, Gabourey
Sidibe, Verne Troyer, Olivia Wilde, Shailene Woodley and Madeline and Yvonne
Zima, and among others.
AFI FEST 2009 will conclude with two days of
screenings sponsored by Moving Pictures Magazine at the Laemmle’s Monica
4-plex, 1332 2nd Street, Santa Monica, as part of AFI FEST’s alliance with the
American Film Market. Those screening will be highlighted by the World Premiere
of Agnieska Wojtowicz-Vosloo’s AFTER.LIFE starring Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci
and Justin Long. The director, as well as Ricci and Long will attend the
screening and participate in a Q&A.
Overall, AFI FEST 2009 showcased 67 features (54
narrative, 13 documentary) and 27 shorts for a total of 94 films representing
32 countries.
About AFI FEST
AFI is a national institute providing leadership
in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the
art of film, television and digital media. Celebrating its 23rd year as a
program of the American Film Institute, AFI FEST 2009 presented by Audi takes
place October 30-November 7. Kicking off the awards season each year, AFI FEST
offers a crucial avenue of exposure to the entertainment community, while
providing appreciative audiences with a festive atmosphere and the very best of
world film, right in the center of the film capital of the world.
The American Film Market (AFM), November 4-11,
2009, is the market partner of AFI FEST. Together, AFI FEST and AFM provide the
only concurrent festival/market event in North America. AFI FEST is the only
FIAPF-accredited film festival in the United States. The Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes AFI FEST as a qualifying festival for the
Short Films category for the annual Academy Awards®.
Additional information about AFI FEST is
available at AFI.com.
AFI PROJECT: 20/20 is an American Film Institute
international initiative designed to enhance cultural exchange, understanding
and collaboration through filmmakers and their films from the US and abroad. It
is an unprecedented cultural diplomacy effort that is the only international
filmmaker exchange supported by all of America’s cultural agencies—National
Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH),
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)—and the President’s Committee
on the Arts and the Humanities.
AFI FEST 2009 presented by Audi is sponsored in
part by American Airlines; Absolut Vodka; Little Black Dress Wines; Stella
Artois; Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel; Mann Theatres; RR Donnelly; the Los Angeles
Times; American Film Market (AFM); the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural
Affairs; and the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. AFI FEST is made
possible in part by a grant from the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences and is proud to continue its collaborative
partnership with the Skirball Cultural Center. Entertainment Weekly is the
Presenting Media Sponsor.
About the AFM
During AFM, the business of independent motion
picture production and distribution—a truly collaborative process—reaches its
peak every year, when more than 8,000 industry leaders converge in Santa Monica
for eight days of deal-making, screenings, seminars, red carpet premieres,
networking and parties. Participants come from over 70 countries and
include acquisition and development executives, agents, attorneys, directors,
distributors, festival directors, financiers, film commissioners, producers,
writers, the world’s press and all those who provide services to the motion picture
industry.
Founded in 1981, the AFM has become the premier
global marketplace where Hollywood’s decision makers and trendsetters all
gather under one roof. Unlike a film festival, the AFM is a marketplace
where production and distribution deals are closed. In just eight days,
more than $800 million in deals will be sealed — on both completed films and
those that haven’t started shooting yet — making AFM the must-attend industry
event.
The AFM is produced by the Independent Film
& Television Alliance (IFTA), the trade association representing the
world’s producers and distributors of independent motion pictures and
television programs. More information can be found at ifta-online.org/afm
<http://www.ifta-online.org/afm>.
About Audi of America, Inc.
Audi of America Inc. and its 270 dealers offer a
full line of German-engineered luxury vehicles. The Audi lineup is one of the
freshest in the industry with 23 models, including 12 models launched during
model years 2008 and 2009. Audi is among the most successful brands globally.
Last year AUDI AG recorded its 12th consecutive record year for sales and
profit growth. Visit audiusa.com or audiusanews.com for more information
regarding Audi vehicle and business issues.
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March 1, 2021
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