2011

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Best Foreign Language Film of the Year 2010 Grand Prix — Best Film of the Year European Discovery Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema: Marlen Khutsiev

The Events

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year 2010

Palm Springs (USA, Palm Springs International Film Festival, January 6-17, 2011). The jury focused on the submissions to the Foreign Language Academy Award and decided the "International Critics' Prize (FIPRESCI Prize) for the Best Foreign Language Film of the Year (2010)" in the categories of best film, best actor, best actress.
Best Film: Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux) by Xavier Beauvois (France, 2010).
Best Actor: Lars Rosing in Nuummioq by Otto Rosing and Torben Bech (Greenland, 2009).
Best Actress: Anne Coessens in Ilegal (Illégal) by Olivier Masset-Depasse (Belgium, 2010).
Jury members were Elie Castiel, Canada ("Séquences"), Mihai Chirilov, Romania ("Dilema Veche", "HBO Club"), Godfrey Cheshire, USA ("Metro Magazine", "New York Times").
Print sources.
Of Gods and Men: Wild Bunch, 99, rue de la Verrerie, F 75004 Paris, Tel +33 1 53 01 50 32, edevos@wildbunch.eu.
Nuummioq: The Works International, Portland House, 4 Great Portland Street, London W1W 8QJ, T +44 20 7612 1080, F +44 20 7612 1081, Andrea.Scarso@theworksmediagroup.com, www.theworksmediagroup.com.
Illegal: Films Distribution Sas, 34, rue du Louvre, F 75001 Paris, T +33 1 53 10 33 99, F +33 1 53 10 33 98, sanam@filmsdistribution.com, www.filmsdistribution.com.
Festival: www.psfilmfest.org/

Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema: Marlen Khutsiev

At the closing ceremony of the "St. Petersburg Kinoforum 2011" (July 15), FIPRESCI's Honorary President Andrei Plakhov handed the Prize over to Russian filmmaker Marlen Khutsiev, for his outstanding contribution to world cinema. "Over a 55-year career", writes Alexei Gusev in his appreciation of Khutsiev's work, "he has only made six films (excluding work for television and documentaries), and each of them became a divider which cinema historians later used to mark the end of one stage and the beginning of a new one. But cinema is not the only point: the country's history itself is lined with films by Khutsiev, with a supernatural sense of time probably the most outstanding gift of this filmmaker. Khutsiev's six films are accurate, hysteria-free portraits of six successive generations, painted in their true colours." Read the entire text

Grand Prix — Best Film of the Year 2011

The votes of the 205 members of FIPRESCI who voted in this year's poll for the Grand Prix clearly gave the title of Best Film of the past year to Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life — film which had won this year the Cannes' Golden Palm. In a letter after being informed about the award, Terrence Malick wrote that he is honored and wishes he could thank our colleagues in person. "It is uplifting to discover such generous hearts out there, encouraging me and those who work with me," he added. The award has been presented on September 16, 2011, during the opening ceremony of the 59th San Sebastián International Film Festival, the first under the direction of José Luis Rebordinos. The Spanish event, where Malick’s Badlands won the Golden Shell in 1974, hosts the FIPRESCI Grand Prix since its creation in 1999. Read Adrian Martin's analysis of the film, Great Event and Ordinary People

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