17th Palm Springs International Film Festival

USA, January 5 - January 16 2006


The jury

Robert Koehler (US), Henrik Uth Jensen (Denmark), Gideon Kouts (France), Charles-Stéphane Roy (Canada), Kirill Razlogov (Russia)

Awarded films

* Films awarded at Palm Springs receive the Best Foreign Language Film Award.

In the framework of the Palm Springs festival (USA, January 5-16, 2006), our jury reviewed the official Best Foreign Language submissions to the Academy Awards and presented the “FIPRESCI Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year 2005” to Buffalo Boy (Mua Len Trau), the submission from Vietnam (2005). Director Minh Nguyen-Vo’s feature debut is a coming-of-age journey through French Indochina shortly before World War II. A teenaged boy transports his family’s buffalos to greener pastures during the seasonal floods and discovers the joys and challenges of masculine ritual.

Ion Fiscuteanu received the “FIPRESCI Award Best Actor” for his performance in The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Moartea Domnului Lazarescu, Romania) directed by Cristi Puiu.
Meltem Cumbul received the “FIPRESCI Award Best Actress” for her performance in Lovelorn (Gönül Yarasi, Turkey) directed by Yavuz Turgul.