“Fish Tank” and “Woman Without Piano” win AFI Fest
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on November 7, 2009 under AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival | 
'Fish Tank'
Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank” and Javier Rebello’s “Woman Without Piano” were announced as the winners of the inaugural AFI Fest New Lights Competition. Scandar Copti’s and Yaron Shani’s “Ajami” received a special jury mention.
“Fish Tank” is the story of a feisty 15-year-old British girl who finds solace from her home life, which is in shambles, and won the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival,. “Woman Without Piano” also a winner on the film festival circuit, including the Best Director Silver Seashell from the 2009 San Sebastian International Film Festival is “the gentle, fantasy-tinged comedy-drama of a Madrid housewife (Carmen Machi from Pedro Almodovar’s “Broken Embraces) who escapes the boredom of her day-to-day existence through nighttime excursions.”
“Ajami,” which follows a series of violent events that mushroom between Jews, Christians and Muslims (all played by nonprofessionals) in a multicultural neighborhood of Jaffa in Israel, has also previously won numerous awards. These awards include the Camera d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festivals as well as five Ophirs (the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Awards). It is also the official Israeli selection for this year’s foreign film Oscar.
