Posted by editor@vimooz.com on October 13, 2009 under Hamptons International Film Festival | 
Golden Starfish Award for Best Narrative Feature: "The Misfortunates," directed by Felix van Groeningen
“The Misfortunates,” directed by Felix van Groeningen was the big favorite at the Hamptons International Film Festival taking home 3 awards including the top prize Golden Starfish Award for Best Narrative Feature.
Based on the best-selling semi-autobiographical novel by author Dimitri Verhulst, The Misfortunates depicts the life in a small country town of 13 year old Gunther who lives with his father and uncles in a world of drinking, gambling and a general yobbish lifestyle. Days are filled with gambling, drinking competitions and if lucky, nude bicycle competitions. What starts out as low-brow comedy soon becomes a bittersweet tale about the need to break beyond your upbringing and family environment.
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Tags: Agora, Alejandro Amenabar, Andrew Thompson, Antonio Campos, APPLAUSE, Bartek Konopka, BIG RIVER MAN, Cheryl Hines, Don Hahn, Dust Kid, Elin Jonsson, Felix van Groeningen, John Maringouin, Katie Wolfe, Long Distance Love, Lucy Bailey, Magnus Gertten, MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN, My Adventures in Ladies' Undergarments, Paprika Steen, Serious Moonlight, The Misfortunates, The Young Victoria, This is Her
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on September 8, 2008 under Calgary International Film Festival |
The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) will open with Fernando Meirelles and Don McKellar’s Blindness at the American Express Opening Gala on September 18, 2008.
Blindness was nominated for the Golden Palm and was the opening film at Cannes in 2008. Directed by Academy Award® nominated Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardener, City of God), and adapted from Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago’s masterwork, Blindness is a harrowing tale about the fragility of mankind. The screenplay was written by notable Canadian film star Don McKellar (Tony Award® winning writer of The Drowsy Chaperone). This evocative film is going to be the highlight of the 2008 festival.
The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) will celebrate its closing on September 27th with Brian Hecker’s Bart Got a Room.
The film was a hit at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, and stars Academy Award® winner William H. Macy (Fargo, Magnolia), Cheryl Hines, and Steve Kaplan. Bart Got a Room is American writer/director Hecker’s first feature, and the hilarious plot and superb cast makes it an ideal closing for the 2008 CIFF.
The film follows Danny through the weeks leading up to the biggest night of his life – prom. Hecker goes back in time to a world full of plastic flamingos, golf carts, and teen anxiety. Filmed in his retiree-filled pastel hometown of Hollywood, Florida the film swings to the tunes of Benny Goodman’s big band, making this first feature an original. Phenomenal comedic acting and the main character’s reoccurring exaggerated fantasies of possible dates make this the wittiest prom angst movie in ages, and a great example of an indie comedy done without excessive pretension or quirk.
“Bart Got a Room will close the festival on a high note and that was our goal in selecting this film,” says CIFF Executive Director Jacqueline Dupuis. “It’s a film that exemplifies current trends in American filmmaking – heartfelt, tongue-in-cheek comedy – and this is one that will most certainly resonate with our festival-goers. We can all relate to this film on some level, and it is so much fun I have no doubt everyone will be primed to top the screening off with a fantastic celebration at the closing gala after-party!”