Lebanon film tops higher profile movies
“Where Do We Go Now?” a bittersweet comedy set in war-torn Lebanon, bested two well-received entries starring George Clooney to win the people’s choice award Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Cadillac People’s Choice award, which also includes a C$15,000 cash prize, is voted on by festival audiences and has typically been regarded as a bellwether for Oscar success.
Lebanese-Canadian director-actress Nadine Labaki’s feminist film about village women bent on keeping their hotheaded men out of a religious war was chosen earlier this month as Lebanon’s 2011 entry in the best foreign language film category for the Academy Awards.
Labaki, who also stars in the film, was traveling in Europe when she heard the news, which was announced Sunday at a closing brunch for the 11-day festival.
Festival programmer Rasha Salti accepted the award on the filmmaker’s behalf, reading a statement sent by Labaki from an airport in Germany.
“I’m thrilled, I’m happy, I’m ecstatic, I’m excited — my day that had just started on the wrong foot because of a flight cancellation has just been turned upside down,” the 37-year-old Labaki said in her statement.
“I’m running around jumping up and down at the Frankfurt airport. Tomorrow we’ll be screening ‘Where Do We Go Now?’ for the first time in Lebanon and I will be proud and happy to announce the news in front of my crew, my family and the Lebanese audience.”
Festival director Piers Handling noted it was a surprise triumph for a film that was overshadowed by heavily promoted, star-studded Hollywood films. These included Clooney’s two films, “The Descendants” and “The Ides of March.”
“We have some very, very high-profile films here at the festival and ones that a lot of people are talking about and I’m sure will go on to awards,” said Handling. “But Nadine’s film obviously connected with the public in a significant way because it was a clear, clear winner.”
Last year’s fans’ pick, “The King’s Speech,” went on to take four Oscars, including best picture, and the 2008 people’s choice winner, “Slumdog Millionaire,” took best picture and seven other Oscars.
Quebec director Philippe Falardeau’s “Monsieur Lazhar,” about an Algerian schoolteacher in Quebec and his relationship with two students, won the award for best Canadian feature and a C$30,000 prize.
The best first Canadian feature award, which includes a C$15,000 prize, went to director Nathan Morlando’s period piece “Edwin Boyd,” starring Scott Speedman as the notorious Canadian bank robber.
“Where Do We Go Now?” garnered rave reviews at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it screened on the margins of the official competition. It follows Labaki’s feature “Caramel,” a sweet love story set in a Beirut beauty salon, which was Lebanon’s entry for the 2007 best foreign language film Oscar.
Set in a remote village where the church and the mosque stand side by side, “Where Do We Go Now?” follows the antics of the town’s women to keep their blowhard men from starting a religious war. Women heartsick over sons, husbands and fathers lost to previous flare-ups unite to distract their men with clever ruses, from faking a miracle to hiring a troop of Ukrainian strippers.
Labaki wrote the screenplay for the film which was shot on location in three remote Lebanese villages with a cast made up almost entirely of nonprofessional actors. Labaki, who is married to the film’s compoer, Khaled Mouzannar, also included a handful of old-school song-and-dance numbers that buoy the mood.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More