Jurors at the Venice Film Festival loved “The Master,” a film inspired by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, but strict rules kept them from giving it the top Golden Lion prize along with the other awards it garnered.
Venice rules for the annual festival in the Italian lagoon city say the film that receives the Golden Lion cannot get any other awards.
The jury announced Saturday night it was giving “The Master” the Silver Lion for best director (Paul Thomas Anderson), and that its stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman would share the prize for best actor.
The Golden Lion instead went to “Pieta,” a South Korean film about a brutal debt collector.
British juror Samantha Morton said the panel had a tough time with the decision.
Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported Sunday that the jury wrestled with its decision “for hours and hours” over which film met the Golden Lion criteria for merit, excellence, ability to stir emotions, the director’s artistic ambitions and esthetic value.
“All those qualities are wrapped up in one work, ‘The Master,’ which would have won the Golden Lion if it weren’t for the Venice rule,” Corriere wrote, saying the jurors concluded that “the only way” to shower several prizes on “The Master” was to give the Golden Lion to the South Korean movie.
Still, reporters pressed jurors after the award ceremony on why the Golden Lion eluded “The Master.”
“It’s very hard for the jury,” Morton said. ” ”If you give the Golden Lion to something, you cannot give it another award at all. You can’t give it (best) actor, you can’t give it (the) cinematography (award).”
She added that sometimes a film might “miss out on the Golden Lion so that you can give it multiple awards.”
The head of the jury, American director Michael Mann, put it this way: Even “if it’s ‘Gone With The Wind’ it’s only going to get one (top) award.”
Actor Hoffman told reporters that he and Phoenix, the director, were “excited” about the awards snared by “The Master.”
Commenting on the unusual dual award for best actor, Hoffman said that choice reflected the “heavily invested and needy relationship” between the two characters in the film. “We thought it was really, really smart and gracious and intuitive to give the award in this way.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More