The beautiful, terrifying domestic drama “We Need to Talk About Kevin” won the London Film Festival’s best-picture prize Wednesday.
Lynne Ramsay’s film stars Tilda Swinton as a mother grappling with grief and guilt after her teenage son carries out a high-school massacre.
“Shakespeare in Love” director John Madden, who chaired the judging panel, called it “a sublime, uncompromising tale of the torment that can stand in the place of love.”
The 55-year-old London festival introduced a best-film prize two years ago as part of a bid to boost its profile and compete with better-known events in Berlin, Venice and Toronto.
“Kevin” beat eight other finalists, including French silent movie “The Artist,” Aleksandr Sokurov’s Venice Film festival winner “Faust” and British director Steve McQueen’s body- and soul-baring “Shame.”
Nineteen-year-old actress Candese Reid was named best British newcomer for her role in gritty drama “Junkhearts,” her first professional acting role.
Argentinean director Pablo Giorgelli won the festival’s best first feature prize for his Latin American road movie “Las Acacias,” which picked up the same award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The best documentary trophy went to German auteur Werner Herzog for his death row portrait “Into the Abyss.”
Actor Ralph Fiennes and director David Cronenberg received lifetime achievement awards during the black-tie ceremony at the 18th-century St. Luke’s church in London.
Fiennes was awarded a British Film Institute Fellowship in recognition of “a singular career” that has blended arthouse dramas and mainstream hits.
Cronenberg, the director of “Videodrome,” ”The Fly” and “Crash,” received the same honor for a body of films “exploring the darker impulses and inner lives of his characters.”
Both men had films in the two-week festival of more than 300 features and shorts from 55 countries — Fiennes’ directorial debut “Coriolanus” and Cronenberg’s psychoanalytic drama “A Dangerous Method.”
Oscar Nominees Delve Into The Art Of Editing At ACE Session
You couldn’t miss Sean Baker at this past Sunday’s Oscar ceremony where he won for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Editing on the strength of Anora. However, earlier that weekend he was in transit from the Cesar Awards in Paris and thus couldn’t attend the American Cinema Editors (ACE) 25th annual panel of Academy Award-nominated film editors held at the Regal LA Live Auditorium on Saturday (3/1) in Los Angeles. While the eventual Oscar winner in the editing category was missed by those who turned out for the ACE “Invisible Art, Visible Artists” session, three of Baker’s fellow nominees were on hand--Dávid Jancsó, HSE for The Brutalist; Nick Emerson for Conclave; and Myron Kerstein, ACE for Wicked. Additionally, Juliette Welfling, who couldn’t appear in person due to the Cesar Awards, was present via an earlier recorded video interview to discuss her work on Emilia Pérez. The interview was conducted by ACE president and editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE who also moderated the live panel discussion. Kerstein said that he was the beneficiary of brilliant and generous collaborators, citing, among others, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. The editor added it always helps to have stellar acting performances, noting that hearing Cynthia Erivo, for example, sing live was a revelation. Kerstein recalled meeting Chu some eight years ago on a “blind Skype date” and it was an instant “bromance”--which began on Crazy Rich Asians, and then continued on such projects as the streaming series Home Before Dark and the feature In The Heights. Kerstein observed that Chu is expert in providing collaborators with... Read More