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.”
By Jill Lawless
Britt Nolan Named CCO For McCann Worldgroup, North America
Britt Nolan has been hired as chief creative officer at McCann Worldgroup, North America. He will report to Javier Campopiano, global chief creative officer of McCann Worldgroup and McCann.
Nolan will work directly with the network’s creative leadership in the U.S. and Canada to lead the development of ideas that solve clients’ business challenges, guided by the creativity of the network’s founding philosophy of “Truth Well Told.” Key to this effort will be fostering collaboration across capabilities and agencies, leveraging the network’s talent and expertise in strategy, design, commerce, branding and production to bring its best-in-class offerings to bear for each client.
“Britt is without a doubt a leader and a point of reference for excellence in our industry,” said Campopiano. “He has led some of North America’s very best work in recent years with incredible range--creating eye-catching, smart, authentic, and funny ways of connecting brands with people. He has a rare track record of success across both creative and business, with a unique understanding of how they power each other. And most importantly, we share a common belief that brand-building is right now more important than it ever was, and the only way to do it is through radical creativity based on human truths. He embodies the very essence of our Truth Well Told philosophy.”
Most recently president and chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Chicago, Nolan comes to McCann Worldgroup with a track record of creative achievement and business impact, both for his clients and the agencies at which he’s worked. Over the years, his work has won Grand Prix or Best in Show at every major international award show, including over 50 Cannes Lions, as well as recognition... Read More