"Un profeta", la gran ganadora de los Premios Cesar

Meilleur espoir masculin
Tahar Rahim (UN PROPHETE)

Meilleure actrice dans un second rôle
Emmanuelle Devos (A L’ORIGINE)

Meilleur scénario original
Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit (UN PROPHETE)

Meilleure adaptation
Stéphane Brizé, Florence Vignon (MADEMOISELLE CHAMBON)

Meilleur son
Pierre Excoffier, Bruno Tarrière, Sélim Azzazi (LE CONCERT)

Meilleure photo
Stéphane Fontaine (UN PROPHETE)

Meilleure musique
Armand Amar (LE CONCERT)

Meilleur premier film
LES BEAUX GOSSES (Riad Sattouf)

Meilleur acteur dans un second rôle
Niels Arestrup (UN PROPHETE)

Meilleur court-métrage
C’EST GRATUIT POUR LES FILLES (Claire Burger et Marie Amachoukell)

Meilleur espoir féminin
Mélanie Thierry (LE DERNIER POUR LA ROUTE)

Meilleur film documentaire
L’ENFER D’HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT de Serge Bromberg et Ruxandra Medrea

Meilleur film étranger
GRAN TORINO de Clint Eastwood

Meilleur montage
Juliette Welfling (UN PROPHETE)

Meilleurs décors
Michel Barthélemy (UN PROPHETE)

Meilleur réalisateur
Jacques Audiard (UN PROPHETE)

Meilleurs costumes
Catherine Leterrier (COCO AVANT CHANEL)

Meilleur acteur
Tahar Rahim (UN PROPHETE)

Meilleure actrice
Isabelle Adjani (LA JOURNEE DE LA JUPE)

Meilleur film
UN PROPHETE

Totaux :
UN PROPHÈTE : 9 César
LE CONCERT : 2 César
A L’ORIGINE : 1 César
MADEMOISELLE CHAMBON : 1 César
LES BEAUX GOSSES : 1 César
LE DERNIER POUR LA ROUTE : 1 César
COCO AVANT CHANEL : 1 César
LA JOURNÉE DE LA JUPE : 1 César

Oscar Preview: Foreign Language Film (In Contention)

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Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:06 am · February 18th, 2010

The foreign Language film category has been marred in controversy for the last few years. When films like “4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days” and “Persepolis” were unceremoniously nixed from the field a few years ago, a special new “executive committee” was established to have final say on the fallen, hopefully saving the committee (which has to see all the titles to vote) some embarrassment.

Still, there is an inherent bias throughout the votership here. Violence rarely plays well, and they are loathe to be accepting of non-traditional filmmaking. One need only look back one year to 2008’s “Departures” upset for evidence. For thee reasons, the category always seems ready to surprise.

The nominees are:

“Ajami” (Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani)
“The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada)” (Claudia Llosa)
“A Prophet (Un Prophète)” (Jacques Audiard)
“The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)” (Juan José Campanella)
“The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band)” (Michael Haneke)

When it came to the annual narrowing of the submitted titles to seven semi-final contenders, there was at least one film that needed the executive committee’s help in staying afloat. And against all odds, that film managed a nomination at the end of the day. It’s not worth embarrassing the title in this space, but suffice it to say, it probably has no chance at appealing with the entire committee.

One film that was well-positioned with relevant themes and an intriguing director tandem from the start was “Ajami.” A dramatic examination of religious conflict in a region of Israel populated by Christians, Muslims and Jews, the film has frequently been categorized as a sort of “Crash” of the Middle Eastern conflict. At the helm are Scandar Copti, a Palestinian, and Yaron Shani, an Israeli Jew. But while conflicting ideologies might make for a nice headline for the film, it doesn’t always yield a solid piece of work. The pro- and anti-zionist tandem of Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner on “Munich” comes to mind. “Ajami” is a sometimes confusing tale, due largely to an arbitrary broken narrative structure that keeps the emotional beats from connecting. And it’s also a violent film, which could ultimately hurt it.

Perhaps the least conventional narrative of the bunch is Claudia Llosa’s “The Milk of Sorrow,” which was a surprising entry in the field. The film is interesting in that it is concerned with the psychology of an entire country. Llosa dramatizes a folk tale in Peru that says the violence and rape endured by the country’s women for 12 years during the Maoist uprising was passed on to their children through breast milk. It’s an intriguing study of how the wounds of militaristic conflict never fully heal, which certainly makes it compelling from a zeitgeist standpoint. But the narrative is incredibly inaccessible, with a measured pace that never lifts it off the ground or pushes it forward in any dynamic way. The nomination will most certainly have to be the reward here, because it is not up the committee’s alley.

Speaking of which, Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” is far and away the most accomplished of the foreign language nominees this year. This means, of course, it is destined to lose the Oscar. The French prison drama charts the rise to power of a young Arab, which gives Tahar Rahim the opportunity to offer up one of the best performances of the last 10 years. But the film is undoubtedly the most violent of the lot, and that will most certainly give voters pause. “Gomorrah,” a frequently cited parallel despite a vastly different narrative, was snubbed last year largely due to violence. That Audiard’s film made it this far is already a bit of an accomplishment, but it will have its day once more at the end of the year, when you can count on its showing up on any number of top 10 lists.

If I were to place a bet on any of the nominees, I would frankly double down on Juan José Campanella’s “The Secret in Their Eyes.” It is a powerful tale that at first glance appears to be a conventional police drama, but as the narrative unfolds, its themes begin to register and it takes on a whole other shape. The story, in the briefest terms, concerns an Argentinian federal agent’s quest to solve a murder that was swept up cleanly and sloppily by a crooked justice system. Told in flashback, the film is framed by the agent, 25 years later, haunted by the case’s memories, and indeed, the memories of a love that got away. The film is about so many things, really, which is its greatest strength. And it packs a powerful narrative punch in the third act that is sure to get it across the finish line.

The most critically acclaimed film of the bunch is “The White Ribbon” from Golden Globe winner Michael Haneke. After years of working, and establishing quite the following, Haneke only received his first nomination this year. So an award for his efforts would be quite novel, but I’m given slight pause by the unconventional nature of the narrative. While the themes may be potent, and the craftsmanship certainly respected, this just isn’t the manner in which this committee likes its stories told. They like crisp, simple, plot-driven films that aren’t overly demanding, and Haneke’s film misses in all those categories. Still, it’s been a long and healthy run for the film, one that began with a Palme d’Or way back in Cannes. There is an outside possibility the film takes the prize for prestige alone, but I’m doubtful.

Will win: “The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)”
Could win: “The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band)”
Should win: “A Prophet (Un Prophète)”

Should have been here: “London River”

Oscars Try to Navigate Through Babel (The New York Times)

January 31, 2010

By DENNIS LIM

THERE was a time when the Academy Award for best foreign-language film reflected the state of world cinema: Fellini films won back-to-back Oscars in the mid 1950s, as did Bergman films in the early ’60s. But the category has come to suggest a peculiar gulf between Academy opinion and the tastes of critics and audiences alike.

Some Oscar-nominated foreign titles from the past decade will leave even committed art-house audiences drawing a blank: “Zelary” from the Czech Republic, “As It Is in Heaven” from Sweden, “Zus & Zo” from the Netherlands. Meanwhile critical favorites and festival hits have often gone unacknowledged; a list of conspicuous omissions might start — but certainly would not end — with “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” “Caché,” “Silent Light,” “Gomorrah,” “The Edge of Heaven,” “Secret Sunshine” and “Volver.”

This incongruity has much to do with the category’s submission and nominating process, which is more byzantine than for any other, involving nominating bodies in various countries and several Academy committees. This year’s nine-film shortlist, announced this month, was whittled down by two committees from 65 submissions; the final five, to be determined by a third committee, will be revealed along with the other Oscar nominations on Tuesday. Mark Johnson, a veteran producer (“The Notebook,” “Ballast,” the “Narnia” films) and chairman of the Academy’s foreign-language committee since 1999, said that he has been striving in recent years to improve a process that, he acknowledged, often left the impression of an out-of-touch voting body. “We’ve attacked some of what I think have been real legitimate problems and criticisms,” he said.

While Mr. Johnson’s efforts have been largely focused on arriving at a more credible group of nominees, they have not streamlined the complex, multistage procedure. At each phase “there are always surprises and disappointments,” said Michael Barker, the co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, which is distributing three of this year’s nine shortlisted films: Michael Haneke’s “White Ribbon” (Germany), Jacques Audiard’s “Prophet” (France) and Juan José Campanella’s “Secret in Their Eyes” (Argentina).

The rule changes have not eliminated controversy. This year some critics pointed to omissions like “Police, Adjective” (from Romania), “Mother” (South Korea) and “I Killed My Mother” (Canada), all of which were the submissions of their respective countries, and films like “The Maid” (Chile) and “Vincere” (Italy), which were not selected in the first place.

Jonathan Sehring, the president of IFC Entertainment, an active distributor of foreign films, called the nominating process “terribly flawed” and singled out for criticism the one-film-per-country rule.

Some countries arrive at their choice by polling an Academy-like professional organization with hundreds or thousands of members; countries with less robust film industries might have more ad-hoc groups, sometimes with as few as a dozen voters. While the system is designed to allow even the smallest of film-producing nations a shot, it also ends up punishing relative powerhouses like France and Italy, which have many more acclaimed releases in a given year than, say, Iceland or the Ivory Coast, but must pick only one.

The emphasis on national origin means that international co-productions (like “The Motorcycle Diaries”) tend to fall by the wayside. Until recently the Academy also insisted that the foreign language match the foreign country; for instance, Mr. Haneke’s “Caché,” a French-language film by an Austrian director, was deemed ineligible. And two years ago “The Band’s Visit” was disqualified from being Israel’s official candidate because too much of the movie was in English.

At the national level the decisions are often tangled in internal politics. “Some countries approach the process in terms of ‘Whose turn is it?’ ” Mr. Sehring said, adding that personal agendas can come into play. Some questioned Italy’s decision this year to submit Giuseppe Tornatore’s big-budget period epic “Baaria” over Marco Bellochio’s “Vincere,” a film about Mussolini’s secret lover that has been received with greater enthusiasm at festivals (and is being released in the United States by IFC this year); it has not gone unnoticed that one financial backer of “Baaria” is Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister.

Voting bodies are apt to consider, sometimes above all other factors, how well a film might travel. Mr. Barker of Sony recalled being at an Academy-related panel at a film festival in Norway and hearing the question come up in the bluntest terms: “Do we pick what we think is the best film, or do we pick what we think the Americans will vote for?” France has fielded suspiciously treacly fare like “Merry Christmas” and “The Chorus,” ignoring work by better-known auteurs like Arnaud Desplechin and Olivier Assayas.

The record in the foreign-language category suggests a weakness for stodgy, conservative films, and the Academy members who vote in the category are usually older.

Gary Palmucci, general manager of Kino International, attended a few Academy screenings two years ago, when one of his films, “Beaufort” (Israel), was up for an Oscar. With a few exceptions, he said, “it looked like everybody was over 65.” (Kino has another Israeli film on this year’s shortlist: “Ajami,” which opens in New York this week.)

This demographic quirk can be partly chalked up to the rigors of the nomination process. Every year the submitted movies are divided into four groups; an Academy member who wishes to participate in the nominations must see at least 80 percent of the films in one group (which usually works out to more than a dozen films). All films must be seen in theaters; since most of the titles are not in commercial release, that usually means attending special Academy screenings.

“The people who have that kind of time are often the older members who are retired,” Mr. Johnson said. And they tend to favor what Mr. Palmucci described as “a more meat-and-potatoes kind of film.” Mr. Sehring noted that movies with relatively challenging subject matter (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” about abortion in Ceausescu-era Romania) or form (the hand-drawn animation of “Persepolis”) have often been overlooked.

Such criticisms are hardly new, but they intensified two years ago when the Academy snubbed “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” a Palme d’Or winner at Cannes. Mr. Johnson responded by introducing an intermediate step in the nominating process to try to create a safeguard measure against glaring oversights.

“I don’t mean to be critical of the general committee because it’s older,” Mr. Johnson said, “but I wanted to make the selection process reflect more the Academy at large.”

Instead of entrusting the general membership with arriving at the nine-film shortlist, the Academy now takes the top six choices of the voting members (an average of 300 every year, Mr. Johnson said); the remaining three are wild-card selections by an executive committee appointed by Mr. Johnson, including the director Curtis Hanson, the cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and the German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmark, whose film “The Lives of Others” was a foreign-language winner. (The shortlist is narrowed to the final five by yet another committee’s members, who watch all nine films in a three-day period.)

Last year — the first time the shortlist was determined by two separate committees — the eventual nominees included well-reviewed art-house hits like “The Class” and “Waltz With Bashir” as well as an under-the-radar critical favorite, “Revanche.” This year’s list includes the Berlin festival’s top prizewinner, “The Milk of Sorrow” (Peru), and two Cannes hits, “The White Ribbon” (Germany) and “A Prophet” (France), films that might be too dark or difficult to have made it this far under the old system.

But there is nothing Mr. Johnson can do once the nominees are set and the vote is opened to the entire membership. Last year his rule changes produced the category’s most respectable lineup in some time. But it was the Japanese film “Departures,” which many considered the most conventional and sentimental of the five, that won.

That decision may not stand the test of time, but in a sense it is in keeping with tradition. In 1981, when Mr. Barker and his partner Tom Bernard were at United Artists, they had a foreign-language Oscar frontrunner in François Truffaut’s “Last Metro.” The other prime contender was thought to be Akira Kurosawa’s “Kagemusha.” But the eventual winner was a Russian film, long since forgotten, called “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears.”

“It was a surprise to us that this could happen,” Mr. Barker said. “But then we realized this kind of thing has been happening for generations.”

'Welcome' upsets 'A Prophet' at Lumiere Awards (Variety)

PARIS -- The 2010 Gallic awards season kicked off with underdog "Welcome" upsetting favorite "A Prophet" for best picture prize at France's Lumiere Awards.

Starring Vincent Lindon as a swimming coach who aids a young Iraqi Kurd in his quest to cross the English Channel, "Welcome" scored more than 1 million admissions during a French release sparked by controversy over a minister's comments about the film's take on illegal immigrants. U.S. rights to the pic were recently nabbed by Film Movement.

"I was afraid to tell my producer that 25 minutes of the film would be in Kurdish. 'It's normal,' he said. 'The character's Kurd.' " quipped scribe-helmer Philippe Lioret to a packed house at Paris' Hotel de Ville.

Jacques Audiard's much heralded prison thriller, "A Prophet," nabbed two major prizes: director and actor for newcomer Tahar Rahim. Pic is nominated for foreign language film at the Golden Globes, and is France's contender for foreign language film at this year's Oscars.

Actress went to vet Isabelle Adjani for her portrayal of a high school teacher under siege in Jean-Paul Lillienfeld's drama "Skirt Day." "It's touching to receive a prize for a film about such a taboo subject," Adjani remarked.

Screenplay kudos went to Mia Hansen-Love for her family drama "The Father of My Children." Scribe-helmer's sophomore pic nabbed Un Certain Regard's Special Jury Prize at Cannes, and is slated for U.S. release by IFC this year. She's also one of Varietys 10 Directors to Watch.

Twenty-year old Canuck actor-director Xavier Dolan received best Francophone film award for his debut, "I Killed My Mother."

Created in 1995 by legendary Gallic producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier and Newsweek foreign correspondent Edward Behr, this 15th edition of the Lumieres paid homage to late French auteur Eric Rohmer and to thesp Jocelyn Quivrin, who died in a car crash last November.

Welcome and A Prophet lead Lumière nominations (Cineuropa)

Awarded, rather like the Golden Globes, to the best artists of French and Francophone cinema by foreign journalists based in Paris, the 15th Lumière Awards will be presented on January 15.

Standing out among the nominees are Philippe Lioret’s Welcome (five nominations) and Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet (four nominations), which will compete for Best Film alongside Bertrand Tavernier’s In the Electric Mist, Anne Fontaine’s Coco Before Chanel and Xavier Giannoli’s In the Beginning.

Vying for Best Actress are Isabelle Adjani (Skirt Day), Dominique Blanc (The Other One), Valéria Bruni Tedeschi (Regrets), Sandrine Kiberlain (Mademoiselle Chambon) and Audrey Tautou (Coco Before Chanel).

Battling it out for the Best Actor Lumière are recent European Film Award-winner Tahar Rahim (A Prophet), Vincent Lindon (Welcome), Yvan Attal (Rapt), Romain Duris (Persecution) and François Cluzet (In the Beginning).

List of nominees:

Best Film
In the Beginning [trailer] - Xavier Giannoli
Coco Before Chanel [trailer] - Anne Fontaine
In the Electric Mist [trailer, film focus] - Bertrand Tavernier
A Prophet [trailer, film focus] - Jacques Audiard
Welcome [trailer, film focus] - Philippe Lioret

Best Director
Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Anne Fontaine - Coco Before Chanel
Xavier Giannoli - In the Beginning
Philippe Lioret - Welcome
Bertrand Tavernier - In the Electric Mist

Best Screenplay
Jacques Audiard, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Thomas Bidegain, Nicolas Peufaillit - A Prophet
Philippe Lioret, Emmanuel Courcol, Olivier Adam - Welcome
Radu Mihaileanu, Alain-Michel Blanc, Matthew Robbins, Hector Cabello Reyes, Thierry Degrandi - The Concert [trailer, film focus]
Mathias Gokalp, Nadine Lamari - The Ordinary People [trailer]
Mia Hansen-Love - The Father of My Children [trailer, film focus]

Best Actress
Isabelle Adjani - Skirt Day [trailer]
Dominique Blanc - The Other One [trailer]
Valéria Bruni Tedeschi - Regrets [trailer]
Sandrine Kiberlain - Mademoiselle Chambon [trailer]
Audrey Tautou - Coco Before Chanel

Best Actor
Yvan Attal - Rapt [trailer]
François Cluzet - In the Beginning
Romain Duris - Persecution [trailer]
Vincent Lindon - Welcome
Tahar Rahim - A Prophet

Best Female Newcomer
Mati Diop - 35 Shots of Rum [trailer]
Pauline Etienne - Silent Voices [trailer]
Garance Le Guillermic - The Hedgehog
Julie Sokolowski - Hadewijch [trailer]
Christa Theret - LOL [trailer]

Best Male Newcomer
Firat Ayverdi - Welcome
Maxime Godart - Little Nicolas [trailer]
Vincent Lacoste - The French Kissers [trailer]
Anthony Sonigo - The French Kissers
Samy Seghir - Neuilly, Yo Mama! [trailer]

Best French-Language Film (from outside France)
That Day [trailer] - Jacob Berger (Switzerland/ France)
Birds of Heaven [trailer] - Eliane de Latour (France/UK/Ivory Coast)
Private Lessons [trailer, film focus] - Joachim Lafosse (Belgium/France)
I Killed My Mother - Xavier Dolan (Quebec)
Hand of the Headless Man [trailer, making of] - Stéphane and Guillaume Malandrin (Belgium/Holland/France)
The Bloodiest [trailer] - Jean-Pierre Bekolo (Cameroon/France)

Fabien Lemercier

Nominaciones a los Globo de Oro: mejor película extranjera

-La nana, de Sebastián Silva

-Baaria, de Giuseppe Tornatore

-Un profeta, de Jacques Audiard

-The White Ribbon, de Michael Haneke

-Los abrazos rotos, de Pedro Almodóvar

A Prophet takes Prix Louis Delluc in France (Screen)

Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet has won France’s Louis Delluc prize for 2009. The film is France’s entry for the foreign language Oscar.

A Prophet beat out Alain Resnais’ Les Herbes Folles, A L’Origine by Xavier Giannoli, Christophe Honore’s Non Ma Fille Tu N’Iras Pas Danser, Claude and Nathan Miller’s Je Suis Heureux Que Ma Mere Soit Vivante, Philippe Lioret’s Welcome, Irene by Alain Cavalier and Hadewijch from Bruno Dumont which had all previously been shortlisted.

The trio of A Prophet, Les Herbes Folles and A L’Origine were all competitors in Cannes where Audiard’s film won the Grand Prize.

The Louis Delluc trophy for best first film went to Lea Fehner’s Qu’un Seul Tienne Et Les Autres Suivront, known as Silent Voices internationally. That film was awarded the Michel d’Ornano prize at the Deauville Film Festival earlier this year.

The prestigious Louis Delluc prize celebrates its 72nd year this year. Cannes Film Festival president Gilles Jacob is the head of the jury that hands out the awards. In previous years, winners have gone on to Cesar glory including recently Abdellatif’s The Secret Of The Grain and Pascale Ferran’s Lady Chatterley.

Comienza la Semana de Cine Europeo

- Programada y presentada por Thierry Frémaux, Director Ejecutivo del Festival de Cannes.

- Se realizará del 26 de noviembre al 2 de diciembre de 2009 en Cinemark Palermo (Beruti 3399)

- Los directores Xavier Giannoli, Fatih Akin y Christian Mungiu estarán presentes durante el ciclo para acompañar las emisiones de sus films.

- El ciclo es organizado en el marco de Ventana Sur 2009

Buenos Aires, Viernes 20 de Noviembre de 2009. En el marco del evento Ventana Sur 2009, el próximo jueves 26 de noviembre a las 20 horas comienza la Semana de Cine Europeo, programada y presentada por Thierry Frémaux, Director Ejecutivo del Festival de Cannes.

El ciclo abrirá con el film Un Prophete del Francés Jacques Audiard. Las otras seis películas seleccionadas son: Fish Tank, de la inglesa Andrea Arnold; Soul Kitchen, del alemán Fatih Akin; A l'origine, del francés Xavier Giannoli; Panique au village, de los belgas Stéphane Aubier y Vincent Patar; Lourdes, de la austríaca Jessica Hausner y Tales From The Golden Age, de Hanno Höfer y Razvan Marculescu.

Además los prestigiosos directores Xavier Giannoli, Fatih Akin y Christian Mungiu, estarán presentes durante el ciclo para acompañar las emisiones de sus films.

Las proyecciones se realizarán en la sala de Cinemark Palermo (Berutti 3399) y el costo de las entradas es de $18.00.

Programación

JUEVES 26

21.15 horas - UN PROPHETE (PRESENTA THIERRY FRÉMAUX)

VIERNES 27

16.30 horas - A L´ORIGINE

19.30 horas - FISH TANK (PRESENTA THIERRY FRÉMAUX)

22.00 horas - LOURDES

SABADO 28

16.30 horas - SOUL KITCHEN

19.30 horas - A L´ORIGINE (PRESENTA XAVIER GIANOLLI Y THIERRY FRÉMAUX)

22.30 horas - FISH TANK

DOMINGO 29

16.30 horas - LOURDES

19.30 horas - SOUL KITCHEN (PRESENTA FAITH AKIN Y THIERRY FRÉMAUX)

22.00 horas - L´ORIGINE

LUNES 30

16.30 horas - FISH TANK

19.30 horas - TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE (PRESENTA CHRISTIAN MUNGIU)

22.00 horas - PANIQUE AU VILLAGE

MARTES 1

16.30 horas - PANIQUE AU VILLAGE

19.30 horas - LOURDES

22.00 horas - TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE

MIÉRCOLES 2

16.30 horas - TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE

19.30 horas - PANIQUE AU VILLAGE

22.30 horas - SOUL KITCHEN

"Un prophete", de Jacques Audiard, mejor película del Festival de Londres

London – 28 October 2009: The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival announced its winners at the high profile awards ceremony held at London’s Inner Temple this evening. Hosted by journalist and broadcaster, Paul Gambaccini, the six awards were presented by some of the most respected figures in the film world.

BEST FILM

In recognition of original, intelligent and distinctive filmmaking, the new award for Best Film was judged by an international jury chaired by Anjelica Huston and fellow jurors John Akomfrah, Jarvis Cocker, Mathieu Kassovitz, Charlotte Rampling and Iain Softley. The Star of London for Best Film was awarded to Jacques Audiard’s A PROPHET and was presented by Anjelica Huston..

On behalf of the jury Anjelica Huston (Chair) said:

“A masterpiece: UN PROPHETE has the ambition, purity of vision and clarity of purpose to make it an instant classic. With seamless and imaginative story-telling, superb performances and universal themes, Jacques Audiard has made a perfect film.”

The jury also gave a special mention to John Hillcoat’s THE ROAD, praising the film’s breathtaking vision, extraordinary performances and profound political statement.

BEST BRITISH NEWCOMER

Presented for the first time, the award for Best British Newcomer celebrates new and emerging film talent, rewarding the achievements of a new writer, producer or director who has demonstrated real creative flair and imagination with their first feature. Dominic Cooper and Jodie Whittaker presented the Best British Newcomer Star of London to Jack Thorne, screenwriter of the film THE SCOUTING BOOK FOR BOYS. The jury said:

“Jack Thorne is a poetic writer with an end-of-the-world imagination and a real gift for story-telling. Thorne’s substantial authorship is revealed in the unique voices of the film’s characters and the rich, soulful and playful layering of the story.” The jury also gave a special mention to J Blakeson, the writer and director of THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED, commending his accomplished, original and ambitious filmmaking.

SUTHERLAND AWARD

The longstanding Sutherland Award is presented to the maker of the most original and imaginative first feature screening in the Festival. This year, Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani took the award for their film AJAMI, which was presented by Alfonso Cuarón. Jurors included Paul Greengrass, Kerry Fox and David Parfitt. The jury said “A bold and original piece of filmmaking, AJAMI tells an important story in a thoroughly engrossing and cinematic way. A fantastic achievement, Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani have made a film with a heart and a vision that speaks for a common humanity.”

LONDON FILM FESTIVAL GRIERSON AWARD for Best Documentary in the Festival

This award is co-presented with the Grierson Trust, in commemoration of John Grierson, the grandfather of British documentary. The jury included Nick Broomfield, Molly Dineen, Ellen Fleming and Christopher Hird, and was presented by Broomfield to winner Yoav Shamir for his film DEFAMATION.

On behalf of the jury Nick Broomfield said:

“A fantastic film, Defamation does exactly what documentary, at its best, can do, making us re-examine our assumptions about an important and complex subject, in an absorbing and funny way. The film’s intellectual courage, boldness of conception and the excitement of the journey on which it takes you make this a winning film.”

BFI FELLOWSHIPS

The highest accolade that the British Film Institute bestows was awarded tonight to distinguished British actor John Hurt and renowned Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé for their significant achievements in the fields of acting and directing. Hurt, whose films 44 INCH CHEST and THE LIMITS OF CONTROL, were featured in the festival, received his award from producer Jeremy Thomas and director Michael Caton-Jones both of whom have worked with Hurt on a number of films. Cissé’s TELL ME WHO YOU ARE had its UK premiere at the festival this week and his award was presented to him by actress Charlotte Rampling.

The inaugural Star of London awards were commissioned especially for the Festival and designed by leading sculptor Almuth Tebbenhoff.

Guests at this evening’s festivities included Best Film jurors John Akomfrah, Jarvis Cocker and Iain Softley; Sutherland Trophy jurors Mark Cosgrove, and Gillian Wearing; Best British Newcomer judges Lenny Crooks, Christine Langan, Tessa Ross and Tanya Seghatchian; and Times BFI London Film Festival Grierson Award jurors Ellen Fleming and Christopher Hird. Other guests included Josh Berger, Hugh Bonneville, Peter Buckingham, Greg Dyke, John Fletcher, Lizzie Francke, Steve Jenkins, Cameron McCracken, David Morrissey, Lynda Myles, Stephen Poliakoff, Ken Russell, Sam Taylor-Wood, Ridley Scott, Stewart Till and John Woodward.

"A Prophet" - Within a closed world (Sight & Sound)

Jacques Audiard talks to Ginette Vincendeau about his follow-up to 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped', prison drama 'A Prophet'

In the media frenzy surrounding the controversial 2009 Cannes festival, Jacques Audiard's Grand Prix for A Prophet (Un prophète) got relatively short shrift, at least on the international scene. In France, though, the film's September release made a big splash, with critics overwhelmingly confirming the Cannes jury's high opinion of the film.

A prison movie, A Prophet charts the rise of inmate Malik (Tahar Rahim) - through a mixture of violence, cunning and old-fashioned education - from illiterate, victimised underdog to powerful gang leader. His fate is linked to Corsican godfather César (Niels Arestrup), who makes him execute a contract, a bloody affair which will haunt Malik in unexpected ways.

With only five features in almost 20 years, Jacques Audiard (the son of celebrated scriptwriter Michel Audiard) has steadily forged a reputation as a strong authorial figure who is not afraid of tackling genre, such as the Resistance film in A Self-made Hero (Un héros très discret, 1996), and the thriller in Read My Lips (Sur mes lèvres, 2001) and The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté, 2005). In the past he has worked with high-voltage male stars such as Matthieu Kassovitz, Vincent Cassel and Romain Duris. A Prophet, built on the shoulders of an unknown young actor surrounded by many non-professionals, marks a departure in this respect. But Rahim's charisma and the film's gritty evocation of the prison world make A Prophet every bit as powerful as the earlier films. With it Audiard confirms his unique place in French cinema, while in Rahim a star is born.

How did you develop the script of 'A Prophet'?

There were several things working in parallel, including my desire for realism. Cinema is interesting if it resembles what you see in the street. I understood that I had to change my casting policy and portray people who are rarely represented in French cinema, for instance Arabs and blacks. At the same time, I was following a script by Abdel Raouf Dafri and Nicolas Peufaillit called Le Prophète (The Prophet). But 'the' prophet means Mohammed. There was something heavy and provocative in it, so I changed it to 'a' prophet; there's an irony in it which I don't think gets through.

You used non-professional actors, including real prison inmates.

The cast is very diverse. Tahar Rahim [who plays Malik] is a beginner, though he is outstanding and I never felt his lack of experience. Working with him was remarkable, liberating; he has no past as an actor, no image. There is nothing to fight against - he is just there. Niels Arestrup [César], on the other hand, entirely composed his character. He learned Corsican phonetically and I think that his strictly musical relationship to that language added something to his performance. And then there are many real inmates who brought something extraordinary. I didn't have to explain to them how you enter a courtyard, how you walk along corridors, how you stand alone or in pairs. They knew it all. They even made me change my directing style. Normally you place the camera in relation to the lead actors and organise the background afterwards. I realised this didn't work here - I had to organise the background first and then direct the foreground in relation to it. That was new to me, a real Copernician revolution. I think the realism of the film is there.

Why the fantasy moments in an otherwise realist film?

I visited a few prisons in France and in Switzerland. It was useful, but at one point I realised I had to stop. I didn't want to make a documentary. In the film all is recreated and yet looks real. But I wanted Malik to be more than a criminal. Among other things, adding the ghost of the man he killed gave him interiority very economically. This was interesting both for the psychology of the character and the form of the film. At the same time it brings humour and lightness to such a noir film. It's as if the walls of the cell opened up.

The inmates are Corsicans, Arabs and gypsies, rather than native white French people.

They are all French. Up to a point I think it is insulting to think of a beur [second-generation Arab] as non-French. For me there are conflicts, but they are power relations, not ethnic or racial questions. I could have used Serbs, but the linguistic problems would have been even harder! I simply went for cinematic stereotypes in the same way as American cinema uses Sicilians or Chicanos.

Is there a risk of falling into the stereotype of the Arab as delinquent?

Of course Malik is a delinquent, but he is a good character, he shows great aptitude for learning, he is adaptable, he is brave. Malik is the triumph of intelligence over brute force. I was careful to define him at the outset not as an Arab, but as a vagrant. In the end he does join the Arab group [in prison], and he has a warm relation to his community and culture, but without having a ghetto mentality; he will never be a fanatic.

How do you see your place within contemporary French cinema?

In terms of the film-making process I am an auteur, and I would be very ill at ease in any other system. I would like things to be different, in the sense - and this may be presumptuous - that I would like authors to write for me, to have ideas for me. The French system is not well disposed towards this. A film project in France means a director and a producer, not a scriptwriter and a director.

At home I get annoyed with French cinema, but as soon as I go abroad and see a French film selection, I think, Wow! What variety, what freedom! My place is within this variety.

"Un prophete", de Jacques Audiard (Variety, Screen)

By Justin Chang

A UGC Distribution (in France) release of a Why Not Prods., Page 114, Chic Films (France) presentation of a Why Not Prods., Chic Films, Page 114, France 2 Cinema, UGC Images (France)/Bim Distribuzione (Italy)/Celluloid Dreams (France) co-production, with the participation of France 2, Canal Plus, Cinecinema, with the support of La Region Ile-de-France and La Region Provence Alpes-Cote d'Azur, in partnership with the CNC, in association with Sofia UGC 1, Soficinema 4 and Soficinema 5 Distribution. (International sales: Celluloid Dreams, Paris.) Directed by Jacques Audiard. Screenplay, Thomas Bidegain, Audiard, based on an original idea by Abdel Raouf Dafri, after an original screenplay by Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit.

With: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb, Hichem Yacoubi, Jean-Philippe Ricci, Gilles Cohen, Antoine Basler, Leila Bekhti, Pierre Leccia, Foued Nassah, Jean-Emmanuel Pagni, Frederic Graziani. (French, Arabic, Corsican dialogue)

Genre specialist Jacques Audiard continues his fascination with the secret inner lives of Gaul's criminal underworld in "A Prophet," a tough, absorbingly intricate account of a young French-Arab thug's improbable education behind bars. Applying his jangly aesthetic to a broader canvas than usual, Audiard navigates his protagonist through a grotty, at times overcrowded labyrinth of racially divided gang factions and roughly sketched-in crooks and cons. Though less pleasurably offbeat than the helmer's well-received "Read My Lips" and "The Beat That My Heart Skipped," this is solid, sinewy pulp fiction with strong arthouse prospects abroad and on local release Aug. 26.

Clocking in at an imposing 2½ hours, "A Prophet" is Audiard's fifth and longest feature to date. This has less to do with the intrinsic interest of the central character -- 19-year-old petty criminal Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), who's been sentenced to six years in prison -- than with the thick network of warring tribes he finds himself mired in and ultimately forced to master. It's one of the understated ironies of Audiard's script (co-written with Thomas Bidegain) that for Malik, crime doesn't begin to pay until after he lands in the clink.

Pic breezes its way through the usual prison-movie conventions as Malik is strip-searched, roughed up and quickly enlightened about his place on the jailhouse food chain. In short order, he's targeted by the leader of the prison's Corsican gang, Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup, "The Beat That My Heart Skipped"), who threatens Malik with death unless he murders a fellow Arab inmate, Reyeb (Hichem Yacoubi).

Audiard sustains tension best in these early scenes by emphasizing Malik's physical nakedness and vulnerability. Though prone to his own flashes of temper, he's mostly shy, inarticulate and on the defensive, his eyes shifting anxiously as he takes in his grim surroundings (a visual strategy approximated by the darting handheld camerawork of d.p. Stephane Fontaine and sharp, kinetic rhythms of Juliette Welfling's editing).

Even after Malik completes his mission -- in a sequence of queasy, unnerving brutality -- and confirms himself as a jailbird to be reckoned with, he remains a loner and an outsider, accepted by neither his Corsican superiors (who call him a "dirty Arab") nor the Muslim hoods who form the prison's other dominant bloc. But even though he can barely read or write, Malik turns out to be a quick study in all the ways that count.

The lengthy remainder of the film spans several years and is devoted to Malik's thriving career in and out of prison. Under Luciani's orders, he manages to secure a few days' leave at a time for good behavior, which he uses to deepen his criminal connections and bump off rivals, often working with his only real friend, ex-con Riad (Adel Bencherif).

A certain mechanical quality inevitably seeps in as the web of conflicting allegiances takes on a dizzying complexity; Malik comes to seem almost invincible, his upward trajectory circumscribed by the screenplay and the pic's not especially subtle title (it could just as easily taken the name of Audiard's 1996 feature, "A Self-Made Hero"). Offsetting these qualities are the tale's headlong momentum, Audiard's flair for pulse-pounding setpieces and the intensely physical lead performance of Rahim, who holds the screen in a role that tends more toward recessive, inward-looking moments than showy ones.

Other perfs are effective enough in mostly one-dimensional parts, with the singular exception of Arestrup's chilling turn as a crime boss who will accept nothing less than Malik's complete submission. While Audiard deploys a few modernist touches such as intertitles, slo-mo and iris shots, as well as a full-bodied score by Alexandre Desplat, an atmosphere of gritty realism predominates, borne out by Michel Barthelemy's stark production design and the film's matter-of-fact approach to the corruption of the prison authorities.

More than one option

• (Co) Canal Plus
  Filmography, Year, Role
• (Co) Canal Plus
  Filmography, Year, Role

More than one option

• (Person) Alexandre Desplat
• (Person) alexandre desplat

Camera (color), Stephane Fontaine; editor, Juliette Welfling; music, Alexandre Desplat; production designer, Michel Barthelemy; costume designer, Virginie Montel; sound, Brigitte Taillandier, Francis Wargnier, Jean-Paul Hurier, Marc Doisne; line producer, Martine Cassinelli; assistant director, Serge Onteniente; casting, Richard Rousseau. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (competing), May 16, 2009. Running time: 154 MIN.

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By Jonathan Romney

Dir. Jacques Audiard. France/Italy. 2009. 150 mins.

When it comes to hard-bitten crime cinema, Jacques Audiard has few equals in Europe, and his violent, gripping prison drama A Prophet shows him extending his range with unimpeachable command. The story of a gauche young inmate who rises through the criminal ranks to become a formidable player, A Prophet works both as hard-edged, painstaking detailed social realism and as a compelling genre entertainment.

The only thing that might hamper commercial prospects is a labyrinthine, sometimes perplexing narrative, but otherwise the film – to be released in France in August - should have the same international appeal as last year’s Cannes crime hit Gomorrah. Its unapologetically testosterone-laden tenor will give the film a resonance way beyond the international art-house constituency that embraced Audiard’s last film, The Beat That My Heart Skipped. Expect this stimulating film also to be much discussed in the French media in terms of its topical backgrounds, the national prison system and France’s Islamic population.

Set largely within prison walls and featuring an almost exclusively male and non-professional cast, the film details the prison career of Malik el Djebena (newcomer Rahim), a 19-year-old man of North African origin but estranged from the Muslim community. Sentenced to six years on an unspecified charge, Malik is chosen by Cesar Luciani (Arestrup), feared kingpin of the prison’s reigning Corsican gang, to kill a prisoner named Reyeb (Yacoubi) who initially offers Malik drugs in exchange for sex. Malik commits the bloody murder, and – thanks to Luciani’s near-total control of the prison’s internal workings - gets off scot-free. This makes him a lieutenant in the prison’s Corsican gang, initially entrusted only with menial duties and disparaged as an Arab outsider.

Haunted by visions of a ghostly Reyeb, and determined to get on, the illiterate Malik not only learns to read, but teaches himself Corsican, surreptitiously learning the ins and outs of Luciani’s business. Another inmate, Ryad (Bencherif), becomes Malik’s friend, later his ally on the outside. When Luciani arranges periods of leave for Malik, entrusting him with various criminal missions, Malik takes the opportunity to do some business of his own, setting up a drugs trade with Ryad’s aid. Life gets increasingly dangerous for Malik, both inside and outside prison walls, but he seems – partly through Reyeb’s benign, unearthly influence - to lead a charmed life. Powers of prophecy are attributed to him after surviving a bizarre car crash – an incident presaged in an enigmatic fantasy sequence.

Immensely detailed both in its accounts of prison life and of the politics of organized crime, A Prophet comes across as both a realistic film and a deeply cynical one: it is extremely matter-of-fact in depicting a dog-eat-dog world.

Audiard fans may miss the subtler psychological shadings of his earlier films, as well as some of his more fabulist story-telling tendencies and stylistic flourishes. Shot by Stéphane Fontaine with a brutally restricted iron-and-cement palette, this is a business-like film, with a cinematic language as punchy and stripped-down as they come: only a few stylistic frills (the aforementioned fantasy sequence, a blurry iris-style effect evocative of Malik’s claustrophobic existence) break the general tenor, and even the occasional visitations of the dead Reyeb are assimilated perfectly, barely compromising the overall realism. Chapter titles and captions identifying key characters help us keep a tab on the film’s complexities.

Newcomer Tahar Rahim carries an extraordinary weight, on screen practically in every shot, and proves a mesmerising centre to the film, limning Malik as an unformed, seemingly weightless figure at the start, who gradually acquires considerable depth, forging his personality and mind through hard conscious struggle. Rahim’s quiet, seemingly artless charisma makes Malik immensely sympathetic, even though this ruthlessly lucid film makes no bones about the amoral lengths he goes to in the name of survival. A largely unfamiliar cast – very few of them the central-casting plug-uglies usually seem in prison dramas – give the film a flesh-and-blood plausibility, while the weather-beaten Niels Arestrup (who also appeared in Audiard’s The Beat…) is formidable and menacing, eventually even vulnerable as the old-guard don.