Rich Peppiatt’s drama Kneecap, which made it onto short list for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards earlier this week, has scooped the top Crystal Arrow for best film at France’s Les Arcs Film Festival.
The prize, awarded in partnership with state broadcaster France Télévisions, comes with a digital promotional campaign worth €20,000 to support the theatrical release in France next summer by local distributor Wayna Pitch.
The picture also won Best Original Music, with Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante winning the €1,000 prize donated by the French music rights management body SACEM.
The jury – announced as a collective without a president – comprised actor Pio Marmaï, writer Delphine de Vigan, director and producer Peter Kerekes, actor Céline Sallette, singer, actor and producer Sofiane Zermani and composer Herdís Stafánsdóttir.
In a third prize, decided by eight local high school students, the film also won the Young Jury Prize. The young jury also gave a special mention to Bernhard Wenger’s Peacock, which also won the Audience Award.
In other main jury-decided awards, Norwegian broken marriage drama Loveable by Lilja Ingolfsdottir won the Grand Jury Prize.
The film’s star Helga Gurenalso scooped one of two actor prizes for her performance as a mother with four children and a demanding career, who finds herself at a crossroads when her husband asks for a divorce.
The second acting prize went to Marilena Amato for her performance in Italian drama Vittoria as a woman who upsets the balance of her harmonious family life when she becomes obsessed with the idea of adopting a young girl who visits her in a recurring dream.
Best Cinematography went to Lithuanian cinematographer and director Vytautas Katkus for his work in compatriot filmmaker Saulė Bliuvaitė’s coming of age drama Toxic, which won Locarno’s Golden Leopard earlier this year.
The 16th Les Arcs Film Festival ran from December 14 to 21 in its namesake skiing resort in the French Alps.
Alongside local audiences and holidaymakers, some 700 cinema professionals from across Europe also descended on resort for three-day Les Arcs Industry Village – spanning a co-production market, Work in Progress showcase, Talent Village and Music Village – to network, scout projects and also hit the slopes.
Other highlights of the festival included a Focus on Iceland as well as tributes to the work of Italian director Matteo Garrone and actress Karin Viard, who both attended and gave masterclasses.
Further guests of honor included Noomi Rapace who joined actress and director Ariane Labed in a discussion on their careers and the place of women in cinema, in partnership with Le Lab Femmes de Cinéma.
Additionally, Italian director Paola Cortellesi was feted with the Les Arcs Prix Femme de Cinéma for her career and particular her recent box office hit There’s Still Tomorrow, exploring domestic violence and female emancipation in post-World War Two Italy.
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