Santa Barbara International Film Festival
ICAIC
SANTA BARBARA -- Referring to the not-so-logical years leading up to adolescence, Pavel Giroud's The Silly Age is a visually vivid and sharply sardonic rites-of-passage memoir set against the dawning of Fidel Castro's Cuba.
That country's official Oscar submission, the co-production with Spain and Venezuela took home the Nueva Vision Award for best Spanish-language film at the recent Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Drawing from screenwriter Arturo Infante's amusing recollections of growing up with his naive mother and eccentric grandmother, the film packs a commercial appeal that could translate into modest pesetas with the right distributor.
The year is 1958 and 10-year-old Samuel (a perfectly cast Ivan Carreira) and his divorced mother, Alicia (Susana Tejera) have arrived at the Havana home of his grandmother (a terrific Mercedes Sampietro), a feisty portrait photographer.
Decidedly the ungrandmotherly type, she insists the boy address her as Violeta and is quick to lay down the house rules, which include keeping out of several rooms and steering clear of the cupboard containing her collection of saints.
But after a strained start, the two soon form a bond, initially over their shared disappointment in the naive Alicia.
In his first feature, Giroud has taken Infante's alternately audacious and winsome script and treated it to a strikingly shot and lit production vibrantly in keeping with the quirky nostalgic tone.
That artistry extends beyond the energetic cinematography to the color-saturated period production design and Alicia's frivolous wardrobe selection which effectively provide an oblivious contrast to the tremendous social upheaval waiting in the wings.
ICAIC
SANTA BARBARA -- Referring to the not-so-logical years leading up to adolescence, Pavel Giroud's The Silly Age is a visually vivid and sharply sardonic rites-of-passage memoir set against the dawning of Fidel Castro's Cuba.
That country's official Oscar submission, the co-production with Spain and Venezuela took home the Nueva Vision Award for best Spanish-language film at the recent Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Drawing from screenwriter Arturo Infante's amusing recollections of growing up with his naive mother and eccentric grandmother, the film packs a commercial appeal that could translate into modest pesetas with the right distributor.
The year is 1958 and 10-year-old Samuel (a perfectly cast Ivan Carreira) and his divorced mother, Alicia (Susana Tejera) have arrived at the Havana home of his grandmother (a terrific Mercedes Sampietro), a feisty portrait photographer.
Decidedly the ungrandmotherly type, she insists the boy address her as Violeta and is quick to lay down the house rules, which include keeping out of several rooms and steering clear of the cupboard containing her collection of saints.
But after a strained start, the two soon form a bond, initially over their shared disappointment in the naive Alicia.
In his first feature, Giroud has taken Infante's alternately audacious and winsome script and treated it to a strikingly shot and lit production vibrantly in keeping with the quirky nostalgic tone.
That artistry extends beyond the energetic cinematography to the color-saturated period production design and Alicia's frivolous wardrobe selection which effectively provide an oblivious contrast to the tremendous social upheaval waiting in the wings.
- 2/11/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Suzanne Chisolm and Michael Parfit's documentary Saving Luna, which recounts efforts to save a lone baby killer whale, was voted the audience choice for best feature at the 23rd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which concluded Sunday.
The fest winners were announced at the Closing Night ceremonies, which also included the U.S. premiere of Giuseppe Tornatore's The Unknown Woman.
Richie Mehta's Amal was awarded the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema, recognizing an indie feature made outside mainstream Hollywood.
The Heineken Red Star Award, set aside for "the most progressive and gifted independent film director," went to Tao Ruspoli for his Fix, starring Shawn Andrews and Olivia Wilde, which offers up a one day-odyssey through the Los Angeles as two documentary filmmakers try to get a young man from jail to rehab.
The German feature Beautiful Bitch, directed by Martin Theo Krieger, was named best foreign film.
The Nueva Vision Award for the best Spanish-language film went to La edad de la peseta (The Silly Age), directed by Pavel Giroud.
The fest winners were announced at the Closing Night ceremonies, which also included the U.S. premiere of Giuseppe Tornatore's The Unknown Woman.
Richie Mehta's Amal was awarded the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema, recognizing an indie feature made outside mainstream Hollywood.
The Heineken Red Star Award, set aside for "the most progressive and gifted independent film director," went to Tao Ruspoli for his Fix, starring Shawn Andrews and Olivia Wilde, which offers up a one day-odyssey through the Los Angeles as two documentary filmmakers try to get a young man from jail to rehab.
The German feature Beautiful Bitch, directed by Martin Theo Krieger, was named best foreign film.
The Nueva Vision Award for the best Spanish-language film went to La edad de la peseta (The Silly Age), directed by Pavel Giroud.
The animated film "Persepolis", from France, Denys Arcand's "Days of Darkness" from Canada, Johnnie To's "Exiled" from Hong Kong and Cristian Mungiu's Palm d'Or winner "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" are among the 63 films that have qualified for Oscar consideration in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' foreign language film category.
The record number of 63 entries include first-time submissions from Azerbaijan (Farid Gumbatov's "Caucasia") and Ireland (Tom Collins' "Kings").
Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 22, and the Oscars will be handed out Feb. 24.
The complete list follows:
Argentina, "XXY", Lucia Puenzo, director; Australia, "The Home Song Stories", Tony Ayres; Austria, "The Counterfeiters", Stefan Ruzowitzky; Azerbaijan, "Caucasia", Farid Gumbatov; Bangladesh, "On the Wings of Dreams", Golam Rabbany, Biplob; Belgium, "Ben X", Nic Balthazar; Bosnia and Herzegovina, "It's Hard to Be Nice", Srdan Vuletic; Brazil, "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation," Cao Hamburger; and Bulgaria, "Warden of the Dead", Ilian Simeonov.
Canada, "Days of Darkness", Denys Arcand; Chile, "Padre Nuestro", Rodrigo Sepulveda; China, "The Knot", Yin Li; Colombia, "Satanas", Andi Baiz; Croatia, "Armin", Ognjen Svilicic; Cuba, "The Silly Age", Pavel Giroud; Czech Republic, "I Served the King of England", Jiri Menzel, director; Denmark, "The Art of Crying", Peter Schonau Fog; Egypt, "In the Heliopolis Flat", Mohamed Khan; and Estonia, "The Class", Ilmar Raag.
The record number of 63 entries include first-time submissions from Azerbaijan (Farid Gumbatov's "Caucasia") and Ireland (Tom Collins' "Kings").
Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 22, and the Oscars will be handed out Feb. 24.
The complete list follows:
Argentina, "XXY", Lucia Puenzo, director; Australia, "The Home Song Stories", Tony Ayres; Austria, "The Counterfeiters", Stefan Ruzowitzky; Azerbaijan, "Caucasia", Farid Gumbatov; Bangladesh, "On the Wings of Dreams", Golam Rabbany, Biplob; Belgium, "Ben X", Nic Balthazar; Bosnia and Herzegovina, "It's Hard to Be Nice", Srdan Vuletic; Brazil, "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation," Cao Hamburger; and Bulgaria, "Warden of the Dead", Ilian Simeonov.
Canada, "Days of Darkness", Denys Arcand; Chile, "Padre Nuestro", Rodrigo Sepulveda; China, "The Knot", Yin Li; Colombia, "Satanas", Andi Baiz; Croatia, "Armin", Ognjen Svilicic; Cuba, "The Silly Age", Pavel Giroud; Czech Republic, "I Served the King of England", Jiri Menzel, director; Denmark, "The Art of Crying", Peter Schonau Fog; Egypt, "In the Heliopolis Flat", Mohamed Khan; and Estonia, "The Class", Ilmar Raag.
- 10/18/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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