Ft. Lauderdale, Hawaii, and Shorts International Winners
Ft. Lauderdale, Hawaii, and Shorts International Winners
Compiled by Mark Rabinowitz
>> Ft. Lauderdale Fest Bestows Awards
The 1998 Fort Lauderdale Film Festival wrapped over the weekend, and
presented its awards at the Luminaries Gala on Friday night. John
Boorman’s Sony Pictures Classics “The General,” Todd Solondz’s
“Happiness” (currently in limited release through Good Machine
Releasing) and Roberto Benigni’s Miramax release, “Life is Beautiful“
were the big winners, with Benigni’s film picking up three nods and “The
General” and “Happiness” winning two awards apiece. “The General” took
home the jury prizes for best film and best director, while Benigni’s
and Solondz’s films tied for two critics’ prizes each, best film and
best actor and Benigni also took home the critics’ prize for best
director. For the acting nod, Benigni tied with “Happiness” star Dylan
Baker.
Among the remaining jury prizes, best foreign language film went to
Stefan Ruzowitzky’s Stratosphere release, “The Inheritors,” while the
best comedy went to Aldo Baglio, Giovanni Storti, Giacomo Poretti and
Massimo Venier’s “Three Men and a Leg” (“Tre Uomini e Una Gamba”) and
the best drama prize went to Joan Chen’s directorial debut, “Xiu Xiu,
The Sent Down Girl,” also due to be released by Stratosphere
Entertainment.
The critics’ prize for best first feature went to Kirk Jones’ excellent
upcoming film, “Waking Ned Devine,” due to be released this Fall/Winter
by Fox Searchlight. The best short subject in the critics’ prizes went
to Danielle Faraldo’s “The Floys of Neighborly Lane.”
indieWIRE will publish a complete wrap-up of the FLIFF.
>> Hawaii Fest Wraps, Announces Awards
The 1998 Hawaii International Film Festival announced the winners of its
awards last week, and Korea’s Kwang Mo Lee took home the Golden Maile
Award for Best Feature Film for “Spring in My Hometown,” while the
Golden Maile Award for Best Documentary Film went to Japanese director
Motohashi Seeichi for “Nadya’s Village.” The Golden Maile jury was
composed of New Zealand film critic Jonathan Dennis, Philippina director
Marilou Diaz-Abaya (“In the Navel of the Sea”) Vogue and NPR film critic
John Powers and Laura Kim (USA), an independent film marketing
executive.
The PrimeCo Audience Awards were given to three films, a feature,
documentary and short, with “Bird People in China,” directed by Takashi
Miike picking up the award for best feature, “Hawaiian Voices: Bridging
Past to Present,” by noted Hawaiian slack key musician Eddie Kamae and
“Journey of Flapper Jane” by Greg Cosh picked up the short award.
The Eastman Kodak Award for Excellence in Cinematography went to
legendary Hungarian cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, who shot “Easy
Rider,” “Five Easy Pieces,” “What’s Up Doc?,” “Paper Moon,” “Frances,”
“Ghostbusters,” “Say Anything,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and the
upcoming “Jack Frost,” among many others. According to a Festival
spokesperson, the Kodak award was the first citation Kovacs has received
for his body of work. “Kaho’olawe,” by Hawaiian filmmaker David H.
Kalama Jr. won the Aloha Airlines Hawai’i Film and Videomakers Award.
Kalama wrote, directed and produced the film.
indieWIRE will publish a full wrap-up on the festival.
>> Shorts International Fest Wraps, Gives Awards
The Second Annual Shorts International Film Festival handed out its
awards last week, with a star-studded jury handing out kudos to six
films. Jay Rosenblatt’s “Human Remains” picked up the documentary award,
while Enrique Chediak won the student award for “El Rio” (“The River”).
Chediak is also a rising cinematographer, shooting such features as Amos
Poe’s “Frogs For Snakes” and Morgan J. Freeman’s “Desert Blue” and
“Hurricane Streets” in recent years. Debra Soloman’s “Everybody’s
Pregnant” picked up the animation award, while Sylvie Rosenthal’s “La
Bombe au Chocolat” won for best comedy short. The drama award went to
“Christmas in the Air” (“Noel au Balcon”) by Martine Doyen, while the
experimental prize went to “17 Seconds to Sophie,” by Bill Cote.
The jury was composed of Mia Farrow, Billy Baldwin, Rosie Perez, Steve
Buscemi, Mary Louise Parker, Liev Schreiber, Rachel Horowitz, Brian Cox,
Mili Avital, Sheila Nevins, Carolyn Marks-Blackwood, Adele Lutz, Rise
Cale, Jonathan Weisgal and George Dawes Green.
