(MENAFN- Arab Times) Icelandic comedy "Rams" emerged the winner of the Un Certain Regard section at this year's Cannes Film Festival, with former docmaker Grimur Hakonarson accepting the top prize from jury president Isabella Rossellini.
The film, about estranged sheep-farmer brothers reconciled when their familial flock is endangered, was warmly received at the festival, with Variety critic Alissa Simon commending it for its "wonderfully wry, charmingly understated comic moments." New Europe Film Sales is handling sales for the pic; deals for Taiwan, France and other European territories have already been secured.
"Rams" is the second creature-themed feature to take the prize in as many years: Hungarian canine thriller "White "" was last year's winner.
The runner-up jury prize was presented to Croatia's "The High Sun," an era-spanning triptych of love stories from writer-director Dalibor Matanic, described by Variety's Jay Weissberg as the helmer's strongest work to date.
Two former jury prize victors, meanwhile, were honored again tonight. Japan's Kiyoshi Kurosawa, whose "Tokyo Sonata" won in 2008, received the best director award for "Journey to the Shore," his low-key fusion of ghost story and human drama. Romanian auteur Corneliu Porumboiu - awarded in 2009 for "Police, Adjective" - was presented with a special Prix "Un Certain Talent" for the "masterful narration" of "The Treasure."
Two first-time filmmakers were jointly rewarded with a Special Prize for Promising Futures, for tackling themes relating to personal liberties: Iran's Ida Panahandeh for "Nahid" and India's Neeraj Ghaywan for "Masaan." In a change from recent years, no acting prizes were presented by Rossellini's jury.
Among those left empty-handed was Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the 2010 Palme d'Or winner whose new film "Cemetery of Splendor" was rapturously received by critics - with many questioning why it wasn't in the main competition lineup.
A woman has topped a competition at this year's Cannes, and with a stirring woman's drama to boot. "Share," a short from American Pippa Bianco, a student at AFI's Directing Workshop for Women, took the top prize Friday at the Cannes' Cinefondation Selection, the world's highest-profile film school student competition.
Also written by Bianco, and short by Cinefondation standards: Only 11 minutes - produced by Tyler Byrne, Carly Hugo and Danielle Oexmann stars Taissa Farmiga ("American Horror Story") as a 15-year-old girl going back to school after someone shares an explicit video of her on the Internet. "We tried to be very respectful, not sensationalist, in the telling of the story," Bianco commented, adding she was working on a feature adaptation of "Share." Bianco won EUR15,000.More crucially, her first feature is ensured a Cannes Official Selection berth.
Chile's Ignacio Juricic Merillan, a student at the film and TV faculty of the Universidad de Chile, took the Selection second prize, for "Lost Queens," about a Rodrigo, an 18-year-old who's arrested in a televised raid of a club where he works as a drag queen, and fears his family will see him on TV.
Cinefondation Selection's third prize went ex-aequo to Russian Maria Guskova, a student at Russia's Screenwriters and Film Directors High Courses, and Ian Garrido Lopez at Barcelona's Escac, most probably Spain's best-known film school.
Delivering early verdicts on Cannes Palme d'Or contenders, Fipresci and Ecumenical Jury Awards went to Laszlo Nemes' "Son of Saul" and Nanni Moretti's "My Mother," respectively.
Fipresci's competition nod vindicates Cannes' selection of Holocaust drama "Son of Saul," the only first feature in competition that has gone on to abundant international sales for Films Distribution.
A French press Palme d'Or frontrunner, "My Mother," again sold by Films Distributiion, has scored well with overseas reviewers, as was the case with "Saul." Neither Fipresci nor Ecumenical jury plumped for either of Cannes' competition frontrunners, according to critics' polls at least: Todd Haynes' "Carole" and Hou Hsiao Hsien's "Assassins."
Announced Saturday, further kudos from the Fipresci International Federation of Film Critics were won by Un Certain Regard entry "Masaan," directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, and Santiago Mitre's Versatile-sold "Paulina," which already topped Critics' Week on Thursday.
Directed by Marcia Tambutti, a granddaughter of Salvador Allende, "Beyond My Grandfather Allende" has scoped Cannes' first L'Oeil d'Or, awarded to its best documentary.
Stig Bjorkman's "Ingrid Bergman, in Her Own Words," earned a mention.
Snapped up by Edouard Waintrop for Directors' Fortnight, Tambutti's first feature, "Allende" portrays her grandfather, Chilean president Salvador Allende, not as a political icon but in personal terms, as a family man, with his friends, on holiday, "relating in a special way with almost everyone," Tambutti told Variety before Cannes.
A Chilean-Mexican feature, produced by Errante, Martifilms and Fragua Cine, Tambutti's documented search for a more intimate sense of her grandfather also breaks with her family's silence about him.
The pooch from "Arabian Nights" fetched the Palm Dog award at Cannes on Friday. Lucky, who appeared in the Portuguese film, was found to be top dog at the UK Film Centre pavilion.
"I think it was the jumpers (sweaters) - it has 10 different dog jumpers in this film," said film critic Kate Muir while presenting the award.
The Maltipoo - half Maltese and half miniature poodle - even got to bark a couple of remarks in an acceptance speech.
Two border collies nabbed the prize for second place. The father-son duo were seen in "The Lobster" costarring with Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz.
The lighthearted award has come under some criticism by the French, who say it's too frivolous for the high-minded films of Cannes.
"Luckily, I like dogs," a French reporter told Yahoo News. "But seen from the French perspective, this is a bit bizarre. The British are weird."
Palm jury member Peter Bradshaw was blase about the comment, citing that the event is a "much-needed dose of Anglo-Saxon common sense."
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