Seattle Film Fest Winners

Spanning 25 days, the Seattle Film Fest may be the world's longest. (Seattle residents see more films per capita than any other American city.) It ends tonight with a screening of its 418th film, Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep. At the annual awards brunch at the Seattle Needle, the juries selected Gregg Kavet and Andy Robin's Live Free or Die as best new American film; South Korean filmmaker Shin Dong-il (Host & Guest) as best director; Gitmo: The New Rules of War as best documentary; Before Dawn as best narrative short; Ringo as best animated short; and Lot 63, Grave C as best documentary short. The Golden Needle audience awards went to OSS 117: Nest of Spies, a French James Bond spoof, for best film; The Trials of Darryl Hunt, for best documentary; Goran Dukic (Wristcutters) for best director; Fiona Gordon (The Iceberg) for best actress; Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) for best actor; and Full Disclosure for best short.

Matt Dentler adds more info at his SXSW blog.

Over the weekend, Nora and I caught up with Sundance flick House of Sand, a magical Brazilian period drama shot on location in the towering, endless sand dunes of Maranhao, in Northern Brazil. Fernanda Montenegro (who was nominated for best actress for Central Station) and Fernanda Torres both give fierce, physical performances as a mother and daughter stranded in the middle of nowhere. Judging from our relative responses, the movie may hit the sweet spot for older art-house audiences. In other words, I loved it, Nora said it was OK. SPC opens it on August 11.

  Similarly, she responded better to French-Canadian Jean-Marc Vallee's C.R.A.Z.Y., a sprawling narrative about a gay kid trying to cope with his macho dad and four brothers, which shared the audience award at 2005's AFI Fest. And we both adored Quinceanera, which won both the grand jury and audience prizes at Sundance in January. Shot in L.A.'s Echo Park district, the movie introduces Emily Rios as a virgin heading toward her 15th birthday celebration who discovers that somehow, she got pregnant. SPC opens the film August 2.

The high point of the fest: Robin Guthrie (of the Cocteau Twins) and jazz pianist Harold Budd performed live for the first time (outside a studio) for a packed house at the Egyptian, while we all watched a selection of rarely seen avant-garde shorts, including Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon and the silent Fall of the House of Usher. The music was minimal, hypnotic, free-flowing. Afterward Budd said they just tune into each other's emotions. An unforgettable night.   

Comments

[Wes Kim]

Anne -- It was wonderful meeting you at SIFF this year, putting a face to the blog, as it were. And of course, nice job with John Anderson and Laura Kim's Q&A today. Hope to see you again at a future SIFF! Best, Wes