Rotterdam thinks young
'Bad Company' takes critics prize
Awards went to Japanese director Tomoyuki Furumaya's "Bad Company," a realistically portrayed drama of teenagers driven to despair by their strict disciplinarian school environment; to German Maria Speth's "The Days Between," a striking debut about a young Berlin woman's ambiguous relationships with two different men; and to Uruguayan co-directors Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll's humorous tale of twentysomething slackers, "25 Watts," which doubled as the MovieZone youth jury choice.
Main jury was headed by former Rotterdam fest director Emile Fallaux. The three equally ranked Tigers carry a cash award of 10,000 euros ($9,380) each, plus guaranteed Dutch theatrical and homevideo distribution and broadcast sale to national pubcaster VPRO.
'Bad,' 'Hole' score
"Bad Company" also took the Fipresci international critics prize, with a special mention going to another Japanese feature, Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's story of a lonely man reaching out for love, "Hole in the Sky."
The Canal Plus Audience Award went to "Promises," a U.S. documentary feature about children caught in the Jewish-Palestinian conflict, directed by B.Z. Goldberg, Justine Shapiro and Carlos Bolado.
Runners-up in the public polls included Christopher Nolan's film noir puzzle, "Memento"; Italian Silvio Soldini's crowdpleaser "Bread and Tulips"; and two Swedish features, Lukas Moodysson's comedy-drama set in a 1970s commune, "Together," and "Jalla! Jalla!," a digitally shot debut feature by 23-year-old director Josef Fares about love, sex and cultural differences.
'Place' takes prize
The KNF Dutch Film Critics Circle prize was awarded to Oskar Rohler's dramatic reflection on changes in unified Germany, "No Place to Go," while the NETPAC award for the promotion of Asian Cinema went to Miriam Shahriar's debut feature about the harsh fate of Iranian women in a remote village, "Daughters of the Sun."
Centerpiece of the main program and the focus of considerable acquisitions interest at Rotterdam was the European premiere of "Battle Royale," veteran Japanese director Kinji Fukusaku's controversial drama about a deadly "Survivor"-style game.
Running Jan. 28-Feb. 1 as a parallel event to the main fest, Rotterdam's independent feature project lab, Cinemart, this year clocked an increase of 100 industry professionals, putting total participants at 712.
The Netherlands' Prince Claus Fund for the first time this year awarded a film grant of $14,000 to a Cinemart project best representing the theme of "Urban Heroes." This went to Tadjik director Bakhtiar Khoudoinazarov's "Living Fish" from Pandora Film.
