Fipresci hands prize to 'Blood'

Anderson to receive award in San Sebastian

By JOHN HOPEWELL

MADRID — Paul Thomas Anderson’s searing portrait of overweening ambition, “There Will Be Blood,” has won the Fipresci (the Intl. Federation of Film Critics) Grand Prix for film of the year.

Anderson will pick up the prize in person at the opening ceremony of San Sebastian Festival on Sept. 18.

The latest kudos comes after “Blood” took director at Berlin and Academy Awards for Daniel Day Lewis for lead actor and Robert Elswit for cinematography.

The plaudit from the world’s foremost film critics’ org consolidates Anderson’s position as one of the most critically admired directors out.

Fipresci noted Monday that Anderson had been a clear winner among the 242 critics who voted this year for the Grand Prix.

Anderson already won a Fipresci Grand Prix in 2000 for “Magnolia.”

Other recent winners, pointing to top niches in a modern critics’ pantheon, are Nuri Ceylan Bilge’s “Uzak,” Jean-Luc Godard’s “Notre musique,” Kim Ki-duk’s “3-Iron,” Pedro Almodovar’s “Volver” and, last year, Cristian Mungiu’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days.”