'Freedom' wins Montreal top prize

Gatlif film wins Grand Prix des Americas

By BRENDAN KELLY

MONTREAL -- Algerian-born helmer Tony Gatlif's "Freedom" nabbed the Montreal World Film Festival's Grand Prix des Americas at the closing ceremony on Monday night.

Film, which generated the most buzz at the fest, also won the public award for most popular pic and shared the Ecumenical Prize with German helmer Lancelot von Naso's "Ceasefire."

"Freedom" stars France-based Quebec thesp Marie-Josee Croze as a teacher in a French village during WWII who forges fake ID cards to help local Gypsies avoid deportation by the Nazis.

The special Grand Prix of the jury, essentially the runner-up prize, was given to Chinese helmer Wang Quan'an's "Weaving Girl," a drama about a woman working in a Chinese textile factory, which also won the Fipresci Intl. Critics Prize.

Director nod went to Japanese helmer Kichitaro Negishi for "Villon's Wife," based on the novel of the same name by Osamu Dazai, released to mark the 100th anniversary of the late author's birth.

Marie Leuenberger drew actress kudos for her lead role in the Swiss pic "Will You Marry Us?," with Cyron Melville taking home the hardware for actor for Danish pic "Love and Rage," from helmer Morten Giese.

Alain Le Henry won the award for screenplay for the French pic "I'm Glad That My Mother Is Alive," from father-and-son filmmaking team Claude and Nathan Miller.

The nod for artistic contribution went to the Serbian-Bosnian-Bulgarian co-production "St. George Shoots the Dragon," from helmer Srdjan Dragojevic. Mohsen Amiryoussefi's Iranian film "Fire Keeper" won the Innovation Award.

In the First Features competition, the Golden Zenith went to French helmer Sophie Laloy's "You Will Be Mine," the Silver Zenith was handed to Iranian director Mohammadreza Vatandoost's "When the Lemons Turned Yellow," while the Bronze Zenith went to "Riff Raff," by helmers Cristina Franco, Jorge Alejandro Fegan, Diego Coral Lopez and Nataly Valencia.

Montreal helmer-scribe Roger Cantin's inspirational drama "A Cargo to Africa," the lone Canuck entry in competition, won the public award for most popular Canadian film at the fest.

The Glauber Rocha Award for Latin American Film, also voted on by the public, went to Argentine helmer Daniel Bustamante's "Andres Doesn't Want to Take a Siesta."

Roshane Saidnattar's French-Cambodian pic "The Main Thing Is to Stay Alive" drew docu honors.

The Montreal World Film Festival has stumbled along in recent years amid financial problems -- fallout from a bitter fight between the fest and the country's main public funders. But the public film agencies are once again pumping coin into the fest, and there appeared to be an upswing in attendance, with packed halls at the Imperial Cinema and the Quartier Latin multiplex.