Montreal: Italian director and novelist Cristina Comencini’s touching family drama The Best Day of My Life (Il piu bel giorno della mia vita) is the winner of the Grand Prix des Ameriques, top award for a feature film in competition at this year’s Montreal World Film Festival. The Special Grand Prix Jury prize went to Turkish director Tayfun Pirselimoglu for Innowhereland (Hicbiryerde). The WFF2002 awards were handed out at a gala closing-night ceremony at Place des Arts, Sept. 2.

The festival-going public, WFF’s strongest component, handed the Air Canada People’s Award for most popular film to Danish director Ole Bornedal’s radical melodrama I Am Dina (Seville Pictures). The film’s lead, Maria Bonnevie, was named best actress by the jury along with Leila Hatami for her role in Alireza Raisan’s Iranian film The Deserted Station. Best actor award went to Alexei Chadov for his performance in Russian director Alexei Balabanov’s Chechnyan war drama The War.

The jury’s directing award went to French actress Sophie Marceau for her feature debut Parlez-moi de d’amour. Best artistic contribution went to popular Spanish director Carlos Saura for Salome. At press time, neither Parlez-moi d’amour, Salome, voted second most popular by the public, nor The War had confirmed Canadian distribution.

First prize in this year’s official short film competition went to French director Philippe Orreindy for J’attendrai le suivant.

Canadian awards

The two Canadian films in the official long-form competition, Manon Briand’s La Turbulence des Fluides (Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm) and Brad Fraser’s Leaving Metropolis (Film Tonic), were shut out. However, Briand’s Turbulence won the $25,000 Telefilm Canada Prize for best Canadian feature as chosen by the public.

Another Canadian winner, Ori Kowarksy’s Passover story Various Positions, won the Prix de Montreal for best first feature. Toronto director Deborah Day received a special mention for her feature debut, Expecting.

Festival exposure will definitely help the release potential of several films, among them, Burr Steers’ dark family comedy Igby Goes Down (MGM); Karen Moncrieff’s story of adolescent self-discovery Blue Car (Alliance Atlantis); Jacob Berger’s Aime ton pere (Remstar Distribution); three films from Seville Pictures, Francois Ozon’s musical murder mystery 8 Femmes, the closing-night film, Michel Blanc’s Embrassez qui vous voudrez and I Am Dina; Fernando Meirelle’s visceral Rio slum drama City of God (AAC/Miramax Films); and a handful of Canadian films, notably Briand’s Turbulence, Day’s Expecting and Tim Southam’s The Bay of Love and Sorrows (AAC).

‘Montreal was fantastic for both me and Expecting,’ says Day. ‘What the festival gave us was a great launch for the film and a great distribution deal with Equinox Entertainment.’

WFF2002 awards

The new $25,000 Prix Glauber Rocha for best Latin American film went to Raul Ruiz’s video chronicle Rhapsodie Chilienne (Chili/France). Ruiz’s film also won the FIPRESCI international critics award, with an honorable mention for Vancouver-based director Ann Marie Fleming for her short film Blue Skies.

The Prix Belanger Sauve for most popular Latin American film this year went to Diego Arsuaga’s political satire The Last Train (El Utimo tren). The tripartite South American coproduction also picked up the festival jury prize for best screenplay (Arsuaga), as well as the Ecumenical prize.

As part of a new African tribute section this year, Raja Amari’s Red Satin (Satin Rouge), a Tunisian/France coproduction, won the $25,000 award for best African feature film as chosen by the public.

The FedEx Prize for best Canadian short film went to Irez Paabo for the animated short Loon Dreaming/La reve du hazard (National Film Board).

This year’s WFF jury was chaired by Iranian director and triple Grand Prix des Ameriques winner Majid Majidi, accompanied by Spanish director Antonio Betancor, Canadian writer/ director Charles Biname, French writer/director Nina Companeez, German actor Heino Ferch and Italian director Maurizio Nichetti.

The star-hungry press, trade and consumer alike were no less disgruntled with this year’s festival edition than in past years. While world cinema gems were discovered here and there, complaints ranged from the lack of European film stars in attendance to the excessive number of (obscure and poor-quality) films in the official competition sector.

There certainly were internationally renowned celebrities at WFF, including an inspired Gerard Depardieu, present for the launch of the France/Canada coproduction Aime ton pere, despite a serious motorcycle accident in Paris only days earlier. Robert De Niro and Michael Caton-Jones were present for a screening of City by the Sea (Warner Bros.), as were Bonnevie and director Brian DePalma, who attends seemingly every year in the role of a very private citizen. Europa Corp. director/ producer Luc Besson was in Montreal to receive the festival’s Grand Prix Special career achievement award. French New Wave legend Jean-Luc Godard pulled out at the last minute, citing health reasons.

Student Film & Video Festival

Selected prize winners at the 33rd Student Film & Video Festival include:

* Metzergenstein by Eric Plummer (Ontario College of Art and Design), winner of the NFB’s Norman McLaren Award for best production

* Infinity by Guillaume Fortin (UQAM Monreal), winner of the Grand Prix Kodak Canada and the award for best production (drama)

* Monsieur George et Monsieur George by Brigitte Archambault (Concordia University), best animation winner

* Conflict by Elad Winkler (Ryerson University), best documentary

* Love in the Elevator by Hsu Jung-Jung (OCA), best experimental production

* Hiversam by Pascal Robitaille, best screenplay for Robitaille and Guillaume Loignon (Cejep de St-Hyacinthe).

This year’s jury members were filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming, Canadian Film Centre producer Greg Klymkiw and NFB producer Jean-Jacques Leduc.