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A lead up to the evening’s most perplexing event, was the switcheroo announcement crowning the top film of the festival first (Very Big Shot) and once that was out of the way, the big “move” from the jury was to make sure that everyone gets a trophy, and that no one wins second place (or it can be certainly read this way). During a time where the Paris events have still in public consciousness, the 15th edition will be looked back as one that unites. Unfortunately for me, there would be no after party and Todd Haynes’ Carol will have to wait as my battle with stomach demons continued. Here is the complete tally of the prizes. I wonder what airport security thought about the statute.

L’ÉTOILE D’Or – Le Grand Prix Du Festival

The Golden Star – Festival Grand Prize

Very Big Shot (Film kteer kbeer) de/by...

Dalibor Matanic’s The High Sun wins hat trick at Cottbus.

Croatia was the big winner at the 25th edition of FilmFestival Cottbus (Nov 3-8) with Dalibor Matanić’s The High Sun taking home three awards, including the Main Prize and Fipresci Prize.

The €25,000 Main Prize was shared equally between Matanić and his producer Ankica Jurić Tilić for the Croatian-Slovenian-Serbian co-production which had its world premiere in San Sebastian in September.

The film’s actress Tihana Lazović was in Cottbus to accept the Main Prize on behalf of Matanić and Tilić, and subsequently picked up the €5,000 Special Prize for Best Actress for her portrayal of three women in three consecutive decades.

The High Sun premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard sidebar where it won the Jury Prize; international sales are handled by Cercamon World Sales for the film which is now Croatia’s submission for the Foreign-Language Film Oscar.

Meanwhile, another Croatian...

Icelandic-Danish film Virgin Mountain from writer-director Dagur Kári of Noi the Albino (2003) notoriety offers one of the most brilliant and understated lead performances at Lff this year. Larger-than-life Gunnar Jónsson makes man-mountain character Fúsi a symbol of good-natured society as life deals Fúsi raw deal after raw deal. Along the lines of a Scandi

The post Lff 2015: Virgin Mountain Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Iceland’s Gunnar Jonsson gets a special mention; Jerzy Skolimowski [pictured] is honoured as Motovun Maverick.

The 18thedition of Croatia’s Motovun Film Festival ended on July 29 with the main award, Propeller of Motovun, going to the French-Belgian film The Wakhan Front directed by Clément Cogitore.

The psychological thriller, which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week, is about a French captain assigned on a control and surveillance mission in a remote valley on the Afghan-Pakistan border, whose troops start mysteriously disappearing.

The jury said it was “a war film that avoids all stereotypes about war. Instead, it speaks with magical and original cinematic language, telling a story of the soldiers of a French unit in Afghanistan, far from their families. A film about faith, beliefs and searching for truth while questioning what is right and what is wrong.”

A special mention went to Icelandic actor Gunnar Jónsson for his role in Dagur Kari’s Virgin Mountain, with the jury...

Sundance award-winner to open festival; Dagur Kári’s Tribeca winner Virgin Mountain to close.

Anna Muylaert’s The Second Mother (Que Horas Ela Volta?) is to open the 21st Sarajevo Film Festival on August 14.

Brazilian director Muylaert will be in attendance at Sarajevo’s impressive open air theatre for the screening of the film, in which the estranged daughter of a live-in housekeeper suddenly appears, breaking down unspoken class barriers that exist within the home.

The film debuted at Sundance in January where actors Regina Casé and Camila Márdila picked up the Special Jury Prize. It went on to win the Panorama Audience Award at Berlin in February and the jury prize for best screenplay at RiverRun.

Sarajevo has also announced that Dagur Kári’s Virgin Mountain (Fusi) will close the festival on August 22.

Kári will present the screening alongside lead actor Gunnar Jónsson, who plays a 43-year-old that still lives with his mother and whose monotonous...

Danish cinema received a strong vote of confidence and a winning boost this weekend; two films from the Tribeca Film Festival won top dramatic jury prizes. And “Virgin Mountain,” a Danish-Icelandic film directed by Icelandic-born, Danish-raised Dagur Kári (“Noi the Albino” and the sorely underrated “The Good Heart” with Paul Dano and Brian Cox) won the coveted jury prize for best narrative feature film (and two other major prizes; Danish film "Bridgend" took three other baubles). And while the award may set expectations the movie can’t quite match, Kári’s fourth feature film is still a thoughtful, engaging, and compassionate look at the lonely outsider and his quiet emptiness. The movie’s name comes from its protagonist, Fúsi (Gunnar Jónsson), a hulking mass of a man who is untouched, cloistered, and naïve. This is not a foreign version of Judd Apatow’s “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” though on...

Over the weekend, the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival gave out their annual awards, putting a bow on the latest installment of the fest. It was a pretty solid festival, as far as I could tell, though in all fairness I saw less movies this year than I usually do at Tribeca. Still, the films that I did wind up privy to wound up impressing me, by and large. Most of my favorite titles weren’t cited by these awards, but one sort of was, and that was Leslye Headland’s wonderful Sleeping with Other People. That was a runner up (as you’ll see below), but it deserved plenty more. I personally would have given some awards to not just Sleeping with Other People, but also titles like Grandma, Misery Loves Comedy, and Slow West as well. I might do my own awards/best of piece later on in the week,...

Virgin Mountain Gentle Icelandic drama Virgin Mountain (Fúsi) was named best dramatic film at Tribeca. The film, which tells an offbeat love story, won a purse of $25,000 for director Dagur Kári, who took home a $5,000 bonus for best screenplay. The film's hat-trick of awards saw Gunnar Jónsson named as best actor for his role as shy man mountain Fúsi, whose subtle performance that relies as much on small gestures and looks as scripting, is fully deserving of recognition.

The other chief winner at this year's festival was a Danish film - shot in the UK - Bridgend. The film is certainly controversial, as it draws on the real-life suicides of teenagers and young adults in the Welsh town of the title and although some of the craft behind the film is good - particularly Magnus Jønck's excellent cinematography - I found the reductive nature of the picture painted (every.

Virgin Mountain and Bridgend were among the winners at the 14th annual Tribeca Film Festival; King Jack and Transfatty Lives take the audience awards.

It was also announced that, starting this year, the new name of the Best New Documentary Director Award is The Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award, which was awarded on Thursday by the filmmaker’s children Philip Maysles and Sara Maysles.

The winners of the audience awards sponsored by At&T were King Jack, directed by Felix Thompson, in the narrative category, and TransFatty Lives, directed by Patrick O’Brien, in the documentary category .

World Narrative Competition Categories

The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – Virgin Mountain (Iceland-Denmark), dir Dagur Kári. Winner receives $25,000 sponsored by At&T and the art award Ash Eroded Film Reel by Daniel Arsham.

Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Gunnar Jónsson as Fúsi in Virgin Mountain. Winner receives $2,500 sponsored by Citrin Cooperman.

Best Actress...

Virgin Mountain and Bridgend were among the winners at the 14th annual Tribeca Film Festival’s New York awards show at Spring Studios on Thursday night.

It was also announced that, starting this year, the new name of the Best New Documentary Director Award is The Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award, which was awarded on Thursday by the filmmaker’s children Philip Maysles and Sara Maysles.

The winners of the audience awards sponsored by At&T will be announced on April 25.

World Narrative Competition Categories

The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – Virgin Mountain (Iceland-Denmark), dir Dagur Kári. Winner receives $25,000 sponsored by At&T and the art award Ash Eroded Film Reel by Daniel Arsham.

Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Gunnar Jónsson as Fúsi in Virgin Mountain. Winner receives $2,500 sponsored by Citrin Cooperman.

Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film – Hannah Murray as Sara in Bridgend (Denmark, pictured). Winner...

Virgin Mountain and Bridgend were among the winners at the 14th annual Tribeca Film Festival’s New York awards show at Spring Studios on Thursday night.

It was also announced that, starting this year, the new name of the Best New Documentary Director Award is The Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award, which was awarded on Thursday by the filmmaker’s children Philip Maysles and Sara Maysles.

The winners of the audience awards sponsored by At&T will be announced on April 25.

World Narrative Competition Categories

The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – Virgin Mountain (Iceland-Denmark, pictured), dir Dagur Kári. Winner receives $25,000 sponsored by At&T and the art award Ash Eroded Film Reel by Daniel Arsham.

Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Gunnar Jónsson as Fúsi in Virgin Mountain. Winner receives $2,500 sponsored by Citrin Cooperman.

Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film – Hannah Murray as Sara in Bridgend (Denmark). Winner receives $2,500 sponsored by Citrin Cooperman...

Virgin Mountain and Bridgend were among the winners at the 14th annual Tribeca Film Festival’s New York awards show at Spring Studios on Thursday night.

It was also announced that, starting this year, the new name of the Best New Documentary Director Award is The Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award, which was awarded on Thursday by the filmmaker’s children Philip Maysles and Sara Maysles.

The winners of the audience awards sponsored by At&T will be announced on April 25.

World Narrative Competition Categories

The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – Virgin Mountain (Iceland-Denmark, pictured), dir Dagur Kári. Winner receives $25,000 sponsored by At&T and the art award Ash Eroded Film Reel by Daniel Arsham.

Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Gunnar Jónsson as Fúsi in Virgin Mountain. Winner receives $2,500 sponsored by Citrin Cooperman.

Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film – Hannah Murray as Sara in Bridgend (Denmark). Winner receives $2,500 sponsored by Citrin Cooperman...

The Woman in Gold, starring Helen Mirren, and Anton Corbijn’s Life, starring Robert Pattinson and Dane DeHaan, to world premiere at Berlinale.

The 65th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 5-15) is to host the world premieres of Woman in Gold, starring Helen Mirren; Life, starring Robert Pattinson and Dane DeHaan; and Dagur Kári’s Virgin Mountain.

The films form part of the Berlinale Special Galas line-up, which will also include the international premiere of awards contender Selma and the European premiere of Bill Pohland’s Love & Mercy, starring John Cusack

Based on a true story, Woman In Gold is directed by Simon Curtis (My Week With Marilyn) and stars Mirren as Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, who takes on the government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.

The UK-us co-production, which also stars Ryan Reynolds (Captives) and Daniel Brühl (Rush), is produced by Origin Pictures, BBC Films and The...