12/12/2011

Norwegian takings champion Headhunters [+see also:
trailer
film profile], by Morten Tyldum, is crowned winner of the Black Lion for Best Film - Valle d'Aosta Film Award of the Courmayeur Noir In Festival, the film noir festival of which the 21st edition concluded yesterday, December 11, in the beautiful Mont Blanc ski resort. An adaptation of the homonymous thriller by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø, and produced by Norway, Denmark and Germany, the film won over the international jury, presided by American crime writer Lawrence Block who found it to be "gripping, fun, full of suspense". The film will be released in Italy distributed by Mediterranea.

Block, sitting alongside four other judges – actors Carolina Crescentini and Vinicio Marchioni, French editor François Guérif and director Antonello Grimaldi - has moreover given the Award for best performance to Jean-Pierre Darroussin for his role of killer bank director in Jean-Marc Moutout’s Early One Morning (France, Belgium). The actor, whose work can this year also be admired in the LUX Prize winning film The Snows of Kilimangiaro [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Robert Guédiguian
interview: Robert Guédiguian
film profile] by Robert Guèdiguian and in Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aki Kaurismäki
film profile], was chosen for his ability to "convey with great intensity the drama of an individual trapped in a disintegrating social system''.

Another award from the Courmayeur festival to stay in Europe is the Docnoir Award for the Best Documentary, given by the Jury of Young European Critics, to Britain’s Calvet by Dominic Allan, about the incredible story of the painter Jean-Marc Calvet, body-guard in France, thief and con man in Miami, a fugitive on the verge of suicide in Latin America, before he discovers the vocation which will lead him to succeed.

Finally, the Special Jury Prize went to Israel’s Policeman by Nadav Lapid, the Audience Award to Troy Nixey’s Don’t Be Afraid of theDark (US, Australia, Mexico) and the Golden Mouse (online critics’ Award given by 61 of the most important Italian webzines) to U.S.’ In Time by Andrew Niccol.

(Translated from Italian)