17/10/2007

The 34th Ghent International Film Festival has awarded its Grand Prize for Best Film to Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky’s sixth feature The Counterfeiter [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. The prize was presented today by the jury president, US actress Kathleen Turner.

After its official selections at the Berlinale (see news) and at Toronto in September, and its numerous nominations at the German Film Prizes (including one win), the adaptation of the Adolf Burger novel Des Teusfell Werkstatt continues its winning streak.

Co-produced by Germany and Austria and based on real life events, The Counterfeiter tells a WWII-set story about Jews who manufactured counterfeit money in order to escape deportation. The award means that the film will now be released in Flemish cinemas, as it is accompanied by funding for the film’s distribution.

The other grand winner of the festival – whose programme was abundant, demanding and high quality – was Italian director Saverio Constanzo (see interview). His second feature, In Memory of Myself [+see also:
trailer
film profile], won the Robert Wise Best Director Award. Constanzo’s bitter and lyrical film also screened in official selection at Berlin (see article).

At the festival, whose theme this year is music, the George Delerue award was presented to composer Benny Andersson who scored You, the Living [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pernilla Sandström
interview: Roy Andersson
film profile] by Sweden’s Roy Andersson, presented in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (see article).

Lastly, the Sabam Award for Best Screenplay went to Tamara Jenkins, director and scriptwriter of the only North American production in official competition this year, the lively comedy The Savages.

The jury also awarded a special mention to The Band’s Visit, the darling of Cannes audiences and winner of the Un Certain Regard sidebar.

The final curtain doesn’t close until Saturday evening, however, with further screenings, events and concerts still in full swing. The festival will wrap up with the presentation of the World Soundtrack Awards.

(Translated from French)