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From the "Biz" Archives:
by Eugene Hernandez and Brian Brooks/indieWIRE
>> "What Time is It Here" Big in Chicago; "Fat Girl" Also Tops
(indieWIRE/10.16.01) -- The 37th Chicago International Film Festival, which
continues through Thursday, has announced the winners of its competitions.
Catherine Breillat's "Fat Girl" won the event's top award, the Gold Hugo,
for Best feature film. The Silver Hugo for best director went to Tsai
Ming-Liang for "What Time is It There," which also won the Silver Hugo Grand Jury Prize and a special jury prize for cinematography. Hou Hsiao-Hsien also won a Silver Hugo for "Millennium Mambo."
The Festival's Silver Hugo for best actress was shared by Sandrine Kiberlain
and Nicole Garcia for their roles in Claude Miller's "Betty Fisher and Other Stories." The Silver Hugo for best actor went to Koji Yakusho for his role in Shohei Imamura's "Warm Water Under a Red Bridge."
The documentary jury awarded the Gold Hugo to Knut Erik Jensen's "Cool and
Crazy," while the Silver Hugo went to Frederick Wiseman's "Domestic
Violence" and a gold plaque was awarded to Sandi Simcha Dubowski's
"Trembling Before G-d." The Gold Hugo for short film went to Duane Hopkin's "Field." [Eugene Hernandez]
>> AFF Honors Writers at 8th Annual Event Over the Weekend
(indieWIRE/ 10.16.01) -- Award winners for the Austin Film Festival and
Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference were announced over the weekend
for the screenplay, teleplay and film competitions. "Ugly Princess" by
Arizona writer Henderson Smith won in the Adult/Family Screenplay
Competition category, it is about a girl in a forced marriage uniting two
kingdoms and her choice for magical powers or beauty. The Comedy Screenplay
Competition Award went to Kevin Kerwin's "Over and Out" about a washed up alcoholic who returns home and is persuaded to take over a high school
drama department.
The film category had over 700 entries for participation in AFF -- three
were ultimately recognized by the event. "A Passage to Ottawa" by
director Guarav Seth and writer Jameel Khaja won the Feature Jury Award. The film centers on an Indian boy who moves to Ottawa to live with his
uncle's family following the death of his mother. Writer/director Ray
McKinnon's "The Accountant" won the Short Jury Award while "The Edge of Midway" took the Student Short Award. Commenting in a prepared statement,
Courtney Davis, director of the Film Competition at the Festival remarked,
"We had an incredibly diverse group of films and the judges did a great
job with the tough selection process." In a statement released by the
Festival, she had also commented that the films that were selected for
screening were the best the Festival has ever had.
Other honors went to Lawrence Kasdan, this year's Distinguished Screenwriters
Award recipient, and Gary Goldberg ("Family Ties," "Spin City") for the Outstanding Television Writer Award. "South Park" and "Once and Again" received nods for Sitcom Primetime Teleplay Competition Award and Drama
Primetime Teleplay Competition Award respectively. Next year, the Festival
plans to honor an unproduced spec script for an original pilot.
[Brian Brooks]
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