Leviathan, the Russian drama directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, was named the Best Foreign Language Film at the 26th annual Palm Springs Festival. The juried award winners of the year were announced on 10 December at a luncheon at Spencer’s Restaurant in Palm Springs. Audience Award winners will be announced today, 11 January 2015, and the entire festival will close the following day. The festivity screened 196 films from 65 countries and Leviathan was chosen the favorite piece from 51 screened foreign language titles and a total of 83 foreign initial entries.
Leviathan deals with the issue of corruption, contextualized into a Russian coastal town, where Nikolai is forced to fight the corrupt mayor, but things gradually evolve into a more dramatic plot. The movie starring Aleksey Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova and Roman Madyanov is one of the titles belonging to the Oscar Foreign Language shortlist and it was also named best film at the London Film Festival Awards in October. Director Andrey Zvyagintsev thanked for the award and emphasized on the local aspect of the movie: “We are thrilled and very proud to receive this honor from the Palm Springs Film Festival jurors. Our film attempts to portray a universal truth while staying close to its Russian roots; it is deeply gratifying to feel that audiences in the US respond to this story and the spirit in which it was told.”
Other recipient of the Palm Springs Film Fest was Turkish movie Winter Sleep (another Oscar short-list film), which got its Haluk Bilginer the FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor of the Year in a Foreign Language Film. FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress of the Year in a Foreign Language Film went to Anne Dorval starring in the Canadian movie Mommy. The New Voices/New Visions Award went to another Eastern European country, as Serbia and No One’s Child directed by Vuk Ršumovic left as recipients.
Artistic Director Helen du Toit consequently declared: “Eastern European filmmakers — both emerging and established — have utterly dominated our juried awards this year: first time feature director Vuk Rsumovic from Serbia takes the New Visions New Voices prize for No One’s Child, the Bridging the Borders award goes to Georgian director George Ovashvili’s Corn Island plus a special jury prize to Kosovo’s Three Windows and a Hanging directed by Isa Qosja, and the Schlesinger award goes to Polish director Eliza Kubarska for her debut documentaryWalking Under Water. The power of stories from this region is palpable and infectious”.
Full list of winners (via Deadline):
FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Leviathan (Russia), directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev
FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor of the Year in a Foreign Language Film
Haluk Bilginer, Winter Sleep (Turkey), directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress of the Year in a Foreign Language Film
Anne Dorval, Mommy (Canada), directed by Xavier Dolan
New Voices/New Visions Award
No One’s Child (Serbia), directed by Vuk Ršumovic
Fidelio, Alice’s Journey (France), directed by Lucie Borleteau (Special Mention)
Cine Latino Award
Flowers (Spain), directed by Jon Garaño and José Mari Goenaga
Not All Is Vigil (Spain/ Colombia), directed by Hermes Paralluelo (Special Mention)
The John Schlesinger Award
Walking Under Water (Poland), directed by Eliza Kubarska
HP Bridging the Borders Award
Corn Island (Georgia), directed by George Ovashvili
Three Windows and a Hanging (Kosovo), directed by Isa Qosja (Special Jury Award)