Print

Mail

wiki links

Reel News

Chris Kraus receives the award for the Best Feature Film, for his movie Four Minutes at the 9th annual Shanghai International Film Festival. The seven-day festival is the only annual international film festival held in China. PHOTO: AFP

Four Minutes, German director Chris Kraus' film about a young musical genius turned killer, was named best film at the ninth Shanghai International Film Festival.

A citation delivered by the panel of judges said the film "tells a difficult and emotional story on many levels, with excellent performances from the lead actors and interesting secondary characters."

In other awards announced late Sunday, the Jury Grand Prix went to China's The Forest Ranger (天狗), directed by Qi Jian (戚健). Its citation said the film "creates a striking and memorable portrayal of village life in the mountains.'"

Fabienne Godet's French film Burnt Out, about a man who copes with tragedy, clinched best director and best actor.

The jury praised Godet for her "skill at mixing a strong, emotional story with a very believably achieved reality."

This year's jury included French director Luc Besson, Chinese director Feng Xiaogang (馮小剛), Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan (關錦鵬), Mexican actress Diana Bracho and Italian director Gabriele Salvatores.

Wanmacaidan, a director who goes by one name, won best director in the Asian New Talent Prize section for The Silent Holy Stones, which won the International Film Critics Federation prize, known as the FIPRESCI, at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in April.

The film is about a young Tibetan Buddhist monk who returns to a home changed by modern influences.

Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage has donated US$2 million to establish a fund for former child soldiers, Amnesty International announced Wednesday.

The money will be used for rehabilitation shelters, medical services and psychological and reintegration services for children forced to take part in armed conflicts world-wide, the human rights monitor said.

"Nicolas has worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the horrors faced by child soldiers and other human rights tragedies," Amnesty US executive director Larry Cox. "We commend his efforts and appreciate his generosity."

The Blood Diamond, a film in production starring Leonardo DiCaprio, could hurt diamond sales and the livelihoods of people in Africa, industry leaders have warned.

The Warner Brothers film being shot in Africa shows how "conflict diamonds" financed bloody civil wars. DiCaprio portrays a mercenary jailed for smuggling in Sierra Leone, where a civil war lasting until 2002 killed 50,000 people.

Industry officials attending the opening of the World Diamond Congress said the situation with conflict diamonds had dramatically improved in recent years and expressed concern that the movie would not reflect this.

"The problem of conflict diamonds is practically over," Shmuel Schnitzer, out-going president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, said at the conference in Tel Aviv, among the world's top diamond cutting and trading centers.

"To show a film that will lead the public to think the situation is still the same is an injustice to our industry which has done so much," he said.

In a press release issued in February, Warner Bros Pictures said The Blood Diamond, starring DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly, had started production in South Africa and Mozambique.

It did not say when it will be released and company officials could not be reached for comment. The unofficial IMDb movie database has the US release date as January, 2007.

The diamond industry fears the movie could hurt sales, especially if it hits theatres around the end of the year during the peak holiday shopping season.

"The people that the movie is trying to help could be hurt the most if it's left without an explanation since livelihoods in Africa depend on income from diamonds," said Eli Izhakoff, chairman and CEO of the World Diamond Council.

"It will hurt them with a downturn in sales. It can have an adverse effect on all of Africa," Izhakoff said.

Twentieth Century Fox plans to keep the mutants coming with a spinoff of its popular X-Men film franchise starring Australian-born actor Hugh Jackman in the title role of Wolverine. A studio spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that the film is in development with a script currently in the works but no director yet on board.

This story has been viewed 4666 times.