Taiwan’s thriller ‘Assassin’ tops Palm Springs Film Fest – 3 Film Independent Awards unveiled at Spirit Awards brunch

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LOS ANGELES, Jan 10, (RTRS): The Palm Springs Film Festival began rounding off its 11-day run with its annual awards luncheon held Saturday afternoon at Spencer’s at the Mountain.

The Fipresci Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year went to Taiwanese thriller “The Assassin,” directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. The Fipresci Prize for the Best Actor of the Year went to Sigurdur Sigurjonsson and Theodor Juliusson from for their work in the Iceland film “Rams,” while the Fipresci Prize for Best Actress of the Year in a Foreign Language Film went to Alena Mihulova for her role in “Home Care,” written and directed by Czech filmmaker Slavek Horak.

“Alena, who is now 50, had her first breakthrough role at (age) 17 and then nothing for 33 years,” said Horak, who accepted the award on the actress’ behalf. “She played an apprentice to a home care nurse in her first film and has now graduated to a home care nurse in my film,” he joked.

Artistic director and acting festival director Helen Du Toit delivered the welcoming opening remarks at the event, which drew filmmakers from around the globe, including Prashant Nair, who received the HP Bridging the Borders Award for his film “Umrika,” which focuses on a young Indian boy named Rama, who follows in his older brother’s footsteps to find out if he made it to the USA or wound up in Mumbai.

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“We made this film with the intention of really making an impact,” Nair said of the award, presented by Cinema Without Borders and Hewlett Packard and designed to promote understanding and peace amongst different people and cultures in the world. “So getting this award really means a lot.”

The John Schlesinger Award went to Japanese filmmaker Erik Shirai for his stirring sake brewery documentary “The Birth of Sake.”

Shirai dedicated his award to his fellow “documentary filmmakers,” all of whom are striving to create compelling and important work.

The jury for the award said that “with its aesthetic approach, patience and intimacy, ‘The Birth of Sake’ mirrors the craft of making sake, and the director’s singular passion for his subject embodies the spirit of the John Schlesinger Award.”

The New Voices/New Visions Award was bestowed upon Xavier Seron’s “Death by Death,” a Belgium-France co-production, with a special mention given to the India-US co-production “Thithi,” helmed by Raam Reddy.

The Palm Springs fest screened 180 films from 60 countries, including 40 of the 80 foreign language entries for this year’s Academy Awards. The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature will both be announced on Sunday.

Film Independent has presented a trio of Spirit Awards with filmmaker grants to Mel Eslyn, Felix Thompson and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.

Each received $25,000 grants from the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday at the organization’s annual brunch at the Boa in West Hollywood.

The Piaget Producers Award, which goes to an emerging producer, went to Eslyne. Her credits include “My Sister’s Sister” and “The One I Love.”

The Truer Than Fiction Award went to Vasarhelyi for “Incorruptible” and the Someone to Watch Award — which recognizes a filmmaker “of singular vision” who has “not yet received appropriate recognition” — went to Thompson for “King Jack.”

Notable guests included Bel Powley, Michael Fassbender, “Carol” screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, Cate Blanchett, Jason Segel, Todd Haynes, “Beasts of No Nation’s” Abraham Attah and Sally Kirkland — who noted that she had won the second Best Actress award at the 1987 Spirits for “Anna.”

Launched

“Geraldine Page was the first and Jodie Foster was the third,” Kirkland said.

Film Independent chief Josh Welsh launched the ceremonies by asking nominees to avoid giving a list of thank-yous should they win at the Feb 27 awards show.

“Last year, nobody used a piece of paper for thank-yous and it kept the show fresh and dynamic,” he added.

Rami Malek and Uzo Aduba gave out the awards.

Finalists for the Piaget award were Darren Dean, Rebecca Green and Laura D. Smith. Finalists for the Someone to Watch award were Robert Machoian & Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck directors of “God Bless the Child” and Chloe Zhao, director of “Songs My Brothers Taught Me.” Finalists for the Truer than Fiction award were Mohammed Ali Naqvi and Hemal Trivedi for “Among the Believers” and Elizabeth Giamatti and Alex Sichel for “A Woman Like Me.”

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