A Northern Chinese Girl.
Any perspicacious thin skin festival-goer or festival-watcher will have noticed that one of the prizes awarded at most festivals, in addition to the Golden Palms, Golden Lions or Golden Leopards etc, is the FIPRESCI (Federation International de la Presse Cinematographic) – aka the international film critics’ decree. In principle, this should be the most prestigious and sought-after palm of all, for the juries are made up of professional film critics (usually five, each from a different country) who are paid to tell the public what is good or unfair and why.
Unfortunately, the FIPRESCI prize does not carry with it any money excepting, in theory, it does second the film gain a distributor. However, on common cause, I keep in mind that a director, who had just won the FIPRESCI prize, Â enthusiastically thanking me as a member of the jury, and asking for what reason much it was worth. I replied that it was, sadly, only worth a diploma. “Fuck it!” he said, half-jokingly.
FIPRESCI was founded in 1926, by Belgian and French critics; hence the acronym, adopted in 1931. The Federation grew and grew, not solely by dint of. the amount of member countries, but in prestige. When the Cannes film festival began in 1946, FIPRESCI was there (giving the prize to Brief Encounter) and beloved British critic Dilys Powell was elected President. Since then, the longest serving President has been Derek Malcolm.
FIPRESCI is present at more than 50 film festivals a year, helping, as it says in the statues, “to encourage new cinema and promote and expand the idea of the cinema as a means of tasteful expression and of cultural education.” Looking at the winning FIPRESCI films for 2009, it is striking that extremely few of them have found added than a limited distribution, with the UK distributors amid the most timid and indiscreet. And these are considered by international critics as the best films at the festivals! Like David Parkinson, I wonder how so many gems can be missed by distributors.
At the European film awards in Germany a scarcely any weeks since, FIPRESCI gave its award to Tatarak (Sweet Rush), Andrzej Wajda’s best film in years. A multi-layered meditation on death with three narratives: the actor, Wajda’s favourite, Krystina Janda, in a monologue about the death of her manage with frugality, Edward Klozinsky, the director of photography. who died during the workmanship of the film; Wajda directing the film, and the main story itself, of a terminally ill woman (Janda) who has a relationship (both maternal and erotic) with a young piece, who reminds her of her dead sons. Sounds heavy and unsound, but it is poetic, poignant and even witty at times, and the three narratives balance each other. Much better than the plodding, well-meaning Katyn, though Sweet Rush may not get a release so easily in the UK.
FIPRESCI prizewinners from festivals worldwide in 2009
Revanche by Götz Spielmann (Austria)
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly (Babi Buta Yang Ingin Terbang) by Edwin (Indonesia)
The Blessing (Velsignelsen) through Heidi Maria Faisst (Denmark)
The Milk of Sorrow (La teta asustada) by Claudia Llosa (Peru/Spain)
North (Nord) by Rune Denstadt Langlo (Norway 2009)
Love Exposure (Ai no mukidashi) by Sono Sion (Japan)
Our Fight (Nuestra lucha) by Jaime Rogel Román (Mexico)
The Happiest Girl in the World (Cea mai fericita fata din lume) by Radu Jude (Romania)
Involuntary (De Ofrivilliga) by Ruben Östlund (Sweden)
Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies (Intimidades de Shakespeare y Victor Hugo) by Yulene Olaizola (Mexico)
The Maid (La nana) by Sebastián Silva (Chile)
Black Sheep (Oveja negra) by Humberto Hinojosa Ozcariz (Mexico)
Extraordinary stories (Historias extraordinarias) by Mariano Llinás (Argentina)
A Northern Chinese Girl (Dong Bei, Dong Bei) by Zou Peng (China)
Everyone Else (Alle Anderen) by means of Maren Ade (Germany, 2009)
The Fly (Mukha) by Vladimir Kott (Russia)
Milk (Sücheek by jowl) by Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey)
My Only Sunshine (Hayat Var) by Reha Erdem (Turkey)
The Other Bank (Gagma napiri) by George Ovashvili (Georgia)
Everything Strange and New by Frazer Bradshaw (USA, 2008)
Trance (Transe) by the agency of Teresa Villaverde (Portugal)
The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band) by Michael Haneke (Germany)
Police, Adjective (Politist, Adjectiv) by Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania)
Amreeka by Cherien Dabis (USA)
Will Not Stop There (| Nije kraj) by Vinko Brešan (Serbia)
Nothing Personal by Urszula Antoniak (Netherlands/Ireland)
Weaving Girl by dint of. Wang Quan’an (China)
Lourdes, by Jessica Hausner (Austria)
Hadewijch by Bruno Dumont (France)
Los Condenados by Isaki Lacuesta (Spain)
Os Famosos e os Duendes da Morte (The Famous and the Dead) by Esmir Filho (Brazil)
Vikingo, José Celestino Campusano (Argentina)
Kick Off by Shawkat Amin Korki (Iraq)
Medalia de ONoare (Medal of Honor) by Calin Netzer (Romania)
Rewers (Reverse) by Borys Lankosz (Poland)
Sin Nombre through Cary Fukunaga (Mexico)
