3 helmers nab Tiger nods
February 2, 2004 - The Hollywood Reporter
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands—“En Route,” “The Missing” and “Summer in the Golden Valley” were awarded the top prizes at 33rd Rotterdam International Film Festival at ceremonies here Friday night.
The honors, known as VPRO Tiger Awards, are only given to a director for a first or second feature.
Chosen from a pool of 16 films from throughout the world, the Tigers are the festival’s primary awards, with the three winners each taking home a 10,000 euro ($12,400) prize and guaranteed a showing on Dutch television.
“The Missing,” a melancholy film about missing family members, is Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-sheng’s first film as director. “En Route” is German director Jan Kruger’s debut work, which focuses on curious sexual relations among four people on vacation. “Summer” is a first film by Yugoslav Srdjan Vuletic and tells the tale of a hopeless teen in Sarajevo and his misguided efforts to pay off the debts of his dead father.
The Tiger Award jury was made up of five industry professionals, most notably French director Claire Denis (“Chocolat”) and South Korea’s Jang Sun-Woo, whose “Resurrection of the Little Match Girl” was part of the festival.
Along with “Summer,” four of the films up for Tiger consideration were previous recipients of the Hubert Bals Fund for filmmakers from developing countries: “Uniform” by Diao Yinan, “Somnambulance” by Sulev Keedus, “Days of Santiago” by Josue Mendez and “How I Killed a Saint” by Teona Strugar Mitevska.
One film in competition, Ntshaveni Wa Luruli’s “The Wooden Camera,” a product of French, South African and United Kingdom producers, was a 2001 participant in the festival’s co-production market, CineMart.
Sri Lanka’s “The Abandoned Land,” by director Vimukhti Jayasundara, received the Prince Claus Fund Film Grant, a 15,000 euro ($18,600) award given to one of this year’s CineMart projects.
