Critics pan selection of best movie at San Sebastian festival
Last Updated: Monday, October 2, 2006 | 8:01 AM ET
CBC Arts
Film critics protested the selection of the top prize at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain with a chorus of boos and thumbs-down gestures.
The 54th San Sebastian International Film Festival handed out the Golden Shell award Saturday to the French film Mon Fils a Moi, or My Son, directed by Martial Fougeron, and the Kurdish-Iranian movie Half Moon by Bahman Ghobadi.
Shouts of "no, no" could be heard upon the announcement concerning the French film, but when the Kurdish film was announced there was enthusiastic applause. It marks Ghobadi's second Golden Shell. He won for Turtles Can Fly in 2004.
Mon Fils a Moi centres on a pre-teen boy who attempts to break free from his mother — a bully who controls his every move through psychological means.
The film has been described by Spanish reviewers as incoherent and was poorly received at its screening.
Fougeron said he was surprised by the harsh reaction from critics, but pointed out that the public clapped.
"It's comforting that the jury agreed with the public," he told Agence France Presse.
Nathalie Baye, who plays the mother, also won the best actress trophy.
Ghobadi's movie deals with a Kurdish musician in Iran who organizes a concert for fellow Kurds in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Other winners include Juan Diego for best actor in Vete De Mi (Leave Me), American Tom Dicillo for best director for Delirious, which also got best screenplay, and the Argentine film El Camino de San Diego (The Way to San Diego) captured the special jury prize.
The jury was headed by French actress Jeanne Moreau and included Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, Nobel-winning novelist Jose Saramago and Spanish director Isobel Coixet.
The festival, first held in 1953, is considered one of the top five in Europe. The week-long festival launched with the announcement of the critic's prize to Spanish director Pedro Almodovar for his film Volver starring Penelope Cruz.
