- Best Film : INLAND EMPIRE (2006/LYNCH/USA)
. - Grand Prix : Still Life (2006/JIA Zhang-ke/China)
. - Best Debut Film : PVC-1 (2007/Spiros Stathoulopoulos/Colombia)
- Best Documentary : Useless (2007/JIA Zhang-ke/China)
- Best Short Film : Madame Tutli-Putli (2007/LAVIS/SZCZERBOWSKI/Canada)
. - Best Mise-en-scène : David Lynch (INLAND EMPIRE)
- Other Contenders: Roy Andersson (You, the living), Tsai Ming-liang (I don't want to sleep alone), Jia Zhang-ke (Still Life), Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 days), Garin Nugroho (Opera Jawa)
. - Best Screenwriting : Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 days)
- Other Contenders: INLAND EMPIRE, Secret Sunshine, Persepolis, The Band's Visit, Pingpong, Sehnsucht.
. - Best Character : He Fengming (Fengming: A Chinese Memoir)
- Other Contenders: Nikki Grace/Susan Blue (INLAND EMPIRE), Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (The lives of others), Alexandra (Alexandra), Shin-ae (Secret Sunshine), Tewfiq (The Band's visit)
. - Best Performance : Do-yeon Jeon (Secret Sunshine)
- Other Contenders: Lee Kang-sheng (I don't want to sleep alone), Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Week and 2 days), Lu Huang (Blind Mountain), Galina Vishnevskaya (Alexandra), Yu Nan (Tuya's Marriage), Luisa Williams (Day Night Day Night)
. - Best Camerawork : Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Syndrome and a Century)
- Other Contenders: David Lynch (INLAND EMPIRE), Gustav Danielsson (You, the Living), Liao Pen-jung & Tsai Ming-liang (I don't want to sleep alone), Alexis Zabe (Stellet Licht)
. - Best Image : Gustav Danielsson (You, the Living)
- Other Contenders: Caroline Champetier (Mourning Forest), Satrapi/Parronnaud (Persepolis), Darius Khondji (My Blueberry Nights), David Lynch (INLAND EMPIRE),
. - Best Inspiration : David Lynch (INLAND EMPIRE)
- Other Contenders: Roy Anderssson (You, the living), Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis), Garin Nugroho (Opera Jawa)
. - Stronger Content : Fengming: A Chinese Memoir
- Other Contenders: Elle s'appelle Sabine, Still Life, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 days, Blind Mountain
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I see we were impressed by similar films in 2007, though I haven't seen all the films you've listed. I have my best & worst lists up if you're interested.
RépondreSupprimerI thought Inland Empire was an important film, in fact an historic film. I also gave it 5 out of 5 stars, yet it wasn't a film I enjoyed anywhere near as much as many other films during the year. I think its significance is beyond my individual enjoyment of it.
Thanks Paul. I've linked to your list in my blogosphere tracklist.
RépondreSupprimerLike you say it's nice to see we enjoyed the same films.
Lynch has vowed to give up on celluloid, and give in to the all-digital... so as a celluloid-lover I should not celebrate his low-tech experimentation. But truth is that even though the image technical quality is trashy, his aesthetism is unmatched this year. He's such a creative artist who understands and masters the medium of cinema, even without the film strip.
His poster however was really awful!
Harry, after the lush visuals of Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Blue Velvet et al, Inland Empire is a bit of a shock. And the more so when Lynch says digital is the future. But I don't think (or perhaps it's hoping) Lynch will do his next film so raw. Digital doesn't have to look so crude.
RépondreSupprimerMy favourite film of 2006 was Alkinos Tsilimidos' Em 4 Jay. At the time, I was taken by the cinematography (among other things) and was surprised to learn that it was shot on digital camera. I recently interviewed the director (I'm still transcribing, so it's not available yet) and he was enthusiastic about the medium just like Lynch. He also said that 70% or more of the films we're seeing from Europe are also shot on digital. As for aesthetics, the transfer to film (ie the processes used) are what affects the aesthetics. Em 4 Jay is proof that digital can look just as good as film.
Well I believe what Lynch likes about the digital is the flexibility of the low-tech camera and the crude texture of its image, so we can expect more of this kind.
RépondreSupprimerBut I have to agree with you that Mulholland Dr. was a summit of cinematography. As far as I'm concerned, his new infatuation for the crude digital doesn't cancel out his past achievements on celluloid. He's an artist above all (only filmmaker incidentally). So it'll be a change of his style. Celluloid cinema might be dead for him, but not for the rest of us yet. ;)
I haven't heard of this australian film yet. But there are many examples of HD films that look as good as celluloid like for instance Be With Me, Still Life, Colossal Youth, The Sun, Russian Arch...
Harry, this is an excerpt from my interview with Alkinos Tsilimidos:
RépondreSupprimerPaul: Generally speaking, I don’t like films shot on digital video, but I was initially totally unaware that Em 4 Jay was shot on digital.
Alkinos: You’d be amazed at how many films have been shot on high definition digital. I’d say about 70% of the European films you’re watching have been shot on HD.
Some of them are obvious. In particular, the darker shots are often very grainy and an aesthetic is lost.
My next film will be digital but it will go to 35mm for theatrical release the same way as Em 4 Jay.
The cost is worth it?
The cost of transfer is neglible compared to the cost of 35mm film processing and all of the post-production elements.
And having a larger crew?
Yes. What high definition equipment does, for example, is it allows you to shoot at night with virtually nothing. I don’t need a circus of lighting teams and racks of lights to make a scene work. I can make it play on minimal lighting and have it look really good.
How much of Em 4 Jay was done with natural light?
Virtually all of it. I think Toby worked with three lights indoors and used what he could. It was fast and easy. Stuff on the street you could shoot with no lights. That’s a revolution.
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I think what Lynch did with Inland Empire was to disregard the aesthetics of 35mm film and see what he could do with the medium in other respects. In subsequent interviews he has spoken about improving the look as the technology improves. What my point is about is that even with digital, a film doesn't have to look as 'raw' as Inland Empire does.
Still Life was one of the highlights of MIFF, but the use of digital camera was quite obvious to me. In some respects it looked grainy and 'raw', but in others, I thought it also used the medium to good effect and produced a look that one wouldn't get with film.
interesting interview. Do you have a direct link for it?
RépondreSupprimerYou're right, Still Life might not be the most lavish film texture. But like your interviewee says, it depends if the movie is projected digitally, or transfered to celluloid. Climates is another good one.
Climates was filmed with digital camera? I had no idea, and it's not evident from watching on screen. Now there's a film with beautiful cinematography.
RépondreSupprimerI haven't published my interview yet, Harry, as I still have much to transcribe (half way there). I'm planning to submit to Senses of Cinema as well as post on my blog.