Monday, October 2
,--One of two winning films at the San Sebastian
international film festival, Martial Fougeron's Mon
Fils à Moi, was booed by critics at the weekend when
it was announced that it had won the top accolade.
Several journalists at the
Spanish speaking world's most important film
festival shouted "no, no" while others made thumbs
down gestures to show their preference for the
Iranian film Half Moon, which shared the Golden
Shell for best film.
Mon Fils a Moi stars Nathalie Baye, who also won
best actress, for her role as a possessive,
overbearing mother to a teenage son who has to deal
with her constant mood swings and irrational
behaviour.
It seems the critics felt Kurdish director Bahman
Ghobadi's feature was the better of the two and it
was greeted with no such derision as the awards were
presented.
Ghobadi, who also won a Golden Shell in 2004 for
Turtles Can Fly, said his film, which was banned in
Iran, was simply an attempt to tell the world about
his people.
"When they banned it, it affected me a lot," he
said. "With this prize and its being nominated as
Iraq's film at the Oscars, I hope it opens doors.
Iran has to open that black door.
"Iran is a democratic country and by allowing it to
be shown there they would demonstrate this," he
added. "They call me a separatist, but I am not a
separatist. All I do is try to make the Kurdish
people known."
The film centres on a veteran Kurdish musician who
is given permission to fulfill a lifelong dream to
perform in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Carlos Sorin's Argentine film El Camino de San Diego
(The Way to San Diego), about a young labourer whose
hero is footballer Diego Maradona, won the special
jury prize.
|
Kurdish Director Bahman Ghubadi
Photo : Internet
Critics' choice ... Half Moon |
® 