Play wins at The Titanic Film Fest
Titanic is the film festival that has surprised Hungarian audiences in the past with the works of cinema of the Far East, the visually stunning and often very bloody Korean and Japanese thrillers, period action dramas and animation, concert films aimed for the cinema screen, or Scandinavian crime dramas that have brough a fresh voice into European cinema.
The 19th edition of the international film festival took place between 13-21 April 2012 in Budapest on the screen of Urania National Film Theatre, the cinemas Toldi, Kino and Örökmozgó, and for the first time, aboard the ship A38.
Titanic International Film Festival’s programme has always been a firm point on the city’s cultural landscape, while always trying to change and to reflect on the latest trends in world cinema. After last year’s selection of Irish films, this year Spain is our guest country with some exciting new films like Catalunya über alles! shot in the Catalan language, and Garbo: The Spy, a documentary as thrilling as a fictional drama about the bravest of all double agents of World War II. Northern Europe is represented by such festival hits as The Troll Hunter or Play, a controversial Swedish drama shot only with child actors, and there will even be several world premieres! 2012 has brought an exceptionally strong line-up of music documentaries with the likes of Sigur Rós, Neil Young, P.J. Harvey, A Tribe Called Quest, José Gonzales, and Devendra Banhart.
The Breaking Waves Award, founded in 2006 and crafted by fine artist Luca Görömbei goes to the most outstanding, daring and innovative movie of Titanic Film Festival every year. Members of our international jury this year are Stefan Laudyn, director of the Warsaw International Film Festival, Ágnes Kocsis, director és András Muhi, producer.
The Breaking Waves Award of the 19th Titanic International Film Festival goes to PLAY by Ruben Östlund "for a convincing, consequently executed and disturbing portrait of a seemingly perfect society."
Play
Sweden, France, Denmark, 2011
Prod.: Erik Hemmendorff, Philippe Bober
Scr.: Ruben Östlund
Phot.: Marius Dybead Brandrud
Ed.: Ruben Östlund, Jacob Schulsinger
Music: Saunder Jurriaans, Daniel Bensi
Cast: Anas Abdirahman, Sebastian Blyckert, Yannick Diakite, Sebastian Hegmar
Distributor: Coproduction Office
Colour
119 mins
Yannick and his friends target a trio of younger, presumably wealthier kids, two of them from “traditional” Swedish backgrounds and one whose family emigrated from Asia. Yannick and his pals claim that one of the boys stole a friend’s phone. Eventually, they lure their targets outside the city, where they construct an elaborate ruse to relieve them of their belongings.
An insightful and troubling film about race, mores and manipulation. It is based on an actual incident in Gothenburg. Shot entirely in long shot, Play is chilling in its ambiguity.
The winner of our Audience Award is Hasta la vi sta (dir.: Geoffrey Enthoven).
On the following link find a Video message by Stefan Laudyn, president of the jury: (and director of the Warsaw International Film Festival Poland).
