‘King Richard’ wins Chicago International Film Festival Audience Award
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria and Ryuske Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car top International wins
The Chicago International Film Festival closed its 57th edition on Sunday October 24, and today announces the winners of the Audience Choice Awards in four categories: International Fiction, English-Language Film, Documentary, and Short Film. The Festival’s Audience Choice Awards are presented by Xfinity.
The Audience Choice Award for English-Language Film goes to the Festival’s Closing Night presentation, KING RICHARD, Reinaldo Marcus Green’s inspiring story of an undeterred father who raised two of the most extraordinarily gifted athletes of all time, and the Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary goes to PUNCH 9 FOR HAROLD WASHINGTON, Joe Winston’s chronicle of Chicago’s first Black mayor, which held its World Premiere at the Festival. The International Fiction winner is Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s DRIVE MY CAR, which also won the Silver Hugo Jury Prize.
The Audience Choice for Short Film is shared by Black Perspectives entry ARTISTIC by director Nina Lee, and DEATH AND THE LADY from directors Geoff Bailey and Lucy Struever, which played in the Family-Friendly Animation program.
“In a year of uncertainty for in-person events, audiences embraced the return to theatres as they awarded two films that were only available in-theater this year,” said Chicago International Film Festival Artistic Director Mimi Plauché. “Filmmakers have demonstrated their irrepressible creativity and enormous resilience making and putting their films out this year, and audiences embraced and celebrated them, whether screening at the drive-in, at the multiplex, at the art-house, or even at home virtually.”
In a live broadcast via the Festival’s YouTube page on Friday October 22, the Chicago International Film Festival announced the winners of this year’s jury competitions.
The Gold Hugo in the International Competition went to Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s beguiling, beautiful MEMORIA, while Ryuske Hamaguchi’s DRIVE MY CAR took the Silver Hugo Jury Prize; both films are their respective countries’ selections for the Academy Awards Best International Feature category. Hamaguchi’s WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY also came out a winner, picking up the Silver Q-Hugo in the Festival’s OutLook Competition.
The Gold Hugo in the New Directors Competition went to BROTHER’S KEEPER from director Ferit Karahan, with Simón Mesa Soto’s AMPAROtaking the Silver Hugo in that category. SKÁL, from Cecille Debell and MariaTórgarõ, won the Gold Hugo in the International Documentary Competition and Sergei Loznitsa’s BABI YAR. CONTEXT took the Silver Hugo.
The Gold Q-Hugo in the Festival’s OutLook Competition went to GREAT FREEDOM from Sebastien Miese, Austria’s official Academy Awards submission for Best International Feature. This year’s Chicago Award, presented to the director of an outstanding film in the Festival’s City & State program, went to Margaret Byrne for her documentary ANY GIVEN DAY.
The complete list of jury honorees is as follows:
International Feature Film Competition
Gold Hugo
MEMORIA (Colombia)
Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Silver Hugo – Jury Award
DRIVE MY CAR (Japan)
Dir. Ryusuke Hamagushi
Silver Hugo – Best Director
Peter Kerekes
107 MOTHERS (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine)
Silver Hugo – Best Male Performance
Bouli Lanners
NOBODY HAS TO KNOW (France, Belgium, U.K.)
Silver Hugo – Best Female Performance
Michelle Fairley
NOBODY HAS TO KNOW (France, Belgium, U.K.)
Silver Hugo – Best Screenplay
Aleksandre Koberidze
WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY? (Germany, Georgia)
Silver Hugo – Best Cinematography
Kasper Tuxen
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Norway)
Silver Plaque – Best Art Direction
Sergey Fevralev
CAPTAIN VOLKONOGOV ESCAPED (Russia, France, Estonia)
Honorable Mention
PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN (Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Qatar)
Dir. Tatiana Huezo
New Directors Competition
Gold Hugo
BROTHER’S KEEPER (Turkey, Romania)
Dir. Ferit Karahan
Silver Hugo
AMPARO (Colombia, Sweden, Qatar)
Dir. Simón Mesa Soto
International Documentary Competition
Gold Hugo
SKÁL (Faroe Islands, Denmark)
Dirs.: Cecilie Debell and Maria Tórgarõ
Silver Hugo
BABI YAR. CONTEXT (The Netherlands, Ukraine)
Dir: Sergei Loznitsa
OutLook Competition
Gold Q-Hugo
GREAT FREEDOM (Austria, Germany)
Dir. Sebastien Miese
Silver Q-Hugo
WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY (Japan)
Dir. Hamaguchi Ryusuke
Special Mention
PARIS, 13th DISTRICT (France)
Dir. Jacques Audiard
Chicago Award
ANY GIVEN DAY (U.S.)
Dir. Margaret Byrne
Honorable Mention
CLOSE TIES TO HOME COUNTRY (U.S.)
Dir. Akanksha Cruzynski
Animated Short Film Competition
Gold Hugo
AFFAIRS OF THE ART (U.K.)
Dir. Joanna Quinn
Silver Hugo
NUEVO RICO (U.S.)
Dir. Kristian Mercado
Documentary Short Film Competition
Gold Hugo
GREETINGS FROM MYANMAR (Norway)
Dirs. Sunniva Sundby, Andreas J. Riiser
Silver Hugo
LISTEN TO THE BEAT OF OUR IMAGES (France)
Dirs. Audrey Jean Baptiste, Maxime Jean Baptiste
Live Action Short Film Competition
Gold Hugo
SIDERAL (Brazil)
Dir. Carlos Segundo
Silver Hugo
FILIPIÑANA (Philippines)
Dir. Rafael Manuel
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