Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women” took home top honors at the BFI London Film Festival. The ensemble drama was named Best Film at the 60th edition of the fest. The Montana-set story centers on the loosely connected lives of an attorney (Laura Dern), a married couple in the midst of building a home (Michelle Williams and James LeGros), and a rancher (Lily Gladstone) who forms a connection with a young lawyer teaching night school (Kristen Stewart).
The Official Competition jury was headed by Greek writer-director Athina Rachel Tsangari, whose dark comedy “Chevalier” won the LFF Best Film prize last year (and is Greece’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2017 Oscars). The jury also included “Suffragette” screenwriter Abi Morgan and “Belle” actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
“In a vibrant year for cinema it was the masterful mise en scène and quiet modesty of this film that determined our choice for Best film,” the jury commented. “A humane and poignant story that calibrates with startling vulnerability and delicate understatement the isolation, frustrations, and loneliness of lives unlived in a quiet corner of rural America.”
“Certain Women” was first unveiled at Sundance back in January. The critically acclaimed film currently boasts a 96 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with some sources speculating that the LFF win could mean that the drama has awards potential here in the U.S.
French writer-director Julia Ducournau won the First Feature Competition, taking home the Sutherland Award for “Raw.” The award honors the director of “the most original and imaginative first feature” at the fest. Ducournau’s horror film follows Justine (Garance Marillier), a gifted student training to be a vet. She’s a vegetarian who reluctantly tries meat during a hazing ritual. The incident leaves Justine with an insatiable appetite for meat — and her impulse to consume flesh escalates to a degree that’s not only socially unacceptable, but illegal. We caught the film at TIFF, where we called it smart, sexy, scary, and unexpectedly moving.
The First Feature Competition jury was led by “Suffragette” director Sarah Gavron and included “Spaced” producer Nira Park.
“‘Raw’ shocked and surprised us in equal measure,” said Gavron. “We admired the way the director did something completely unexpected with the genre. We enjoyed the outrageousness of the story-telling, and the glee with which events unfolded. We loved the eerie originality of the setting, the dark, dark humor, the great score, and the truly distinctive visual language. And the bold charismatic acting of the women at the center of a film that is both unique and unsettling and will quite literally make some swoon.”
“Raw” made its world premiere at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival in the Critics’ Week section where it won the FIPRESCI Prize.
“With ‘Raw,’ I set myself the challenge of shifting the audience’s moral standards throughout the film,” Ducournau told Women and Hollywood. “I wanted the audience to feel empathy for a character that is becoming a monster in their eyes.”
According to a press release, “the jury also gave a special commendation to Uda Benyamina’s ‘Divines’ for its standout female performance from Oulaya Amamra and for its great energy and veracity.”
The drama centers on two best friends (Amamra and Déborah Lukumuena) who dream of finding fortune, power, and respect — to live lives unlike the ones they currently lead in their impoverished banlieue in Paris.
“‘Divines’ is a political film, but it is also a human story about love, friendship, and [the] journey to adulthood,” Benyamina shared with Women and Hollywood.
The film won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes, where it made its world premiere earlier this year.
“Certain Women” is in theaters now. “Divines” hits Netflix November 18. You’ll be able to catch “Raw” in theaters sometime in spring 2017.
