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| Director Clio Barnard took the top prize at the Dinard Festival of British and Irish Cinema at the weekend for I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning Photo: Cannes Directors’ Fortnight |
After a tumultuous four days of the best of British and Irish Cinema in the picturesque Brittany seaside resort of Dinard, it was time last night for the jury, under the presidency of actress Amira Casar, to award the prizes for the top films in the 37th edition.
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| Mark Jenkins takes the honours for Rose Of Nevada at the Dinard Festival of British and Irish Cinema Photo: Richard Mowe |
Director Clio Barnard was on hand to receive the Hitchcock d’Or top award for Best Film, for her grittily and authentic Cannes Directors’ Fortnight prizewinner I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, about five adult friends in Birmingham. Based on the book by Keiran Godard, it will be released in France at the end of the year.
The best acting award was shared jointly by Clare Dunne and Flora Nicholson as two teachers involved in scandal at a private school in Edinburgh last century. The Education Of Jane Cumming, directed by Sophie Heidman, also will be released in France before the end of the year. Based on true events, Sophie Heldman’s period drama was praised for the way it explores prejudice, reputation and the cost of surviving in a strict and unforgiving society.
The special jury prize supported by the hotel and casino group Barrière was bestowed on Mark Jenkin’s Cornish time-shift thriller Rose Of Nevada, starring Callum Turner and George MacKay. MacKay was also seen in mental health drama Mission, by Scots film-maker Paul Wright, who was in attendance before taking the film to the Rome Film Festival later this week.
Kieron J Walsh’s Skintown, a lively 1994 Northern Ireland-set drama which this year won the Sean Connery prize at Edinburgh, received the audience award. The cast and producers of the film received the award on behalf of Walsh, who had to depart early for the Korean première of the film at the Busan Film Festival.
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| Artistic director Dominique Green takes her leave of the festival after seven years, accompanied by star turn Paddington Bear Photo: Richard Mowe |
The Talents of Tomorrow accolade, awarded by jury of young people under the age of 25 and organised by the newspaper Ouest-France, was given unanimously to Olive Nwosu’s original Sundance prizewinner Lady, about a female taxi driver in Lagos who befriends a group of sex workers. Punt by Nicky Larkin was named Best Short Film in the Festival.
Despite questioning in some civic quarters about the Festival’s validity, the atmosphere felt buoyant and convivial ahead of an audit to be carried out about the event’s future. This year was the last under the artistic directorship of Dominique Green, who was roundly praised for the diversity of her selection and for guiding the Festival over the last seven years. She strode the red carpet for the closing ceremony accompanied by Paddington Bear, who made a big splash in the town on the final day of festivities.
The festival closed with a screening of Celyn Jones’ Madfabulous, an audacious biopic of the Fifth Marquess of Anglesey.
Casar made several impassioned speeches during her public appearances, and championed the role of culture in these dark times. She suggested graphically, with a kick of her long limbs, that politicians and bureaucrats should not undermine the contribution of festivals such as Dinard towards greater human understanding.
