One of the key ingredients for the Edinburgh International Film Festival's anticipated return to form this year will be the re-introduction of awards. Filmmakers and distributors love them - it gives them something tangible to take away from the festival, and they always provide a talking point for audiences and media.
The EIFF has now announced the juries for the coveted Michael Powell Award (which includes the film Day of the Flowers pictured above) and also four other juries who will deliberate over the Festival’s seven awards.
Two of the jurors - British actor Jim Broadbent and American actor Elliott Gould - will also be sharing insights into their careers in newly added In-Person events on 23 June.
Broadbent will be Chair of 2012’s three-member jury for the Michael Powell Award Competition. Named in homage to one of Britain's most original filmmakers and inaugurated in 1990, the Michael Powell Award rewards imagination and creativity in British filmmaking.
Joining him on the Jury will be Japanese actress and producer Kiki Sugino and Tiina Lokk, founder and director of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The jury will present awards for Best British Feature Film and Best Performance in a British Feature Film.
"I have always had the most brilliant of times at the Edinburgh Festival and I'm sure the Film Festival will be equally stimulating," said Broadbent. "I relish the opportunity to see such a great range of films in such special company."
The last winner of the award was Nick Whitfield for Skeletons in 2010, when the Jury also awarded David Thewlis the Award for Best Performance in a British Film for Mr Nice.
Michael Powell Award Competition nominees
- BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO (Peter Strickland)
- DAY OF THE FLOWERS (John Roberts)
- FLYING BLIND (Katarzyna Klimkiewicz)
- FUTURE MY LOVE (Maja Borg)
- THE IMPOSTER (Bart Layton)
- LIFE JUST IS (Alex Barrett)
- ONE MILE AWAY (Penny Woolcock)
- PUSHER (Luis Prieto)
- SHADOW DANCER (James Marsh)
- SMALL CREATURES (Martin Wallace).
International Feature Competition
The International Feature Competition Jury will be chaired by actor Elliott Gould. The Jury also includes independent producer and former Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Programme Director Julietta Sichel and multi-award winning filmmaker Lav Diaz, whose latest film Florentina Hubaldo, Cte will screen at EIFF in the Philippine New Wave strand.
The nominees for the Best International Feature Award are:
- Clarissa Campolina and Helvécio Marins Jr’s GIRIMUNHO
- Mao Mao’s HERE, THEN
- Anka Sasnal and Wilhelm Sasnal’s IT LOOKS PRETTY FROM A DISTANCE
- David Zellner’s KID-THING
- Yeon Sang-ho’s THE KING OF PIGS
- Alexandre O Philippe’s THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PAUL THE PSYCHIC OCTOPUS
- Maite Alberdi’s THE LIFEGUARD
- Mania Akbari’s ONE.TWO.ONE
- Gastón Solnicki’s PAPIROSEN
- Oskar Alegria’s THE SEARCH FOR EMAK BAKIA
- Jang Kun-jae’s SLEEPLESS NIGHT
- Miguel Gomes’ TABU
- Dan Sallitt’s THE UNSPEAKABLE ACT and A WOMAN’S REVENGE by Rita Azevedo Gomes.
The winner of the award in 2010 was Ryan Piers Williams' The Dry Land.
Student Critics Award
The inaugural Student Critics Jury Award will be deliberated by a jury of three aspiring film critics who will work with two established critics as mentors across the duration of the Festival to develop their writing and critical skills.
Genevieve Bicknell, from Edinburgh College of Art; Jonathan Glen, studying MLitt Film Journalism at Glasgow University and Liam Nolan from Napier University, Edinburgh are 2012’s Jury members.
The critic mentors are Nick James, Editor, Sight & Sound (UK) and Dana Linssen, Editor-in-Chief, De Filmkrant (The Netherlands).
EIFF Artistic Director Chris Fujiwara said: “We’re honoured and delighted that our feature and short film competitions will be judged by jurors of such distinction. I’m also very excited that EIFF will affirm its support for the future of film criticism by launching the Student Critics Jury Award.”
Short Film Awards
There are three short film awards: the British Short Film Competition, the International Short Film Competition and the McLaren Award for Animation.
The British Short Film Competition Jury includes Boston Phoenix critic and filmmaker Gerald Peary; radio and television broadcaster Edith Bowman and director Rita Azevedo Gomes.
The International Short Film Competition Jury includes Erwin Houtenbrink (Programme Consultant, International Film Festival Bratislava), Scottish actor Ewen Bremner, and Javier Porta Fouz (Programmer, Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema).