Had a feeling about this one...Wakamatsu Kôji's United Red Army (Jitsuroku: Rengô Sekigun - Asama Sansô E No Michi, 『実録・連合赤軍―あさま山荘への道程』, see my Nov. 22 entry) has won the NETPAC Prize for Best Asian Film as well as the Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai (C.I.C.A.E.) / International Confederation of Art House Cinemas prize for Best Film in the Forum section. See more on both awards on the official Berlin site here. Also see my Top 10 of 2007 on Midnight Eye, where I ranked the film very highly.
In a nice surprise, Kumasaka Izuru's (熊坂出監督) Asyl - Park and Love Hotel (see my Feb. 4 entry) won the Best First Feature Award. Congratulations to him, but it's especially great to see PFF's tireless leader Araki-san get some praise at an international event of this scale.
Last but not least, Ogigami Naoko's Megane (see my Jan. 30 entry) also won the Manfred Salzgeber Prize. It's an interesting, and very practical, award that pays for a film's translation, subtitling and digital mastering to aid distribution in Europe.
2 comments:
I attended a screening at the Berlinale and was really impressed by Wakamatsu's movie. Actually the 190 Minutes felt like only 10 Minutes because it was such a stirring film.
Unfortunately a lot of people left the screening probably because of the intensive 2nd act.
Are there actually any news about when the DVD(English subs included?) in Japan will be released and whether there are any chances of releasing the Soundtrack, too?
Greetings
Thanks for the report. I can imagine walk outs from a film that length, and with that many characters dropping like flies.
The film hasn't opened theatrically yet (although there were some special screenings/talk events in the months leading up to March 15th's opening in Shinjuku), so no DVD news yet. Jim O'Rourke's soundtrack may not be out yet, but you can get his album for Adachi's Yûheisha - Terrorist. It's pretty interesting that he did music for both films.
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