ITALY: U.S. film "Juno" wins top award at Rome festival
- 00:00:29
- ITN Source
ITALY: U.S. film "Juno" wins top award at Rome festival
"Juno", the story of an American teenager faced with an unplanned pregnancy, won the best film award at the Rome film festival on Saturday (October 27). The film is directed by 30-year old Canadian-born Jason Reitman, best known for his 2005 satirical comedy "Thank you for Smoking", which won a string of awards and was nominated for two Golden Globes. Critics praised the performance by actress Ellen Page as Juno MacGuff, the quick witted young woman suddenly plunged into adulthood as she tries to find a suitable set of parents to adopt her unborn child. "They say you don't really know another culture until you can make them laugh, so to hear your laughter it warms my heart and makes me feel that perhaps we are closer than we all think," Reitman said. The festival's jury, chaired this year by Bosnian director Danis Tanovic, is made up of 50 ordinary movie goers. Best actress award went to chinese actress Jang Wenli for her role in the movie 'And the spring comes', directed by Chang Wei Gu, while the award for best male acting performance was given to Croatian actor Rade Serbedzija for the movie 'Fugitive pieces' by Jeremy Podeswa. 'I would like to dedicate this award to all these people who are foreigners in the world, coming from small countries to the big cities', said Serbedzija, 'this award goes to them because I am part of them'. The award ceremony wrapped up the 10-day movie marathon, the second Rome festival that was launched last year by mayor Walter Veltroni, irking organisers of the venerable Venice film festival who see it as an unwelcome rival. The "Festa del Cinema" drew to Rome a string of Hollywood stars and veteran film-makers including Francis Ford Coppola, who picked the festival to present his first film in 10 years, "Youth Without Youth". But some critics said the Rome event, whose stated aim is to be a showcase of quality films for wide audiences and not just the industry or the press, lacked a clear identity. The competition was generally regarded as lacklustre, with the A-list of actors and directors kept outside the contest.
ITN Source | October 31, 2007
