I, the Juror
This is one of those things that only happens at a film festival: I was standing in line for a screening last night, and overheard the woman behind me talking about being a producer on a New Zealand film called "In My Father's Den".
I turned around and introduced myself, having been a member of the jury that awarded it the FIPRESCI prize at Toronto two years ago. We got to talking, and it came up that the movie still doesn't have a domestic distributor, which is kind of weird -- after all, it stars Matthew Macfadyen, the British star of "MI-5" who subsequently elevated his international profile last year by playing Darcy to Keira Knightley's Lizzie in "Pride & Prejudice". It also features Miranda Otto, she of "The Lord of the Rings" and "War of the Worlds". There's got to be someone who'd pick up a movie with those two, just based on a poster.
But nope, it's never been acquired. Which brings me, once again, to the sad realization that there's a certain futility to the FIPRESCI award. Even if we see a spectacularly good movie, it's still going to be a hard sell if it doesn't have a zippy concept or a couple of genuine movie stars ... and since the titles on our list are, for the most part, scrappy little indies produced outside their respective countries' studio systems, the odds are slim that such a film will come along.
(That said, "Crash" was on Toronto's 2004 list, but Lionsgate picked it up mid-festival ... which, I suspect, worked against it in our deliberations.)
Anyway, there doesn't seem to be a film as visible as "Crash" awaiting us this year. I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to disclose our list of eligible films, so for the moment I'll hold off until after the festival ... but I will say that, some ten titles in, I've seen just one movie that really declares itself a contender.
Just one.
You can see why I'd make the time for something like "Borat" ... which was pretty awesome, I have to say.
More later ...
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