Empire Award nominee Shane Meadows scooped the Special Jury prize at the inaugural Rome Film Festival over the weekend for his film This Is England, a story of a 12-year-old boy who befriends a group of skinheads in the early 1980s. “I’m really pleased with this award,” said the British writer-director, “because it really isn’t easy subject matter.”
Other winners included Giorgio Colangeli of Italy (Best Actor), Ariane Ascaride of France (Best Actress) while director Kiril Serebrennikov of Russia won Best Film for his Playing The Victim, a modern-day Russian film based on Shakespeare's Hamlet.
The festival lasted for nine days and many agreed that Playing the Victim by Serebrennikov, a critically acclaimed theatre director in his native Russia, was rightly named best film among the 16 movies in competition. They were mostly art-house titles by new directors.
Both this and Meadows’ movie explore the confusion and disillusionment of younger generations. They were chosen by a 50-member jury made up the ordinary film-going public, and supervised by Italian director Ettore Scola. “Neither of these two very beautiful films is commercial but I hope both will reach the big audiences," Scola said at the award ceremony.
Meadows, who made a name for himself with Once Upon A Time In The Midlands and then the gripping Dead Man’s Shoes, drew on his own experience as a troubled teenager who dropped out of school as he tells the story of Shaun, an isolated boy growing up in a grim English coastal town. He says he found the lead character for the film, 13-year-old Thomas Turgoose, at a project for disadvantaged children in the town of Grimsby.
"He had grown up with all the odds stacked up heavily against him," Meadows said as he thanked the jury. "Twelve months ago, the young actor in this film was going through a dramatic period in his life and had no chances. A year later, he is getting a prize ... that could change his life."
This potentially life-changing moment was decided by the general public, who comprise the majority of the jury at the first Rome Film Fest. The organisers see this little gimmick as a way of boosting the festival’s casual appeal.
Indeed, when first the Rome festival was announced, the organisers tried to sell the nine-day, $12 million extravaganza as something relaxed and informal — a probable dig at the bustle of the Venice Film Festival held just a month previously, which is plagued by logistical problems.
In fact, it is only in the last two years that Venice has really prospered, recovering its place on the international film calendar… and then along comes Rome with a cavalcade of stars to upset the applecart.
Nicole Kidman opened the festival with her movie Fur" - based loosely on the life of photographer Diane Arbus - and the likes of Richard Gere, Leonardo DiCaprio Marty Scorsese and Sean Connery all added to the Roman glamour.
Fur, which combines biography and fictional romance, was shown out of competition along with other premieres, such as Alatriste, a movie about a soldier living in 17th century Spain starring Viggo Mortensen; The Hoax, starring Gere; and Mira Nair's The Namesake, about an Indian family moving to New York.
When promoting the Rome festival, the city’s ebullient mayor, Walter Veltroni entered a verbal dispute with Venice, which must feel under threat. Marco Mueller, director of Venice, suggested that Rome would have to settle for Venice’s scraps, but the organizers can feel proud of the inaugural event. “Well, it’s Darwinian,” said Girogio Gosetti, the festival’s general manager. “You either adapt and survive or you die.”
Will Lawrence