If you have been reading my blog, you know that I wrote about Kathryn Bigelow’s new film after it screened at the Venice International Film Festival last summer. In fact, the film won the SIGNIS Jury’s Grand Prize.
The press release read:
The SIGNIS Jury has awarded its Grand Prize to Kathryn Bigelow’s anti-war film THE HURT LOCKER. According to the jury’s statement, the motivation for this choice is the filmmaker’s uncompromising approach to the Iraq war and its consequences seen through the experience of the bomb diffusion specialists for whom war is an addiction rather than a cause. “The film challenges the audience’s view of war in general and the current war in particular because it demonstrates the struggle between violence to the body and psychological alienation.”
I was able to bring the award back with me from the festival (I was the jury president, a first for me!) and through Kathryn’s agent we set up a time for Kathryn to come to the Pauline Center for Media Studies and accept it. I also brought back three other awards from independent juries for The Hurt Locker:
Fondazione Ente dello Spetacolo/Revista del Cinematografo – Premio “La Navicella-Venezia Cinema”
ARCA (Associazione Rocreativa Nazionale Culturale Sportiva) – PREMIO GIURIA NAZIONALE ArcaCinemaGiovani
Human Rights Network Award from the Human Rights Film Network.
Congratulations, Kathryn! The film opens June 26, 2009 and tonight there is going to be a screening at Loyola Marymount University (sponsored by LMU’s School for Film and Television, Catholics in Media, Open Call, the City of Angels Film Festival and 42West.) Kathryn has graciously accepted to come for a Q & A afterwards.
These photos below were taken with my iPhone taken on February 3, 2009 when Kathryn came here to accept the awards (the photos were being held hostage by the Adobe video editing program and I have no idea how that happened; they were just rescued yesterday by Sr Marie Paul, our video production pro. Sr. M. Paul is now teaching me Final Cut Express and I like it a lot!) I will post any photos we take tonight on the morrow!
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