National Geographic Society

"Amreeka," to be released by National Geographic Entertainment in September, was awarded the International Film Critics Award (the FIPRESCI Prize) Saturday at Directors' Fortnight, an independent section held parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. The award, aimed at promoting film art and young and new cinema, is presented at international film festivals. "Amreeka" is the story of a Palestinian mother who immigrates with her son to a small Illinois town. Writer/director Cherien Dabis is a former NG All Roads seed grant recipient. "The award signifies the global appeal of "Amreeka," and acknowledges the artistry and skill as a director of Cherien," said NG Cinema Ventures President Lisa Truitt. "This prestigious award adds to the acclaim "Amreeka" received at the Cannes Film Festival, which included a five-minute standing ovation after the screening as part of the Festival's Directors' Fortnight selections of films."

article courtesy of AFP

Aboriginal director Warwick Thornton's Samson and Delilah, a tale of young love in a troubled indigenous community, was Sunday awarded the Camera d'Or first film prize at the Cannes festival.

Thornton's feature takes an unflinching look at the problems facing Australia's remote Aboriginal communities: violence, substance abuse and poverty.

Shot in a derelict Aboriginal community near Alice Springs, it follows the slow, shy courtship between a boy who spends his time sniffing petrol and lost in music, and a girl forced to care for her ailing grandmother.

French actress Isabelle Adjani awarded the Camera d'Or of the 62nd Cannes film festival to what the jury described as "the best love film we've seen for many a year, 'Samson and Delilah.'"

Played by first-time Aboriginal actors Rowan McNamara and Marisa Gibson, both 14 at the time, the film is marked by long silences, and what little is spoken is mostly in the Central Australian language Warlpiri.

"Thank you for believing in our first born baby," Thornton said as he accepted the award. "I don't don't know what to say. Viva Cannes, viva le cinema."

The 38-year-old filmmaker drew on his own experience of growing up on the streets of Alice Springs when writing the screenplay, and approached local Aboriginal communities for help in finding his actors.

"It is about Aboriginal kids growing up and how incredibly strong and resilient and beautiful they are, and how they are neglected, not only by their own people and their own families but by the system."

In an interview with AFP, Thornton said a sense of his identity ran strongly through his work.

"I'm an Aboriginal and I will be all my life," he said. "The stolen generation, that's me. I'm actually not supposed to be here, it was actually government policy to breed us out and get rid of us."

"When you're writing your first feature you have to ask yourself, have you got something to say? Is there a fire inside of you, that you can translate to the film?"

"That's what it was. Everything that's in the film I've seen personally."

CONGRATULATIONS WARWICK!!!!

Article By Karen Gilmore

The National Geographic All Roads seed grant film "Bolinao 52" has won two regional Emmys in Northern California competition -- one for best News and Program Speciality for a Documentary and another for Best Musical Composition and Arrangement in the Craft Achievement category.

The Emmys were presented Saturday at an awards ceremony in San Francisco.

"Bolinao 52" received an All Roads seed grant in 2006 and was featured in the 2007 All Roads Film Festival. Duc Nguyen wrote, directed and co-produced the film along with Joanne Shen.

The film is the story of 100 Vietnamese people who boarded a wooden boat on a moonless summer night in 1988. Their plan was to leave Vietnam and find asylum in another country, but their mission was interrupted, and they drifted 37 days. When their boat was found by Filipino fishermen, only 52 had survived.

Congratulations Duc Nguyen and the entire cast and crew of "Bolinao 52!!"