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Tribeca film festival: British film about paedophile suspect among winners

posted: 1 year ago

Tribeca film festival: British film about paedophile suspect among winnersA British film about the death of a suspected paedophile has won the award for best narrative short at the Tribeca film festival in New York.

Man and Boy, which was directed by David Leon and Marcus McSweeney, stars Eddie Marsan. It was inspired by the case of Scott Campbell, who fell to his death from a tower block in 2008 after trying to flee a mob who thought he had sexually assaulted a boy.

The jury said: "The jury liked this film's marriage of brilliant acting, superb technical prowess and provocative subject matter. It's a movie memorable for upending expectations."

There was another UK success at the festival when the British writer and director Jerry Rothwell won the best feature film prize in an online competition involving visitors to the Tribeca website.

His documentary film, Donor Unknown, is about JoEllen Marsh, a woman who was one of the first generation of children conceived through donor insemination and decided to embark on a quest find her biological father.

The top honours were taken by She Monkeys, a Swedish film about two teenage girls on a young women's equestrian acrobatics team whose friendship turns to rivalry; and a documentary, Bombay Beach, about a range of characters living on the fringes of a ghost town in the Californian desert.

She Monkeys, the first feature length production by Sweden's Lisa Aschan, won best narrative feature and was described by a jury as "haunting, resonant but never posed".

"This film speaks of sex, adolescence, power and ambition. It is original and authentic," the jury said.

Bombay Beach, by the Israeli director Alma Har'el and featuring music by Bob Dylan, won the best documentary prize for its depiction of the remains of a community in the Salton Sea area, a once thriving holiday destination that was abandoned by visitors decades ago.

The documentary jury said the choice was unanimous for the film's "beauty, lyricism, empathy and invention".

Ramadhan 'Shami' Bizimana won best actor in the Rwandan and Australian film about genocide, Grey Matter, which is director Kivu Ruhorahoza's first feature.

Carice van Houten was named best female actor for Black Butterflies, a drama based on the life during apartheid of South African poet Ingrid Jonker.

The awards were announced at a ceremony on Thursday night. Now in its 10 year, Tribeca was created in a bid to revive the New York neighbourhood after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre.

Powered by Guardian.co.ukThis article was written by Ben Quinn, for The Guardian on Friday 29th April 2011 18.33 Europe/London

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

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