Oct. 24--"A Childhood," director Philippe Claudel's account of a young French boy navigating a stormy adolescence, was awarded top prize in the 51st Chicago International Film Festival. Chicago native Andrew Davis, best known for directing "The Fugitive," headed this year's international features jury.
The awards presentation was held Friday evening; the festival continues at the AMC River East downtown through Thursday.
In addition to "A Childhood" winning the Gold Hugo for best film, two of its leading performers, Alexi Mathieu and Jules Gauzelin, shared the jury's best actor citation.
The second-prize Silver Plaque went to the Argentina-Brazil co-production "Paulina." Lizzie Brochere won best actress for Dutch director David Verbeek's "Full Contact," which also won for best cinematography.
Chilean director Pablo Larrain's "The Club," about a group of disgraced priests and their unwelcome visitor, snagged three awards, for direction (Larrain), ensemble and screenplay (Guillermo Calderon, Daniel Villalobos and Larrain).
"A Childhood " screens twice more before the conclusion of the festival: at 3:30 p.m. Monday and 7:45 p.m. Thursday. Go to chicagofilmfestival.com for details.
The complete 2015 CIFF awards list:
International Film Competition
Gold Hugo, Best Film:
"A Childhood"
Country: France
Director: Philippe Claudel
Silver Plaque, Special Jury Prize:
"Paulina"
Country: Argentina, Brazil
Director: Santiago Mitre
Silver Plaque, Best Director:
"The Club"
Country: Chile
Director: Pablo Larrain
Silver Plaque, Best Male Actor:
Alexi Mathieu, Jules Gauzelin ("A Childhood")
Country: France
Director: Philippe Claudel
Silver Plaque, Best Female Actor:
Lizzie Brochere ("Full Contact")
Country: Netherlands, Croatia
Director: David Verbeek
Silver Plaque, Best Ensemble:
"The Club"
Country: Chile
Director: Pablo Larrain
Silver Plaque, Best Cinematography:
Frank Van den Eeden ("Full Contact")
Country: Netherlands, Croatia
Director: David Verbeek
Silver Plaque for Best Screenplay:
Writers Guillermo Calderon, Daniel Villalobos, Pablo Larrain ("The Club")
Country: Chile
Director: Pablo Larrain
Gold Plaque for Best Art Direction:
Toma Baqueni ("My Golden Days")
Country: France
Director: Arnaud Desplechin
New Directors Competition
Gold Hugo:
"Underground Fragrance"
Country: China
Director: Pengfei Song
Silver Plaque:
"Sparrows"
Country: Iceland
Director: Runar Runarsson
Roger Ebert Award: presented annually to an emerging filmmaker whose film presents a fresh and uncompromising vision. Films competing in the Festival's New Directors Competition are eligible for this award.
"Nahid"
Country: Iran
Director: Ida Panahandeh
Documentary Competition
Gold Hugo:
"Volta ... Terra"
Country: Portugal, Switzerland
Director: Jo㯠Pedro Plᣩdo
Silver Plaque:
"In The Underground"
Country: China
Director: Song Zhantao
Gold Plaque Special Mention:
"Time Suspended"
Country: Mexico, Argentina
Director: Natalia Bruschtein
Q Hugo Award
Gold Hugo:
"Carol"
Country: USA
Director: Todd Haynes
Silver Plaque:
"Henry Gamble's Birthday Party"
Country: USA
Director: Stephen Cone
Short Film Awards
Gold Hugo, Live Action:
"Leidi"
Country: Colombia, UK
Director: Simesa Soto
Silver Plaque, Live Action:
"The Exquisite Corpus"
Country: Austria
Director: Peter Tscherkassky
Gold Plaque, Live Action:
"One-minded"
Country: South Korea
Director: S颡stien Simon and Forest Ian Estler
Silver Plaque, Live Action:
"Over"
Country: UK
Bronze Plaque, Live Action:
"Ramona"
Country: Romania
Director: Andrei Cretulescu
Silver Plaque, Documentary:
"Santa Cruz del Islote"
Country: US, Colombia
Director: Luke Lorentzen
Gold Plaque, Documentary:
"A Tale of Love, Madness and Death"
Country: Chile
Director: Mijael Bustos Guti鲲ez
Silver Plaque, Animated:
"Sunday Lunch"
Country: France
Director: C鬩ne Devaux
Gold Plaque, Animated:
"The Same River Twice"
Country: USA
Director: Weijia Ma
Silver Plaque, Animated:
"Waves '98"
Country: Lebanon, Qatar
Director: Ely Dagher
Chicago Award
Gold Plaque
Radical Grace
Country: USA
Director: Rebecca Parrish
INTERCOM
Gold Hugo, Business -- Communications
Patrick Frost
Company/Entrant: Seed Audio-Visual Communications
Silver Plaque, Sales Marketing
Black Ink
Company/Entrant: Kemper Kommunikation GmbH
Gold Plaque, Public Relations
Porsche at Le Mans 2015
Company/Entrant: Kemper Kommunikation GmbH
Gold Plaque, Business -- Communications
Argyle Pink Diamonds, Beyond Rare
Company/Entrant: Bengar Films
Silver Plaque, Business -- Promotion
Soapbox Race 2015
Company/Entrant: Strange Loop Studios
Silver Plaque, Business -- Communications
Australia Post, Privacy and You
Company/Entrant: Bengar Films
Silver Plaque, Educational -- Youth Audience
Summiteers
Company/Entrant: Seed Audio-Visual Communications
Certificate of Merit, Sports Recreation
Spa 2015
Company/Entrant: Kemper Kommunikation GmbH
Certificate of Merit, Science/Research/Technology
Antarctic Edge: 70 Degrees South
Company/Entrant: Rutgers Film Bureau
