Crash comes out tops
2005-09-12 09:48
Deauville, France - Crash, a film about racism and urban alienation in the United States, won top prize on Sunday at the Deauville festival of American cinema.
The runner-up award, the Jury Prize, was shared between a teen coming-of-age movie, On the Outs, and Keane, a story of a man trying to come to terms with the abduction of his daughter.
Transamerica, about a transsexual's journey cross-country with a son she didn't know she had, won the Best Screenplay prize.
The first-time director who made Crash, Paul Haggis - a screenwriter of movies such as the Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby - was not present to accept the Grand Prix.
But he said via a recorded video interview that he was "very happy and proud to represent all the artists who made great sacrifices to make this film."
The winning feature is an ensemble piece starring Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle and Brendan Fraser.
They play characters whose lives intertwine in a Los Angeles where isolation and discrimination reign.
In all, 10 independent US films vied for prizes at the 10-day event held in this chic Normandy seaside resort, while big Hollywood releases such as Cinderella Man were shown out of competition.
Stars who turned up earlier in the festival to promote their latest releases included Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr for the noir comedy Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Pierce Brosnan for The Matador, and Kirsten Dunst for her romantic comedy Elizabethtown.