“La Jaula De Oro” wins best film at Zurich Festival

PanARMENIAN.Net - La Jaula De Oro (The Golden Cage), a road movie from Mexican director Diego Quemada-Diez about teenage Guatemalan immigrants trying to make it to the U.S., won the Golden Eye for best film at the 9th Zurich international film festival, The Hollywood Reporter said.

The jury, headed by Swiss-born director Marc Forster (World War Z) and including Oscar-winning actress Melissa Leo (Prisoners), directors Andrew Dominik (Killing Them Softly) and Thomas Imbach (Day is Done) and producers Stacey Sher (Django Unchained) and Guneet Monga (Lunchbox) also gave a special mention to actor Michael B. Jordon for his starring role playing Oscar Grant in Ryan Coogler's Sundance winner Fruitvale Station.

Finsterworld, Frauke Finsterwalder's darkly comic feature debut, won best film in the German-language feature category, with a special mention for Marc Rensing's drama Die Frau Die Sich Traut. Finsterworld also won the best film honor from the association of Swiss film journalists. Rent A Family Inc., from Danish helmer Kaspar Astrup Schroeder won best documentary with a special mention for These Birds Walk from Pakistani helmers Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq.

Anna Thommen's Neuland won in the best German documentary category, with a special mention for Sabine Lidl's Nan Goldin – I Remember Your Face, a portrait of the acclaimed U.S. photographer.

Zurich's audience award went to another German documentary, the music doc Journey to Jah from directors Noel Dernesch and Moritz Springer, while the children's film honor went to Believe from British director David Scheinmann.

The inaugural best treatment prize for an in-development project, was given to British-born Swiss resident David Tucker for his project Sturm – Bis Ich Tot Bin Oder Frei (Storm – Until I'm Dead or Free). The prize comes with a $5,000 (CHF 5,000) cash bursary and a further $27,500 (CHF 25,000) towards the development of Tucker's screenplay.

All of the main film prizes – for best film, best documentary, best German-language film and best German-language documentary – come with a $22,000 (CHF 20,000) cash prize and $66,000 (CHF 60,000) in funding for the promotion of the winning films in Swiss cinemas.

The winners of the 9th Zurich international film festival were announced in Zurich Saturday night (Oct. 5).