“Sparrows” coming-of-age drama wins Les Arcs European film fest

PanARMENIAN.Net - Runar Runarsson’s Icelandic coming-of-age drama “Sparrows” has won the Crystal Arrow and two more awards at the 7th edition of Les Arcs European film festival, Variety reports.

Sold by Versatile, “Sparrows”, which world premiered at San Sebastian and won the Golden Seashell, nabbed three kudos at Les Arcs: The Crystal Arrow for best film as well as the nods best actor (Atli Óskar Fjalarsson) and cinematography (Sophia Olsson). The movie marks Runarsson’s second feature after “Volcano,” which bowed at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2011. Lushly filmed in summertime Iceland, “Sparrows” follows a 16-year-old who has been living in Reykjavik with his mother and is sent back to live with his estranged father in an Icelandic fishing village.

Eva Husson’s steamy “Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)” which premiered at Toronto’s new Platform selection, won the Grand Jury prize and the music nod for the pic’s song, White Sea. Husson, who has been compared to Sofia Coppola and was recently signed by UTA, wrote and directed “Bang Gang,” which turns on privileged suburban teens who engage in a group game to push the limits of their sexuality. Films Distribution is handling international sales. ‘”Gang Bang” also snatched up the Cineuropa Prize and the award selected by high-school students of Les Arcs’s surrounding regions.

Meanwhile, Manal Issa won best actress for her performance as a young Lebanese woman who struggles to fend for herself in Paris in “Peur de rien,” a semi-autobiographical film by Danielle Arbid.

Sylvie Pialat, the producer of “Timbuktu” and “Stranger By The Lake,” presided the jury, which was comprised of actress Clotilde Hesme, the composer Ludovic Bource, the Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska, Norvegian actor Anders Danielsen Lie and Italian director Saverio Costanzo.

Headed by Frederic Boyer, the artistic director of both Les Arcs and Tribeca, the selection showcased 10 movies, including Luca Guadagnino’s “A Bigger Splash,” Robin Pront’s “The Ardennes,’ Tom Geens’s “Couple in a Hole,” Lenny Abrahamson’s “Room,” Olmo Omerzu’s “Family Film,” Athina Rachel Tsangari’s “Chevalier” and Jerzy Skolimowski’s “11 Minutes.”

The festival, which is presided by Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin and Guillaume Calop, also paid tribute to Xavier Beauvois and Niels Arestrup.