Fruitvale Station wins Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes Film FestivalPosted by Wilson Morales
May 25, 2013
Ryan Coogler‘s Fruitvale Station was among the winners in the Un Certain Regard Awards at the Cannes Film Festival. The film won the Avenir Prize. The big prize went to Rithy Panh‘s The Missing Picture, which explores the Pol Pot dictatorship of the 70s.
In 1998, the prize un certain regard (French: prix un certain regard) was introduced to the section to recognize young talent and to encourage innovative and daring works by presenting one of the films with a grant to aid its distribution in France.
The jury was headed by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg and also included actresses Ludivine Sagnier and Zhang Ziyi.
Slated for theatrical release on July 12 and winner of both the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic feature and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, director Ryan Coogler’s “Fruitvale Station” follows the true story of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and feels something in the air.
Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: being a better son to his mother (Octavia Spencer), whose birthday falls on New Year’s Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz), who he hasn’t been completely honest with as of late, and being a better father to Tatiana (Ariana Neal), their beautiful four year-old daughter. Crossing paths with friends, family, and strangers, Oscar starts out well, but as the day goes on, he realizes that change is not going to come easily. His resolve takes a tragic turn, however, when BART officers shoot him in cold blood at the Fruitvale subway stop on New Year’s Day. Oscar’s life and tragic death would shake the Bay Area – and the entire nation – to its very core.
The Un Certain Regard jury awards:
Prize of Un Certain Regard: “The Missing Picture” by Rithy Panh
Jury Prize: “Omar” by Hany Abu-Assad
Directing Prize: Alain Guiraudie for “Stranger by the Lake”
A Certain Talent Prize: The ensemble cast of “La Jaula de Oro” by Diego Quemada-Diez
Avenir Prize: “Fruitvale Station” by Ryan Coogler
