For immediate release: Monday, 25 May 2009
WINS CAMERA D’OR
AT CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
A LITTLE AUSSIE FILM WINS A MIGHTY BIG PRIZE!
SAMSON & DELILAH, the low-budget feature film debut from Australian director-writer-cinematographer, Warwick Thornton has stunned the film world by taking out the Camera d’Or (Golden Camera) at the Cannes International Film Festival.
The prize – one of the most coveted in film – was awarded by an independent jury to the best first feature film presented in any of the three Cannes selections – Official Selection, Director’s Fortnight or International Critics Week.
French actress Isabelle Adjani awarded the prize to what the jury described as “the best love film we’ve seen for many a year.”
SAMSON & DELILAH screened in Official Selection in “Un Certain Regard” – a category reserved for films that express a personal vision, with an emphasis on special cultural expression and cinematic innovation.
“Thank you for believing in our first born baby,” Thornton said as he accepted the award. “I don’t know what to say. Viva Cannes, viva le cinema.”
The Camera d’Or prize puts Thornton and his film in esteemed company. Previous winners of the Camera d’Or since its creation in 1978 include Jim Jarmusch (Stranger Than Paradise); Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay!); Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know) and Steve McQueen (Hunger).
The prize was last won by an Australian in 1996 when Shirley Barrett won the award with her debut, Love Serenade.
Since its Australian theatrical release on May 7, SAMSON & DELILAH has become a genuine word-of-mouth sensation, growing its audience every week. Box office figures released this morning are expected to show that for the third weekend in a row, the film enjoyed the highest per screen average of any film release in the country.
Check it out here, and while you are at it, visit salutethemovie.com
AUSTRALIA’S UNSUNG HERO BROUGHT TO THE SCREEN
Paramount Pictures and Transmission Films have acquired the Australian made documentary film SALUTE as part of the newly forged distribution partnership. SALUTE is the second film to be released under the partnership and tells the true story of Peter Norman, who was the 200m Silver Medalist in the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games and involved in the historically political “Black Power Protest” with African American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos.
Sadly Peter Norman passed away in 2006 but his story has been captured by his nephew, Melbourne based filmmaker Matt Norman who directed and produced SALUTE.
1968 was a pivotal year with some world changing events taking place such as the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy and on October 16 at the Olympic Games history was made. As well as reflecting on this historical event SALUTE is also relevant to current affairs surrounding the Beijing Olympics and Matt Norman has been involved in making the message of Civil and human rights heard during the lead up to these Olympics. Norman, who has been invited to meet with the Dalai Lama in Sydney on the 11th June 2008, says “opening communication between the Tibetan people and the Chinese government by speaking about the real need for change in China should be the catalyst to the upcoming Olympic games”.
Matt Norman’s film SALUTE will have its World Premiere at the upcoming Sydney Film Festival on the 8th of June at the State Theatre in Sydney. In July the Official biography “A Race To Remember -The Peter Norman Story’” will be released by Co-Authors Damian Johnstone and Matt Norman which tells the entire story of Peter Norman from start to finish. Its important Matt says that Australian’s and the rest of the World get to know of one of its own hero’s who has flown under the radar for so many years.
More information can be found at www.salutethemovie.com