"I'm one of those people who has always been a bridesmaid," said a surprised Piper Laurie as she picked up the second of two prizes yesterday at the Seattle International Film Festival. A three-time Oscar nominee but never a winner, she took the Golden Space Needle award for best actress for her lovely performance as a dying grandmother in "The Mao Game," which also received a special jury prize for her contribution to the film.
The festival audience traditionally votes on the Needles, which were announced at the Space Needle. This year, a record 55,000 ballots were collected from festivalgoers. Tom Tykwer's terrific German thriller "Run Lola Run," won the Needle for best picture. The runnerup was "The Red Violin," followed by "Limbo," "Earth" and "Say You'll Be Mine," an exceptional American romantic comedy that had its world premiere Saturday night.
Rupert Everett was named best actor for his suave performance as a London bachelor in "An Ideal Husband," trailed by David Strathhairn ("Limbo"), Hugo Weaving for three films ("Bedrooms and Hallways," "Following," "The Interview"), Roshan Seth ("Such a Long Journey") and Alex Dimitriades ("Head On").
Laurie won best actress by a wide margin. The runner-up was Julianne Moore ("An Ideal Husband"), followed by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio ("Limbo"), Helen Mirren ("The Passion of Ayn Rand") and Sandra Oh ("Last Night").
John Sayles, who was the subject of a festival tribute, won best director for "Limbo." Tykwer, who was honored by the festival as one of four European "emerging masters," was the runner-up, followed by Doctor Mehta ("Earth", Don McKellar ("Last Night) and Francois Girard ("The Red Violin").
Other needles went to Jay lowi's "12 Stops on the Road to Nowhere" (best short subject) and Wim Wenders' "Buena Vista Social Club" (best documentary). The nonfiction category was unusually competitive, with "Genghis Blues,' "Shadow Boxers," "Regret to Inform" and "Rabbit in the Moon" the chief runners-up. Aside from the extra prize for Laurie, the juried awards did not duplicate the Needles.
Clay Eides' gripping film noir, "Dead Dogs," won the American-Independent prize. A different jury gave Patrice Toye's "Rosie" the top prize in the New Director's Showcase, while handing out special awards to Oskar Reif's gorgeously photographed "The Bed" and Torun Lian's "Only Clouds Move the Stars." The Atom Films Short Film Award went to Henry Griffin's "Mutiny."
Although it was rejected for Oscar consideration earlier this year by the moribund Academy Awards foreign film committee, the blazingly innovative "Run Lola Run" was also the top prize winner in a poll of Seattle festival full-series-pass-holders. They named it "most favorite" as well as 'most-liked." I topens here for a regular fun June 25. "I want to discover new ways to use film language, new ways to do narratives," Tykwer said when he visited the festival over the weekend. "We haven't even reached 10 percent of waht is possible in film."
As usual, closing weekend was chock-full of special events, including series of panel discussions, screenings of "Battleship Potemkin" with the live performance of a glorious Shostakovich score, and guest appearances by Minnie Driver, Joshua Miller and Richard Harris. At the two-hour tribute Saturday afternoon, Harris demonstrated a talent for mimicry, impersonating Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood, Marlon Brando, John Huston and others as he told filmmaking stories. One audience member suggested he play Huston in a film biography. Harris said he had meant to retire by this point, but he keeps getting offered parts he can't turn down. "I've said 'I've done my last picture' so many times," he admitted. He talked about working with Bo Derek, Michelangelo Antonioni, Joshua Logan and Sam Peckinpah, adding that "the biggest tragedy of my life was not working with (Ingmar) Bergman on "The Serpent's Egg.'" After doing weeks of preparation, Harris caught a virus and couldn't do the picture.
He was here to present the world premiere of his latest film, "To Walk With Lions," in which he plays the late George Adamson, whose African adventures were chronicles in the "Born Free" series. Driver appeared in two festival entries, "An Ideal Husband" and "At Sachem Farm," which had its American premiere Saturday night. Both are comedies. After last year's heavy drama, "The Governess," she said "I thought I'd do something funny where I didn't have to be the emotional backbone."
Jay Roach presented the new Mike Meyers comedy, "Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me." which he directed. He also acted as host for the festival's increasingly popular "fly filmmaking" series. He seemed in awe of Julia Sweeney, Adrienne Shelley and Paul Todisco, who were given 800 feet of film apiece, in order to turn out one short film within the past week.
"These films have heart," he said. Sweeney's "Shadow Life," Todisco's "Skanks" and Shelly's "The Shadow Life of Bob and Zelda" each takes a different comic approach to the perils of relationships. Todisco based his on a favorite short story, Sweeney resurrected an old sketch idea, while Shelly said she was thinking about "how people can show you one aspect at the beginning of a relationship...then the real person comes out."
All three filmmakers welcomed the discipline involved in shooting so quickly and with such restrictions (Shelly ran out of film, Todisco had 60 feet left), and the chance to make a movie that was already paid for (the festival funds this annual project). Sweeney called it "a godsent" that came at a time when she was suffering from writer's block on another project.
Independent filmmakers and critics, including Variety's Ken Eisner got together for a discussion of the relationship between the press and non-studio filmmakers. Several expressed their concern that the recent "Star Wars" overkill has made it all but impossible for other films to be seen or discussed in the media. But Eisner, who also edits the entertainment section of Georgia Straigt, an alternative Vancouver, B.C., weekly, pointed out that this was not universally true. "We did no coverage on 'Star Wars'," he said. "We actually got letters thanking us."
Overall attendance at the festival was up 8 percent this year, possibly due to the addition of the remodeled Cinerama and the brand-new Pacific Place as festival sites. While the Egyptian, the Broadway Perfomance Hall and the Harvard Exit are all due for face lifts, the downtown theaters seemed to be drawing customers who might otherwise not have been tempted by a festival.