Comme le feu by Quebec filmmaker Philippe Lesage won the International Jury Grand Prize for the best film in the Génération14plus section on Friday evening in Berlin.
Posted at 2:15 p.m.
“It's an honor,” the filmmaker from Quebec explained emotionally on stage, accompanied by his actors. I know you took a risk with that film that didn't fit in the boxes. I want to thank my amazing cast. It's an actors' film. They are amazing. I have a lot to thank them for! »
The international jury consisted of three filmmakers, the American Ira Sachs (absent as his film Passages is a finalist in four categories at the Independent Spirit Awards taking place this Sunday), the Sudanese Amjad Abu Alala and the Iranian-German Banafshe Hourmazdi.
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Like Fire by Philippe Lesage
“This film! said Amjad Abu Alala when presenting the prize to Philippe Lesage. We reward a film by an artist who is not afraid to take risks. A film in the tradition of Chekhov's theater and Bergman's cinema. A film in which there is love, hate, beauty and violence. Where the perspective of adults is dissected through the eyes of young characters. »
“In my view, generation is the most important area of the festival. “Reaching young audiences is crucial to the survival of film festivals,” said Berlinale co-director Mariëtte Rissenbeek. “It is a selection that reaches multiple generations and promotes dialogue between generations. »
A brilliant film
This description fits very well with Comme le feu, whose English title “Who By Fire” is taken from a song by Leonard Cohen. A brilliant film in which Paul Ahmarani plays the role of a screenwriter who finds his old director friend (Arieh Worthalter) with his children in a large chalet. The tensions between the two quickly come to the surface.
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Paul Ahmarani in Like Fire.
In a more tragicomic style than Philippe Lesage's previous full-length features (The Demons, Genesis), Comme le feu is perhaps his most accessible film.
Before the screening, the Berlinale's artistic director, Carlo Chatrian, came to Philippe Lesage's seat to greet him and perhaps hint at the honors that awaited him… “He congratulated me, but held back, more to say,” Philippe Lesage told me happily as he left the ceremony. “It's really the price I was hoping for. “A lot of people told me it was their favorite film of the entire festival,” Lesage added.
“Thank you for always thanking your actors! » said Paul Ahmarani and hugged him, also touched. Ahmarani offered one of the best acting performances of this Berlinale. Unfortunately, there are no interpretation prizes in the Generation category. He deserved it!