Retrospective 2017 – A Year in Film

September

The Seasonal Shift

Image sources: 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. & Paramount

As summer turned to autumn, blockbusters and franchises gave way to a mix of films as the meatier months for UK releases got under way during the culmination of film festival season and in the lead up to awards season. The month’s big awaited blockbuster ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle‘ was largely overshadowed by one of the year’s success stories the big screen adaptation of ‘IT‘ (itself a potential franchise starter). The rest of September meanwhile was padded out by a selection which included Darren Aronofsky’s dark psychological allegory ‘Mother!‘ and Taylor Sheridan’s modern frontier crime mystery ‘Wind River‘, as well as hip hop dreams underdog drama ‘Patti Cake$‘ and British period serial murder-mystery ‘The Limehouse Golem‘.

Ahh, Venice…

The global film festival circuit got back into the full swing of things in September as the great and the glamorous of world cinema converged on the ‘Queen of the Adriatic’ for the 74th Venice International Film Festival (La Biennale). As usual the world’s press and select audiences were treated to glamourous red carpet galas, premieres and screenings of films from all corners of the globe, crowned by the customary award ceremony and bestowing of the prestigious ‘Golden Lion’—which this year went to Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Shape of Water’. You can see our full recap of this year’s event here, and a brief summary below.

Image sources: Getty Images

This year’s principal jury—responsible for selecting the main award winners at festival’s end—was presided over by American actress Annette Bening and included Hungarian film writer/director Ildikó Enyedi, Mexican writer/director Michel Franco, British actress Rebecca Hall, French actress Anna Mouglalis, Aussie film critic David Stratton, Italian actress Jasmine Trinca, British writer/director Edgar Wright and Hong-Kong writer/director Yonfan.

Here are the major Venice prize winner this year;

-Golden Lion for Best Film-

‘The Shape of Water’ by Guillermo del Toro (USA)

-Silver Lion for Best Director-

Xavier Legrand for ‘Custody (Jusqu’à la Garde)’ (France)

-Grand Jury Prize-

‘Foxtrot’ by Samuel Maoz (Israel, Germany, France, Switzerland)

-Coppa Volpi for Best Actor-

Kamel El Basha for ‘The Insult’ (Lebanon, France)

-Coppa Volpi for Best Actress-

Charlotte Rampling for ‘Hannah’ (Italy, Belgium, France)

-Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor-

Charlie Plummer for ‘Lean on Pete’ (UK)

-Award for Best Screenplay-

Martin McDonagh for ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ (UK)

-Special Jury Prize-

‘Sweet Country’ by Warwick Thornton (Australia)

Those We Lost

Image source: Universal, 20th Century Fox, Getty Images, ITV & Paramount

September meant the passing among others of regular Martin Scorsese collaborator veteran screen mobster Frank Vincent (80) (Goodfellas, Casino) as well as veteran American actor Harry Dean Stanton (91) (Alien, Paris, Texas). We also saw the loss of legendary middleweight boxer and occasional actor Jake LaMotta (95) (The Runaways, Raging Bull) and British soap legend Elizabeth Dawn (77) (Coronation Street, Z Cars), as well as Playboy founder and cameo king Hugh Hefner (91) (Beverly Hills Cop II, Sex and the City).

October next page>

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