LAFF 2008: Day 10 - Part 1
The 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival wraps up today with Family Day, the premiere of Journey to the Center of the Earth, a scattering of other screenings and the announcement of the Audience Awards, but for me it ended last night.
Before I post the usual recount of yesterday’s movie activity, I wanted to report the jury prizes that were handed out last night prior to the world premiere screening of Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Sean Baker’s excellent Prince of Broadway, which I reviewed on Day 4, won the $50,000 Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature and Darius Marder’s documentary Loot won the same for Documentary Feature.
I focused on the narrative features this festival and was unable to schedule many of the pre-screenings so I didn’t catch Loot, but Prince of Broadway was one of my favorites. The story of a Ghanaian hustler in New York whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of a two-year-old that might belong to him surprises at how funny it is without ever stooping to the cheap laughs of Hollywood product like Three Men and a Baby. Here, the humor and the charm come naturally and honest drama is never very far away either. Prince Adu is perfect as Lucky the reluctant father.
Prince of Broadway doesn’t have a distribution deal yet so keep your fingers crossed and keep your eye on local festivals for it to turn up.
Filed under: Film Festivals
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Prince of Broadway… Heard of that title, and it sounded kind of interesting even if the basic synopsis feels a little familiar.
Off to the redwoods now at Richardson Grove (if Sam wants to know where I and others are, aha…).
Alexander, I agree that anyone normal should not be sitting behind a computer, unless air conditioning is the central lure……….have a great time at Richardson Grove!
PRINCE OF BROADWAY was one of the films you gave a glowing assessment on, and let’s keep our fingers crossed indeed on the hoped-for-opening at some point.
Of course JOURNEY is opening wide on July 11th, so I would love to hear your advance report here………not expecting much with that, but I suppose you can never be certain.
I might be seeing Journey this Friday, but I really don’t think I care enough to drag myself outta bed at 9 am.
“Prince of Broadway” does sound great…the sooner it opens in the US, the sooner it opens for me, so I agree with Sam, fingers crossed.
Very much looking forward to PoB. And thrilled that Ballast didn’t suck the other day.
Craig has turned LAFF into one of the better festivals this year. How does that work? Can somebody providing coverage actually make the festival better than it really is? Great work, pal.