The 28th edition of the signature event of the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film, its annual Chlotrudis Awards, was held over Zoom this past weekend, welcoming special guest filmmakers and announcing multiple winners in several of its categories. The top winners, each garnering 3 prizes each, were THE POWER OF THE DOG, and THE LOST DAUGHTER. However, neither of these two earned the top nod of Best Picture – that honor went to Bosnia’s Oscar-nominated QUO VADIS, AIDA?, which dramatizes the events of the Srebrenica massacre. All 3 films were helmed by women, which was a theme for the night, with the majority of winners from female-led productions. It is fitting that March is National Women’s History month as 11 of the 16 awards given out at the ceremony went to women, or to women-helmed films.
Between the two more widely known winners, THE POWER OF THE DOG took Trudies for Jane Campion (Best Director), lead Benedict Cumberbatch (Best Actor) and Ari Wegner (Best Cinematographer). Maggie Gyllenhaal’s THE LOST DAUGHTER won her Best Adapted Screenplay for her writing, and awarded the two performers in the film – Olivia Colman (Best Actress) and Jessie Buckley (Best Supporting Actress) in their respective portrayals for the present-day and younger versions of the main character, Leda.
In the Society’s most prestigious category, the Buried Treasure, the winning film was THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT’S A RESURRECTION. The first film from the country in Lesotho submitted for Oscar nomination, THIS IS NOT A BURIAL follows an elderly woman preparing for her death in a remote village, which is itself facing momentous change that challenges its existence.
Attendees came from several states and countries, including the night’s Special Guest Gabriel Rhodes, editor of last year’s Best Documentary winner, TIME. Gabriel was joined in conversation with fellow filmmaker and Chlotrudis vet Wiebke von Carolsfeld (MARION BRIDGE, THE SAVER).
Here is the full list of winning films:
Best Movie
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Buried Treasure
This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection
Best Director
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Best Actress
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Best Actor
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Best Supporting Actress
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Best Supporting Actor
Vikash Bhai, Limbo
Best Original Screenplay
A Hero, screenplay by Asghar Farhadi
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Lost Daughter, screenplay by Maggie Gyllenhaal
Best Use of Music in a Film
Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised – Randall Poster, Music Supervisor
Best Editing
Enat Sidi, I Carry You With Me
Best Cinematography
Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog
Best Sound Design
Svook, Identifying Features
Best Production Design
Nora Mendis, Passing
Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast
Shiva Baby
Best Documentary
The Velvet Underground