‘AFTER YANG’ LIVES AGAIN, BIG WINNER AT CHLOTRUDIS SOCIETY FOR INDEPENDENT FILM 29TH AWARDS CEREMONY

The 29^th annual Chlotrudis Awards were announced and celebrated this past weekend, at an intimate awards dinner held at the beautiful, newly renovated French Library in Boston’s Back Bay.  The collection of members and longtime friends showered much love on Kogonada’s sophomore offering, AFTER YANG, a near-future meditation on grief, starring Colin Farrell.  The affecting family drama garnered 4 wins, including Best Movie and Best Director as well as Best Production Design and Best Adapted Screenplay.

A trio of films received a pair of awards each.  AFTERSUN, Charlotte Wells’ directorial debut, won Best Actor for Paul Mescal’s turn in this coming of age, father-daughter story.  The film also won Best Original Screenplay for Wells, who wrote as well as helmed the feature.   Following wins for films featuring Irish performers, the Ireland-set THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN grabbed two acting awards for its supporting players. Trudies went to Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively.   Finally, DECISION TO LEAVE, Korean director Park Chan-wook’s latest intriguing film, a romantic mystery tracking the obsession between a detective and a widow/suspect took top tech awards Best Editing and Best Cinematography for its stunning framing and visuals.

Best Actress was bestowed upon Dale Dickey for her moving portrait of a widow meeting a longtime flame, in A LOVE SONG.  The impressive cast of Sarah Polley’s WOMEN TALKING walked away with Best Ensemble.   And Best Documentary was awarded posthumously to beloved local filmmaker Lucia Small’s last feature, GIRL TALK, which follows the Newton North debate team with particular focus on the female members.

In the Society’s most prestigious category, the Buried Treasure, the winner was Finland’s  COMPARTMENT NUMBER 6, a road film which follows a Finnish student traveling on a train to northern Russia on an archeological quest, and finds herself assigned a compartment with a Russian miner.  As the miles go by and the surroundings become more isolated, her destination and motivations shift as do her dealings with her gruff train-mate.

The Buried Treasure is the only category with eligibility requirements: nominated films must be considered overlooked (previously the only requirement was that it had a US box office of less than $250,000).  Members submit a film they feel strongly was given such short shrift and deserve a wider audience. Once the final ballot is set, all members voting in the category must verify that they have watched all or at least 5 of the nominated films.

Here follows the complete list of the winners for the 29th Annual Chlotrudis Awards:

BEST MOVIE
After Yang

BURIED TREASURE

Compartment No. 6

BEST DIRECTOR

Kogonada – After Yang

BEST ACTRESS

Dale Dickey – A Love Song

BEST ACTOR

Paul Mescal – Aftersun

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE CAST

Women Talking

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

After Yang

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Aftersun

BEST USE OF MUSIC IN FILM

Ali & Ava

BEST SOUND DESIGN

Memoria

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

After Yang

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Decision to Leave

BEST EDITING

Decision to Leave

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Girl Talk