LFF 2016 PREVIEW: TONI ERDMANN

A narrative feature that's as potent as one could hope to find in contemporary cinema

Jordan Cronk, Reverse Shot

A work of great beauty, great feeling and great cinema

Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Toni Erdmann is filled with grand comic inventions, and it encompasses so many strands of experience that it eats the material of several decades of movies for breakfast

Kent Jones, Film Comment

No film set the Croisette alight this May quite like Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann. Building upon the acclaim for her first two features, the 2-hour 42-minute German comedy was the toast of Cannes, drawing in unanimous praise from critics, and even recording the highest score in the history of Screen International's Critics Poll. It won the FIPRESCI prize at the festival, before progressing to the FIPRESCI Grand Prix for 2015-16. It marks a must-see for all cinephiles offered the chance, which, for me, will first arrive at the London Film Festival in October. Release dates, indicating Oscar hopes, are on their way: Christmas Day stateside and the 3rd of February in the UK.

FIPRESCI GRAND PRIX 2015-16: TONI ERDMANN WINS

Midway through each year, the International Federation of Film Critics, or FIPRESCI, hands out its Grand Prix for the preceding 12 months. An estimable organization that attends dozens of film festivals every year and doles out fest-specific awards for each, this is the highest honour which FIPRESCI can give. This year's winner is Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann, a comedy which screened in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Ade becomes the first woman to win the Grand Prix. She won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes for the official selection, having attracted enormous acclaim from critics though failing to win any official jury awards. Ade will receive the award at the opening night gala for the 2016 San Sebastian Film Festival on the 16th of September. The 475 voters chose the film over two other nominees: Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa and Jim Jarmusch's Paterson.

CANNES 2016 FIPRESCI PRIZE WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

The eternal arbiter of artistic excellence at festivals internationally, FIPRESCI, has revealed the three films to earn its prestigious prizes from Cannes 2016. As expected, Maren Ade's universally-acclaimed (and Screen Daily Jury Grid record-breaker) Toni Erdmann wins in the Official Competition section. There was another female director, from Critics' Week, among the award recipients, and a surprising choice for the jury's Un Certain Regard pick. Take a look:

FIPRESCI Prize for Official Competition
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)

FIPRESCI Prize for Un Certain Regard
Dogs (Bogdan Mirica)

FIPRESCI Prize for Critics' Week / Directors' Fortnight
Raw (Julia Ducournau)

FIPRESCI GRAND PRIX 2015 AWARDED TO MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Amid a typically strong selection of nominees, FIPRESCI has named its pick for the best film released between the 1st of July 2014 and the 20th of June 2015: Mad Max: Fury Road. It's a choice that has surprised some, given the film's genre characteristics, but it's also a choice that has delighted many. Almost 500 critics from across the globe voted on the poll, choosing George Miller's franchise revival from a slate of nominees that also included Hou Hsiao Hsien's The Assassin, Nemes Laszlo's Son of Saul and Jafar Panahi's Taxi.