DUBLIN FILM CRITICS CIRCLE: I, DANIEL BLAKE WINS BEST FILM OF 2016

You can rely on the Irish! Ken Loach's Cannes Palme d'Or winner I, Daniel Blake is the Dublin Film Critics Circle's favourite film of the year. If you're going to think outside the box, and I recommend it wholeheartedly, this is the kind of thinking you ought to be doing. Nice work, DFCC!

Best Film

1. I, Daniel Blake

2. Arrival

3. Hell or High Water

4. Spotlight

5. Anomalisa

6. Captain Fantastic

=  Paterson

=  The Revenant

=  Room

=  Son of Saul

=  Train to Busan

=  The Witch

Best Director

1. Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

2. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)

3. Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake)

4. Lenny Abrahamson (Room)

5. Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals)

=  Lucile Hadzihalilovic (Evolution)

Best Actress

1. Amy Adams (Arrival)

2. Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake)

3. Brie Larson (Room)

4. Kate Beckinsale (Love & Friendship)

=  Seana Kerslake (A Date for Mad Mary)

6. Isabelle Huppert (Things to Come)

Best Actor

1. Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake)

2. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

3. Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)

=  Adam Driver (Paterson)

5. Rohrig Geza (Son of Saul)

=  Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight)

7. Vincent Lindon (The Measure of a Man)

=  Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)

Best Screenplay

1. Eric Heisserer (Arrival)

2. Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)

3. Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water)

4. Whit Stillman (Love & Friendship)

5. Emma Donoghue (Room)

=  Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic)

=  S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk)

Best Cinematography

1. Seamus McGarvey (Nocturnal Animals)

2. Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant)

3. Bradford Young (Arrival)

4. Jarin Blaschke (The Witch)

5. Natasha Braier (The Neon Demon)

=  Erdely Matyas (Son of Saul)

Best Documentary

1. Mattress Men

=  Weiner

3. 66 Days: Bobby Sands

4. Life, Animated

5. Atlantic

=  The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years

=  Magnus

8. Crash and Burn

Best Irish Film

1. A Date for Mad Mary

2. Sing Street

3. Room

4. Viva

=  The Young Offenders

6. Mammal

=  The Survivalist

Best International Breakthrough

Hayley Squires

Best Irish Breakthrough

Seana Kerslake

TONI ERDMANN LEADS 29TH EUROPEAN FILM AWARD NOMINATIONS

Cannes competitors dominate in the nominations for the 29th European Film Awards. Four of the Best European Film nominees showed in competition on the Croisette in May, including Palme d'Or recipient I, Daniel Blake, and FIPRESCI Prize (and Grand Prix) recipient Toni Erdmann, which leads all films with five mentions. In all, the contenders for seven new categories joined the previously-announced lineups in Best European Animated Feature and Best European Comedy. Wroclaw will host the ceremony on the 10th of December. All the nominees are listed below.

Best European Film

Elle (Paul Verhoeven)

I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach)

Julieta (Pedro Almodovar)

Room (Lenny Abrahamson)

Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)

Best European Director

Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann)

Pedro Almodovar (Julieta)

Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake)

Cristian Mungiu (Graduation)

Paul Verhoeven (Elle)

Best European Actor
Javier Camara (Truman)

Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake)

Burghart Klaussner (The People vs. Fritz Bauer)

Rolf Lassgard (A Man Called Ove)

Peter Simonischek (Toni Erdmann)

Best European Actress

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (Like Crazy)

Trine Dyrholm (The Commune)

Sandra Huller (Toni Erdmann)

Isabelle Huppert (Elle)

Emma Suarez and Adriana Ugarte (Julieta)

Best European Screenwriter

Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann)

Emma Donoghue (Room)

Paul Laverty (I, Daniel Blake)

Cristian Mungiu (Graduation)

Tomasz Wasilewski (United States of Love)

Best European Animated Feature

My Life as a Courgette (Claude Barras)

Psychonauts, The Forgotten Children (Pedro Rivero and Alberto Vazquez)

The Red Turtle (Michael Dudok de Wit)

Best European Documentary

21 x New York (Piotr Stasik)

A Family Affair (Tom Fassaert)

Fire at Sea (Gianfranco Rosi)

Mr. Gaga (Tomer Heymann)

S Is for Stanley (Alex Infascelli)

The Land of the Enlightened (Pieter-Jan de Pue)

Best European Comedy

A Man Called Ove (Hannes Holm)

Look Who's Back (David Wnendt)

One Man and His Cow (Mohamed Hamidi)

Best European Discovery - FIPRESCI Prize

Dogs (Bogdan Mirica)

The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki (Juho Kuosmanen)

Liebmann (Jules Herrmann)

Sand Storm (Elite Zexer)

Thirst (Svetla Tsotsorkova)

Best European Short Film
9 Days - From My Window in Aleppo (Issa Touma, Floor van der Meulen and Thomas Vroege)
90 Degrees North (Detsky Graffam)
Amalimbo (Juan Pablo Libossart)
Edmond (Nina Gantz)
The Fullness of Time (Manon Coubia)
The Goodbye (Clara Roquet)
Home (Daniel Mulloy)
I'm Not From Here (Maite Alberdi and Giedre Zickyte)
In the Distance (Florian Grolig)
Limbo (Konstantina Kotzamani)
A Man Returned (Mahdi Fleifel)
Shooting Star (Lyubo Yonchev)
Small Talk (Lisa Brooke Hansen and Even Hafnor)
The Wall (Samuel Lampaert)
We All Love the Seashore (Keina Espineira)

REVIEW - I, DANIEL BLAKE (KEN LOACH)

Ken Loach battles on with yet another film that might just have been that bit more persuasive, and less expensive, as a simple screed or local political campaign. Alas, he's tried that, and anyway, I, Daniel Blake is neither of those, at least not technically. It's a film, and in many ways it is a very fine one - ways principally due to its political persuasiveness. Corners cut and shortcuts taken in the name of dramatic licence accepted, the heart of this film - and it is a burgeoning, brimful, heavy heart - bears an important message, existing only to be communicated with all the clarity and sympathy of which Loach and Paul Laverty are capable. It's an angry, accusatory work, beneath and beyond the generous humour, typically unafraid to point fingers and place blame. Neither director nor screenwriter are interested any longer in humanizing their targets, unambiguously railing against the exploitation and desecration of public services established to maintain some modicum of compassion in the state system. If I, Daniel Blake is a film destined to enrage or annoy conservatives, that's entirely and appropriately intentional, since Laverty has here drawn a line through the right-wing elitist spin, directly connecting cause and consequence. The final feeling with which one is left upon watching I, Daniel Blake is despair, though perhaps a small part of that is down to the horrible big missteps taken en route to eliciting it. The grip on pacing and continuity is slack at best, the artistic design is utterly average (has Robbie Ryan ever crafted such dull images?) and there's a crass, sex-phobic plot turn in the third act. All unnecessary errors that, indeed, might have been avoided had I, Daniel Blake been left to the realm of political activism alone. But as politically activist cinema goes, it's a powerful, worthy work all the same.

2016 BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARD NOMINATIONS HIGHLIGHT A FANTASTIC YEAR FOR U.K. INDIES

A healthy and diverse offering from the British Independent Film Awards, displaying the talent that abounds in the British film industry today, making low-budget but high-impact features that court renown the world over. I, Daniel Blake leads with an impressive seven nominations, while Adult Life Skills, American Honey and a favourite of mine, horror debut Under the Shadow (the U.K.'s official Foreign Language Film Oscar entry), follow closely with six each. I'm also very pleased to see a strong showing for Notes on Blindness, joining Shadow as one of two first features up for the top award. Truly a selection with something for everyone! Award winners are due to be announced at BIFA's London ceremony on the 4th of December. Check out all the nominees just below.

Best British Independent Film

American Honey

Couple in a Hole

I, Daniel Blake

Notes on Blindness

Under the Shadow

Best Director

Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow)

Andrea Arnold (American Honey)

Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake)

Peter Middleton and James Spinney (Notes on Blindness)

Ben Wheatley (Free Fire)

Best Actor

Steve Brandon (My Feral Heart)

Michael Fassbender (Trespass Against Us)

Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake)

Shia LaBeouf (American Honey)

Max Records (I Am Not a Serial Killer)

Best Actress

Kate Dickie (Couple in a Hole)

Sasha Lane (American Honey)

Narges Rashidi (Under the Shadow)

Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake)

Jodie Whittaker (Adult Life Skills)

Best Supporting Actor

Jamie Dornan (Anthropoid)

Brett Goldstein (Adult Life Skills)

Sean Harris (Trespass Against Us)

Arinze Kene (The Pass)

Christopher Lloyd (I Am Not a Serial Killer)

Best Supporting Actress

Gemma Arterton (The Girl with All the Gifts)

Naomie Harris (Our Kind of Traitor)

Avin Manshadi (Under the Shadow)

Terry Pheto (A United Kingdom)

Shana Swash (My Feral Heart)

Best Screenplay

Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow)

Andrea Arnold (American Honey)

Christopher Hyde and Billy O'Brien (I Am Not a Serial Killer)

Paul Laverty (I, Daniel Blake)

Rachel Tunnard (Adult Life Skills)

Outstanding Achievement in Craft

Shaheen Baig (Free Fire) - casting

Seb Baker (The Girl with All the Gifts) - visual effects

Paul Monaghan and Mat Whitecross (Supersonic) - editing

Robbie Ryan (American Honey) - cinematography

Joakim Sundstrom (Notes on Blindness) - sound

Best Documentary

The Confession: Living the War on Terror

Dancer

The Hard Stop

Notes on Blindness

Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach

Best International Independent Film

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Mustang

Toni Erdmann

Best Breakthrough Producer

Michael Berliner (Adult Life Skills)

Mike Brett, Jo-Jo Ellison and Steve Jamison (Notes on Blindness)

Paul Fegan (Where You're Meant to Be)

Camille Gatin (The Girl with All the Gifts)

Dionne Walker (The Hard Stop)

The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director

Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow)

Alice Lowe (Prevenge)

Peter Middleton and James Spinney (Notes on Blindness)

Adam Smith (Trespass Against Us)

Rachel Tunnard (Adult Life Skills)

Most Promising Newcomer

Steve Brandon (My Feral Heart)

Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake)

Sennia Nanua (The Girl with All the Gifts)

Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake)

Letitia Wright (Urban Hymn)

Best Debut Screenwriter

Julian Barratt and and Simon Farnaby (Mindhorn)

John Cairns and Michael McCartney (A Patch of Fog)

Hope Dickson Leach (The Levelling)

Ed Talfan (The Passing)

Rachel Tunnard (Adult Life Skills)

DEBUT DIRECTOR RALITZA PETROVA WINS LOCARNO GOLDEN LEOPARD

Eight of the 17 films receiving their respective world premieres as the official Concorso Internazionale at Locarno 2016 were from female directors, so it's fitting that one of them should take the top prize from such an inclusive festival. Bulgarian filmmaker Ralitza Petrova's debut feature film Godless won both the Pardo d'Oro and the prize for Best Actress; the film is also competing for the Heart of Sarajevo at the Sarajevo Film Festival this month. The film also took home the Ecumenical Prize. There were no awards for critics' fave Matias Pineiro and his film Hermia & Helena, with other main awards going to directors Radu Jude and Joao Pedro Rodrigues. Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel's Mister Universo was a top pick for many juries, claiming four mentions. And Cannes Palme d'Or winner I, Daniel Blake won the audience award. Congratulations to all the winners! Check out the films that competed at this link, and the films that succeeded below:

Concorso Internazionale

Golden Leopard

Godless (Ralitza Petrova)

Special Jury Prize

Scarred Hearts (Radu Jude)

Special Mention

Mister Universo (Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel)

Leopard for Best Direction

Joao Pedro Rodrigues (The Ornithologist)

Leopard for Best Actor

Andrzej Seweryn (The Last Family)

Leopard for Best Actress

Irena Ivanova (Godless)

Awards from seven other sections of the festival after the cut.

LOCARNO 2016: PROGRAMME ANNOUNCED

The lineup has been revealed for the 2016 edition of the Locarno Film Festival. The Swiss fest is an essential stop on the film calendar for cinephiles, showcasing a selection of titles on the more obscure, innovative end of the summer festival spectrum. This year will host 17 premieres competing for the top prize, the Golden Leopard, in the Concorzo Internazionale, with gala screenings for films such as Jason Bourne, The Girl with All the Gifts and Ken Loach's Palme d'Or winner I, Daniel Blake. Locarno 2016 runs from the 3rd to the 13th of August; Arturo Ripstein chairs the Concorso Internazionale jury, and Dario Argento the Concorso Cineasti del Presente jury. For the full lineup, which features details on the programmes for all 12 of the festival's strands, check out its official website.

Concorso Internazionale

Al Ma' wal Khodra wal Wajh el Hassan (Yousry Nasrallah)

Bangkok Nites (Tomita Katsuya)

Correspondencias (Rita Azevedo Gomes)

Dao Khanong (Anocha Suwichakornpong)

The Dreamlike Path (Angela Schanelec)

Godless (Ralitza Petrova)

Hermia & Helena (Matias Pineiro)

The Idea of a Lake (Milagros Mumenthaler)

Jeunesse (Julien Samani)

Maria (Michael Koch)

Mister Universo (Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel)

The Ornithologist (Joao Pedro Rodrigues)

Ostatnia Rodzina (Jan P. Matuszynski)

La Prunelle de Mes Yeux (Axelle Ropert)

Scarred Hearts (Radu Jude)
Slava (Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov)

Wet Woman in the Wind (Shiota Akihito)

Piazza Grande

Cessez-le-Feu (Emmanuel Courcol)

La Ciel Attendra (Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar)

Comboio de Sal e Acucar (Licinio Azevedo)

Dans la Forest (Gilles Marchand)

The Day It Rained (Gerd Oswald)

Endless Poetry (Alejandro Jodorowsky)

The Girl with All the Gifts (Colm McCarthy)

Gotthard (Urs Egger)

I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach)

Interchange (Dain Iskandar Said)

Jason Bourne (Paul Greengrass)

Mohenjo Daro (Ashutosh Gowariker)

Moka (Frederic Mermoud)

Paula (Christian Schwochow)

Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe (Maria Schrader)

Teo-Neol (Kim Seong Hun)

They Call Me Trinity (Enzo Barboni)

Vincent (Christophe van Rompaey)

Concorso Cineasti del Presente

Afterlove (Stergios Paschos)

Akhdar Yabes (Mohammed Hammad)

El Auge del Humano (Eduardo Williams)

The Challenge (Yuri Ancarani)

Destruction Babies (Mariko Tetsuya)

Donald Cried (Kris Avedisian)

El Futuro Perfecto (Nele Wohlatz)

Gorge Coeur Ventre (Maud Alpi)

I Had Nowhere to Go (Douglas Gordon)

L'Indomptee (Caroline Deruas)

Istirahatlah Kata-Kata (Yosep Anggi Noen)

Manana a Esta Hora (Lina Rodriguez)

Il Nido (Klaudia Reynicke)

Pescatori di Corpi (Michele Pennetta)

Viejo Calavera (Kiro Russo)

OFFICIAL BRITISH TRAILER: I, DANIEL BLAKE

Honest and heartfelt, here arrives the UK trailer for the latest film from  the country's own Ken Loach, I, Daniel Blake. It was the surprise winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival last month, securing a second Palme for Loach, upon his swift return to filmmaking following an intended retirement two years ago. The film is released in the UK on the 21st of October; no US release date has been confirmed at time of writing.

I, DANIEL BLAKE SHOCKS TO WIN A SECOND PALME D'OR FOR KEN LOACH

And, with that, the best chance in over 20 years of a woman winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival just died. Maren Ade's universally acclaimed Toni Erdmann had already won the FIPRESCI Prize and was the overwhelming favourite to win the whole shebang; a pre-ceremony rumour suggested that jury president George Miller hadn't liked the German director's comedy, however, and that it might go home empty-handed... as indeed it did. Instead, the Palme went to Ken Loach for his film I, Daniel Blake, permitting Loach to join the esteemed ranks of the few directors to have won two Palmes, after his win ten years ago for The Wind That Shakes the Barley. And there were plenty more surprises among the awards this evening, as you can see below:

Palme d'Or

I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach)

Grand Prix

It's Only the End of the World (Xavier Dolan)

Prix du Jury

American Honey (Andrea Arnold)

Prix de la Mise-en-Scene

Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper)

Cristian Mungiu (Graduation)

Prix d'Interpretation Feminine

Jaclyn Jose (Ma' Rosa)

Prix d'Interpretation Masculine

Shahab Hosseini (The Salesman)

Prix du Scenario

Asghar Farhadi (The Salesman)

Camera d'Or

Divines (Houda Benyamina)

Short Film Palme d'Or

Timecode (Juanjo Gimenez)

Short Film Special Mention

The Girl Who Danced with the Devil (Joao Paulo Miranda Maria)

Palme d'Honneur

Jean-Pierre Leaud

ECUMENICAL JURY SURPRISES AT CANNES 2016, SIDES WITH DOLAN

It's not the end of the world, exactly, but not that anyone would think it so, unlike Xavier Dolan: he seemed to think it might have been after critics savaged his Cannes competition entry It's Only the End of the World. It's one of the main comp's worst-reviewed titles this year, and easily its worst-reviewed to have been the subject of some considerable defence, not least by its filmmaker. But Cannes' Ecumenical Jury seems to support the Canadian Dolan, rewarding him with their first place citation for this year's whole festival. See what else they chose to recognise - some typically left-field choices from the ecumenical jury - below:

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

It's Only the End of the World (Xavier Dolan)

Special Commendations

American Honey (Andrea Arnold)

I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach)

PATERSON'S NELLIE WINS PALM DOG 2016

Condogulations are in order as the most prestigious award has been handed out at Cannes. The festival's top honour, the Palm Dog, has gone to Nellie, the English bulldog who plays Marvin in Jim Jarmusch's Paterson, one of the favourites to win the Palme d'Or this year. Nellie makes history in the category, becoming the first dog to receive this award posthumously - tragically, she passed away a couple of months ago. See what the esteemed jury chose for their full slate of award winners below.

Palm Dog

Nellie (Paterson)

Jury Prize

Jacques (In Bed with Victoria)

Palm Dogmanitarian

Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake)