SUTHERLAND TROPHY SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

A shortlist of three titles in competition for the British Film Institute (bfi) Sutherland Trophy was announced today (4 November), selected by a jury representing the film and entertainment worlds.

The shortlist, chosen from twelve nominated titles, comprises No Rest for the Brave, a dreamlike coming-of-age odyssey from French director Alain Guiraudie; Osama, the first feature from post-Taliban Afghanistan directed by Siddiq Barmak; and Reconstruction, an exploration of time, place and point of view from Danish director Christoffer Boe.

Awarded to the director of the most original and imaginative first feature film screened at The Times bfi London Film Festival, the Trophy will be presented at the Festival’s closing night gala on 6 November.

The bfi Sutherland Trophy identifies new talent in world cinema. The award dates back to the 1950s, when it was first presented on behalf of the bfi by the Duke of Sutherland. The list of past recipients includes cinema greats such as Antonioni, Bertolucci, Fassbinder, Godard and Greenaway. In recent years the trophy has been presented to Lynne Ramsay (Ratcatcher) 1999; Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me) 2000; Asif Kapadia (The Warrior) 2001; and Delphine Gleize (Carnages) 2002.

This year’s eleven-strong jury is made up of industry professionals and artists with a knowledge of, and passion for cinema. Jury members include director Ben Hopkins; actor Lennie James; artist Mark Wallinger; The Times editor Robert Thomson; Sam Nichols of Momentum Pictures; producer Kate Ogborn; film critic Leslie Felperin; Laraine Porter from Nottingham’s Broadway Media Centre; distributor Guy Shani; and from The Times bfi London Film Festival, programmer Michael Hayden and artistic director Sandra Hebron.

Commenting on the shortlist, Sandra Hebron said:
“After much deliberation and animated discussion I believe the jury has selected an excellent and balanced shortlist. All three titles – No Rest for the Brave, Osama and Reconstruction – would be deserving winners of the Trophy and I look forward to seeing future work from their directors.”

Full list of films nominated for the 2003 Sutherland Trophy:
15 – dir Royston Tan/Singapore 2003
Afterlife – dir Alison Peebles/UK 2003
Border Line – dir Lee Sang-II/Japan 2002
Kiss of Life – dir Emily Young/UK 2003
Forest – dir Benedek Fliegauf/Hungary 2003
No Rest for the Brave – dir Alain Guiraudie/France-Austria 2003
Osama – dir Siddiq Barmak/Afganistan-Japan-Ireland 2003
Reconstruction – dir Christoffer Boe/Denmark 2003
Salt – dir Bradley Rust Gray/Iceland-USA 2003
The Station Agent – dir Tom McCarthy/USA 2003
Struggle – dir Ruth Mader/Austria 2003
Thirteen – dir Catherine Hardwicke/Usa 2002

Since 1958 the bfi has awarded the Sutherland Trophy to the film-maker whose first or second feature is judged to have been the best during the year, screened at the National Film Theatre. However, since 1997, the criteria has altered slightly and now the Sutherland Trophy is awarded to the most original and imaginative first feature screened during the London Film Festival.

The winners of the Sutherland Trophy since 1958 are:
1958 Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Monogatari)
1959 Satyajit Ray (World of Apu)
1960 Michelangelo Antonioni (L’avventura)
1961 Ermanno Olmi (Il posto)
1962 Jacques Rivette (Paris nous appartient)
1963 Alain Resnais (Muriel)
1964 Grigori Kozintsev (Hamlet)
1965 Jean-Luc Godard (Pierrot le fou)
1966 André Delvaux (The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short)
1967 Masaki Kobayashi (Rebellion)
1968 Jean-Marie Straub (Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach)
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1969 Jacques Rivette (L’Amour fou)
1970 Bernardo Bertolucci (Il conformista)
1971 Robert Bresson (Quatre nuits d’un reveur)
1972 Fernando Solanas (The Hour of the Furnaces)
1973 Georgy Shengelaya (Pirosmani)
1974 Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Martha)
1975 Theo Angelopoulos (The Travelling Players)
1976 Nagisa Oshima (Ai No Corrida)
1977 Hans-Jürgen Syberberg (Hitler ein Film aus Deutschland)
1978 Mark Rappaport (The Scenic Route)
1979 A Yilmaz Güney Production (Sürü)
1980 Xie Jin (Two Stage Sisters)
Peter Greenaway (The Falls)
1981 Helma Sanders-Brahms (Die Berührte)
1982 Adoor Gopalakrishnan (Rat-trap)
1983 Chris Marker (Sans Soleil)
1984 Lino Brocka (Bayan Ko)
Terence Davies (A Film Trilogy)
1985 Chen Kaige (Yellow Earth)
1986 Bill Douglas (Comrades)
1987 Souleymane Cissé (Yeelen)
Edward Yang (The Terroriser)
1988 Nils Gaup (Pathfinder)
1990 Steve Kloves (The Fabulous Baker Boys)
1991 Elaine Proctor (On The Wire)
1992 Jocelyn Moorhouse (Proof)
1993 Julio Medem (Vacas)
1994 Tran Anh Hung (The Scent of Green Papaya)
1995 Moufida Tlatli (Les Silences du Palais)
1997 Bruno Dumont (Le Vie De Jésus)
1998 Samirah Makhlambaf (The Apple)
1999 Lynne Ramsay (Ratcatcher)
2000 Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count On Me)
2001 Asif Kapadia (The Warrior)
2002 Delphine Gleize (Carnages)