|
VENICE, Italy - An intense Russian father-and-son drama, "The Return," won the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion for best picture Saturday, though first-time director Andrey Zvyagintsev remained shaken by the death of the 15-year-old star of the movie.
Teenage actor Vladimir Girin drowned shortly after the end of shooting in the same lake where several of the picture's scenes were filmed.
"You see only two actors up on the stage tonight. Those who saw the film know there were three main actors," Zvyagintsev said at the awards ceremony, clearly moved by the occasion. "The fact is that the actor who played Andrey died tragically two months ago. We would like to dedicate this award to him."
Zvyagintsev's remarkable debut feature tells the story of two adolescents whose mysterious and overbearing father returns after a decade-long absence and imposes a harsh program to turn his boys into men. The man puts his sons through a series of grueling tasks that ultimately brings disaster.
|
7th September 2003, 19:45
Linear Mode
