18 October 2014 6:54 PM, PDT | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »
It may have received only a screenplay award at Cannes, but Andrei Zvyagintsev’s stinging satirical drama “Leviathan” came out on top at the 58th BFI London Film Festival.
At a lavish awards dinner in Westminster’s Banqueting Hall, the Russian critical favorite was presented with the festival’s sixth annual Best Film prize by this year’s jury president, Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas, who described the vote as a unanimous one. “Its grandeur and themes moved us all in the same way,” he said.
The London award adds fuel to the Sony Picture Classics acquisition’s Oscar campaign. Zvyagintsev’s politically contentious work was unexpectedly selected as Russia’s Best Foreign Language Film submission. Among the films it faces in the foreign Oscar race, incidentally, is last year’s London champ — Polish submission “Ida.”
The Official Competition jury, which also included Variety chief critic Scott Foundas, actor James McAvoy, »
- Guy Lodge
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