Young People's Awards

39th International Film Festival Rotterdam
January 27 – February 7, 2010
 
PRESS RELEASE February 4, 2010
 
J’ai tué ma mère favorite of young people’s jury MovieSquad IFFR 2010
 
Début feature film J’ai tué Ma Mère by Xavier Dolan (Canada, 2009) has won the MovieSquad IFFR 2010 Award, as was announced by the young people’s jury of the International Film Festival Rotterdam tonight during the MovieSquad Award Ceremony.
 
The MovieSquad IFFR 2010 jury consisted of five members aged 15 to 18 years: Roos Meijer (15), Matthijs Koster (17), Aideen Hearn (17), Max de Wolf (17) and Uriël Matahelumual (16). They have seen films, met directors and journalists and enjoyed film parties.
 
MovieSquad gives young people the opportunity to fully experience a film festival and to present their opinions on film. They selected the winner out of the twenty festival films that were up for consideration. Out of these twenty films, three films were nominated for the award. Next to J’ai tué ma mère. the jury also nominated Alamar (Pedro González-Rubio, Mexico, 2009) and R (Michael Noer & Tobias Lindholm, Denmark, 2009), both selected for the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition

In their statement the jury said:
“J’ai tué ma mère is not just a film, but a piece of art. The film has a very recognisable theme, which we are sure a lot of teenagers can identify themselves with. The director combined all film elements in the best possible way. Music, use of different coloured images and dreamy scenes give something extra to the story. Moreover, the use of poetry gives depth to the story and helps explain the behaviour of both the mother and son.”
 
The Canadian Xavier Dolan (20) wrote and directed this partly autobiographical début and also played the leading role. Dolan plays Hubert, a self-assured, homosexual teenager who is trying to find his place in the world but is continuously quarrelling with his mother.
 
The MovieSquad Award includes € 2,000.00 to spend on the promotion of the film among young people in The Netherlands.
 
(end of press release)
 
Notes to the editors (not for publication)
 
Stills can be downloaded from:
http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/professionals/press/film-stills-2010-downloads/
 
Press information:
IFFR Press Office, Bert-Jan / Nancy van Oorschot
Tel +31.10.890.90.90 / [email protected]
www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com
 

Information about MovieZone and the Nederlands Instituut voor Filmeducatie (Dutch Institute for Film Education) and on MovieSquad:
NIF (part of eye Film Institute Netherlands), Manon Sandee, tel. +31 30 236 1212, [email protected]
www.filmeducatie.nl