Kate Dickie, Ian Hart on gender-balanced jury at Dinard Film Festival
British films are at home at the Dinard Film Festival in France, say jury members ahead of the award ceremony on Saturday evening, 29 September. Franco-Italian actress-model Monica Bellucci is the chair. Emmanuelle Bercot, Kate Dickie, Rupert Grint, Ian Hart, Thierry Lacaze, Alex Lutz and Sabrina Ouazani are the jury members who will award the top Hitchcock trophy prize for best feature film.
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Kate Dickie’s character, Lysa Arryn, was bumped off in the HBO TV series Game of Thrones, but the Scottish actress is always busy with stage and film work. That has not stopped her finding time to be a jury member at the 2018 Dinard Film Festival in Brittany.
Dickie made her name in cinema with her debut in Andrea Arnold’s Red Road in 2006.
She has been clear in making choices to determine her career path in film ever since - from Paul Wright’s For Those in Peril, where she played the mother of a young man lost at sea, right up to and beyond Star Wars and Game of Thrones.
The series was a remarkable creation, she says, and it surprised even her by the way it takes a hold on viewers’ minds. “It’s actually like Coronation Street!” she told RFI, in reference to the ultra-popular British TV series that is still running after 58 years.
As an example of Franco-British amity, Dinard holds fond memories for Dickie, who first landed in the resort with Andrea Arnold and the 2006 Glasgow-set film Red Road.
“I’ve had a slow growing love affair with Dinard," she said. "When I started my journey with Red Road, it was a year of madness for me. I went round a lot of film festivals. I found the experience overwhelming. Dinard for me was a lovely, intimate, friendly festival, you watch each others’ movies. It’s got a special atmosphere.”
As a jury member, Dickie says it hard to be a judge or a critic. She reckons this is an instinctive choice not an intellectual one and is careful about being fair, “I deliberately didn’t read anything about any of the films, I want to at least have a pure mind to give each film an equal start. Then it depends what grabs my heart. I’m aware there’s a lot at stake and I know how much effort goes into every film.”
One of the French jury members, Emmanuelle Bercot, is a director (La tête haute, La fille de Brest etc.), actress (Polisse, My King, Girls of the Sun etc.) and screenwriter (Polisse, La fille de Brest etc.).
In spite of having worn many of the leading hats in any film production, Bercot says that as a jury member she assesses other people’s movies like any film-goer. “I’ve been enjoying films since I was little. When I’m in a hall, I’m just that little girl again. I want to be carried away by the film. If it doesn’t, sometimes my director’s mind starts picking at how the film was made. But if the film carries me away, I’m just like any other person being told a story.”
Here are the six stories aiming to carry away the jury members and carry home the 2018 Golden Hitchcock award:
- Funny Cow by Adrian Shergold with Maxine Peak, Paddy Considine, Tony Pitts;
- The Happy Prince by Rupert Everett, with Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Emily Watson;
- Jellyfish by James Gardner with Liv Hill, Sinead Matthews, Cyril Nri;
- Old Boys by Toby McDonald with Alex Lawther, Pauline Etienne;
- Pin Cushion by Deborah Haywood with Lily Newmark, Joanna Scanlan;
- Winterlong by David Jackson with Francis Magee, Harper Jackson.
As well as the Golden Hitchcock awards, the Dinard Festival gives prizes for Best Screenplay, Audience Award, the Heartbeat, Honorary, Film Critics (first year) and a jury and audience award for best short film.
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