Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Canadian director celebrates Oscar nod at Sundance

Afp
Thursday 27 January 2011 01:00 GMT
Comments

Canadian director Denis Villeneuve celebrated his Oscar nomination Tuesday for the Middle East family drama "Incendies" as he presented the film at the Sundance festival here.

"I am not even thinking about (winning) an Oscar. For me, the nomination is already a huge honor," the 43-year-old filmmaker told AFP.

"It's like recovering from a car accident. I have images, memories, but I don't have a perspective. I'm between two worlds. I can't believe it."

The French and Canadian film, an adaptation of a play by Wajdi Mouawad, follows a set of twins as they journey to their late mother's native Lebanon in search of a brother and father they never knew.

"Wajdi Mouawad has written a play that is very strong, very beautiful and superbly poetic, and which relates directly to hope and consolation. I think it affects a lot of people," Villeneuve said.

"I was fortunate to have begun with raw material that was extremely powerful."

The film will screen out of competition at the Sundance independent film festival here in the western US state of Utah.

At the Academy Awards on February 27, "Incendies" will compete with the Mexican film "Biutiful," the Greek "Dogtooth," the Danish "In a Better World" and the Algerian "Outside the Law."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in