A coproduction project between South Africa, Germany and The Netherlands won the Arte France Cinema Award for the Best CineMart Project 2010. The project, Layla Fourie by Pia Marais, was honoured during the CIneMart Closing Night Party on Wednesday 3 February in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
The Prince Claus Fund Film Grant was awarded to CineMart 2010 Project By the Time it Gets Dark by Anocha Suwichakornpong (Thailand).
The Arte France Cinema Award comes with prize money of 10,000 Euro. Layla Fourie, the co-production of Pandora Filmproduktion GmbH / DV8 Films / IDTV Film B.V. (Germany / South Africa / The Netherlands), tells about a single mother in South Africa. She is given the opportunity to get proper employment as a polygraphist for pre-employment tests at a casino complex. In the constant atmosphere of mistrust, lies and fear Layla becomes a suspect herself of a murder happening on her first working day.
Pia Marais’ first feature film Die Unerzogenen (The Unpolished) won a VPRO Tiger Award in 2007.
The Arte France Cinema Award cash prize is given to the producers towards financing the development of the awarded project. With this Award, Arte France Cinema and CineMart aim to further support and promote the development and production of independent filmmaking.
The tenth Prince Claus Fund Film Grant is worth 15,000 Euro. The winning project By the Time it Gets Dark chronicles the adventures and misadventures of a strong woman who is looking for freedom in the way she lives. Despite its metaphorical sounding title, the film is based on the physical realities of everyday life.
