EFA awards ''Cache'' as best movie

EFA awards ''Cache'' as best movie
The French film Cache directed by Austrian Michael Haneke was adjudged the best picture and received several awards in other categories, including best director and best male actor, at the glittering ceremony of the 18th European Film Awards, held in Berlin on Saturday.

The French film "Cache" directed by Austrian Michael Haneke was adjudged the best picture and received several awards in other categories, including best director and best male actor, at the glittering ceremony of the 18th European Film Awards, held in Berlin on Saturday.

The film bagged a total of six awards.

Michael Haneke's other directorial ventures have been "The Piano Teacher" and "The Time of the Wolf". His “Cache” had earlier received the best director award at the famous Cannes Film awards in May 2005. Critics were of the opinion that the much desired Palme d'Or award in the Cannes Festival should have been conferred on the movie “Cache”. However, the film lost it to another strong contender "L'Enfant".

Cache means “Hidden” and is the mysterious story of a fairly well off husband wife duo, who are caught in psychological jeopardy when an anonymous character sends true videos of their recorded life. Gradually, the videos move on to more private stuff and the husband starts believing they are punitive in nature, in answer to the black past he carries from the era of France occupied Algeria. The fast pace of the movie and its unpredictable sequences grant it the thriller genre with effortless ease.

Daniel Auteuil of France, who plays the protagonist husband, bagged the best actor award. The female lead was performed by Juliette Binoche.

Though “Cache” had the strong support of jury representatives, the popular choice of viewers went to "Sophie Scholl - The Final Days". The movie is an adaptation of the real life tale of German student and anti-Nazi leader Sophie Scholl.

The director Marc Rothemund won the best director and Julia Jentsch the best actress award, both in the online poll for popular choice.

Julia also bagged the best actress award for the same movie from the EFA.

George Clooney's "Good Night, And Good Luck" was the winner in the Best Non-European film section. The Best Composer award belonged to Rupert Gregson-Williams and Andrea Guerra for their music in the movie "Hotel Rwanda". The Best Screenplay was taken by Hany Abu-Assad and Bero Beyer for Paradise No.

The European Achievement in World Cinema award went to Maurice Jarre from France for composing the music of over 170 movies. Jarre was behind the sterling compostions of classics like Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago.

The Best Short Film was conferred on "Undressing My Mother", directed by Ken Wardrop.

This year, a 1600 strong jury of the European Film Academy, viewed and critically judged 47 pictures for various award categories. The EFA awards, are revered as corresponding to the Oscars of Hollywood, though the hi-flying glamour and status of Cannes, Venice and Berlin is still considered a few steps away.

The cynosure of all lights, however, was Scottish star Sean Connery, who was the recipient for the lifetime achievement award. He was greeted with a standing ovation as he went onstage to collect his award.
Connery has to his credit the universally famous James Bond role which he played with aplomb six times and his work as producer-director. He is best known for his character Jim Malone, for which he also got the Oscar in 1987, in the endearing classic "The Untouchables".