Son of Saul tops Greek Film Critics’ best-of-year list
- Laszlo Nemes’ Oscar contender was deemed Best International Film, while Alexis Alexiou’s Tribeca-screened Wednesday 04:45 topped the Greek category
Laszlo Nemes’ Cannes-screened Oscar contender Son of Saul [+see also:
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Q&A: László Nemes
interview: László Rajk
film profile] was deemed Best International Film of 2015 by the Greek Film Critics’ Association, which has released its lists of the top films of the year, ahead of the publication of its Almanac, the guild’s annual year-in-review document.
Son of Saul garnered 23 votes from the guild’s 40-plus members, thus securing a slight lead over Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan [+see also:
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film profile], which came in in second place, with 19 votes. Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep [+see also:
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interview: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
film profile] came in third with 18 votes, while Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Oscar winner Birdman and Damien Chazelle’s indie sensation Whiplash round out the top five, earning 16 and 12 votes, respectively.
On the Greek front, Alexis Alexiou’s Tribeca-screened neo-noir Wednesday 04:45 [+see also:
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film profile], which follows a jazz-club owner struggling to save his failing business from a loan-shark's claws, came out on top of the year’s local titles. The film, which also picked up the guild’s best-of-show award at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival last November, won top place by a landslide of 20 votes.
Filippos Koutsaftis’ lauded documentary Hail Arcadia ended up in second place with a total of ten votes, while Athina Rachel Tsangari’s London-awarded Chevalier [+see also:
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film profile] shared third place with Norway [+see also:
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film profile], by Hellenic Film Academy-awarded newcomer Yiannis Veslemes.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Cannes-awarded film The Lobster [+see also:
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Q&A: Yorgos Lanthimos
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