DEFIANCE CONCLUDES AFI FEST

AFI Fest wrapped Nov. 9 at the Arclight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood with the world premiere of Defiance (pictured right), AFI alum Ed Zwick’s Paramount Vantage Nazi-resistance actioner, scheduled for limited release Dec. 31.

Midway through the screening, a fire alarm — which turned out to be accidental – interrupted the screening, shutting down the projector and switching on the house lights. While most of the audience sat through the unscheduled 20-minute intermission, a handful departed before the film resumed.

Starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber, and adapted from a nonfiction book recounting how a group of Eastern European Jewish resistance fighters took refuge in the Belorussian forests and launched guerilla attacks on German forces rather than face extermination by the invading Nazis, Defiance curiously lacks vitality. The inspirational storyline and Zwick’s typically dynamic directing style don’t adequately animate the strained relationship between the two brothers leading the partisans, played by Craig and Schreiber, whose performances often seem disengaged from one another.

Enthusiasm for the film was muted at a post-screening party, where some attendees seemed more inclined to discuss the recent election results or the upcoming awards season and Sundance Film Festival.

At a private award-winners’ brunch earlier in the day, AFI Fest announced the festival prize recipients in the feature, documentary and shorts categories. Director Kief Davidson’s Kassim the Dream – a doc recounting the journey of Ugandan Kassim Ouma from abduction and forced labor as a child soldier to world junior-middleweight boxing champion — came out the big winner of both the jury and audience awards, sharing the latter documentary prize with The World We Want, an invigorating account of international youth activists.

Following is the full list of AFI Fest prizewinners:

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE COMPETITION

GRAND JURY PRIZE: ACNE

DIR: Federico Veiroj

SPECIAL MENTION: NIRVANA

DIR: Igor Volshin

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

GRAND JURY PRIZE: KASSIM THE DREAM

DIR: Kief Davidson

SPECIAL MENTION: THE LAST DAYS OF SHISHMAREF

DIR: Jan Louter

INTERNATIONAL SHORTS COMPETITION

GRAND JURY PRIZE: THE LEGLESS BOY CANNOT DANCE

DIR: Michel Lipkes

SPECIAL MENTION: THE APOLOGY LINE

DIR: James Lees

AUDIENCE AWARDS

FEATURE: A NECESSARY DEATH

DIR: Daniel Stamm

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: KASSIM THE DREAM

DIR: Kief Davidson

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: THE WORLD WE WANT

DIR: Patrick Davidson USA

SHORT: BUSCO PERSONAS: THE FACES OF COLUMBIA‘S WAR

DIRS: Lagan Sebert, Sandra Sampayo