'Keyhole' opens Whistler kudo

Isabella Rossellini in 'Keyhole'The Whistler Film Festival introduced its award those who win in a brunch held on Sunday. "Keyhole," the most recent pic from Winnipegger Guy Maddin, starring Isabella Rossellini and Jason Patric, won for the best Canadian Feature Film. Not able to go to, Maddin recognized the award together with its $15,000 cash prize inside a pre-written humorous speech proclaiming: "It has been my first virtual festival. If only it did not need to be by doing this. Oh, the number of occasions I have cracked my mind on my small monitor screen attempting to dive to your company." The coming year, Maddin guaranteed to "first to lurk beneath snowy boughs just outdoors fest headquarters," before possibly being "attracted to socialize." He cautioned festival goers to become careful because he could be a little "sasquatchy." The jury selected Maddin's film because of its "originality, audacity, and humor." Among the six films competing were "Coffee shop p Flore" by Jean-Marc Valle and Philippe Falardeau's "Monsieur Lazhar," that is Canada's official Oscar entry.The Brand New Voices Worldwide Feature Competition Award using its $10,000 cash prize visited Mexico's Kyzza Terrazas for "Machete Language." Mark Ratzlaff's video clip pitch project, "Beauty Mark," won on the $15,000 cash contribution or more to $100,000 of in-kind services. Director Ben Addelman required home the Documentary Award for his environment pic, "Kivalina v. Exxon." The Mountain Culture Award visited Richard Boyce for "Jungle: The Limit of Beauty." Because of its eleventh year, the Whistler Film Festival joined with Variety to celebrate film on the top from the great whitened mountain tops, with Variety-backed honors likely to Andy Serkis and Jay Baruchel.The fest presented its inaugural spotlight award to Michael Shannon ("Revolutionary Road") on Sunday. The actor, noted for frequently representing volatile and intense figures, continues to be lately in Vancouver shooting Zack Snyder's superman pic, "Guy of Steel." In the tribute, Shannon talked about his new pic, The new sony Picture Classics' "Take Shelter," by which Shannon shows a functional-class family guy that has terrifying hopes for an apocalyptic storm. The pic opened in the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and acquired the Experts Week prize only at that year's Cannes Film Festival. Shannon has already established an abundant career with photos for example "Groundhog Day," "Cecil B. DeMented," "Vanilla Sky," and "The Runaways." However, he quipped, the roles he will get more famous for come from "8 Mile" and "Bad Boys II." Around the TV side, Shannon stars in Martin Scorsese's Cinemax series, "Boardwalk Empire," that is presently on its second season. When requested what he considered generally being seen as an character actor, Shannon amusingly shot back: "I do not realize that. I have never witnessed an actress not play a personality.Inch He quipped that although most stars attempt to play a personality, they do not always succeed.Despite getting an active career nowadays, Shannon stated the top stars he's known in Hollywood continue to work harder than anybody - that becoming an actor can't ever be secure. "If you wish to be effective, you need to be uncomfortable," he stated.The fest's first Trailblazer in Animation Award was granted to Korean-American director Jennifer Yuh Nelson Saturday in an "In Conversation" event presented by Variety and moderated by executive editor, Steven Gaydos. Getting to existence "Kung Fu Panda 2" for DreamWorks Animation skyrocketed Nelson into becoming the very first lady to exclusively direct an animated feature from the major Hollywood studio - a procedure that required over 3 years. "Positive thing I love pandas," joked Nelson. Because the pic would be a huge box office success, "It's difficult to assume Katzenberg ever allowing you to go," stated Gaydos.Additionally to her act as a director, Nelson has labored extensively like a storyboard artist on projects for example "Spirit: Stallion from the Cimarron," "Sinbad: Legend from the Seven Seas," "Madagascar" and "Kung Fu Panda."Based on Nelson, the important thing towards the success behind "Kung Fu Panda 2" is not only the humor that Po brings together, but that he's a personality that's "very sweet, emotional, and humble." Nelson notes that this can be a characteristic which carries through Jack Black, who voices the cool panda.When requested if she sees today because the new golden age for feature animation, Nelson responded that they is especially astounded by the truly amazing variety in animation. "One factor that's really awesome at this time, particularly at DreamWorks, is the fact that all of the films are extremely different." The main focus is not on just making another movie that individuals would anticipate seeing, she noted. "Every one of them is extremely different. They appear different, they seem different, their tone differs, or being able to cost nothing to achieve that instead of attempting to squeeze into a specific genre is wonderfully clearing."Also introduced today in the honours brunch is really a China Canada Competition which will give Canadian filmmakers an opportunity to woo Chinese production companies and among the biggest domestic film marketplaces. Telefilm Canada is going to be dealing with China Film Group, China's biggest and many influential condition-run film enterprise and also the sole importer of foreign films in China, to produce this co-production initiative.The China Canada Script Competition will announce a phone call for distribution mid-year. Numerous script synopses is going to be selected and presented in the 2012 Whistler Summit in which the scripts is going to be pitched to Chinese production companies who'll choose projects they would like to focus on. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com