..."The jurors for the First Feature Award are happy to announce that this year's winner, by unanimous decision, is Behind the Clouds, for its almost magical ability to reinterpret the classic "love against all odds" genre and re-invent as a quietly radical story of geriatric courtship.
Although it presents itself as a dark romantic comedy Behind the Cloudsactually offers an elegantly crafted exploration of a subject that is as difficult as it is complex. A gracefully adept screenplay is brought to vivid cinematic life through the interconnections among an array of engaging and believable characters, unfolding with consistent symbolic nuancing but never becoming heavy handed as it unfurls into a charming – and surprising – tale.
With the deft use of filmic language, a stand-out screenplay, superb music and sound design, and exquisite application of the filmmakers' craft, Behind the Clouds delivers a multi-layered exploration of love, loss, and hope among three generations of strong female characters.
In addition, pitch-perfect performances by the female and male leads and a glorious supporting cast add up to a film that appeals to all ages. Thought-provoking, meaningful, and profound in a thoroughly enjoyable way, this is a film that brings us back to places we thought we already knew – most conspicuously, into the deep recesses of the human experience as we confront it at all ages – and teaches us new things about both the place itself and our journey to it.
Behind the Clouds looks like it's a film about aging gracefully at times, awkwardly at others. And in many ways it is. But it is really a poetic reminder that aging is not the end of life, but a potentially exuberant part of life.
Congratulations on a fabulous film, and thank you very much."
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