Bike Theft Comedy ‘James’ Wins Oldenburg Film Festival

James , a quirky Canadian comedy about a stolen bike, has won the German Independence Award for Best Film at this year’s Oldenburg Film Festival.

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The black-and-white feature, from director Max Train, which our reviewer compared to the “early works of Jim Jarmusch” follows the down-on-his-luck title character (played by Dylan Beatch, who co-wrote the screenplay with Train) who finds a bike frame in the trash and assembles a racer, transforming his life in the process. When his bike gets stolen, James goes to extraordinary lengths to retrieve it, descending into Vancouver’s criminal underworld.

James , which had its world premiere at the Oldenburg Film Festival, won over the competition jury, who presented it with the festival’s top prize Sunday night.

Tim Blake Nelson won Oldenburg’s best actor prize, the Seymour Cassel Award, for his starring turn in Bang Bang , where he plays a retired boxer looking to exorcise the demons of his past. Best actress honors went to Aki Kigoshi for her turn as a sex worker in Zhang Suming’s Japanese drama A Wasted Night .

A History of Love and War , an absurdist comedy about Mexico’s colonial history, from director Santiago Mohar, won Oldenburg’s Spirit of Cinema award, while the prize for originality, daring and audacity went to Martina Schöne-Radunski and Lana Cooper, the director and star, respectively, of Flieg Steil , a German drama about a female neo-Nazi rocker.

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Michael J. Long’s Baby Brother , a portrait of generational trauma set in Liverpool, England, took Oldenburg’s prize for best debut feature. Our review praised Long’s “stylistic audacity rare in a first-time filmmaker,” noting there is “no denying the raw power of this wrenching picture.” Baby Brother had its world premiere in Oldenburg.

Nostalgia of a (Still) Alive Heart from director Diego Gaxiola took Oldenburg’s prize for best short film.

The 31st Oldenburg Film Festival wrapped Sunday night. This year’s event saw a spike in attendance, with more than 12,000 visitors, up around 20 percent from last year. “This development is yet another sign that audiences are hungry for authentic culture and original films beyond the mainstream,” said Oldenburg in a statement, “and that the festival can hold its own against the easily accessible streaming platforms.”

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