APRIL 21, 2013 6:21pm PT by Tim Appelo
Francois Ozon, Kate Miles Melville, William Vega Win at RiverRun Film Festival
"Picture Day," "In the House" and Italian prisoner for life Aniello Arena also are honored at the North Carolina festival.
Director Kate Miles Melville's debut film, Picture Day, won the audience award for best narrative feature in its U.S. premiere at the RiverRun International Film Festival, which concluded Sunday in Winston-Salem, N.C. Melville drew much-buzzed performances from Tatiana Maslany as a promiscuous high schooler and Spencer Van Wyck as the nerdy protege she once babysat.
The festival's narrative film jury awarded both the best narrative feature and best screenplay awards to Francois Ozon's In the House, about a brilliant, sinister French high school student and his writing teacher. The Peter Brunette Award for best director, named for The Hollywood Reporter’s late film reviewer, went to William Vega for La Sirga, which also won for Sofia Oggioni's lyrical cinematography. Suzanne Clement won best actress as a transsexual's wife in Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways. Alain Gomis' Tey won a special jury prize.