The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, wins 32nd Flanders Film Festival

22 Oct 2005
On Saturday October 22, 2005, Dominique Deruddere, member of the International Jury announced the list of prize winners. The ceremony was followed by the première of Dominique Deruddere's film The Wedding Party (De Bloedbruiloft).

This year's International Jury consisted of: Arthur Lappin, Lissy Belaiche, Brenda Blethyn, Dominique Deruddere, Jose Luis Castiñeira de Dios and Carine Tardieu. The Grand Prix for Best Movie went to The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada by Tommy Lee Jones, who made his director's debut. Guillermo Arriaga, the screenwriter of Amores Perros and 21 Grams, was the author of the screenplay. At the last Cannes Festival, the film had already received the prize for best screenplay and Tommy Lee Jones had been crowned Best Actor. The Grand Prix for Best Movie is a distribution prize of the amount of € 25,000 to support the release of the movie in Flanders and Brussels. The Georges Delerue Prize for Best Music was awarded to Stephen Warbeck for the music of John Madden's Proof. This prize carries a cash award of € 15,000 intended to promote the distribution. The Sabam Prize for Best Screenplay (€ 12,500 distribution award) was given to Eric Khoo and Wong Kim Hoh for the screenplay of Be with Me, by Singaporean filmmaker Eric Khoo. Li Yu, the director of the Chinese film Dam Street, received the Robert Wise Prize for Best Director (€ 5,000 distribution award). In addition to the above, a number of other prizes were awarded during the ceremony. The UIP/Ghent Prize was awarded to Till Nowak's Delivery. This prize, with a value of € 2,000, also includes a nomination for the UIP Prize at the European Film Awards, with a value of € 10,000. Meander by Joke Liberge won the Belgian Short Film Competition (€ 5,000), while the ACE-PRIX for Best Belgian Student Short Film went to Ureca by Rits-student Kenneth Taylor (€ 2,000 plus a € 7,500-budget for post-production by ACE Digital House). The Mine XploreZone Award went to Kammerflimmern, Hendrik Hölzemann's director's debut.