Freeze Frame wins top award at international film festival

Following its general release on Friday June 18 ‘Freeze Frame’, the first feature film from Northern Ireland born duo Michael Casey and John Simpson, received the top honour at the Taormina Film Festival in Italy over the weekend.
Director John Simpson received the Grand Jury BNL Award for the Best First Film and prize of €25,000.
Others honoured by the Taormina Festival for cinematic excellence this year include Roman Polanski, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith.
Co-funded by the NIFTC and shot entirely on location in Belfast’s disused Crumlin Road jail, Freeze Frame stars British comedian Lee Evans in a truly unexpected role as Sean Veil, an ultra-paranoid murder suspect who videotapes himself around the clock so that he’ll have a rock-solid alibi if he’s ever accused of another crime.
NIFTC Chairman Colin Anderson commented: “Congratulations to John Simpson, his producer Michael Casey, and everyone involved with Freeze Frame. It is fantastic that the first feature film genuinely created in Northern Ireland for more than a decade has won an award of this status. The NIFTC backed Freeze Frame with funds provided by the National Lottery, and this award is a wonderful indication that it was a very worthwhile investment.”
Established in 1955, the Taormina Film Festival is one of Italy's oldest and most prestigious festivals and has contributed to the discovery of some of the world's most respected filmmakers. Among the great personalities of cinema who have taken a bow on the stage of Taormina's Greek-Roman Theatre are Federico Fellini, Ingrid Bergman, Roberto Rossellini, Tennessee Williams, Cary Grant, Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck and Joan Crawford.
(GB)