Frozen River
Encyclopedia
Frozen River is a 2008 American drama film
written and directed by Courtney Hunt
. The screenplay focuses on two working-class women who smuggle illegal immigrants in the trunk of a car from Canada
to the United States
in order to make ends meet. It received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress (Melissa Leo
) and Best Original Screenplay (Courtney Hunt
).
of Upstate New York
, near the Akwesasne ('Where the Partridge Drums) St. Regis Mohawk Reservation and the Canadian border, shortly before Christmas. Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo
) is a discount store
clerk struggling to raise two sons with her husband, a compulsive gambler who has disappeared with the funds she had earmarked to finance the purchase of a double-wide mobile home
. While searching for him, she encounters Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham
), a Mohawk
bingo-parlor employee who is driving his car, which she claims she found abandoned with the keys in the ignition at the local bus-station. The two women, who have fallen on hard economic times, form a desperate and uneasy alliance and begin trafficking illegal immigrants from Canada into the United States across the frozen St. Lawrence River for $1200 each per crossing.
Ray's older son T.J. wants to find a job and help support the family so they can afford to eat something more substantial than popcorn
and Tang
. He and his mother clash over whether he should remain in high-school and look after his little brother Ricky or drop out to work. To make matters worse, T.J. sets an outside corner of the trailer afire with a torch in an attempt to unfreeze the water pipe. Lila longs for the day she will be able to reclaim and live with her young son, who was taken from her by her mother-in-law immediately after his birth.
Because the women's route takes them from an Indian reservation
in the US to an Indian reserve
in Canada, they hope to avoid detection by local law-enforcement. However, their problems escalate when they are asked to smuggle a Pakistan
i couple and Ray, fearful their duffel bag
might contain explosives, leaves it behind in sub-freezing temperatures, only to discover it contained their infant baby when they arrive at their destination. She and Lila retrace their route and find the bag and the baby, which Lila insists is dead, but which she revives moments before being reunited with the baby's parents. The experience leaves her shaken, and she announces she no longer wants to participate in the smuggling-operation. But Ray, needing just one more crossing to finance the down payment on her mobile home, coerces her into joining her for one last journey.
They pick up two Asian women from a strip club for crossing. When the club owner tries to short them, Ray successfully threatens him with a gun. When she is re-entering her car, the irate club owner retaliates by shooting Ray in the ear. Shaken, her fast and erratic driving catches the attention of the provincial police. Ray tries to elude capture by crossing the frozen river where one of the wheels of the car breaks through the ice. The four women abandon the vehicle and take refuge at the Indian reservation.
Because the police are demanding a scapegoat, the tribal head decides to excommunicate Lila for five years due to her smuggling history which involved the death of her Mohawk husband. Surprised then saddened by the news, Lila gives in to Ray's pleas to go free for the sake of her children. However, running through the woods, Ray has a fit of conscience and returns. She gives her share of money to Lila with instructions for taking care of her sons and seeing through purchase plans for a trailer home. She and the illegal immigrants are surrendered to the police and a trooper speculates she will have to serve four months in jail. She calls her son T.J. to explain what has happened.
Lila pushes her way into her mother-in-law's home and reclaims her infant son. She and the baby show up at the Eddy trailer while T.J. is still on the phone with his jailed mother. In a day scene, T.J. completes the welding of a bicycle-propelled carousel bearing his younger brother and Lila's strapped in baby. He pedals the carousel while Lila smiles on. A truck nears carrying the new trailer home.
Hunt's husband is from Malone, New York
. Whenever the two visited his family they heard stories about Mohawks smuggling cigarettes by driving across the Saint Lawrence River when it freezes. She thought the concept was an interesting subject for a film but had a hard time getting any financial backers because so few people knew about the issue. She met cinematographer Marc Blandori and actress Melissa Leo
at the FilmColumbia 2003 Film Festival in Chatham, New York and both agreed to join the project, which prompted some interest in it. Their first effort was a short film
shot at Akwesasne
near Massena, New York
. Hunt showed it at several festival screenings and shopped it to producers until she finally acquired enough funding for a feature film
. Frozen River was shot in sub-freezing temperatures on location in Clinton County
and Beekmantown
and in the area around Plattsburgh
over a period of twenty-four days in March 2007.
and was shown at the MoMA Film Exhibition, the Seattle International Film Festival
, the Provincetown International Film Festival
, the Nantucket Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival
, and the Traverse City Film Festival
. Sony Pictures Classics
paid $500,000 for the rights to distribute the film in North America and some other territories http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/03/state-of-hollywood200903?currentPage=2http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117992978.html?categoryid=1043&cs=1&query=+%22Frozen+River%22+sony. The film eventually grossed $2,511,476 in limited theatrical release in the United States
and $2,621,734 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $ 5,133,210.
and a collective score of 82 on Metacritic
. The film appeared on many lists citing the best films of 2008, including those in The Philadelphia Inquirer
, the Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter
, the New York Post
, The Miami Herald
, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
, the New York Times, and the Chicago Reader.
format on DVD on February 10, 2009. It has an audio track in English and subtitles in French. Bonus features include commentary by screenwriter/director Courtney Hunt and producer Heather Rae and the original trailer.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
written and directed by Courtney Hunt
Courtney Hunt
Courtney Hunt is an American screenwriter and film director. She has received much critical acclaim for her debut film, Frozen River, for which she has gained an Oscar nomination, two Independent Spirit nominations, and a Satellite Award nod for the film...
. The screenplay focuses on two working-class women who smuggle illegal immigrants in the trunk of a car from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in order to make ends meet. It received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress (Melissa Leo
Melissa Leo
Melissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
) and Best Original Screenplay (Courtney Hunt
Courtney Hunt
Courtney Hunt is an American screenwriter and film director. She has received much critical acclaim for her debut film, Frozen River, for which she has gained an Oscar nomination, two Independent Spirit nominations, and a Satellite Award nod for the film...
).
Plot
The film is set in the North CountryNorth Country, New York
The North Country is a region of the U.S. state of New York that encompasses the state's extreme northern frontier, bordering Lake Ontario on the west, the Saint Lawrence River and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec on the north and northwest, and Lake Champlain and Vermont on the east...
of Upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
, near the Akwesasne ('Where the Partridge Drums) St. Regis Mohawk Reservation and the Canadian border, shortly before Christmas. Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo
Melissa Leo
Melissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
) is a discount store
Discount store
A discount store is a type of department store, which sells products at prices lower than those asked by traditional retail outlets. Most discount department stores offer a wide assortment of goods; others specialize in such merchandise as jewelry, electronic equipment, or electrical appliances...
clerk struggling to raise two sons with her husband, a compulsive gambler who has disappeared with the funds she had earmarked to finance the purchase of a double-wide mobile home
Mobile home
Mobile homes or static caravans are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied...
. While searching for him, she encounters Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham
Misty Upham
Misty Anne Upham is a Native American actress best known for her role in the 2008 film Frozen River, for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female....
), a Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
bingo-parlor employee who is driving his car, which she claims she found abandoned with the keys in the ignition at the local bus-station. The two women, who have fallen on hard economic times, form a desperate and uneasy alliance and begin trafficking illegal immigrants from Canada into the United States across the frozen St. Lawrence River for $1200 each per crossing.
Ray's older son T.J. wants to find a job and help support the family so they can afford to eat something more substantial than popcorn
Popcorn
Popcorn, or popping corn, is corn which expands from the kernel and puffs up when heated. Corn is able to pop because, like sorghum, quinoa and millet, its kernels have a hard moisture-sealed hull and a dense starchy interior. This allows pressure to build inside the kernel until an explosive...
and Tang
Tang (drink)
Tang is a fruit-flavored breakfast drink. Originally formulated by General Foods Corporation food scientist William A. Mitchell in 1957, it was first marketed in powdered form in 1959....
. He and his mother clash over whether he should remain in high-school and look after his little brother Ricky or drop out to work. To make matters worse, T.J. sets an outside corner of the trailer afire with a torch in an attempt to unfreeze the water pipe. Lila longs for the day she will be able to reclaim and live with her young son, who was taken from her by her mother-in-law immediately after his birth.
Because the women's route takes them from an Indian reservation
Indian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
in the US to an Indian reserve
Indian reserve
In Canada, an Indian reserve is specified by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." The Act also specifies that land reserved for the use and benefit of a band which is not...
in Canada, they hope to avoid detection by local law-enforcement. However, their problems escalate when they are asked to smuggle a Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i couple and Ray, fearful their duffel bag
Duffel bag
A duffel bag is a large cylindrical bag made of cloth with a drawstring closure at the top....
might contain explosives, leaves it behind in sub-freezing temperatures, only to discover it contained their infant baby when they arrive at their destination. She and Lila retrace their route and find the bag and the baby, which Lila insists is dead, but which she revives moments before being reunited with the baby's parents. The experience leaves her shaken, and she announces she no longer wants to participate in the smuggling-operation. But Ray, needing just one more crossing to finance the down payment on her mobile home, coerces her into joining her for one last journey.
They pick up two Asian women from a strip club for crossing. When the club owner tries to short them, Ray successfully threatens him with a gun. When she is re-entering her car, the irate club owner retaliates by shooting Ray in the ear. Shaken, her fast and erratic driving catches the attention of the provincial police. Ray tries to elude capture by crossing the frozen river where one of the wheels of the car breaks through the ice. The four women abandon the vehicle and take refuge at the Indian reservation.
Because the police are demanding a scapegoat, the tribal head decides to excommunicate Lila for five years due to her smuggling history which involved the death of her Mohawk husband. Surprised then saddened by the news, Lila gives in to Ray's pleas to go free for the sake of her children. However, running through the woods, Ray has a fit of conscience and returns. She gives her share of money to Lila with instructions for taking care of her sons and seeing through purchase plans for a trailer home. She and the illegal immigrants are surrendered to the police and a trooper speculates she will have to serve four months in jail. She calls her son T.J. to explain what has happened.
Lila pushes her way into her mother-in-law's home and reclaims her infant son. She and the baby show up at the Eddy trailer while T.J. is still on the phone with his jailed mother. In a day scene, T.J. completes the welding of a bicycle-propelled carousel bearing his younger brother and Lila's strapped in baby. He pedals the carousel while Lila smiles on. A truck nears carrying the new trailer home.
Production
In an interview screenwriter/director Courtney Hunt conducted shortly before the film's release, she discussed its prevalent theme of a mother's love for her children being a culturally universal trait. She stated the most important moment in her life was the birth of her daughter and how that event made all her other goals lesser priorities. By showing how such intimacy knows no bounds, culturally or socially, Hunt said she hoped her film would enable audiences to break down their assumptions about others around them.Hunt's husband is from Malone, New York
Malone (village), New York
-Notable natives:Notable natives include:*William Almon Wheeler served as Vice President of the United States under Rutherford Hayes. Is buried at Morningside Cemetery in Malone....
. Whenever the two visited his family they heard stories about Mohawks smuggling cigarettes by driving across the Saint Lawrence River when it freezes. She thought the concept was an interesting subject for a film but had a hard time getting any financial backers because so few people knew about the issue. She met cinematographer Marc Blandori and actress Melissa Leo
Melissa Leo
Melissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
at the FilmColumbia 2003 Film Festival in Chatham, New York and both agreed to join the project, which prompted some interest in it. Their first effort was a short film
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
shot at Akwesasne
Akwesasne
The Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne is a Mohawk Nation territory that straddles the intersection of international and provincial borders on both banks of the Saint Lawrence River. Most of the land is in what is otherwise the United States...
near Massena, New York
Massena (town), New York
Massena is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The town is on the northern border of the county and is nicknamed "The Gateway to the Fourth Coast". The population was 13,121 at the 2000 census. The town of Massena contains a village also called Massena...
. Hunt showed it at several festival screenings and shopped it to producers until she finally acquired enough funding for a feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
. Frozen River was shot in sub-freezing temperatures on location in Clinton County
Clinton County, New York
Clinton County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 82,128. Its name is in honor of the first Governor of New York as a state, George Clinton. Its county seat is Plattsburgh.-History:...
and Beekmantown
Beekmantown, New York
Beekmantown is a town in Clinton County, New York, United States. The population was 5,545 at the 2010 census. The town name is that of William Beekman, an original landowner....
and in the area around Plattsburgh
Plattsburgh (city), New York
Plattsburgh is a city in and county seat of Clinton County, New York, United States. The population was 19,989 at the 2010 census. The population of the unincorporated areas within the Town of Plattsburgh was 11,870 as of the 2010 census; making the population for the immediate, urban Plattsburgh,...
over a period of twenty-four days in March 2007.
Release
The film premiered at the Sundance Film FestivalSundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and was shown at the MoMA Film Exhibition, the Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
, the Provincetown International Film Festival
Provincetown International Film Festival
The Provincetown International Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1999 and held in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The festival presents a wide array of American and international narrative features, documentaries and short films for five days in June of each year.With panel...
, the Nantucket Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival
The Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....
, and the Traverse City Film Festival
Traverse City Film Festival
The Traverse City Film Festival is an annual film festival held every late July through early August in Traverse City, Michigan. The festival was created as an annual event in 2005 to help “save one of America's few indigenous art forms—the cinema." The event was co-founded by Michael Moore, the...
. Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics is an art-house film division of Sony Pictures Entertainment founded in December 1991 that distributes, produces and acquires specialty films from the United States and around the world. Its co-presidents are Michael Barker and Tom Bernard...
paid $500,000 for the rights to distribute the film in North America and some other territories http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/03/state-of-hollywood200903?currentPage=2http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117992978.html?categoryid=1043&cs=1&query=+%22Frozen+River%22+sony. The film eventually grossed $2,511,476 in limited theatrical release in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and $2,621,734 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $ 5,133,210.
Cast
- Melissa LeoMelissa LeoMelissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
as Ray Eddy - Misty UphamMisty UphamMisty Anne Upham is a Native American actress best known for her role in the 2008 film Frozen River, for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female....
as Lila Littlewolf - Charlie McDermottCharlie McDermottCharlie McDermott is an American television and film actor. Since 2004, he has worked on a wide range of television series, including The Office, Private Practice and The Middle. He moved to Los Angeles at the age of 16....
as Troy Eddy, Jr. "T.J." - Michael O'KeefeMichael O'KeefeMichael Raymond O'Keefe is an American film and television actor.- Early life :O'Keefe was born Raymond Peter O'Keefe, Jr. in Mount Vernon, New York, the oldest of seven children in a devoutly Roman Catholic Irish American family. His father was a law professor at Fordham University, as well as...
as State Trooper Finnerty - James Reilly as Ricky Eddy
- Mark Boone JuniorMark Boone JuniorMark Boone Junior is an American actor perhaps best known for his roles as Bobby Munson in FX's Sons of Anarchy and in two films by Christopher Nolan, Memento and Batman Begins...
as Jacques Bruno - Dylan Carusona as Jimmy
- Jay Klaitz as Guy Versailles
- Michael Sky as Billy Three Rivers
- John Canoe as Bernie Littlewolf
- Rajesh Bose as Pakistani Father
- Gargi Shinde as Pakistani Mother
Critical reception
Critical reception was very positive and the film received an aggregate of 87% on the review aggregate website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
and a collective score of 82 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. The film appeared on many lists citing the best films of 2008, including those in The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
, the Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
, the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell...
, the New York Times, and the Chicago Reader.
Awards and nominations
- Academy Award for Best ActressAcademy Award for Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Melissa Leo, nominee) - Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (Courtney Hunt, nominee)
- American Indian Film FestivalAmerican Indian Film FestivalThe American Indian Film Festival is an annual non-profit film festival in San Francisco. It is the world's oldest venue dedicated to Native American films and prepared the way for the 1979 formation of the American Indian Film Institute....
Award for Best Supporting Actress (Misty Upham, winner) - Independent Spirit Award for Best FilmIndependent Spirit Award for Best FilmThe Independent Spirit Award for Best Film is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards.-1980s:* 1985: After Hours - Martin Scorsese** Blood Simple - Joel and Ethan Coen** Smooth Talk...
(Chip Hourihan and Heather Rae, nominees) - Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female (Melissa Leo, winner)
- Independent Spirit Award for Best DirectorIndependent Spirit Award for Best DirectorThe Film Independent's Spirit Award for Best Director is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards.- 1980s :* 1985: Joel Coen – Blood Simple** Martin Scorsese – After Hours** Joyce Chopra – Smooth Talk...
(Courtney Hunt, nominee) - Independent Spirit Award for Best First ScreenplayIndependent Spirit Award for Best First ScreenplayThe Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay is one of the annual awards given by Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers.-1990s:1994*David O...
(Courtney Hunt, nominee) - Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male (Charlie McDermott, nominee)
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female (Misty Upham, nominee)
- Independent Spirit Piaget Producers Award (Heather Rae, winner)
- Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress (Melissa Leo, winner)
- Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Breakthrough Film Artist (Melissa Leo, winner)
- Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressChicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressThe Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress is an annual award given by the Chicago Film Critics Association.-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:...
(Melissa Leo, nominee) - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising FilmmakerChicago Film Critics Association Awards 2008The 21st Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, given by the CFCA on December 18, 2008, honored the best in film for 2008. Disney/Pixar's WALL-E became the most successful film on this years' ceremony, won four awards, including Best Film, out of five nominations...
(Courtney Hunt, nominee) - Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressFlorida Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressThe Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress is an award given by the Florida Film Critics Circle to honor the finest female lead acting achievements in filmmaking.-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
(Melissa Leo, winner) - Gotham Independent Film Award for Best FilmGotham Independent Film Awards 2008-Best Film : Frozen River*Ballast*Synecdoche, New York*The Visitor*The Wrestler-Best Ensemble Cast: Synecdoche, New York Vicky Cristina Barcelona*Ballast*Rachel Getting Married*The Visitor...
(Courtney Hunt, Chip Hourihan and Heather Rae winners) - Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough ActorGotham Independent Film Awards 2008-Best Film : Frozen River*Ballast*Synecdoche, New York*The Visitor*The Wrestler-Best Ensemble Cast: Synecdoche, New York Vicky Cristina Barcelona*Ballast*Rachel Getting Married*The Visitor...
(Melissa Leo, winner) - International Film Festival of MarrakechInternational Film Festival of MarrakechThe International Film Festival of Marrakech is an international film festival held annually in Marrakech, Morocco.-Overview:Since its inaugural year in 2000, the FIFM has been one of the biggest events devoted to Moroccan cinema...
Award for Best Actress (Melissa Leo, winner) - National Board of Review Award for Best Directorial DebutNational Board of Review Awards 2008The 80th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in film for 2008, were given on 4 December 2008.-Top 10 films:*Burn After Reading*Changeling*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*The Dark Knight*Defiance*Frost/Nixon...
(Courtney Hunt, winner) - National Board of Review Spotlight AwardNational Board of Review Awards 2008The 80th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in film for 2008, were given on 4 December 2008.-Top 10 films:*Burn After Reading*Changeling*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*The Dark Knight*Defiance*Frost/Nixon...
(Melissa Leo, winner; shared with Richard JenkinsRichard JenkinsRichard Dale Jenkins is an American stage, film, and television actor. After beginning his career in theatre, Jenkins made his film debut in 1974, and appeared in supporting roles in numerous film productions in the 1980s and the 1990s. His breakthrough came in the 2000s for playing the deceased...
) - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First FilmNew York Film Critics Circle Awards 2008The 74th New York Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in film for 2008, were announced on 10 December 2008.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Sean Penn – Milk*Best Actress:**Sally Hawkins – Happy-Go-Lucky*Best Animated Film:...
(Courtney Hunt, winner) - San Sebastián International Film FestivalSan Sebastián International Film FestivalThe San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
Silver Seashell for Best Actress (Melissa Leo, winner) - San Sebastián International Film Festival SIGNIS Award (Courtney Hunt, winner)
- Satellite Award for Best Film – Drama (nominee)
- Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama (Melissa Leo, nominee)
- Satellite Award for Best Original ScreenplaySatellite Award for Best Original ScreenplayThe Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay is an annual award given by the International Press Academy.- 1990s :*1996: Lone Star*1996: The People vs...
(Courtney Hunt, nominee) - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (Melissa Leo, nominee)
- Stockholm International Film FestivalStockholm International Film FestivalThe Stockholm International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was launched in 1990 and has been held every year in the second half of November...
Bronze Horse for Best Film (Courtney Hunt, winner) - Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) (winner)
DVD release
The film was released in anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
format on DVD on February 10, 2009. It has an audio track in English and subtitles in French. Bonus features include commentary by screenwriter/director Courtney Hunt and producer Heather Rae and the original trailer.