ROME – “Boyhood” protag Ellar Coltrane will be feted by Italy’s Capri-Hollywood film festival dedicated to launching Oscar hopefuls and establishing a creative and business bridgehead between Hollywood and the Italian film and showbiz communities.
The young actor from Texas, chosen by director Richard Linklater after an extensive casting process to play Mason Evans Jr. from age six through 18, will receive the Capri Family Award during the informal event on the Italo isle off the coast of Naples. Capri is gaining increasing prominence as a platform for Academy Awards campaigns.
“Capri, Hollywood is more and more focusing its attention on giving recognition to young movie stars,” said Pascal Vicedomini, the Italo journo who heads the fest and also runs its sister event Ischia Global, and the L.A. Italia Italo cinema showcase.
“In past years we helped launch then promising actors such as Gerard Butler, Andrew Garfield, Michael Fassbender, Jesse Eisenberg and Freddie Highmore, to name a few, and this year we are celebrating Ellar Coltrane’s talent,” he added in a statement.
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Capri will also be feting British actor Timothy Spall, who won the best actor prize at Cannes for Mike Leigh’s “Mr. Turner” and Italo thesp Luca Zingaretti, best known for Sicily-set hit TV series “Inspector Montalbano,” in which he plays the titular cop.
As previously announced, Capri will serve as Italo launching pad for the Italo preems of “The Imitation Game” and “Birdman,” the latter title also being prized with the Capri Visionary nod.
Daniel Barnz-directed dark comedy “Cake,” toplining Jennifer Aniston as an acerbic woman who becomes fascinated with the suicide of another woman in her chronic pain support group, will be this year’s Capri closer. “Cake” will open Stateside for a one-week qualifying run in December via Mark Canton and Courtney Solomon’s Cinelou Releasing, followed by a wide release in January.
Other Capri awards recipients include U.S. director David O.Russell (“American Hustle”) and Italo helmers Mario Martone (“Leopardi”) and Gabriele Salvatores (“The Invisible Boy”).
Indian film director Shekhar Kapur will chair Capri’s 19th edition, which will run December 27, 2014-January 2, 2015.
