PAUL DANO’S directorial debut “Wildlife” won best film at the 36th edition of the Turin Film Festival. Turin’s competition lineup this year featured a variety of films from around the world, including several first or second features.

“Wildlife” stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Carey Mulligan and Ed Oxenbould. The award comes with a prize of US$20,000. Based on the book by Richard Ford, with a screenplay by Dano and Zoe Kazan, the film is a coming-of-age story about a teenage boy who must deal with his parents’ dissolving marriage when his father temporarily abandons them. The film premiered in Sundance earlier this year.

Chinese director Jia Zhangke chaired the international jury, whose members also included Marta Donzelli, Miguel Gomes, Col Needham and Andreas Prochaska.

Other big winners included David Nawrath’s “Atlas,” which won the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Award. The Jury’s special mention prize went to Hungarian director Gabor Reisz for his film “Bad Poems.”

Grace Passo won best actress for her role in Andre Novais Oliveira’s film “Temporada.” Rainer Bock (“Atlas”) and Jakob Cedergren (“The Guilty”) shared the prize for best actor.

“The Guilty” also took home the prize for best screenplay for Emil Nygaard Albertsen and Gustav Moller. Director Moller also won the audience award for world drama in Sundance for his debut film, a thriller about a police officer who must race against time to save a kidnapped woman. The film is Denmark’s Oscar entry for best foreign language picture.

The 36th edition of the Turin Film Festival concluded yesterday.(SD-Agencies)