Somewhere tells the story of Johnny Marco, an up-and-coming Hollywood star who struggles with loneliness and boredom in a world of five-star hotels, Ferraris and sex on demand. Marco, played by Stephen Dorff, is finally faced with the question of where his life is heading when his 11-year-old daughter unexpectedly comes to stay with him.
Director Quentin Tarantino headed the jury which unanimously chose Coppola's film as the best movie at the 11-day annual festival. "This film enchanted us from its first screening," Tarantino said. Coppola, the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola (pictured together, above) and an Oscar winner for her screenplay of Lost in Translation, based Somewhere partly on her own experiences as a young girl travelling with her father from one hotel to another. "Thanks to my dad for teaching me," she said at the awards ceremony on Saturday night.
The best director award went to Spaniard Alex de la Iglesia for Balada Triste de Trompeta, a horror movie that deals with fascist Spain. Vincent Gallo won the best actor prize for his performance in Essential Killing, where he plays a suspected Taliban fighter on the run from US forces in Afghanistan and later in Europe. Ariane Labed won the best actress prize for the Greek film Attenberg, while Monte Hellman scooped a special career award with Road to Nowhere.
