BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Image Credit: Photo: Ben Richards
Going into the festival, the description of this ethereal fable was enigmatic in the extreme. “Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under, in this tale of a 6-year-old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world.”
The film had no stars, though that’s likely to change now. Director and co-writer Benh Zeitlin cast all non-professional actors for his story of people trapped in a fairy-tale bayou as the world teeters over into the apocalypse.
Image Credit: Victoria Will/AP
Quvenzhané Wallis, now 8, stars as Hushpuppy, the little girl who faces down melting ice caps, rising floodwaters, and prehistoric creatures come back to life, and she proved to be a force of nature in her own right when introduced to an audience. (See EW’s “Meet the fearsome cutie-pie of Beasts of the Southern Wild.“)
The movie ended up winning the Grand Jury Prize for a dramatic feature, and also took home the award for best cinematography.
Fox Searchlight acquired Beasts for distribution, and all eyes will now be on Wallis to see what the formidable little actress does next.
NEXT PAGE: The death of indie champion Bingham Ray
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