AFI Fest 2012: Swedish film ‘Eat Sleep Die’ wins grand jury prize

Before wrapping up later tonight with the world premiere of Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” the AFI Fest announced a handful of prize winners on Thursday afternoon.

The Swedish film “Eat Sleep Die,” written and directed by Gabriela Pichler, took home the Grand Jury Prize for the New Auteurs section with a statement from the jury celebrating the film for its “sensitive portrait of a young woman fighting to keep her job and her dignity in the globalized economy, driven by an energetic performance from Nermina Lukac.”

The jury also gave a Special Mention for Performance to Mati Diop for “her contribution to ‘Simon Killer’ as both an actress and screenwriter” and a Special Mention to Antonio Mendez Esparza’s “Here and There.”

This year’s jury was composed of journalists Dana Harris, David Hudson, Gregg Kilday and Berenice Reynaud.

Audience awards went to “A Royal Affair” for World Cinema, “A Hijacking” for New Auteurs, the documentary “Only the Young” for Young Americans and “Nairobi Half Life” for Breakthrough.

A separate shorts jury awarded a few prizes as well, with the grand jury prize for live action short going to “Introducing: Bobby” and for animated short to “Oh Willy...”

Also:

AFI Fest 2012: ‘Rust and Bone’ aims outside art house

AFI Fest 2012: ‘Holy Motors’ finally pulling into Los Angeles

Paul Thomas Anderson reveals unseen scenes from ‘The Master’

Follow Mark Olsen on Twitter: @IndieFocus

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