“The Lost Daughter,” a Netflix movie that was filmed in Greece, won big at the 37th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, held on Sunday.
In comparison to famous film awards shows such as the Oscars, the Film Independent Spirit Awards are much more laid back. Found in 1984, the ceremony celebrates only independent films.
“The Lost Daughter,” a psychological drama about motherhood, was directed by American actress and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal. The movie, released for streaming on Netflix, was Gyllenhaal’s feature film debut as a director.
It was based on the novel of the same name by Italian author Elena Ferrante.
When it was released in 2021, “The Lost Daughter” received critical acclaim and was nominated for three Academy Awards.
“The Lost Daughter” wins big at independent award show
On Sunday, Gyllenhaal won big at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, where she took home awards for best feature, director, and screenplay for the film.
The official synopsis for “The Lost Daughter” from Netflix reads: “Alone on a seaside vacation, Leda (Olivia Colman) becomes consumed with a young mother and daughter as she watches them on the beach. Unnerved by their compelling relationship, (and their raucous and menacing extended family), Leda is overwhelmed by her own memories of the terror, confusion and intensity of early motherhood.
An impulsive act shocks Leda into the strange and ominous world of her own mind, where she is forced to face the unconventional choices she made as a young mother and their consequences.”
While production was originally set for New Jersey, the pandemic forced Gyllenhaal to move both the film’s setting and shooting location to the island of Spetses, in Greece. Of making her first feature film in the director’s chair, Gyllenhaal said, “I have never felt more alive and in the current of my life than I felt as a director.”
Starring opposite Oscar winner Colman is Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson, Ed Harris, Peter Sarsgaard, Dagmara Dominczyk, Paul Mescal, Jack Farthing, Robyn Elwell, Ellie Blake, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Panos Koronis, Alexandros Mylonas, Alba Rohrwacher, Nikos Poursanidis, and Athena Martin.
Gyllenhaal told Vanity Fair that reading the novel felt like “some secret piece of my experience as a mother, as a lover, as a woman in the world was being spoken out loud for the first time.” Gyllenhaal spent a month composing a letter to Ferrante to ask for the rights, and the author gave them to her on the one condition that Gyllenhaal direct the movie.
Spetses, located in the Saronic Gulf, is known for its history and town, in which taxis are the only motor vehicles allowed on the streets, and beautiful beaches. The island is known as an upscale holiday destination for Greeks and tourists alike.
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