- 2013.03.28
- Beasts of the Southern Wild Star Greets Fans before Screening
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Quvenzhane Wallis appeared at the fest Thursday 28th March at 7:30pm before the screening of Beasts of the Southern Wild at Theater 1.
Wallis is the youngest actress ever to be nominated for the Best Actress prize at the Academy Awards. She was just 9 at this year’s Academy Awards where her performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild was honored. She had a pre-screening Q&A at the fest.
The film revolves around Hushpuppy (Wallis), a six-year-old girl who lives with her father on the flood plains of “Bathtub Island” on the coast of Louisiana. This poverty-stricken slum has been deemed unfit for human habitation, but a few residents remain. One night a storm comes and ravages the area. The film, though sad, is full of originality and magical realism. It describes how Hushpuppy starts to gain understanding and courage beyond her years to continue to survive.
The film was heavily honored. It won the Grand Prix and the Best Cinematography Award at the 28th Sundance Film Festival in in the US and was nominated in four major categories at the Oscars.
As soon as Quvenzhane, in a shiny black dress, appeared before the screening at the fest the audience burst into enthusiastic applause. She started in Japanese: “Hello, I’m Quvenzhane. Thank you for coming today.”
Because she is the youngest actress ever to be nominated for the Best Actress prize at the Academy Awards she was asked, “How did you feel hearing your name announced at the Academy Awards?” She replied, “I was not really nervous like ‘What? My name is being announced?’ At the ceremony I showed the same pose as Hushpuppy when she opened her arms to embrace the world in the movie.”
About shooting the film she said, “The director was like my big brother. He gave me practical directions about acting and the story. During filming I called him ‘big buddy’ and he called me ‘little buddy’ but now I’ve grown so we started to reverse the names.” She added, “The shooting was really fun.”
During the Sundance Film Festival, she received a 7-minute standing ovation after the screening. She commented, “It was a seriously exciting experience. I was so excited my friend put me on her shoulders during the standing ovation.”
As she has gained recognition as an accomplished actress the emcee asked her, “Will you continue to act?” She replied, “Yes, I want to. I want to be a doctor but I don’t want to give up being an actress. I want to take on various roles from now on.”
She ended by saying, “Thank you very much for coming today. I hope you like the movie. Please enjoy it.”
