‘The Imitation Game’ to Receive Alfred P. Sloan Award at HIFF
The Hamptons International Film Festival has just announced that Morten Tyldum’s “The Imitation Game” will be the recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. The film, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley,Matthew Goode and Mark Strong, premiered at the 41st Telluride Film Festival and was also recently featured at the Toronto International Film Festival.
This period piece follows the life of Alan Turing, the brilliant yet socially stunted computer scientist, and his team of coders whose technology assisted the Allies in WWII victory. The Foundation, which makes grants in science, technology and economic performance, selected this particular film to celebrate its “sensitive and moving portrait of the complex, brilliant mathematician who not only created the model for the early computer and for computer language, but whose code breaking skills helped the Allies win World War II.”
Vice President of Programs at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Doron Weber said “We are delighted to join our wonderful partners at HIFF for our fifteenth year together to award the 2014 Sloan Feature Film Prize to Morten Tyldum’s moving film about the pioneering—and persecuted—Alan Turing. Turing was a brilliant mathematician and logician who made seminal contributions to computer science and artificial intelligence and whose remarkable skills as a cryptanalyst helped win World War II, yet he was also a victim of discrimination who died tragically. Many people have tried to bring this important story to the screen, but ‘The Imitation Game,’ which Sloan previously supported in its post-production phase and features a bravura lead performance, is the first to succeed and we are thrilled to honor this impressive cinematic achievement.”
“The Imitation Game” will screen at HIFF on October 11 at Guild Hall. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion about the use of cryptography and computer science in a historical context, as well as Turing’s impact in the field. The panel will include Janna Levin, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard/Columbia, and Dan Guido, co-founder and CEO of Trail of Bits, an information security firm, and the Hacker in Residence at NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering.
The Weinstein Company will release the film on November 21, 2014.
READ MORE: Telluride Review: Benedict Cumberbatch Carries Uneven WWII Drama ‘The Imitation Game’
