The postponed 46th Hong Kong International Film Festival concluded on Wednesday with the awarding of 13 prizes to competitions for young filmmakers, documentaries and shorts.
The jury hailed it as “one of the most outstanding films of the year in both creativity and art”, and Qiu Jiongjiong’s “New Old Play” was awarded the Best Film of the Youth Film Competition (Chinese Language). “New Old Play” is the tale of a family of Sichuan opera artists living in a turbulent era. It also received a FIPRESCI Award, and the jury praised the film for its “outstanding approach and innovative visual style”.
In the global category, Palestinian director Maha Haj’s “Mediterranean Fever” was selected as the winner of the Firebird Award for being “a comprehensive gem that is at once a thriller, a social comedy, and a strange marital friendship.”
In the Chinese category, Hong Kong’s Mac Boy Tung won Best Actor for “Sparring Partner”. Aelia won Best Actress for her inspiring performance in Journey to the West. The jury of Peter Chan, Anthony Chen, and Nai An chose not to award the Best Director award.
The Franco-Belgian co-production “Love According to Dalva” won two awards – Best Director for Emmanuel Nicot and Best Actress for Zelda Samson. The Best Actor award went to Moritz Trionfels as a pathological liar in Axiom.
For the Documentary Competition, the jury unanimously awarded the Firebird Award to Indian director Shaunak Sen for All That Breathes. Vietnamese director Ha Le Diem won the Jury Prize for her elaborate dramatization of “Children of the Mist.”
The festival will continue on Wednesday evening with the Asian premiere of “Tori and Luketa” by the Dardenne brothers. The city has been deeply shaken by strict coronavirus controls that have effectively kept borders closed for months and kept residents away from normal social contact. Despite the current peak in infections, which represents the ‘sixth wave’, festival organizers expect the 47th edition to return to normal in spring next year, to be held from March 30 to April 10, 2023.
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