Bille August takes top prize at Beijing film festival
- Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 21, 2019
Academy Award-winning director Bille August's new film "A Fortunate Man" was handed the best film award by the jury of the Tiantan Awards at the closing ceremony of the 9th Beijing International Film Festival held in Beijing on Saturday night.
Bille August, a renowned and respected director, won the Palme d'Or, Academy Award and Golden Globe for his 1987 film "Pelle the Conqueror". He is one of only eight directors to win the Palme d'Or twice. August's new 167-minute Danish feature film tells a story of Per, a man who decides to leave his strict religious home and sets sail for Copenhagen. He travels there to start a new career and find love, but his childhood haunts him and his dogmatic family cannot accept his new life.
The critics consensus from the 7-member jury read, "The film handles challenging themes in a subtle way, demonstrates poignant emotions while exploring and discussing an in-depth proposition of philosophy and morality."
Chinese director Chen Jianbin's comedy "The Eleventh Chapter" was also a big winner at the Tiantan Awards. It won in two categories - best screenplay and best supporting actress for Leah Dou, a new actor and singer who is also the daughter of Chinese musician Dou Wei and pop diva Faye Wong.
Another Chinese film, the sci-fi blockbuster and the second-highest grossing Chinese film of all time "The Wandering Earth," won the best visual effects award.
Hungarian film director László Nemes' won the best director award for his film, "Sunset" (Hungary/France) at the award ceremony, while Forough Ghajabagli received the best actress award for her role in Ali Jaberansari's "Tehran: City of Love" (UK/Iran/Netherlands). Aris Servetalis won best actor for his performance in Steve Krikris' "The Waiter" (Greece) and "The Waiter" received the award for best music.
John Henshaw was awarded best supporting actor for his role in Marcus H. Rosenmüller's "The Keeper" (Germany/UK) and Jayaraj's "Fear" (India) won best cinematography.
The jury panel consisted of American director Rob Minkoff, Chilean director Silvio Gayoqi, Chinese mainland director Cao Baoping, Russian director Sergei De Wattsvoy, Hong Kong-based Chinese actress Carina Lau, Iranian director Majid Makidi and British director Simon West. They selected ten winners for the Tiantan Awards from 15 outstanding films, which in turn were narrowed down from 775 film submissions featuring diverse genres and styles from 85 countries and regions.
The award ceremony was held at the State Production Base of the China Film Group in the remote Huairou District in Beijing and was attended by a star-studded cast. This included Chinese director Zhang Yimou, actors Nick Cheung, Li Yifeng, Huang Xiaoming, actresses Tong Liya, Kara Wai and Indian superstar Shahrukh Khan.
The 9th Beijing International Film Festival invited a total of 450 domestic and foreign filmmakers and guests to attend the opening and closing ceremonies. Nearly 500 rare and classic Chinese and foreign films were screened in the Film in Panorama section, attracting 230,000 admissions in local theaters. During the Festival there were also 63 filmmaker exchanges and meet-and-greet events held before or after the screenings of some films. About 202 exhibitors registered at the Beijing Film Market section and negotiated and signed project contracts and MOUs totaling a record-high 30.9 billion yuan (US$4.6 billion). Though the festival has ended, the section Film Carnival which took place at the State Production Base of China Film Group, will continue until May 4.
"There are more Chinese stories to be told, and more world stories are expected to be seen here," said Zhang Yimou at the closing ceremony.
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