■Grand Prize
< Ayka >
Sergei DVORTSEVOY
The jury awards the Grand Prize to director Sergei DVORTSEVOY’s Ayka, the story of a 25-year-old Kyrgyz woman who gives birth to a child but flees the hospital leaving her newborn behind. Trying to pay back a debt, she tries to secure various jobs unsuccessfully. The film perfectly portrays the unrelenting physical struggle of this woman and her will to survive as an immigrant and make something of herself in Moscow. The director, with his background in documentaries, captures the brutal circumstances in a visceral and authentic way. Every scene is filled with tension and heartbreaking to watch.
■Special Jury Prize
< Jinpa >
Pema Tseden
“If I tell you my dream, you might forget it. If I act on my dream, perhaps you will remember it; but if I involve you, it becomes your dream, too.”
The film starts with this Tibetan proverb inviting us into this pop Western road movie that takes us through Kekexilli with two mysterious men both named Jinpa. One is on the way to kill someone seeking revenge, while the other is searching for redemption for killing a goat accidentally. Visually stunning, the story is told like a mysterious operatic dream, accentuated by O Sole Mio sung in Tibetan.
■Special Mention
< His Lost Name >
HIROSE Nanako
The jury would like to award a Special Mention to His Lost Name, directed by HIROSE Nanako. The film is a perfectly written and executed family drama with Yuya Yagira giving a strong performance as a young man trying to figure out what his life should be. This young woman director’s lucid feature debut is a bright light for the future of Japanese cinema.
■Audience Award
< Complicity >
CHIKAURA Kei
■Student Jury Prize
< Long Day’s Journey into Night >
BI Gan
Man and woman, their love resisted to earth’s rotation.
However, we are uncertain who the man met, or did they really or met.
The film is made of a man’s sewn up rusted memories, and a dream moment.
Every meaning in the film is hidden somewhere, so far ahead.
We were taken to a different world, different space by the alien director.
Maybe we haven’t still returned, the journey has not may ended yet.
This big gamble has shown possibilities of films, and it encouraged us a lot, as same filmmakers.
