"Bear", directed by Khosrow Masoumi
A total of seventeen films were in competition for the top prizes at this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival. But it was Iranian film, "Bear", which took out the competition this year, winning the best feature film category known as the Golden Goblet award.
The film, directed by Khosrow Masoumi is a drama based on a true story about a couple affected by the trauma of war and their respective struggle for a normal family life. This is the second time Masoumi has been awarded with the Golden Goblet award. The last time he was honoured was in 2004, where his film "Tradition of Lover Killing" was also named the best feature film of the year. Impressively, Masoumi is the only director to have won the grand award twice.
"It's a big honour to win this award again," Masoumi
said. "I hope next time I can be a jury member for this great film festival."
This year, the best actor award went to Russian stage actor Vladas Bagdonas for his feature film debut performance in "The Conductor", where he played an artist who loses his son to suicide.
"I'm lucky. I like the decision that the jury panel made. I hope to come back to Shanghai again with my next film," Bagdonas
said.
The best actress award went to Mexican actress Ursula Pruneda for "The Dream of Lu", where she portrayed a mother who is also dealing with the loss of a child.
"This award shows that all my hard work has paid off," Pruneda
said during her acceptance speech.
Chinese director Gao Qunshu was awarded the best director award for "Detective Hunter Zhang," a film that tells the story about a detective’s passionate dedication to catching thieves.
"This is a special film; it features a cast of amateur actors from every walk of life," Qunshu
said. "Its success is down to their brilliant acting and fascinating personalities."
Spanish film "Chrysalis" earned composer Avshalom Caspi an award for best music, while biopic "Falling Flowers" was a triumph for Chinese-born Shi Luan who was awarded with a best cinematography award. Japanese screenwriter Kenji Uchida also took out the award for best screenplay for comedic film "Key of Life."
Finally, the Jury Grand Prix award went to Canadian filmmaker Micheline Lanctot’s "For the Love of God", a film which questions the love of another versus the love of God.
Now in its 15th year, the Shanghai International Film Festival wrapped up the nine day festival with an awards ceremony. This year’s jury was led by Jean-Jacques Annaud, and included actors Heather Graham and Li Bingbing, producer Terence Chang and filmmakers Zhang Yang, Bela Tarr and Rakhshan Bani-Etemad.