Lady filmmakers win big at Beijing Festival
BEIJING: Ana Urushadze’s critically- acclaimed debut Scary Mother won best picture, while Mariam Khatchvani took the best director prize for her melodrama Dede and Paul Bettany earned one of the acting honours.
That summed up how lady film makers made a commanding showing at the Beijing International Film Festival’s closing awards ceremony on Sunday night.
The Beijing film festival’ s honours, known locally as the Tiantan awards, were decided by an international jury chaired by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai. Other jurists included Chinese actor Yihong Duan and Swedish director Ruben Ostlund, winner of the 2017 Palme d’Or in Cannes.
Chinese film stars turned out in force, with Huang Bo, Shu Qi, Wang Baoqiang, Gu Changwei, Lin Chi-ling and Joan Chen making glamorous entrances.
Georgian director Ana Urushadze’s critically-acclaimed debut Scary Mother was named best picture, with its star Nata Murvanidze taking the best actress prize for her widely praised performance as the film’ s fearsome lead.
Scary Mother tells the story of a middle-aged Estonian housewife who wars against the constraints of domesticity to fulfi l her longsuppressed creative ambitions as a novelist. The film was Georgia’s official submission in the foreign-language Oscar race and previously won the Sarajevo Film Festival’s top prize and best first-feature honour at Locarno.
Fellow Georgian film maker Mariam Khatchvani, meanwhile, won best director for her melodrama Dede, which also claimed best cinematography for Konstantin Esadze. The film follows a young woman who is forced to choose between an arranged marriage and true love and a painful break from tradition.
In a brief speech at the awards ceremony, jury chairman Wong highlighted the strength of female storytelling in the festival’s official selection this year, noting that five of the 15 competition titles were directed by women, with two of them directorial debuts. “I hope more female film creators use movies to explore women’s stories,” he said.
Although it was a cold, rainy spring night in the Chinese capital, one of international art house cinema’s most celebrated female leads, French actress Isabelle Huppert, was on hand to walk the red carpet.
UK film makers also had a strong night in Beijing. Rising British star Joe Cole won best actor for his performance as a lovesick drone operator in Kim Nguyen’s long- distance romance Eye on Juliet. And UK war drama Journey’s End received two honours: the best supporting actor award for Paul Bettany and best music for composer Hildur Gudnadottir.
The best supporting actress prize went to Mina Sadati from Iranian drama Searing Summer.
I hope more female film creators use movies to explore women’s stories.
Debut Israeli filmmaker Amichai Greenberg won the best screenplay award for The Testament, which he also directed.
The Hong Kong- China military action fl ick Operation Red Sea won the best visual effects prize. Directed by Dante Lam, the patriotic spectacle has earned an astonishing US$ 578 million ( RM2.25 billion) at the Chinese box office and is still screening in cinemas.
Wong Kar-wai, director and jury chairman