Controversial drama takes Grand Prix at Tokyo Film Festival

Posted by fanshawe

October 29, 2007

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Israeli drama The Band’s Visit, directed by Eran Kolirin, won the Grand Prix at the 20th annual Tokyo International Film Festival. The film deals with an Egyptian police band touring Israel and it has sparked some controversy recently, with film festivals in Abu Dhabi and Cairo refusing to screen it.

Peter Howitt won the prize for best director with his film Dangerous Parking, the drama that follows a successful British filmmaker trying to fight his addictions.

The jury awarded a special prize to Chinese filmmaker Li Jixian for his movie The Western Trunk Line, set in a small town in the late 1970s.

The acting prizes went to Shefali Shah for her role in Indian feature Ghandi, My Father and Damian Ul for his performance in Polish movie Tricks.

German film Leroy, Armin Voelcker’s first feature, the story of a young black man who must deal with his girlfriend’s neo-Nazi brothers, was the audience’s favourite.

The Japanese Eyes Best Picture Award went to Koji Wakamatsu’s United Red Army, while Singapore Dreaming, directed by Yen Yen Woo and Colin Goh, took home the Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film Award.

The Tokyo Film Festival featured more than 300 films, which were screened over the period of nine days.

Filmmaker and UNICEF UK president David Puttnam (The Killing Fields, Chariots of Fire) was presented with the Akira Kurosawa Award.

Finally, Thai-Japanese film Just as Chao Phraya River Flows, the story of a Thai woman who looks after her dying husband, won the Tokyo Project Gathering Award, which entails free post-production services by Sony.

During the Festival, Japan Film Commission Promotion Council executive director Tetsuji Maezawa announced that the Council will be replaced by the Japan Film Commission in 2009. The Commission’s goal will be to overcome the differences between Japanese and foreign film industry and promote the country as a desirable location to foreign filmmakers in the future.