Georgian-Estonian drama Scary Mother wins Best Feature Film at the 8th Beijing International Film Festival.
Georgian-Estonian drama Scary Mother won Best Feature Film at the 8th Beijing International Film Festival, which closed on Sunday evening in the Chinese capital.
A total of 15 films, out of a total of more than 650 submissions from 71 countries and regions, were shortlisted for the Tiantan Award, which was added to the festival in 2013.
The film, directed by Georgian director Ana Urushadze, follows a 50-year-old housewife called Manana, who finally takes up her dream of writing after initially shelving the idea in favour of running her household. Lead actress NatoMurvanidze was also named Best Actress for her performance.
The Best Director award went to Mariam Khatchvani, who directed the Caucasus-based drama Dede. The 2017 Georgian film focuses on a young woman rebelling against centuries of entrenched tradition. It also earned the Best Cinematography prize.
English actor Joe Cole won Best Actor for his performance in Canadian drama Eye on Juliet, in which he plays an oil pipeline supervisor who works using a robotic hexapod.
Chinese war film Operation Red Sea, which has grossed over US$ 578m to become the second biggest film of all time in China, won Best Visual Effects.
One of the key phrases of this year’s awards was ‘films by women’, according to Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai, Chairman of the Tiantan Award jury.
“Five of the 15 films this year are all about women’s power and directed by women,” he said at the awards ceremony. “We want more people to pay attention to women’s rights and interests, and we also want more female filmmakers to use film to write stories about women,” he concluded.