‘Karst’, ‘The Sparrow In The Chimney’ Win Top Awards At Pingyao International Film Festival 

Yang Suiyi’s Karst won best film in the Fei Mu Awards for up-and-coming Chinese filmmakers at this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival, while Swiss director Ramon Zurcher’s The Sparrow In The Chimney won best film in the Roberto Rossellini Awards for emerging international directors. 

The Fei Mu jury praised Karst, about a woman reconnecting with her childhood in Guizhou Province, for “the great fullness, simplicity, subtlety and portrait of a region and a woman.” The award came with a $143,000 (RMB1m) cash prize, half of which is given to the film’s director to develop their next film, and half to the film’s Chinese distributor. Chinese actor Duan Yihong partly sponsored the award. 

Also in the Fei Mu awards, Tang Yongkang won best director for Stars And The Moon, while Xu Lei’s Green Wave won the Jury Award and best actor for Xu Chaoying. Best actress went to Jiang Zhuojun for Betwixt And Between, directed by Zhou Quan.

The Fei Mu jury, which considers films in the Hidden Dragons section of the festival, comprised director Miguel Gomes, Cannes Film Festival’s Christian Jeune, critic and filmmaker Mark Peranson, Chinese actress and filmmaker Qin Hailu and Chinese filmmaker Yu Lik-Wai.

The Roberto Rossellini jury, which selects films from the Crouching Tigers section, praised The Sparrow In The Chimney for being “a dark family drama that is warm yet painful. Through a two-day birthday gathering of the families of two sisters, the complicated emotional entanglements among the nine characters and the hidden traumas are vividly depicted and developed with layers..” 

The best film award came with a cash prize of $20,000, half given to the director for use in the development of their next film, and half to the distribution company in China.

Best director in the Roberto Rossellini Awards went to Boris Lojkine for The Story Of Souleymane, while US-Japanese filmmaker Neo Sora was presented with the Jury Award for Happyend. The Special Mention went to US filmmaker India Donaldson for Good One.  

Jury for the Roberto Rossellini Awards included Hong Kong filmmaker Stanley Kwan, Hong Kong critic and curator Li Cheuk-to, Chinese poet, critic and professor Ouyang Jianghe, Chinese filmmaker Wei Shujun and Yang Yang, associate director of Broadway Film Center.

Founded by Jia Zhangke and held in the ancient city of Pingyao, Shanxi province, Pingyao International Film Festival aims to showcase emerging Chinese filmmaking talent, as well as bring world cinema from both new and established filmmakers to China. The festival also has a projects market for Chinese-language works, Pingyao Project Promotion, which gave its top prize to Billy’s Almost Lovers. 

Among other juries at the festival, the Netpac Award for Best First Film went to Shen Tao’s Floating Clouds Obscure The Sun; while Zhu Xin’s A Song River won both the Youth Jury Award and the Cinephilia Critics’ Award. Wang Chuwei’s Tiger In Cages won the Tong Ye Award.

Elsewhere in the program, a restored version of Chen Kaige’s Yellow Earth screened in a Retrospective section of classic films entitled “Earth”, along with Auguste Francois’ Images De Chine, Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali and Gaston Melies’ The Ruins Of Angkor, among other titles. Chen and Walter Salles were presented with the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon East-West Award. 

The festival, which took place September 24-30, opened with Liu Juan’s A River Without Tears and the Special Presentation during Pingyao Night was the world premiere of the short film Knocking On The Door Of A Fortress, directed by Wang Yitong.