Lukas Moodysson's 'We Are The Best!' Wins Tokyo Film Festival Grand Prix
Honors are spread around Europe, Asia and the Middle East on the final day of this year's event.
TOKYO -- We Are the Best! from Swedish director Lukas Moodysson won the Sakura Grand Prix and $50,000 as Tokyo International Film Festival came to a close on Friday.
The coming-of-age tale is based on a graphic novel by the director's wife. Set in 1980s Stockholm, the film focuses on three teenage outsiders who come together to form a punk band, ignoring everyone who insists that punk is dead.
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We Are The Best! premiered in Venice and has been snatched up by specialty distributors worldwide, with sales agent TrustNordisk closing deals for more than 50 territories including North America (Magnolia Pictures), France (MK2), Italy (Bim Distribuzione) and the U.K. (Metrodome).
Best director went to Iceland's Benedikt Erlingsson for Of Horses and Men.
The best actor award was won by China’s Wang Jingchun for To Live and Die in Ordos, while the award for best actress went to the Philippines' Eugine Domingo for Barber’s Tales.
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The audience award, announced earlier in the day, went to Red Family from Lee Ju-hyoung, a tale of spying spanning the two Koreas.
Bending the Rules from Iranian director Behnam Behzadi won the special jury prize.
TIFFCOM, the market that runs alongside the festival, finished Thursday, with organizers claiming visitors were up 76 percent on last year and buyers up 9 percent, though these figures include participants in the Tokyo International Music Market and Tokyo International Anime Festival Fall 2013, which were combined into one event this year.
Twitter: @GavinJBlair
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