Denmark’s ‘Uncle’ Wins Top Award at Tokyo Film Festival

Uncle by Denmark’s Frelle Petersen won the grand prix, the top award, and $30,000 at the 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival on Tuesday.

The film, a tale of a young woman who dreams of becoming a veterinarian but has to care for her elderly disabled uncle, was also written, shot and edited by Petersen. 

Iran’s Saeed Roustayi won best director with Just 6.5, his film about a battle between a drug gang and the police, which also won the best actor award for Navid Mohammadzadeh.

The $10,000 audience award went to Only the Animals from France’s Dominik Moll, for which Nadia Tereszkiewicz also took the best actress gong.

Ukraine’s Valentyn Vasyanovych took the special jury prize for Atlantis, his futuristic, dystopian film about the aftermath of a war.

Meanwhile, best screenplay went to Japan’s Shin Adachi for his comedy A Beloved Wife.

Summer Knight from China’s You Xing won the Asian Future award as well as $10,000 for the story about a boy staying with his grandparents while his parents work in Japan, which was partly autobiographical, the director said in his acceptance speech.

The Japanese Cinema Splash best film award went to i-Documentary of the Journalist-, about Isoko Mochizuki, an outspoken journalist on the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper who has been criticized by the Japanese government for her “overly aggressive” questioning of politicians. The Journalist, a feature based on a book by Mochizuki and loosely based on some of her experiences, was a surprise box office hit this year.

“May the art of cinema continue on forever,” said jury president Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi at the conclusion of the presentations.

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