07/11/2016 - Chris Kraus’ The Bloom of Yesterday and Amanda Kernell’s Sámi Blood both won two prizes at the Japanese gathering

Writer-director Amanda Kernell (right) with her lead actress, Lene Cecilia Sparrok, at the Tokyo awards ceremony

German director Chris Kraus not only celebrated the world premiere of his fourth feature, The Bloom of Yesterday [+see also:
trailer
film profile], in competition at the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival; he also celebrated its first Grand Prix, when he received the top prize at the gathering, which ended on 3 November. 

Starring Lars Eidinger and Adèle Haenel, and described as “an impossible romantic comedy, a love story programmed to self-destruct,” The Bloom of Yesterday is slated for a 17 January opening in Germany. “I am moved because it was hard to bring this film to life – it would not have succeeded without the unbelievable hard work of the actors and actresses involved,” Kraus said in Tokyo. The Bloom of Yesterday also collected the Wowow Viewers’ Choice Award.

Considered one of the most important showcases in Asia (and certainly not a small one: “This year, we had 1,502 entries, around 1,000 staff members and 350 volunteers,” said festival director Yasushi Shiina), Tokyo gave several accolades to European filmmakers. Swedish-Sami writer-director Amanda Kernell’s feature debut, Sámi Blood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Amanda Kernell
interview: Lars Lindstrom
film profile], left Japan with the Special Jury Prize and the Best Actress Award for its lead, Lene Cecilia Sparrok – and the film’s international sales agent, Denmark’s Level K, sold all Japanese rights to Tokyo’s Uplink. Sámi Blood also bagged two prizes when it screened at the Venice International Film Festival: the Fedeora Prize for Best Young Director and the Europa Cinemas Label. 

Tokyo’s Best Director Award went to Croatian director Hana Jušić for her feature debut, Quit Staring at My Plate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hana Jušić
film profile], which was launched at Venice, winning the Fedeora Award for Best Euro-Mediterranean Film, and is shortly to be in competition at the Stockholm Film Festival.

US director Martin Scorsese and Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa both received the festival’s Samurai Award, “for filmmakers who continue to create groundbreaking films that carve a path to a new era”. 

Here is the full list of winners at the 29^th Tokyo International Film Festival:

Tokyo Grand Prix for Best Film
The Bloom of Yesterday [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Chris Kraus (Germany)

Special Jury Prize
Sámi Blood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Amanda Kernell
interview: Lars Lindstrom
film profile] – Amanda Kernell (Sweden)

Best Director Award
Quit Staring at My Plate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hana Jušić
film profile] – Hana Jušić (Croatia)

Best Actor Award
Paolo Ballesteros – Die Beautiful (Philippines)

Best Actress Award
Lene Cecilia Sparrok – Sámi Blood

Award for Best Artistic Contribution
Mr No Problem – Mei Feng (China)

Audience Award
Die Beautiful – Jun Robles Lana

Wowow Viewers’ Choice Award
The Bloom of Yesterday – Chris Kraus

Samurai Award
Martin Scorsese and Kiyoshi Kurosawa