South Korean writer-director Kwon Man-ki’s debut feature, Clean Up, has emerged as the big winner of the Best Film Award at the third International Film Festival & Awards‧Macao (IFFAM). Headed up by IFFAM artistic director Mike Goodridge, the festival ran from 8-14 December and wrapped during the awards ceremony held at the Macao Cultural Centre, where around 800 international and local guests gathered.

The Official Programme Jury, chaired by acclaimed director Chen Kaige, and comprising Hong Kongese director-producer-writer Mabel Cheung, Australian producer-director Paul Currie, Indian actress Tillotama Shome and Bosnian director Danis Tanović, handed the $60,000 (€53,000) award to the director of Clean Up.

Argentinian actress and director Barbara Sarasola-Day’s drama White Blood was awarded the Jury Prize. Another big winner was Gustav Möller for his claustrophobic thriller The Guilty [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Gustav Möller
scheda film], as the debutant filmmaker snagged the Best Director Award, while the Best Actor Award was bestowed upon Jakob Cedergren for his performance. The Best Actress Award went to Germany’s Aenne Schwarz for her role in All Good [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], a drama written and directed by Eva Trobisch.

In the other sections of IFFAM’s Competition, the sophomore feature by Milko Lazarov, Ága [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Milko Lazarov
scheda film], which is set in the icy northern wilderness, was crowned with the Best Technical Contribution Award for cinematographer Kaloyan Bozhilov’s work, while writer-director Barnaby Southcombe was awarded Best Screenplay for his sophomore romance, Scarborough [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]. Furthermore, Indian actor Abhimanyu Dassani received the Best New Young Actor Award for his role in The Man Who Feels No Pain by Vasan Bala, and the Japanese coming-of-age drama Jesus by Hiroshi Okuyama was deemed worthy of a Special Mention. The IFFAM audience’s favourite film was The Good Girls by Alejandra Marquez Abella and consequently snagged the Macao Audience Choice Award.

In the newly introduced New Chinese Cinema competition, the Best New Chinese-language Film of the Year went to Up the Mountain by Zhang Yang and the NETPAC Award to another Chinese film, Suburban Birds by Qiu Sheng. Finally, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR government, Alexis Tam, presented the honorary “Spirit of Cinema” Achievement Award to film director Chen Kaige.

Here is the complete list of winners at the third International Film Festival & Awards‧Macao:

Best Film
Clean Up - Kwon Man-ki (South Korea)

Jury Prize
White Blood - Barbara Sarasola-Day (Argentina)

Best Director
Gustav Möller - The Guilty [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Gustav Möller
scheda film] (Denmark)

Best Actor
Jakob Cedergren - The Guilty

Best Actress
Aenne Schwarz - All Good [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Germany)

Best Technical Contribution
Kaloyan Bozhilov - Ága [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Milko Lazarov
scheda film] (Bulgaria/Germany/France)

Best Screenplay
Barnaby Southcombe - Scarborough [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (UK)

Best New Young Actor
Abhimanyu Dassani - The Man Who Feels No Pain (India)

Special Mention
Jesus - Hiroshi Okuyama (Japan)

Macao Audience Choice Award
The Good Girls - Alejandra Marquez Abella (Mexico)

Best New Chinese-language Film of the Year
Up the Mountain - Zhang Yang (China)

NETPAC Award
Suburban Birds - Qiu Sheng (China)

Asian Blockbuster Film 2018
Crazy Rich Asians - Jon M Chu (USA)

“Spirit of Cinema” Achievement Award
Chen Kaige

Asian Star: Up Next Award
Anne Curtis
Iqbaal Ramadhan
Zaira Wasim
Xana Tang
Zheng Kai

Local View Power Best Film
The Melancholy of Gods - Lei Cheok Mei (Macao)
Local View Special Mention
Halfway - Ng Ka Lon (Macao)