Indonesian filmmaker Gina S. Noer’s Like & Share was presented with the Grand Prix best picture award at this year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival (March 10-19) in Japan.
The film, which was released theatrically in Indonesia last year and also played at International Film Festival Rotterdam, follows two schoolgirls struggling to navigate the dark side of social media. While one becomes fixated on porn, the other falls into a controlling relationship with an older man.
On accepting the award, Noer said in a statement: “This movie is talking about how we deal with trauma and how we deal with sexual violence. It’s not easy to tell and it’s not easy to make a movie about it but I think that if we trust something is important enough, it will honour the right audience so thank you very much for the appreciation.”
Taiwanese actor Kai Ko was presented with the festival’s Most Promising Talent Award for his directorial debut, Bad Education. Executive produced by Giddens Ko and Midi Z, the crime drama revolves around three delinquents sharing dark secrets on the night of their graduation.
Among other awards, the ABC TV Award went to Hong Kong director Ho Cheuk Tin’s Over My Dead Body, which received its world premiere as the festival’s opening film. The Yakushi Pearl Award went to Taiwan’s Lu Hsiao-fen for her performance in Fu Tien-yu’s Day Off, which also picked up the Audience Award.
Yuho Ishibashi’s When Morning Comes, I Feel Empty picked up the Japan Cuts Award. The Housen Short Film Award went to Swallow Flying To The South, a US-Canada-China collaboration directed by Lin Mochi, while a Special Mention in this category went to Daddy-To-Be from Taiwan’s Pan Ke-yin.
The festival wrapped on March 19 with the world premiere of Japanese drama Side By Side, directed by Chihiro Ito and produced by Isao Yukisada.