The Beasts

FESTIVALS: Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s ‘The Beasts’ Takes Three Prizes In Tokyo  

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Psychological thriller The Beasts, directed by Spain’s Rodrigo Sorogoyen, won three awards at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival, including the Tokyo Grand Prix, best director and best actor for Denis Menochet. 

The film, which premiered in an Out Of Competition slot at this year’s Cannes film festival, follows a French couple who move to Spain’s Galician countryside to run an organic farm, but receive a hostile welcome from the locals. The Tokyo Grand Prix comes with a cash award of $20,000 (Y3m).

Iranian filmmaker Houman Seyedi’s satirical drama World War III took the Special Jury Prize at the festival following its wins in Venice for best film and best actor in the Horizons section. Tokyo’s Special Jury Prize comes with a cash award of $3,400 (Y500,000). 

Best actress went to Aline Kuppenheim for her role in Manuela Martelli’s 1976, in which she plays a woman sheltering a man during Chile’s Pinochet dictatorship. The best artistic contribution award went to Sri Lankan film Peacock Lament, directed by Sanjeewa Pushpakumara.

The festival’s audience award went to Rikiya Imaizumi’s By The Window, about a man confronted by his wife’s affair, which was one of three Japanese films to be selected for the international competition. 

In the festival’s Asian Future competition, the best film award went to Butterflies Live Only One Day, directed by Iranian filmmaker Mohammadreza Vatandoust, who was on hand to accept the award in person. 

Tokyo film festival ran October 24 to November 2 at venues in the Ginza, Hibiya, Marunouchi and Yurakucho districts of the city. Festival organisers said admissions nearly doubled from last year’s edition, reaching 59,541, while the number of international guests increased to 104 from just eight last year, as Japan has dropped most of its Covid travel restrictions.