Greek period drama Little England was awarded three major prizes, including best film, at the Golden Goblet Awards of this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF, June 14-22).

The competition jury, headed by Gong Li, also gave the film the best director prize, which was accepted in person by Pantelis Voulgaris, and best actress for the performance of Pinelopi Tsilika, who also attended the awards ceremony.

The Jury Grand Prix went to The Uncle Victory, directed by China’s Zhang Meng, a film that was mired in controversy earlier in the week when it emerged that one of its stars, Huang Haibo, had been convicted for having sex with a prostitute. The film was not shown to press or public and questions about the lack of screenings were not answered at a SIFF press conference.

The best actor prize went to Thailand’s Vithaya Pansringarm for his role in Tom Waller’s The Last Executioner, based on the true story of a rock’n’roll guitarist who becomes an executioner.

Best screenplay went to Cyril Gely and Volker Schlöndorff for Diplomacy, while best cinematography went to Luo Pan for The Sacred Arrow. The outstanding artistic achievement award went to Gregg Alexander, composer of John Carney’s Begin Again.

The festival closed with the official world premiere of Transformers: Age Of Extinction, which has Chinese co-producers and cast including actress Li Bingbing. RealD provided the 3D projection and glasses for the screening.

Li attended the premiere along with co-star Mark Wahlberg and director Michael Bay. The film opens worldwide, including the US and China, on June 27. The China release will be 3D only.

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