Qui Jiongjiong’s A New Old Play and Maha Haj’s Mediterranean Fever picked up the top prizes at the Firebird Awards at the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF).
A New Old Play won the Firebird Award for best film in the Chinese-language Young Cinema Competition. The story follows a family of Sichuan Opera artists living through a tumultuous era and the prize rounds out a year-long tour of festivals that began with Locarno last August and took in Busan, Tallinn Black Night, Rotterdam and Goteborg among others. The film was also awarded the Fipresci Prize.
Mediterranean Fever was presented with the same prize in the World category of the awards and was praised by the jury as “an all-rounded gem that is at once a thriller, social comedy, and odd couple bromance”. The film, which marks the second feature of Palestinian director Maha Haj, premiered in Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes where Haj won the screenplay prize.
Also in the World category, France-Belgium co-production Love According To Dalva won two awards: best director for Emmanuelle Nicot and best actress for Zelda Samson. Moritz Treuenfels picked up best actor for his role as a pathological liar in Jons Jonsson’s Axiom.
In the Documentary Competition, the jury unanimously gave the Firebird Award to Indian filmmaker Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes for its rumination on the living conditions of different races and animals. Vietnamese director Ha Le Diem received the jury prize for Children Of The Mist.
The awards came on the final day of the postponed 46th edition of HKIFF, which took place as a hybrid festival and showcased more than 200 films across 17 days. The closing film was Tori And Lokita by Belgian auteurs the Dardennes brothers.
The next edition of the festival will return to its traditional spring slot and take place from March 30 to April 10, 2023.
HKIFF 2022 Firebird Awards
Young Cinema Competition (Chinese-language)
Firebird Award: A New Old Play, dir. Qui Jiongjiong
Best Actor: Mark Pui-tung, The Sparring Partner
Best Actress: Ailiya, Journey To The West
Young Cinema Competition (World)
Firebird Award: Mediterranean Fever, dir. Maha Haj
Best Director: Emmanuelle Nicot, Love According To Dalva
Best Actor: Moritz Treuenfels, Axiom
Best Actress: Zelda Samson, Love According To Dalva
Documentary Competition
Firebird Award: All That Breathes, dir. Shaunak Sen
Jury Prize: Children Of The Mist, dir. Ha Le Diem
FIPRESCI Prize
A New Old Play, dir. Qui Jiongjiong
Short Film Competition
Firebird Award: Bestia, dir. Hugo Covarrubias
Jury Prize: The Bones, dirs. Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña
Special mention: Sideral, Carlos Segundo
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