Final Payment, Congo Boy Win Top Prizes at Pingyao Festival — SkimNews
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- Final Payment by Chinese director Niu Niu took Best Film and Best Actor (Niu Jianrong) at PYIFF's Fei Mu Awards, carrying a $150,000 prize split between the director's next film and the China distributor; Niu previously won PYIFF's Jury Award in 2023 for Mr Junjun.
- Xu Zao won Best Director for Light Pillar, while Sun Yi took Best Actress for Wang Xiaozhen's A Joke; the Fei Mu Jury Award went to Dong Jie's Zoom In, Zoom Out (which world-premiered in Venice Critics' Week), with a Special Mention for Cai Chengjie's Suzhou Quartet.
- Congo Boy by Rafiki Fariala won Best Film in the Roberto Rossellini Awards alongside a $20,000 prize, after previously winning Best Actor at Cannes' Un Certain Regard; the jury called it an autobiographical story in a 'simple style that echoes the great tradition of neorealism.'
- Rafael Manuel (Philippines) won Best Director for Filipiñana, while Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo's Ben'imana — fresh off winning Cannes' Camera d'Or — received the Roberto Rossellini Jury Award, with Rakan Mayasi's Yesterday The Eye Didn't Sleep earning a Special Mention.
- Ann Hui received the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon East-West Award, days before she is set to accept the Camellia Award at the Busan International Film Festival.
- Marco Müller, who co-founded PYIFF with Jia Zhangke, and former China Film Group chairman Han Sanping received the International Contribution to Chinese Cinema Award; Hello Group chairman Tang Yan received a 10th Anniversary Award.
- The festival opened September 24 with a 4K restoration of Fei Mu's Spring In A Small Town and closed with Good Trip, co-directed by Hong Kong filmmakers Norris Wong and Hoi Wong; it also screened Jia Zhangke's Cannes-premiering short Torino Shadow.
Why it matters: PYIFF's top prizes went $150,000 to a Chinese domestic drama and $20,000 to a Cannes-laundered neorealist African film, reinforcing the festival's dual mandate: bankroll emerging Chinese-language directors while importing international talent already validated on the Western festival circuit — three of the Rossellini section's honorees (Congo Boy, Ben'imana, Filipiñana) carry recent Cannes trophies.
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