- 2013.03.30
- 5th Okinawa International Movie Festival Award Winners
-
5th Okinawa International Movie Festival Award Winners
We are delighted to announce the Award Winners of the 5th Okinawa International Movie Festival.
■ Laugh Category Uminchu Prize Grand Prix
(Cash Award of 1,000,000 Yen)
Chinese Zodiac (Hong Kong, China) Director: Jackie Chan
<Comment From Director Jackie Chan >
Wow! It's indeed good news and a pre-birthday gift to me. Thank you so much for this award, which is very encouraging. I'm so happy that you love Chinese Zodiac, which I spent six years for preparation and one year filming. If you haven't yet got the chance to watch the movie at the 5th Okinawa International Movie Festival, it will be released in Japan soon, so please look forward to it. Thank you once again and I love you all!
■ Peace Category Uminchu Prize Grand Prix
(Cash Award of 1,000,000 Yen)
The Happy Life of Debbie (Taiwan)
Director: Tien Yu Fu
＊This award reflects the combined results of deliberations by fan juries chosen from all over Japan, and the audience vote collected at the screening venues in Okinawa.
<Comment From Director Tien Yu Fu >
Thank you for the award. I’m very happy. This is my second time at the festival, but I hope there will be many more opportunities and I will try my best to be invited.
<Comment From Actress Jade Chou >
It’s my first time here at the Okinawa International Movie Festival. I’m happy as the title of our film suggests. I’m surprised to have received this award. I think the theme of Laugh & Peace is wonderful, so I hope to participate again.
■ Special Jury Prize / Golden SHISA Award
Barfi! (India)
Director: Anurag Basu
＊Selected by a Jury Committee of international and domestic members led by renowned film director Joel Schumacher.
<Comment From Associate Producer Rucha Pathak>
I’m very honored to receive this award chosen by the distinguished members of the jury. Barfi is a sweet Indian [movie] and I hope the film was as sweet as it tastes. I’m very happy that you’re all smiling today.
■ Special Mention
Mental (Australia)
Director: P.J. Hogan
＊ Selected by a Jury Committee of international and domestic members led by renowned film director Joel Schumacher.
<Comment From Producer Jocelyn Moorhouse>
PJ and I are deeply thankful to the Okinawa International Movie Festival for welcoming our movie, Mental to Okinawa. We are thrilled that it won the Special Mention Award and would like to thank the Jury for this honor.
Comments From Jury Members
The head of the Jury Committee: Joel Schumacher
Jury: Kaori Momoi, His Excellency Demon Kakka, and Claude Gagnon
Joel Schumacher, the head of the Jury Committee
I love the Okinawa International Movie Festival, and I love Okinawa and Okinawan people who have been wonderful to me. I was privileged to be the head of Jury, we saw films from all over the world. And I especially admire the Okinawa International Movie Festival and Yoshimoto for reaching out to the local community. There are a lot of ways for the community to be involved. So I felt it was the festival very much of, for, and by the people.
Kaori Momoi
To laugh is wonderful! This is the festival that cheers up my body and soul!
His Excellency Demon Kakka
Hahahahaha! I was supposed to watch a lot of films in such a short period of time, so I was afraid that I would think, “Well, I don’t want any more films for a while.” When I finished watching all of the films, I got a feeling that I wanted to see more. It made me realize the great thing about film. All other jury members are in the film business, and they gave many professional comments on each films, and I’ve learned so much from them. The films we reviewed are not commercial titles, which you can see everywhere in Japan, but all of them are well-made and we had a difficult time choosing the films for the Golden SHISA award. I learned so much from this opportunity and discovered great creators in our selection. Also, my fellow jury members, a bunch of film professionals and I, were truly touched by the great atmosphere of the festival and the cheerful audience on the red carpet. Everyone enjoyed the Okinawa International Movie Festival and it’s getting better and stronger every year. I strongly feel this to be true! Well, I, the Demon, approve this festival! Hahahaha!
Claude Gagnon
It was a wonderful and memorable experience. All the jury members were exceptional people starting with Joel Schumacher, a warm human being and a remarkable director, the irresistible Kaori Momoi and talented Demon Kakka. All the guests loved the festival and I am confident it will grow into a major International Film Festival.
■The Local Origination Project Jimot CM Competition
The award winners for Jimot CM Competition of Japan and Jimot CM 41 Municipalities in Okinawa were decided at the “Jimot CM Competition final” on Monday 25th March from 6:30 pm at the open air screen.
Jimot CM COMPETITION
＜Jimot CM Prefectures of Japan＞
- Prize money: JPY470,000
- The number of entries: 794
- Bungotagada, Oita (Conceptor: Kota Mochiyama)
Final selected prefectures: Hokkaido, Gunma, Niigata, Fukuoka, Oita
＜JIimot CM 41 Municipalities in Okinawa＞
- Prize money: JPY410,000
- The number of entries 214
- Itoman, Okinawa (Conceptor: Yua Nagata)
- Final selected regions: Ginowan, Naha, Itoman, Tarama, Taketomi
■ Pachinko Movie Award 2013
Kyoraku division: The grand prize for “Ultra 6 brothers Special Reach”
Ippan division: The grand prize for “The Morning of Bloodshed”
Geinin division: The grand prize for “ George Murakami’s Reach”
* Announced on Sunday 24th March from 5:00 pm at Laugh & Peace Town
■ Creators Factory
＊A brand new section at the 5th OIMF, which aims to uncover “the next generation of creative artists.” The winner of the top award will be provided with the full support of Yoshimoto Kogyo for their next production.
・Best New Creators Award
“Odayaka” Producer: Kiki Sugino<Comment From Kiki Sugino >
Thank you very much for such a wonderful award, along with the Best Actress Award. I believe this project, along with the entire concept of the festival of “Laugh and Peace,” is great. Since I produced this film to put out our hope of peace, I am honored to receive such an award.
・Best Actor Award
Hyun Joong Kim from “Lucky Guy”
<Comment From Hyun Joong Kim >
I’m greatly honored to receive such an award. I watch many Japanese films. I’m hoping to be cast for many kind of film, especially action. The nationality of the film doesn’t matter. I would be happy to be in a Japanese film some day.
・Best Actress Award
Kiki Sugino from “Odayaka”・Special Award
“Co-op Nichi Nichi no Kurashi”Directed and written by Manami Wakai
<Comment>
Thank you very much for such a great award. Usually, I work all by myself, but I had many people helping me out to complete this film, so I am very happy to receive this award. I am thankful to all. For my next project, I would like to make a film showing that a lonely kid can be happy as he or she is.
Special guest at the Award ceremony: Kaori Momoi, Actress
<Comment>
The “Creator’s Factory” project is a great competition to find talented creators. There are of course young creators, but also some experienced ones, who are not yet discovered. I truly hope that this project will continue to discover them in the future.
Jury：Kazuyoshi Okuyama, Producer<Comment>
We would like to continue this project and produce new films in order to discover new talented creators. We hope to open up the opportunities for them.
Jury：Itsuji Itao, Director, Comedian, Actor
<Comment>
It is more fun to work as a jury member for films rather than for comedy. I hope that there will be more new films made in Okinawa. I also hope that there will be more new creators coming out every year.
Jury：Kaze Shindo, Director
<Comment>
It was my great honor to be a part of this “Creator’s Factory” project. And I am happy to see that all these different films had received the awards. I personally would like to try it out my new project in the future.
