[2009.09.09] WEAVING GIRL SHINES IN MONTREAL

courtesy of takungpao.com

The 33rd Annual Montreal World Film Festival closed on the 7th. The Wang Quanan directed Chinese film WEAVING GIRL won a Special Jury Prize and the International Film Critic Award.

WEAVING GIRL is about a story of a female weaving worker's life amid a tremendous social change. The film continues Wang Quanan's concern for the modern China and its strong drama expressed its special group's life ecology. The jury feels that the film "bravely uncover social reality and people's emotional struggle, reflecting what all people have in common." The special jury prize is only second to importance to the film festival's highest honor Grand Prix des Ameriques. Wang Quanan said with simple humor, "When I arrived in Montreal, I immediately fell in love with this city. Now that I am about to leave, I realize that Montreal fell in love with me." The audience responded with passionate applause and laughter. Wang Quanan expressed that he put a lot of effort into this film and the team worked very work. He felt that its quality was very high and deserved the award.

The film festival chair said to the press that Chinese films in the past 30 years have developed rapidly with outstanding achievements. A big group of excellent directors like Zhang Yimou and Wang Quanan brought their work to the world. He was full of confidence in the future of Chinese films. The 2008 Beijing Olympics official film EVERLASTING FLAME was the closing film. The chair praised the film as the perfect merger of film art and sports and presented a lifetime achievement award to director Gu Jun. Gu Jun expressed, "This honor not only belongs to me and the creative team but also to my country, to the people who love the Olympics around the world."

The film festival's highest prize, Grand Prix des Ameriques went to KORKORO (FREEDOM), a film about a gypsy family who fought for freedom and against the Nazi regime in World War II France. The Best Director prize went to the Japanese film VIYON NO TSUMA (VILLON'S WIFE) director Kichitaro Negishi.