Kung Fu Yoga wins top prize at BRICS film festival
by Asa Butcher Jul 30, 2018 11:48
The Chinese-Indian action-adventure Kung Fu Yoga, directed by Stanley Tong and starring Jackie Chan, won the Golden Rhino award for best film at the 3rd BRICS Film Festival. wishcarole Flickr CC BY 2.0
The Chinese-Indian action-adventure Kung Fu Yoga, directed by Stanley Tong and starring Jackie Chan, won the Golden Rhino award for best film at the 3rd BRICS Film Festival, which was held in the South African city of Durban.
The five-day event was held as part of the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), which took place from July 19 to 29, and also in tandem with the 10th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. Each of five BRICS member states, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, submitted five entries, which included features, documentaries and short films.
While Kung Fu Yoga took the top prize, China also won the Best Supporting Actress award, which went to Bai Baihe for her role in I Belonged to You, a Chinese romantic drama directed by Zhang Yibai, reported China News.
The festival jury also awarded prizes for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editor, Best Cinematography and Best Composer/Music, as well as a Special Jury Award for submitted feature films.
Founded in 2016 in order to promote cultural exchanges and mutual understanding among BRICS countries through films, the festival was first held in New Delhi, India and then Chengdu in southwest China.
Following a suggestion from Chinese President Xi Jinping last year, filmmakers from the member countries committed to make a co-production for the next five years. In 2017, Chinese director Jia Zhangke was involved in a five-part anthology Where Has Time Gone with an all-male directorial team.
This year, Jia supervised the BRICS film Half the Sky and was joined by an all-female list of directors, which included Liu Yulin (China), Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari (India), Elizaveta Stishova (Russia), Daniela Thomas (Brazil) and Sara Bleher (South Africa). The theme was “Contemporary women's emotions and society”, added China.org.cn.
In honour of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela, five five-minute long short films were produced by the respective members with the help of the South African Film and Television Foundation, as well as South African production companies Via-Vollenhoven and Appollis Independent, reported multi-platform content firm Independent Media.
"Each country reflected […] how each member country related to Nelson Mandela and the impact he had through leadership, politics, humanity, culture, and unity," wrote Independent Media.