Shanghai International Film Festival Crowns Kyrgyzstan Drama ‘Black Red Yellow’ as Best Feature

The 27th Shanghai International Film Festival has announced its Golden Goblet Awards winners, with Kyrgyzstan’s “Black Red Yellow,” directed by Aktan Arym Kubat, taking home the award for best feature film in the main competition.

Chinese cinema had a strong showing, with multiple wins across key categories. The jury grand prix was shared between Japan’s “On Summer Sand,” directed by Shinya Tamada, and China’s “Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts,” helmed by Wang Tong.

Director Cao Baoping claimed the best director award for the Chinese film “One Wacky Summer,” while Wan Qian earned best actress honors for her performance in “Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts.”

In his acceptance speech, Cao reflected on his decade-long journey since winning the same award at Shanghai in 2015 for “The Dead End,” saying he had been “persistently trying to fuse personal expression with high-intensity narrative.”

The best actor prize went to José Martins for his role in the Portugal-Brazil co-production “The Scent of Things Remembered,” directed by António Ferreira. Best screenplay was awarded to Korek Bojanowski and Katia Priwieziencew for Poland’s “Loss of Balance.”

Markus Nestroy won best cinematography for the Germany-Switzerland collaboration “You Believe in Angels, Mr. Drowak?” directed by Nicolas Steiner. The outstanding artistic achievement award went to the China-France co-production “My Father’s Son,” directed by Qiu Sheng.

The main competition jury was led by Italy’s Giuseppe Tornatore.

In the Asian New Talent section, China’s “As the Water Flows,” directed by Bian Zhuo, secured best film. Best director went to Liryc Dela Cruz for the Italy-Philippines film “Where the Night Stands Still.”

Chinese actor Shi Pengyuan won best actor for “Water Can Go Anywhere,” while India’s Meenakshi Jayan took best actress for “Victoria.” Sri Lanka’s “Riverstone” dominated technical categories, with Lalith Rathnayake and Nilantha Perera winning best script writer, and Prabath Roshan earning best cinematography.

The documentary competition was won by Spain’s “Constanza,” directed by Agustín Márquez Gómez. In animation, France-Switzerland-Belgium’s “The Songbirds’ Secret,” directed by Antoine Lanciaux, claimed the top prize.

The short film categories saw China’s “Crow,” directed by Xu Jianming, win best live action short film, while Russia-Kazakhstan’s “Son,” directed by Zhanna Bekmambetova, took best animated short film.

The Golden Goblet Awards ceremony opened with on-stage representations of iconic films including “Modern Times,” “Forrest Gump,” “The Legend of 1900,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Red Sorghum,” “Life of Pi,” “The Matrix,” “Infernal Affairs,” “3 Idiots,” “In the Mood for Love,” and “Ne Zha.” The evening also featured a music and dance homage to “Song of the Phoenix,” the 2013 Chinese drama about suona music, and a tribute to romance in cinema through a montage accompanied by a musical performance from Kazakh tenor Dimash Qudaibergen.