‘Shackled’ triumphs at Hanoi Film Festival

Directed by Lawrence Fajardo, the film tackles the process of corruption in the police force. Considered a brave film, it attempts to break the propagated myth surrounding the police.

It makes use of the most obvious of ironies, juxtaposing slogans and symbols with acts that blatantly betray those symbols’ meanings.

The jury also presented The Best Short Film award to the 15-minute Indonesian film Bermula Dari A (Starting from A). The film tells the story of an extraordinary relationship between a blind girl and a deaf boy.

Turkish actor Ilyas Salman won the best leading actor title for his performance in Night of Silence, and China’s Yin Yaning won the best leading actress for her role in Song of Silence.

Director Iskanda Usmonov from Tajikistan was named best director for his film Telegram.

Mina Yonezawa was named best young director for the short Japanese film Solo.

The jury prize was awarded to Vietnamese feature film Thien Menh Anh Hung (Blood Letter) and the ten minute Vietnamese animation Bo Vang (The Yellow Bull).

This year, 37 films from the Asia-Pacific region were shown in competition at the festival in different categories, including Feature Movie, Short Film, and the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) award, which went to Night of Silence.

Fourteen films from the Asia-Pacific region, competed for Best Feature Movie, including two Vietnamese films Thien Menh Anh Hung (Blood Letter) and Dam Me (Passion).

The festival, known as the country’s biggest cinema event in 2012, aimed to honour cinematic work of excellence, high humanity and artistic value, said Hoang Tuan Anh, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

During the festival, 100 feature films, documentaries and short films from 31 countries and territories were shown overall in nine cinema complexes in Hanoi for five days.

The third Hanoi International Film Festival is expected to be organized in 2014.