Bulgarian film 'Eastern Plays' wins top prize at Tokyo festival

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TOKYO, Oct. 25 Kyodo -
''Eastern Plays,'' a Bulgarian movie about two brothers who go through various
problems in their lives, won the top prize at the 22nd Tokyo International Film
Festival as the event came to a close Sunday.
The movie's director Kamen Kalev was also given the best director award, and
the best actor award went to Christo Christov, who played himself as the main
character. Kalev received the latter prize on behalf of Christov, who died from
drug addiction toward the end of the film's shooting.
''Eastern Plays,'' Kalev's first feature film which made its Asian premiere in
Tokyo, was among 15 works entered in the main competition section for the Tokyo
Sakura Grand Prix, the top award which comes with prize money of $50,000.
The 89-minute movie depicts events that occur after two brothers who had lost
contact were suddenly reunited in Sofia. Kalev said many elements of the movie
were based on the real life of Christov, an artist who suffered from
alcoholism.
''I was really almost shocked that Christo received the award for best actor,''
Kalev said at a press conference following the film festival's award ceremony.
''I was thinking that an award should be something that encourages people to
keep going (but realized) it's also a memory that you create.''
Kalev said he used many nonprofessional actors, including Christov, so the film
would be ''more realistic,'' adding, ''It's really close to what Christo was
experiencing and the way he was suffering and the way he was looking at the
world. And that is something that we human beings all kind of confront every
day.''
Mexican-born director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who headed the six-member
international jury for the competition section, praised Kalev for a work that
''stands out'' from the others.
''It's a film that, in a few words, in a subtle way, captures the essence of
young people in a very dramatic and complex social, economic situation with
racist problems, surrounded and trapped in the world we're living in. And
there's a note at the end, which is hope,'' Inarritu said.
''I was really moved by the main character Christo Christov and wherever he is,
he has to be very happy and very proud,'' he added.
The Special Jury Prize went to ''Rabia,'' a Spanish-Colombian joint production
about the intricate relationship between a man on the run who hides in a
mansion in Spain and a live-in maid there, directed by Ecuador's Sebastian
Cordero.
The best actress award was presented to Julie Gayet, who plays a woman who
loses her job and her apartment but still struggles to carry on with her life
in ''Eight Times Up,'' a French work directed by Xabi Molia.
The film of choice among members of the audience was a Canadian film, ''The
Trotsky,'' directed by Jacob Tierney portraying with comedic touch a high
school student who believes he is a reincarnation of Soviet iconoclast Leon
Trotsky.
About 270 films from around the world were screened using green energy in
Tokyo's Roppongi district, as the film festival was in its second year of
promoting environmental preservation. More than 40,000 people watched the films
presented this year, organizers said.
==Kyodo