‘Karst’ Takes Top Prize at China’s Pingyao Film Festival – Global Bulletin

Patrick Frater



PINGYAO PRIZES

The 8th edition of the Pingyao International Film Festival in China awarded its top prize on Saturday to “Karst,” a drama film by China’s Yang Suiyi. The film depicts a cattle breeder who travels between villages and towns to treat sick cattle in the Southwest of the country. The jury commended it for “its great fullness simplicity and subtlety and portrait of a region and a woman.” The prize is worth RMB1 million ($142,000) with half given to the director for use in the development of his/her next film, and half given to the film’s Chinese distributor.

The best director award went to Tang Yongkang for “Stars and Moon, which the jury said had “savagely poetic direction.” The prize provides RMB200,000 for future film development.

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The best actress award went to Jiang Zhuojun for her role in “Betwixt and Between, directed by Zhou Quan. The best actor prize went to Xu Chaoyang for his performance in Xu Lei’s “Green Wave.”

In other awards, Chinese director Chen Kaige and Brazil’s Walter Salles were presented the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon East -West Award. The second part of Chen’s patriotic war movie releases in commercial Chinese theaters on Monday. Critic and curator Tony Rayns was given a prize for an international contribution to Chinese cinema. The awards are named after Fei Mu, one of the most respected and influential directors in Chinese film history.

PRODUCERS’ REP

Shibasish Sarkar has been re-elected as president of the Producers Guild of India for a third consecutive term. At an annual general meeting in Mumbai other members were also re-elected: Manish Goswami and Madhu Bhojwani as vice presidents; Ashim Samanta and Fazila Allana were re-elected as treasurers. Additionally, Aashish Singh, Dipti Kotak, and Ankur Garg were elected as VPs.

NETFLIX BUNDLE

Global streaming service Netflix is to be offered as part of a local subscriber bundle in South Korea. Naver Plus members will be able to buy Netflix’s ad-supported tier for KRW4,900 ($3.73) per month or $35.70 for an annual package. Naver said that this was the first time Netflix, currently the Korean streaming market leader, but lacking the sports content of Tving, has been offered within a Korean platform.

GILBY GOING

Rob Gilby, who has led Dentsu APAC as its CEO since 2022, has stepped down. Immediately before joining Dentsu, Gilby was the president of APAC at media measurement firm Nielsen. He founded Blue Hat Ventures, his own media and investment and advisory firm after an exit from The Walt Disney Company. He had prior roles at Warner Media and PwC. He had non-exec roles with Singapore’s InfoComm Media Development Authority and as chair of the Singapore Media Festival.

HIRAMATSU HERE

Japanese broadcast and content group, Nippon TV has appointed Hiramatsu Satoru as MD of global content business. Hiramatsu, previously from Nippon TV’s linear and streaming programming division, will now report directly to Kuwahara Yuzo, operating officer and president of content business, and replaces Nishiyama Mikiko who is now executive advisor of global strategy headquarters.  

In his new position, Hiramatsu will oversee the global content sales and promotion team that is responsible for the company’s success of its hit formats including “Dragons’ Den/Shark Tank,” “Old Enough!” and “Mother.”

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