Milcho Manchevski's Sister Brother Manhole Cover won the Tokyo Grand Prix at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival. Variety reported the November 4 closing awards, which also recognised Nguyen Vu Hien Chi's Running Wild in the Sun in the Asian student competition.
Main competition honours
The Grand Prix carries JPY3 million. Manchevski's comic allegory follows two siblings taking scrap metal from Skopje's streets. Jury president Rolf de Heer praised its compassion for the characters and combination of emotional depth and playfulness.
Producer Jane Kortoshev and actors Sara Klimoska and Filip Trajkovic accepted the award, while Manchevski appeared in a video message.
Sun Xun's animated Magic Atlas received the JPY500,000 Special Jury Prize. Lisandro Alonso won best director for Double Freedom, with acting honours going to Narita Ryo and Hu Ling.
Vietnamese winner in a separate student section
Running Wild in the Sun received best film and JPY300,000 at the Asian Students' Film Conference, a competition for film-school shorts. Everything's Peachy and All of Her shared the section's Special Jury Prize.
The Kurosawa Akira Award went to O Mipo and Mohammad Rasoulof. In a separate Variety interview, O discussed returning to features after time spent raising her children, with Living in Two Worlds in 2024 and How Dare You? in 2025.
The festival ran from October 26 to November 4 and closed with Yeon Sang-ho's Colony. Organisers are now looking toward the 40th edition as a milestone for the festival's next phase.