The 5th International Film Festival and Awards Macao (IFFAM) concluded held virtually on Tuesday.
IFFAM was forced by the coronavirus pandemic to shift its activities entirely online, which screened a lineup of 31 features, including 11 in the International Competition section.
This year’s International Competition focused on films from first and second-time film-maker.
The closing ceremony broadcast on the festival's official website and witnessed Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda receiving the festival’s honorary Spirit of Cinema career achievement award.
IFFAM awarded its best film honor to rising Scottish director Ben Sharrock's indie breakthrough "Limbo" starring Egyptian-British actor, Amir El-Masry.
The film had been considered one of the hidden gems of this year’s coronavirus-hit Cannes Film Festival selection.
Limbo is an absurdist take on the modern refugee experience through the eyes of four Middle Eastern refugees relocated to a remote island in Scotland. The film has been praised for engaging the hard truths of the refugee experience without succumbing to the bleakness of typical social most real cinema.
The list of winners is as follows:
- Best Film: Limbo, directed by Ben Sharrock
- Best Director: Suzanne Lindon, Spring Blossom
- Best Actor Lance Henriksen, Falling
- Best Actress: Magdalena Koleśnik, Sweat
- Best Screenplay: Ben Sharrock, Limbo
- Best Short Film: Under directed by Jiao Yue
The international competition jury, who awarded the best film trophy and US$60,000 prize to Limbo, were:
- Ning Hao – Director, Producer, Screenwriter (Mainland China) (Jury President)
- Mattie Do – Director, Producer (Laos)
- Nina Hoss – Actress (Germany)
- Eric Khoo – Director, Producer, Screenwriter (Singapore)
- Albert Lee – Executive director of Hong Kong International Film Festival, producer (Hong Kong SAR)
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