A resurgent Tokyo International Film Festival gave its top award to a Brazilian film this year, with a jury led by Bryan Singer selecting “Nise – The Heart of Madness” by Roberto Berliner for the Tokyo Grand Prix prize.The film tells the true story of Dr. Nise da Silveira, who fought against prejudice in the Brazilian medical practice to modernize mental healthcare in the nation. The role was portrayed by actress Gloria Pires, who also took home the Best Actress Award.Singer related his experiences working as a driver of a bus for mentally disabled children during his time in college, as well as about his autistic cousin, as he announced the award, which he admitted was a tough choice against “Cold of Kalandar” by Mustafa Kara, championed by fellow jury member Tran Anh Hung. “I come from independent film making so I understand the challenges [of making a film like this]. The conflict I had with Tran, for example, was with “Cold of Kalandar,” as an American, it was too slow. I wanted to be entertained like with works such as “God Willing.” But I remembered the challenges of film making in the mountain side. I understood why Tran was so passionate about it. As a director, the achievement was truly superior and I felt good about the award.”“Yes there was a fight but the spirit was elegant. Each one of us really expressed what we really liked and in the end we were able to award films we really liked. We are still able to smile at each other,” said Tran Anh Hung.Commenting on the two awards, Director Robert Berliner, expressed his utter joy; “There are so many good films that we [thought we] only have a small percentage of winning. When making this film, I felt like I was dealing with something special. And even if I didn’t receive this prize, I was already very happy that this film was screened at TIFF. But this film can have more appearances in the world thanks to this award. I am very excited about that the jury recognized the quality of my film.”When asked about Best Actress winner Gloria Pires, Berliner comtinued “She is a very famous actress in Brazil. Having such a well-known actress in an independent film was a big plus. Actually, I initially had a different actress in mind, but she had some health problems. So I sent the script to Gloria through a mutual friend. Gloria didn’t read the script but her husband did, and he was the one who convinced her to take the role. Without Gloria, this would have been a smaller film.”The effective second place “Special Jury Prize” went to “All Three of Us” by French director Kheiron, which takes a light-hearted look at the hot-topic issue of migration from the Middle East to Western Europe. Best Actor went to Roland Moller and Louis Hoffman of Denmark, for their roles in post World War II drama “Land of Mine.”Italian film “God Willing” directed by Edoardo Falcone took home The Audience Award, with Falcone commenting; “This is a very Italian film in spirit. I felt it was accepted lovingly at TIFF and was happy to see the audience enjoy my film. Thank you very much,” beamed Falcone. “Obviously you have to make people laugh! Irony is important in Italian films — irony with a touch of intelligence. But Italy makes a lot of comedy films so making something different is important. I was able to do that with this film,” he said.
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