New Delhi, July 28: Turkish film `Distant' has followed up its success at the Cannes film festival this year with top honours at the 5th Cinefan festival of Asian cinema held here. `Distant', directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, was given the Cinefan award for best film at the awards night held here last evening, that was otherwise dominated by `Drifters' from China.
Ceylan's third film, it is the story of the relationship between two cousins and the effect economic crisis has on it. `Drifters' from China, directed by Wang Xiaoshuai, won two awards - the Netpac award for best film and the Cinefan award for best actor that went to Duan Long for his performance in the film. Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (Netpac) are co-organisers of the event along with Cinemaya film quarterly.

Screened at the Cannes this year, `drifters' is the story of a Chinese celebrity who clandestinely immigrates to the US but becomes a non-entity there.

The best actress award was won by Marina Golbahari for her role in the Afghan film `Osama' directed by Siddiq Barmak, which this year won a special mention by the jury at Cannes.

Philippine filmmaker Marilou Diaz-Abaya, who took over as head of the jury from director Mrinal Sen, who could not attend the film festival due to ill health, said, "never before has Asian cinema of such great variety been shown at one place. The jury is truly impressed."

Union minister for Information and Broadcasting Ravishankar Prasad, who gave away the awards, said the Cinefan festival is an important symbol of shared culture between the Asian countries.

Bureau Report