Fan Chan directors honored in Shanghai

The six directors who collaborated on the childhood comedy Fan Chan (My Girl) were among the winners of the Asian New Talent Award, given at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

Actually two best director honors were given. According to the China Daily, they shared best director honors with Chinese director Zhu Wen, who won for his film South of the Clouds.

Of the Thai film, the jury said "My Girl gives a beautiful presentation of the purity of young men and women's first love."

"These movies are not only faithful to the local societies they portray, but also use diverse cinematic languages. The leading characters of these movies are not supermen or dandies but everyday heroes whom we meet every day and who struggle with common problems," said US critic and jury president David Bordwell, adding that all the submitted films were of high professional quality.

Two Thai films were screened at the recent Shanghai fest. In addition to Fan Chan, Nonzee Nimibutr's "fish out of water" tale about a former Buddhist monk who moves to Thailand's Muslim south, OK Baytong, was screened in the competition category.