BKKIFF '09: Altiplano, Independencia top prize winners

Altiplano, an environmental drama set in Peru, won the Golden Kinaree Grand Prix at the 2009 Bangkok International Film Festival, which handed out the awards on Wednesday night in a ceremony presided over by Princess Ubolratana at the riverside Chatrium Suites. Altiplano also won a special environental award.

The top prize in the Southeast Asian competition went to Independencia. The heavily stylized drama on the American colonization of the Philippines also grabbed the award from a separate panel from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC). It was the first year a NETPAC had sat at the BKKIFF.

Also handed out were the Inthinin Awards for the first Bangkok International Animation Festival, with the top prizes going to the Canadian stop-motion feature Edison and Leo and the Argentinean short El Empleo. The Thai animated feature Khan Kluay II won a jury prize.

Here are the award results:

Main Competition

• Grand Prix -- Altiplano, Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth (Belgium)
• Special Jury Prize -- The Search, Pema Tseden (China)
• Special Mention -- I Killed My Mother, Xavier Dolan (Canada)

Southeast Asian Competition

• Grand Prix -- Independencia, Raya Martin (Philippines)
• Special Jury Prize -- Nymph, Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Thailand)
• Special Mentions -- Call If You Need Me, James Lee (Malaysia) and Imburnal, Sherad Anthony Sanchez (Philippines)

Special awards

• NETPAC Award -- Independencia, Raya Martin (Philippines)
• Special Golden Kinaree for Promoting the Environment -- Altiplano
• Individual Honor -- Petchara Chaowarat
  

The Inthanin Awards:

• Best Animated Feature Film -- Edison and Leo, Neil Burns (Canada).
• Best Animated Feature Film Jury Prize -- Khan Kluay II, Taweelap Srivuthivong (Thailand)
• Animated Feature Audience Award -- Chocolate Underground, Takayuki Hamana (Japan)
• Best Animated Short Film -- El Empleo, Santiago Grasso (Argentina)
• Best Animated Short Film Jury Prize -- Ergo, Geza M. Toth (Hungary)
• Animated Short Audience Award -- For Sock's Sake, Carlo Vogele (France)

Screen Daily has a wrap-up of the festival as does Singapore Today reporter Mayo Martin's For Arts Sake blog. There is coverage at Siam Zone. And there is more on the ceremony, the banquet and industry figures there.