Chinese director Hu Guan’s ‘Black Dog’ wins Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes

Cannes, May 25 (IANS) Chinese director Hu Guan’s ‘Black Dog’ won the Un Certain Regard Prize of the 77th Cannes Film Festival on Friday evening, reports ‘Deadline’.

The evening’s highlight, reported earlier by IANS, was Anasuya Sengupta winning the Best Actress award for ‘The Shameless’, thereby scripting history by becoming the first Indian to take home a major acting award from Cannes.

Organised parallely to the competition section, where the Palme d’Or is up for grabs, the Un Certain Regard section at the Debussy theatre annually features just 20 films with “unusual styles and non-traditional stories seeking international recognition”.

Set on the edge of the Gobi desert in northwest China, ‘Black Dog’ revolves around a man who returns to his hometown after being released from jail.

Working for the local dog patrol team to clear the town of stray dogs before the Olympics, he strikes up an unlikely connection with a black dog. The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together, ‘Deadline’ reports.

The Jury Prize went to Boris Lojkine’s ‘The Story Of Souleymane’, which follows its titular character, an asylum seeker, as he cycles around Paris delivering food, rehearsing his asylum application interview in his head.

The appointment will be key to obtaining the papers he needs, but Souleymane is not ready. Abou Sangare, who plays Souleymane, got the Un Certain Regard Best Actor award.

In other prizes, adds ‘Deadline’, French director Louise Courvoisier won the Youth Prize for ‘Holy Cow’. Tawfik Alzaidi, who made history as the first Saudi director to have a film in the Cannes Official Selection, was feted with a Special Mention for ‘Norah’.

This year’s jury was presided over by Canadian actor, director, screenwriter and producer Xavier Dolan, who was joined by French-Senegalese screenwriter and director Maïmouna Doucoure, Moroccan director, screenwriter and producer Asmae El Moudir, German-Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps, and American film critic, director and writer Todd McCarthy.

–IANS

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