Tokyo Film Festival honors Turk actress

TOKYO

Neslihan Atagül holds the winner’s trophy of the Best Actress Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Turkish actress Neslihan Atagül won the Best Actress Award at the 25th International Tokyo Film Festval, which was held in the Japanese capital between Oct. 20 and 28.

Recently Atagül also received the Best Actress of the Present and Future Award at Moscow’s 2morrow Film Festival for her role in Yeşim Ustaoğlu’s film “Araf.”

“Araf” and Reis Çelik’s “Lal Gece” (Night of Silence) competed in two categories, “Araf” in the main competition, for which Atagül won Best Actress.

“Araf” is a story about people caught between a despairing present and the promise of a free future. The movie follows Zehra and Olgun, two young souls trying to break away from a vicious cycle of dysfunctional families and small-town lethargy. Yet the escape they choose in order to change their destinies will lead to unforeseen consequences.

The young 15-year-old actress Atagül, who currently stars in the Turkish TV series “Hayat Devam Ediyor” (Life Goes On), also won a $5,000 monetary prize at the festival. “Lal Gece” competed in the Asian and Middle Eastern Winds section of the festival and won the Best Film Award. The film concerns marriage at young age and won a $10,000 prize.

The jury of the International Tokyo Film Festival, led by American cult director Roger Corman, awarded the grand prize to French film “The Other Son.” The director of the film, Lorraine Levy, won the Best Director Award.