MIKHAEL HERS’ “Amanda,” a family drama about the aftermath of a Paris terror attack, won the Grand Prix and US$50,000, along with best screenplay, at the 31st Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) on Friday.

The film features Vincent Lacoste as a young man whose life is torn apart when his sister, played by Ophelia Kolb, is killed, leaving to his care her injured young daughter (Isaure Multrier). The film premiered at the Venice film fest in August.

“I wanted to tell a story of modern Paris — its beauty, its weakness and its tragedy. Acts of terror have actually occurred in Paris, so I wanted to depict that,” said Hers after a screening at TIFF.

Tale of Neapolitan prostitution and human trafficking “Vice of Hope” (“Il vizio della Speranza”) won best director for Edoardo De Angelis and best actress for his wife Pina Turco, who also appeared in “Gomorrah,” the 2008 Camorra mob movie set in the same world.

“Before the Frost,” set against a background of rural poverty in 19th-century Denmark, won the Jury Award and US$20,000 for writer-director Michael Noer (“Papillon”) and best actor for Jesper Christensen (“Casino Royale”). Noer accepted both awards.

Both “Vice of Hope” and “Before the Frost” screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at Toronto, the other TIFF, in September.

“The White Crow,” the Ralph Fiennes-directed biopic of ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, which focuses on his defection from the USSR, won best artistic contribution.

“Nureyev was an egotistical man who would take friendships when he needed them. It’s one of the aspects of his personality that is arguably not attractive. But I felt that there was a pure spirit within him, despite these ugly aspects,” said Fiennes before the film, which bowed at Telluride in Colorado in September, screened at the fest.

Junji Sakamoto’s “Another World” won the audience award, while “A First Farewell” by China’s Lina Wang took the Asian Future Best Film Award.

In a change from previous years, the fest continued for a day after the award ceremony, with the winning films and closer “Godzilla: The Planet Eater” showing Saturday.

TIFF screened 181 films, 50 fewer than last year, but audience numbers were largely unchanged at 62,125 by Friday.

(SD-Agencies)