“AKYA” by Sergey Dvortsevoy won the grand prix at Tokyo Filmex, which wrapped by Sunday after seeing a 26 percent jump in attendances over last year.

The Russian-Kazakhstani drama follows a Kyrgyz woman who abandons her newborn at a hospital and moves to Moscow to make money to repay a debt. The film was in competition for the Palme D’Or at Cannes this year and won best actress there for Samal Yeslyamova. “Ayka” is this year’s Kazakh entry for foreign language Oscar.

Tibetan-Chinese film “Jinpa” by Pema Tseden, which won best screenplay in the Horizons section at Venice, won the special jury prize.

Showing films which had screened at major European festivals helped to build a buzz around Filmex this year, according to festival director Shozo Ichiyama. The 45 screenings at the fest attracted more than 13,500 attendees this year, up 26 percent on 2017.

“His Lost Name” by local director Nanako Hirose, a protege of Palme D’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda, won a special mention from the jury, calling it, “a perfectly written and executed family drama.”

Subsidiary Kino Films has been stepping up its acquisition and production activities recently and is set to open new arthouse-focused theaters in Tokyo next year. Kino Films will distribute Ralph Fiennes’ “The White Crow,” which competed at TIFF this year, in Japan in 2019. (SD-Agencies)