Garin wins film award

Garin wins film award

JAKARTA (JP): Up-and-coming director Garin Nugroho won the International Film Critics Award for his film Bulan Tertusuk Ilalang (And the Moon Dances) at the Berlin Film Festival, which ended on Monday.

The Antara news agency reported yesterday that Garin also won the Netpac Award from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema during the event which opened on Feb. 15.

The film "riveted the viewers", said France's Anne de Gasperi, who chaired the eight-member jury.

"It successfully brings the viewers into a fusion of two worlds -- intimacy and violence," Gasperi was quoted by the agency as saying.

The jury for the Netpac Awards, chaired by Japan's Ken Okubo, said Garin's film is a portrait of an individual challenged by modernization.

Bulan tells the story of a 25-year-old Javanese composer named Ilalang, a young man beset by many traumatic experiences from his relationship with his parents. In his childhood, Ilalang witnessed his mother die slowly in solitude after his father forbade her to dance.

Ilalang later took lessons from a master gamelan player by the name of Waluyo, who's young wife was named Bulan. In time, Ilalang fell in love with Bulan and this was reflected in the young man's musical compositions.

Along with Bulan, the Taiwanese director Yim Ho won an award for Tai Yang You Er while French Cedric Klapisch won for Chacun Cherche Son Chat, the agency reported.

Two other noted films by Garin are Cinta dalam Sepotong Roti (Love in a Slice of Bread) and Surat Untuk Bidadari (A Letter for an Angel). (swe)