Yuri Bykov’s The Major scoops three prizes at Shanghai festival

Yuri Bykov’s The Major has scooped three prizes at the Shanghai International Film Festival, taking Best Film, Best Director and an Artistic Achievement Award for script. Bykov’s second film is an emotionally intense drama that follows a police detective as he deals with the aftermath of a hit-and-run involving a child. Although his colleagues attempt to cover the death up, the detective wants justice to be served. The Major premiered at Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival in May before its Russian premiere at Kinotavr Film Festival in Sochi in June, where it was expected to pick up prizes but failed to do so.

King’s Speech director Tom Hooper headed the jury along with directors Chris Kraus (Germany), Khosro Masoumi (Iran), Jiří Menzel (Czech Republic), Ning Hau (China), actress Yu Nan ( China) and critic Michel Ciment (France). Founded in 1993, Shanghai has grown to become China’s only A-category film festival. Other honours in the main competition went to William Olsson’s Reliance from Sweden and Hong Kong’s Unbeatable by Dante Lam, starring local actors Nick Cheung and Crystal Lee, who both received awards for acting.