'Amores' conquers all at Tokyo film festival
Mexican helmer Gonzalez earns best director kudos
The former disc jockey turned movie director won prize money of ₯10 million ($93,500) for his film that weaves together the bizarre tale of three sets of people (and dogs) in Mexico.
Among the other prize winners were Jennifer Jason Leigh, who earned best actress honors for the Dogma 95 movie "The King Is Alive." Moussa Maaskri took the actor nod for his role as a soccer-loving gas station attendant in the French/Swiss pic "Mondialito."
South Korea film "Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors" received a special mention from the jury, while Kazak director Serik Aprymov took home about $10,000 for his movie "Three Brothers," which took best Asian film.
Young helmers
The Tokyo fest tried to shine the spotlight on young directors in its 13th edition, as it handed out awards only to films from directors who had made three or fewer movies.
The festival, the largest in Asia, posted record attendance, thanks in part to a strong slate of films and a record number of world premieres for the event. The fest completed its nine-day schedule with an estimated crowd of 126,000, 10,000 more than last year.
Event was held in the Shibiuya section of Tokyo -- an area that produces some of the highest box office grosses in the world for arthouse films.
Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore were on hand for the closing film of the fest, "Charlie's Angels," and Sony president Nobuyuki Idei, whose Columbia Pictures produced the femme actioner, questioned the logic of waiting up to half a year to bring Hollywood films to Japan -- the world's second largest movie market.
"In these days of the Internet and instant global communication, it does not make sense to have a six-month lag in bringing a movie to Japan," Idei said, adding that "Angels" will bow in the country next week.
(Tad Osaki contributed to this report.)
