Pia fest honors 'Naked of Defenses'

Runner-up prize goes to Sode's 'mime-mime'

By MARK SCHILLING

TOKYO -- "Naked of Defenses," Masahide Ichii's drama about women workers in a plastics factory, won the Grand Prize at the 2008 Pia Film Festival, running July 19-27 in Tokyo.

Ichii won the fest's runner-up prize two years ago for "Dog Days Dream." Together with his trophy he received $9,300 in cash.

Winner of the fest's runner-up prize this year was Yukiko Sode's "mime-mime," while three pics -- Nobuteru Uchida's "Kazaana," Matsuno Izumi's "Ghost of Yesterday" and Koki Yoshida's "Symptom X" -- split the third-place Jury Prize.  Fifteen pics screened in the section, competing for eight awards.

The 30th edition of the fest, which is dedicated to discovering up-and-coming helmers, also featured retros dedicated to Douglas Sirk and Milos Forman, as well as the world preem of Takatsugu Naito's "Futoko." The pic was made with the support of the Pia Scholarship program, which has underwritten 18 pics and promoted their screenings at international fests. The previous PFF Scholarship title, Izuru Kumasaka's "Asyl," scooped the first feature award at this year's Berlin fest.