’Scary Mother’ awarded Pingyao Film Festival award

Fresh on the heels of last week's prize at the Asian World Film Festival in the United States, filmmaker Ana Urushadze was honoured for her work Scary Mother at the first edition of the Pingyao International Film Festival in China's ancient city on Saturday.

Urushadze's feature debut was named winner of the festival's Best of Fest category which screened it alongside seven other selections by directors including Carla Simon, Vivian Qu and Ruben Oestlund.

The award marks the ongoing success of the feature that debuted at the Locarno International Film Festival earlier this year, before collecting prizes at cinema events in Europe and beyond.

Urushadze's film follows a Georgian housewife who decides to read her first complete work of writing to her family, only to be confronted with controversial reception.

Played by Nata Murvanidze, the principal character is supported by a cast of Georgian actors in the Georgia-Estonia co-production.

The work marks the directorial debut of the young filmmaker, with Mindia Esadze contributing as director of photography.

Scary Mother has also been picked as Georgia's bid for the Best Foreign Language Film award at the next Academy Awards.

The Pingyao International Film Festival was launched this year to celebrate "latest achievements" in global filmmaking and celebrate emerging directors.

The event's full title pays homage to director Ang Lee's internationally acclaimed film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with the festival led by filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke, artistic director Marco Mueller and co-founder Wang Huaiyu.