Hong Kong film fest awards principal prize to ’My Happy Family’

The award-winning new feature My Happy Family by the directorial duo of Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross received one of the principal prizes of the Hong Kong International Film Festival last weekend.

The 2016 work by the acclaimed directors was singled out for the principal Firebird Award of the Young Cinema Competition at the festival that concludes today.

Screened among over 250 films from over 50 countries, My Happy Family was seen by audiences of the festival promoted as "one of Asia’s oldest and most reputable platforms for filmmakers”.

The jury of the festival's Young Cinema Competition announces 'My Happy Family' as winner of their award. Photo: Hong Kong International Film Festival.

The film follows the experience of several generations living under the same roof, with conservative family traditions set against a more independently-minded member of the household.

The judges of the festival said their choice of the feature for the Firebird Prize was determined by "its sensitive portrait of the social and psychological changes that are influencing gender roles in traditional society”.

The Hong Kong festival launched on April 11 to mark its 41st edition, with organisers calling it the autonomous city’s "largest cultural event”.

The event also attracted over 300 reporters and critics from the media.

This year the organisers celebrated the 41st edition of the festival. Photo: Hong Kong International Film Festival.

My Happy Family has earned Ekvtimishvili and Gross international critical acclaim since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States last year. 

The duo claimed the Best Director prize for the feature at the Sofia International Film Festival in Bulgaria last month. Their production also swept three prizes, including the Best Film award, at the Lecce European Film Festival in Italy earlier this month.

Ekvtimishvili and Gross were also named among nine emerging filmmakers to watch by The New York Times cinema critic Manohla Dargis, who noted the two "could choreograph a ballet, but, lucky us, they’re filmmakers”.