The award is given to a creative and innovative film from East Asia, made early in the director's career, which has not yet won significant international recognition.

This year's jury comprised the film director JANG Sun-Woo from South Korea, the film critic Kong RITHDEE from Thailand and the film producer, critic and academic Colin MacCABE from Britain. They considered eight films in competition and reached the following decisions:

A Special Mention is given to the film

Obbah: A Girl's Elder Brother by KIM Jong-Guk from South Korea.

“An extremely impressive formal experiment. One 63-minute take captures both the complexity of a particular urban situation and the more general features of modern Korean society.”

The Dragons and Tigers Award for 2007 is divided equally between two films, both independent productions from China. The prize money of C$10,000, courtesy of sponsor Brad Birarda, is also divided equally between the two films. In alphabetical order, the two films are:

Fujian Blue by Robin WENG (WENG Shouming)

“An extremely realistic film about contemporary China, showing why and how so many present-day Chinese try to emigrate illegally from the southern coastal province of Fujian. The film is also a portrait of the current generation of young people: boys and girls floating on the waves of globalisation.”

And

Mid-Afternoon Barks by ZHANG Yuedong

“An extremely inventive structure meshes with witty, well-observed dialogue to produce an oblique but accurate view of modern China. The play between image and soundtrack demonstrates the young director's masterly grasp of cinema.”

The awards were presented in the Empire Granville 7 Cinemas in Vancouver on the evening of 4 October. Zhang Yuedong and Kim Jong-Guk received their awards in person, while Robin Weng's award was received by his producer Lin Fan.

Don't worry if you missed it! The VIFF is pleased to announce that festival fans will have the opportunity to see the films, as programmers have added additional screenings:

Fujian Blue on Friday, October 5 at 1:15pm at Vancity Theatre

Mid-Afternoon Barks on Saturday, October 6 at 10:45am at Vancity Theatre