Argentine film wins top award at Beijing International Film Festival

The closing ceremony of the 6th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) is held in Beijing, capital of China, April 23, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

An Argentine film, La patota (Paulina), has won the Tiantan Award for best feature film at the 6th Beijing International Film Festival (BIFF), which closed on Saturday evening.

The film is a social thriller that explores the characters to an act of violence - the victims and the perpetrators - and examines how violence triggers different ideas of justice, according to a brief introduction on the official website of the film festival.

Dolores Fonzi, who stars in the Argentine film, won the Tiantan Award for Best Actress. The Best Actor award went to Louis Hofmann, who starred in Danish film Land of Mine.

Christina Rosendahl, who directed The Idealist, also a Danish film, won the Best Director award.

In other categories, Go Away! Mr. Tumor, a Chinese film, wins the award for best visual effects. Rumanian film Aferim! was awarded the best cinematography. Best screenplay award was given to La patota (Paulina).

The Beijing film festival has attracted increasing global attention thanks to China's booming film market, the world's second largest with 44 billion yuan (6.8 billion $US) in box office sales in 2015. The festival last year inked deals worth 13.8 bln yuan.

The Tiantan Award offers honors in ten categories, including best feature film, best director, best actor, best actress and best music.