Chinese star Xin Zhilei (pic) won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her role in The Sun Rises on Us All directed by Cai Shangjun.
In the film, the 39-year-old actress plays a woman trying to make amends with her former lover, who served time in prison for a crime she had committed.
The win brings Xin major recognition in Europe for the first time having already conquered audiences at home.
“Look, today I am finally here, standing on this world-class stage, competing with so many top performers from all over the world, and receiving this award,” she said from the stage after accepting her award.
“I am proud of myself,” she added.
Unspoken words play a large part in the story, in which the dramas of the past emerge in small touches.
The protagonists, paralysed by bitterness and regret, are unable to get on with their lives.
Xin said she had found it “exhilarating” to work on the film.
“When you are faced with such a rich character, so full of detail and very different, you know from the outset that you are part of great work,” she said on Friday at the film’s news conference ahead of its premiere.
“My character is a normal woman, she is a human being among many others, she is neither good nor bad,” she added.
Variety said Xin and co-star Zhang Songwen were “outstanding in summoning the convincing chemistry of ex-partners whose passion has long since soured but whose fates remain intertwined”. — AFP
