To Kill a Mongolian Horse and Black Ox have won the top prizes – Firebird Awards in the Young Cinema Competition at the 49th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF49).

To Kill a Mongolian Horse directed by Jiang Xiaoxuan was named Best Film in the Young Cinema Competition (Chinese Language). It stars Saina, a horseback performer and first-time actor, playing himself, and explores his struggle between adhering to traditions as a horseback performer and embracing contemporary society.

In the Young Cinema Competition (World) category, Black Ox by Japanese director Tsuta Tetsuichiro was chosen as the Firebird Award winner. It is the story of a former hunter-gatherer who loses connection to his spirituality in the process of becoming a farmer and becoming ‘Japanese.’

Jing Yi took home the Best Director along with the FIPRESCI Prize for The Botanist, for what the jury commented, saying “it is a beautifully cinematic introduction to Kazakh culture… told with subtle awareness through the eyes and voice of a young boy’”.

In the Documentary Competition, the jury awarded the Firebird Award to Yalla Parkour by Areeb Zuaiter, commending the director for ‘slowly composing an emotional line connecting herself and her mother’.

49th Hong Kong International Film Festival Firebird Awards and FIPRESCI Prize winners

Young Cinema Competition (Chinese Language)

Firebird Award
To Kill a Mongolian Horse
Jiang Xiaoxuan

Best Director
The Botanist
Jing Yi

Best Actor
All Quiet at Sunrise
Wang Ke

Best Actress
Blue Sun Palace
Wu Ke-Xi, Xu Haipeng

Young Cinema Competition (World)

Firebird Award
Black Ox
Tsuta Tetsuichiro

Best Director
The Devil Smokes
Ernesto Martínez Bucio

Best Actor
Yunan
Georges Khabbaz

Best Actress
Yunan
Hanna Schygulla

Documentary Competition

Firebird Award
Yalla Parkour
Areeb Zuaiter

Jury Prize
Riefenstahl
Andres Veiel

Short Film Competition

Firebird Award
Their Eyes
Nicolas Gourault

Jury Prize
Anba Dlo
Luiza Calagian, Rosa Caldeira

FIPRESCI Prize

FIPRESCI Prize
The Botanist
Jing Yi