Taipei - Canadian film The Fight (Le Ring) by director Anais Barbeau-Lavalette won the top prize in the new talent section of the 2008 Taipei Film Festival on Saturday. Barbeau-Lavalette won the Grand Prize of 1 million Taiwan dollars (31,000 US dollars) for her film which tells how Jessy, 12, dreamed of escaping life in a Montreal slum by learning wrestling, but his world was shattered when he found out that professional wrestling was fake.
At the award-presenting ceremony, Barbeau-Lavalette said she was excited because this was the first award her 1997 film has won.
Barbeau-Lavalette began her film-making career in 2000 while studying at Quebec's Institut National de I'image et du Son (INIS).
She has made 15 documentaries, and The Fight was her first fiction film.
The second prize, the Special Jury Prize, worth 350,000 Taiwan dollars (10,000 US dollars), was given to 57,000 Kilometres Between Us by French director Delphine Kreuter.
The Special Mention Prize went to Wonderful Town by Thai director Aditya Assarat.
The Taipei Film Festival was originally for Taiwan films, but it has launched the New Talent Competition to encourage local and young foreign filmmakers.
Entries must be the first or second feature film by the director, at least 60 minutes long, and must not have participated in film festivals in Asia.
The 10th Taipei Film Festival started June 20 with Lemon Tree by Israeli director Eran Riklis as the opening film, and is due to close on July 6 with French director Olivier Assayas' film Summer Hours.
