Japanese films dominated the awards at the 23rd Mar del Plata Film Festival. Hirokazu Kore-eda received the Golden Astor prize for Still Walking, while Kiyoshi Kurosawa was named best director for Tokyo Sonata.

A jury composed of actress/director Sarah Polley (Canada), director Peter Lilienthal (Germany), film-maker Pedro Olea (Spain), DoP Yu Lik Wai (Hong Kong), director Israel Adrian Caetano (Uruguay) and local film critic David Oubina awarded its Special Prize to Involuntary, by Ruben Ostlund (Sweden)

Danish film Fear Me Not received two prizes: best screenplay (Kristian Levring and Anders Thomas Jensen) and best actor (Ulrich Thomsen). Isabelle Huppert was named best actress for Ursula Meier's Home.

Mexican Amat Escalante's Los Bastardos won the Latin American competition, while Parador Retiro, by Jorge Leandro Colas, and Diletante, by Kris Niklison, shared the main prize at the Argentinian competition.

Kathryn Bigelow, Tommy Lee Jones and Edward James Olmos were among the international guests, while foreign companies like Film Finders (US), Kinoaero (Czech Republic), Art Films (Brazil), Babilla Cine (Colombia), GP Film (Russia), Les filmes de la Arcadia (Chile) and Epicentre Films (France) attended the international film market Inter-Cine.

Liliana Mazure, president of the national film institute (INCAA), announced at Mar del Plata that Argentina's government raised the maximum amount of film subsidies to $ 1.05m from $ 0.75m per production.

The 11-day festival showed 388 features and shorts, including new works by renowned auteurs such as Takeshi Kitano, Olivier Assayas, Terence Davies, Agnes Varda, Abel Ferrara, Jia Zhang-ke, Manoel de Oliveira, Werner Schroeter, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Jerzy Skolimowski.

AWARDS LIST

Golden Astor for best film: Still Walking (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan)
Silver Astor for best director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa for Tokyo Sonata (Japan)
Special Jury Prize: Involuntary (Ruben Ostlund, Sweden)
Silver Astor for best actress: Isabelle Huppert for Home (Ursula Meier, Switzerland / France / Belgium)
Silver Astor for best actor: Ulrich Thomsen for Fear Me Not, by Kristian Levring (Denmark)
Silver Astor for best screenplay: Kristian Levring and Anders Thomas Jensen for Fear Me Not (Denmark)
Best film (Latin American competition): Los Bastardos (Amat Escalante, Mexico)
Best films (Argentinian competition): Parador Retiro (Jorge Leandro Colas), and Diletante (Kris Niklison)
FIPRESCI Award: La Tigra, Chaco (Federico Godfrid and Juan Sasiain, Argentina)
Work in Progress Award: Vikingo (Jose Campusano, Argentina)
Signis Award: The Stranger in Me (Emily Atef,Germany)
Prize Cahiers du Cinema (Spanish edition) for artistic innovation
: Je Ne Suis Pas Morte (Jean-Charles Fitoussi, France)
ADF Award for best cinematography: Agnes Godard for Home, by Ursula Meier