Fukada's "Harmonium" Won Jury Prize at Cannes

"Harmonium" by Koji Fukada of Japan won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Prize in the A Certain Regard category of the Cannes Film Festival, May 21. "Red Turtle" produced jointly by Studio Ghibli and a French firm and done by a Dutch director won the Special Prize in the same category.

"Harmonium" features Tadanobu Asano as an ex-convict portraying his time spent with a certain couple. The film tells how the life of a couple gradually deforms with the appearance of an ex-convict. Director Fukada, 36, hails from Tokyo and this is his first time winning a prize at Cannes. He comments:

"It's so great to see all of us gdetting together to win this prize - staff and performers all in one...I'm afraid my luck has run out because of this feat."

Producer Toshio Suzuki of Studio Ghibli comments on its "Red Turtle: The story of an Island":

"It's been a long ten years till the film finally completed. I'm terribly happy that we've come through it all. We would hope this film to be shown in France, Japan and the rest of world."

"Harmonium" is Fukada's fifth full-length film done over a span of good ten years. He made his debut as a film director in 2006 and won the Best Picture Award in the An Certain Regard category at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2010 for his "Welcome". Later in 2013 he simultaneously won the Grand Prix and Young Juries' Award at the Festival of the Three Continents in Nantes.

Koji Fukada is a fast-rising young film director with a series of much-talked-about works and expected to lead the next generation in Japan's film industry. （Nathan Shiga)