Meanwhile, Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir from Mongolia won the best director prize for his Film “City of Wind”.

The festival’s Fei Mu prize for best Chinese film went to Wei Shujun’s black comedy-thriller “Only the River Flows”.

The Pingyao International Film Festival, which aims to celebrate the achievements of international cinema and promote the works of young Chinese directors, first took place in 2017. This year marks the seventh edition of the festival.

The Vietnamese movie “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” follows the story of Thien, a man who is tasked with returning his sister-in-law’s body to their countryside hometown after a tragic motorcycle accident in Sai Gon.

Together with his five-year-old nephew Dao, who miraculously survived the accident, Thien embarks on a journey to find his missing brother who has been missing for several years.

Director Thien An revealed that it took him four years to complete the film, with shooting taking place in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

In May, the movie won the Directors Fortnight’s Caméra d’Or (or Golden Camera) Award at the Cannes Film Festival, beating out 17 other competitors.

34-year-old Thien An, who was born in Lam Dong province and graduated in Information Technology from Lotus University in Ho Chi Minh City, has received numerous awards including the 48 Hours Film Project in Ho Chi Minh City and the top prize at the CJ Short Film Making Project, one of the country’s leading short film contests.

In 2015, he relocated to the United States and continued to work as a freelance filmmaker.

His latest short film, “Câm Lặng” (“The Mute” in English), premiered at the Palm Springs International Shortfest in the US in 2018.