Taiwanese-Burmese director Midi Z’s (趙德胤) Ice Poison (冰毒) has won the award for Best Film in the International Competition at the 68th Edinburgh International Film Festival, which revealed its winners on Friday.
The award went to Midi Z only one day after the same film earned him the Best Director award at the Peace and Love Film Festival in Dalarna, Sweden, becoming the first director award he has garnered.
The Taiwan-based director, who is in Taipei serving in the jury for this year’s Taipei Film Festival International New Talent Competition, posted a statement on Facebook about his victory shortly after learning that he won the award.
Midi Z expressed gratitude to the jury, his filming team, his family, Taiwan and Myanmar.
The latest victory marks the first time a Taiwanese-made film has won the Best Film award at the Edinburgh film festival, one of the most significant annual film festivals in Britain.
It was the director’s first overseas Best Film award.
Ice Poison, which charts the economic despair in the rural and developing landscape of Myanmar, won against competitors from 11 countries.
Midi Zi is to receive a cash prize of ￡10,000 (US$17,000) from the festival. Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture is to grant a cash prize of NT$100,000 to his production company.
Born in 1982 in Myanmar, Midi Z studied film direction in Taiwan and graduated with his first short film Paloma Blanca in 2006. The film was screened in numerous film festivals.
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