Hong Kong's Johnnie To Film Gets Stern's Shanghai Surprise Award

To's latest film, ‘C+ Detective’, was among 11 to win big at the 9th Shanghai International Film Festival this year.

The event, which is considered to be one of China's biggest film festivals, also awarded the lifetime achievement award to renowned Japanese animation producer Yu Irie, who are the geniuses behind classics such as ‘Doraemon’ and ‘Crayon Shin-chan’.

Hong Kong auteur Johnnie To has netted a prize for his latest movie — “C+ Detective” — at the Shanghai Film Festival. During the event, To's production was one of 11 films that received an award, while Japanese producer Yu Irie got the lifetime achievement accolade for his work on legendary animation titles like “Crayon Shin-chan” and “Doraemon.”

The 9th Shanghai International Film Festival, which is a big film industry event in China, wrapped up on Sunday, with To's latest detective tale, “C+ Detective”, winning the “Best Screenplay” prize.

The festival, first established in 1993 and held every two years, presented its Golden Goblet award for best film to “The Secret of the Grain,” a food-themed documentary directed by Zhang Lu, and awarded the Best Chinese Film to Han Han's racing comedy-drama “Pegasus.” The jury was headed by director John Woo, who originally hails from Hong Kong.

According to a number of sources, festival mainstay Johnnie To has collected 13 awards throughout the history of the festival, with the prolific director's latest “C+ Detective” being the second time he has taken home the Best Screenplay gong, after “Full Alert” in 2009.

Over in Japan, Yu Irie, the co-founder of animation studio Shin-Ei Animation, was honored with the lifetime achievement award at the closing ceremony of the Shanghai fest. Shin-Ei is renowned for producing a number of popular animated series, including “Crayon Shin-chan” and “Doraemon.”

The much-loved “Crayon Shin-chan”, a series about a mischievous boy, has been delighting audiences with its humor and relatable stories since its 1990 debut and has become one of the most well-known and successful anime brands in the world.