CANNES: Kazakh movie Tulpan, in which an aspiring shepherd s big ears are compared with those of Prince Charles, on Saturday bagged the top prize at Cannes official Un Certain Regard section, grouping original movies.
A first feature-length film by Sergey Dvortsevoy, the film is about a young man returning to the steppe after military service in the hope of becoming a shepherd.
But Asa must first marry and his potential bride apparently thinks his ears are too big.
A light-hearted comedy that features camels as well as sheep, Asa s friend tries to convince the bride s parents his ears are normal-sized by showing them a picture of Britain s Prince Charles.
Is he an African prince? they ask. No, American, he replies.
Runner-up prizes among the 20 films selected in the parallel section went to Japan s Kiyoshi Kurosawa for Tokyo Sonata, about a seemingly ordinary Japanese family and to a moving film about love between seniors, Cloud 9 by Germany s Andreas Dresen.
James Toback crowd-pleasing Tyson documentary on the rise and fall of the boxing giant was also awarded a prize as was a movie shot in Liberia on Africa s child-soldiers using ex-fighters as actors, Johnny Mad Dog by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire. -AFP
