Hainan intl film festival calls for entries for newly added award

The 2nd Hainan Island International Film Festival is slated to be held in Sanya from Dec 1 to 8, and the organizing committee recently announced that the "Golden Coconut Award" will be added to the festival's competitions for the first time.

The Golden Coconut Award, hosted by China Media Group, will be dedicated to promoting exchanges and communication among international film scenes, establishing bonds between film makers and film scenes across the world, as well as building a platform linking filmmakers, the film industry, and movie audiences.

The newly-added Golden Coconut Award includes three categories: drama feature films, documentary feature films, and drama short films. A total of 10 special awards will be announced, namely Best Film Award, Best Director Award, Jury Prize, Best Actor Award, Best Actress Award, Best Screenplay Award, Best Technology Award, Best Children's Film Award, Best Documentary Award, and Best Short Film.

Generous cash rewards will be offered to express respect and encouragement to the winning filmmakers and the film categories. The total amount of prize money that will be awarded amounts to 930,000 yuan ($131,300), of which the Best Film Award winner will receive 250,000 yuan.

The Golden Coconut Award is now accepting entries until Oct 31, and the official website for the 2nd Hainan Island International Film Festival (www.hiiff.com.cn) is open for submissions. For consultations, please send emails to competition@hiiff.com.cn.

The list of finalists will be unveiled in November.