Milcho Manchevski’s Sister Brother Manhole Cover has won the Tokyo Grand Prix / Governor of Tokyo Award at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival, the festival’s official winners page and matching reports from Deadline and Variety confirmed on 4 November. The top prize carries ¥3m (about $19,000). The festival ran from 26 October to 4 November.
Key facts
- Tokyo Grand Prix: Sister Brother Manhole Cover (Milcho Manchevski), ¥3m (about $19,000)
- Special Jury Prize: Magic Atlas (Sun Xun); best director: Lisandro Alonso (Double Freedom)
- Best actress: Hu Ling (The Night That Binds Us); best actor: Narita Ryo (Two Cigarettes, Three Nights)
- Best artistic contribution: Until the Day Ends; audience award: Heysel 85
- Jury president Rolf de Heer; festival ran 26 October to 4 November 2026
The Grand Prix film, one of 15 titles in the main competition, follows siblings in post-communist North Macedonia who scrape a living stealing bronze busts and manhole covers until an injury pulls them into the Skopje underworld, Deadline summarised. Variety describes it as a comic allegory and a North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Italy and the UK co-production, Manchevski’s first fiction feature since Kaymak. Producer Jane Kortoshev and leads Sara Klimoska and Filip Trajković accepted the prize; Manchevski, already gone from Tokyo, sent a video message, Variety reported.
Jury president Rolf de Heer said the jury chose the film “for the humanity and compassion shown towards its characters” and for being “a complex, coherent film that manages to be both touching and playful,” Variety reported. Fellow jurors were Tokyo- and New York-based producer Alex Lo, Korean producer Oh Jungwan, French colourist Yov Moor and Japanese actress Watanabe Makiko.
Main competition
Sun Xun’s animated Magic Atlas, from Singapore, took the Special Jury Prize and ¥500,000 (about $3,160 to $3,200 in the trade figures). Deadline notes that the Chinese-born artist spent about a decade on the film, which moves between ink-wash painting, medieval European engraving and other styles.
Lisandro Alonso won best director for Double Freedom (La Libertad Doble), which the festival presents as a companion to his 2001 debut La Libertad; a solitary woodcutter’s life changes when he takes in his sister after her psychiatric facility closes. Hu Ling won best actress for Wang Jiangyong’s The Night That Binds Us, a France-Hong Kong production. Japan’s only main-competition win was best actor for Narita Ryo in Mishima Yukiko’s Two Cigarettes, Three Nights. Best artistic contribution went to Jelena Maksimović’s Until the Day Ends (Do kraja dana). The directing, acting and artistic-contribution prizes each carry ¥300,000 (about $1,900).
Festival director Hisamatsu Takeo presented the audience award, which carries no cash prize, to Teodora Ana Mihai’s Heysel 85, about the 1985 Brussels stadium disaster. The awards sit beside other Japan coverage already on FilmBunch, including Godzilla Minus Zero’s Japan opening-day record and the BAFTA Breakthrough UK cohort. Further festival coverage is in Festivals & Markets.
Asian Future, Nippon Cinema Now and students
In Asian Future, for emerging Asian filmmakers, best film and ¥1m (about $6,300) went to Tareq Daoud’s Serife Tavsan. The Asian Future special mention went to Ariani Darmawan’s Indonesian drama Jani Be Good. The Asian Future jury was producer Eiko Mizuno-Gray, filmmaker Akio Fujimoto and Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara, Deadline reported.
Nippon Cinema Now, the contemporary Japanese showcase, handed out prizes for the first time this year. Best film (¥500,000) went to Tanaka Miki’s Silver Express; the special jury prize (¥300,000) went to Matsumura Shingo’s Between Us.
In the Asian Students’ Film Conference, best film (¥300,000) went to Nguyen Vu Hien Chi’s Running Wild in the Sun. The special jury prize was shared by Nah Yee Chern’s Everything’s Peachy and Kim Nam-hyeon’s All of Her, ¥100,000 each.
Ethical Film Award and previously announced prizes
The TIFF Ethical Film Award (¥200,000), judged by a separate jury headed by actor Isomura Hayato, went to Isabelle Stever’s I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming. As previously announced, the Kurosawa Akira Award went to Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof and Japanese filmmaker O Mipo (also styled Mipo O in trade copy), each with ¥1m. Variety also lists a Global Cinema Leadership Special Award for Bill Kramer, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The festival closed with Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony.
Full list of winners
Competition – Tokyo Grand Prix / Governor of Tokyo Award: Sister Brother Manhole Cover, Milcho Manchevski – Special Jury Prize: Magic Atlas, Sun Xun – Best director: Lisandro Alonso, Double Freedom – Best actress: Hu Ling, The Night That Binds Us – Best actor: Narita Ryo, Two Cigarettes, Three Nights – Best artistic contribution: Until the Day Ends, Jelena Maksimović – Audience Award: Heysel 85, Teodora Ana Mihai
Asian Future – Best Film: Serife Tavsan, Tareq Daoud – Special Mention: Jani Be Good, Ariani Darmawan
Nippon Cinema Now – Best Film: Silver Express, Tanaka Miki – Special Jury Prize: Between Us, Matsumura Shingo
Asian Students’ Film Conference – Best Film: Running Wild in the Sun, Nguyen Vu Hien Chi – Special Jury Prize (joint): Everything’s Peachy, Nah Yee Chern; All of Her, Kim Nam-hyeon
Other – TIFF Ethical Film Award: I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming, Isabelle Stever – Kurosawa Akira Award: O Mipo; Mohammad Rasoulof – Global Cinema Leadership Special Award: Bill Kramer
Our reading
For buyers and festival programmers the list spreads beyond a single national cinema: a Balkan scrap-metal comedy at the top, an animated Singapore entry as special jury, Alonso returning to La Libertad’s woodcutter, and first-time Nippon Cinema Now prizes that put a Japanese debut (Silver Express) on the awards board. The next evidence is which Grand Prix and Asian Future titles lock sales or a Western festival berth before spring, and whether Kramer’s leadership award is a one-off or a new annual TIFF fixture.
Sources
- Tokyo International Film Festival, Award Winners (official page, 39th TIFF)
- Deadline, Sister Brother Manhole Cover wins Grand Prix at Tokyo International Film Festival (4 November 2026; full main and sidebar list, jury, cash prizes)
- Variety, Milcho Manchevski’s Sister Brother Manhole Cover wins top prize at Tokyo Film Festival (4 November 2026 PT; full winners list, jury citations, closing notes)