Eri Fukatsu takes home Best Actress Award at this year's Montreal World Film Festival

by Chris MaGee

In other awards news today, it appears that while Japan is pinning its Oscar hopes on Tetsuya Nakashima's "Confessions" a Japanese actress has picked up another coveted trophy here inb Canada. The 34th annual Montreal World Film Festival wrapped up this past week with its jury announcing the top awards at a ceremony held on Tuesday. While the Grand Prix went to Dutch director Hans Van Nuffe for his film "Oxygen" and Best Actor went to Canadian actor François Papineau for his performance in Louis Bélanger's "Route 132" the Best Actress was awarded to Eri Fukatsu for her role in Sang-Il Lee's "Akunin (Villain)". The 36-year-old actress, who has previously starred in such film as Koki Mitani's "The Magic Hour" and Katsuyuki Motohiro's "Bayside Shakedown", was on hand in Montreal to accept her award. In "Akunin" Fukatsu stars as Mitsuyo, a woman who takes up with a murder suspect named Yoichi (portrayed by Satoshi Tsumabuki).

Could Fukatsu's win in Montreal forecast additional awards nods for her and "Akunin" as we approach the Japanese awards season? We'll have to wait and see. You can check out the trailer for "Akunin (Villain)" below to get just a taste of Fukatsu's award-winning performance, then head to the Montreal World Film Festival's official website to read the full list of award winners. Thanks to Japan Today for the heads up on this.