Quzhou directress Zhang Hao won the Best Short Movie by Students award at the South Africa International Film Festival, which was recently held in Johannesburg, South Africa, local media reported.

Zhang won the award for the short film Bleeding News, which was produced by Zhejiang Qiankun Film Co, the publicity department of the Jiangshan municipal committee of the CPC, and the Shanghai Theatre Academy.

Themed around anti-cyber violence, the movie depicts a series of stories that occurred after a watermelon vendor become popular because people online had been deceived.

Zhang said the message of the film was that in this era of information, everyone should be responsible for their own words and deeds and avoid succumbing to herd mentality.

According to Zhang, many of the scenes in Bleeding News were filmed in her hometown of Jiangshan, a county-level city in Quzhou, and she was able to complete the movie with the help of Quzhou and Jiangshan.

In addition, the movie also won the Best New Movie award at the Asia Micro Films Art Festival, the Best Feature Film award at the 15th Guangzhou Student Film Festival, and the best-picture award at the 2019 Wuxi Micro Film Festival.

Launched in 2015, the South Africa International Film Festival, often called RapidLion after the name of its trophy, is the only film festival in the world with a special focus on feature films from BRICS countries.

Quzhou directress Zhang Hao wins the Best Short Movie by Students award at the South Africa International Film Festival. The trophy resembles the ancient African symbol of excellence – a lioness. [Photo/qz123.com]