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Niu Niu’s “Final Payment” and Dong Jie’s “Zoom In, Zoom Out” each won two prizes at the 10th Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival in China.

“Final Payment,” from Shanxi-born Niu, won the Fei Mu Award for best film, along with best actor for Niu’s father, Niu Jianrong. “Zoom In, Zoom Out” took the Fei Mu jury award and the Cinephilia Critics’ Award.

The best film prize carries RMB1 million ($149,000), split equally between the director, for the development of their next film, and the film’s China distributor.

“Tearing through a very small rip, the film leads us into a reality and emotional landscape so expansive, where we sigh, lament, and reflect. The director’s approach is concise, unpretentious, and masterful, earning the wholehearted recognition of the entire jury,” the jury said.

The film follows a homeowner locked in a standoff with his contractor over the last payment for a renovation, a dispute drawn from Niu Jianrong’s own experience.

Niu Jianrong, an experienced TV and film director, made his debut as a lead actor in the film. Along with best actress winner Sun Yi, he received a Louis Vuitton accessories box engraved with the festival logo.

“You jury’s bold for giving me this award,” Niu Jianrong said on stage. “It was such torture, my director-son trained me really hard. In real life, I’m my son’s father; but in front of the camera, he’s my father.”

Accepting the jury award, Dong said the team approached the film “with absolute purity of intent, which allows me to fully and unreservedly embrace the joy of making it. It’s the joy of conquering something immensely difficult alongside dear friends, the joy of connecting with audiences after the premiere, and, above all, the joy of simply being here, in this very moment.”

Xu Zao won the Unitree best director award for his debut animated feature “Light Pillar,” which carries RMB200,000 ($29,800) toward his next film. The jury cited his “strong aesthetic awareness” and “astute yet warm approach,” which “encourages everyone to hold up the beacon and keep moving forward even on a cold night.”

Sun won best actress for Wang Xiaozhen’s “A Joke.” The jury said she “delivers a delicate performance with restraint, portraying the regret and growth within an intimate relationship.”

The Fei Mu jury also gave a special mention to Cai Chengjie’s “Suzhou Quartet,” produced by Huang Bo, “for its bravery, for its belief that the movie screen is still vast and open to new adventures and new forms of storytelling.”

In the Crouching Tigers international competition, Rafiki Fariala’s “Congo Boy” won the Roberto Rossellini Award for best film and $20,000, split between the director’s next film and the film’s China distributor. The jury cited its “simple style that echoes the great tradition of neorealism.” Fariala, who was not in Pingyao, sent a video thanking the festival and closed it by singing a folk song.

Rafael Manuel won best director and $10,000 for “Filipiñana,” which Jia Zhangke executive produced and Unknown Pleasures acquired for Greater China.

Lenti Liang’s “Our Secrets” won the Fei Mu best short film award and RMB50,000 ($7,450), sponsored by Nowness of Meta Media. On stage, Liang said the film drew on her own childhood trauma, and that after her mother saw it in Pingyao, the two talked it through and she had made peace with it.

Wang Wenting’s “Black Goat” won the Unitree best student short film award in the Pingyao Corner section, with RMB30,000 ($4,470) and a Unitree robot dog.

Earlier in the festival, Ann Hui received the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon East-West Award. Pingyao also honored Marco Müller and Han Sanping with the International Contribution to Chinese Cinema Award, and producer Tang Yan, founder of Hello Group, which owns social app Momo, with the 10th Anniversary Award.

The full list of winners:

Fei Mu Awards – Hidden Dragons
Best Film: “Final Payment,” dir. Niu Niu
Unitree Best Director: Xu Zao, “Light Pillar”
Best Actress: Sun Yi, “A Joke,” dir. Wang Xiaozhen
Best Actor: Niu Jianrong, “Final Payment,” dir. Niu Niu
Jury Award: “Zoom In, Zoom Out,” dir. Dong Jie
Special Mention: “Suzhou Quartet,” dir. Cai Chengjie
Best Short Film: “Our Secrets,” dir. Lenti Liang
Best Short Film Special Mention: “If a Walnut Falls,” dir. Liu Bohao

Roberto Rossellini Awards – Crouching Tigers
Best Film: “Congo Boy,” dir. Rafiki Fariala
Best Director: Rafael Manuel, “Filipiñana”
Jury Award: “Ben’imana,” dir. Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo
Special Mention: “Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep,” dir. Rakan Mayasi

Pingyao Corner
Unitree Best Student Short Film: “Black Goat,” dir. Wang Wenting
Special Mentions: “Rainforest,” dir. Justine Moo; “Whose Home,” dir. Huang Duojia

Youth Jury Award: “Whispers in May,” dir. Chen Dongnan
Netpac Award – Best First Film: “Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep,” dir. Rakan Mayasi
Cinephilia Critics’ Award: “Zoom In, Zoom Out,” dir. Dong Jie
PYIFF–NAAC Distribution Award: “A Girl Unknown,” dir. Zou Jing

Honorary Awards
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon East-West Award: Ann Hui
International Contribution to Chinese Cinema Award: Han Sanping, Marco Müller
10th Anniversary Award: Tang Yan

Fiona Hepler Lowe, the daughter of actor Chad Lowe and Kim Painter, has died. She was 13.

Fiona’s death was confirmed to People on Tuesday by the Lowe family, who wrote “We are deeply heartbroken by the loss of our beloved Fiona” in a statement. Fiona was described by her family as “a loving young girl who was smart, creative, and loved to dance.” “She was adored by her sisters and she was deeply loved by her parents,” they wrote. “In fact, she was the light of our lives.”

“Her passing is devastating for our entire family, and we ask for prayers and privacy at this time. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please reach out to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988,” the statement concluded.

Fiona was born on Nov. 16, 2012, to Chad and Kim, and was the second daughter in the family. Mabel Painter, 17, was born in 2009, and Nixie Barbara, 10, was born in 2016. Her middle name, Hepler, was Lowe’s late mother’s maiden name and is his brother Rob Lowe’s middle name, per People. Lowe and Painter got married in 2019.

Chad has appeared on shows including “Pretty Little Liars” and “Supergirl,” among others. He won an Emmy for playing Jesse McKenna on “Life Goes On.” Rob is best known for roles across film and television, including “The Outsiders,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Parks and Recreation” and more.

Fiona is survived by her father, Chad, her mother, Kim and her sisters, Mabel and Nixie.

If you or anyone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.

Ahead of the release of “The Social Reckoning” on Oct. 9, director Aaron Sorkin is telling all on the film’s much-discussed reshoots, limited test screenings and why Trump is never named explicitly, despite the January 6 riot playing a part in the plot.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Sorkin explained that the reshoots, which took place after the trailer was released, had nothing to do with the initial mixed reactions and were simply to “make it better.” “We weren’t correcting anything,” he said. “There are two kinds of reshoots: one is the ‘Oh, we’re in trouble. We need to reshoot this.’ And that usually happens on $150 million superhero movies. The other kinds of reshoots are ‘Oh, we really like this movie. It’s good. Let’s make it better.’”

He explained that Sony Pictures chairman and CEO Tom Rothman asked if there was anything he’d want to reshoot, if given the option. “Yeah, I would go back and rewrite and reshoot the whole thing,” said Sorkin, before clarifying that there were only two scenes he felt he could add something to. “And so he opened the checkbook and gave us three days of shooting.”

A follow-up to 2010’s “The Social Network,” “The Social Reckoning” follows former Facebook engineer and whistleblower Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz ( Jeremy Allen White) as they expose the inner workings of Facebook. Their work culminated in “The Facebook Files,” a 2021 investigative series revealing Facebook’s harmful effects on teens and its role in spreading misinformation, including content linked to political violence.

However, despite the relevance of politics to the real-life events the film is based on and its recreation of Jan. 6, Trump is not mentioned by name in “The Social Reckoning,” a decision Sorkin stands by.

“I want to be clear: I was never asked to do that, to not mention Trump by name,” he said. “I turned in the script and a day or two later met with Tom Rothman, who was full speed ahead on it. And I promised him, unprovoked, that we would not see any Trump signage, no ‘Make America Great Again.’ The movie is about Facebook’s role and the rise of divisiveness, extremism, and hyper-partisanship in the country. It is not a red-blue thing, even though, obviously, it will be felt that way.”

Sorkin also revealed that a scene in which one of Facebook’s senior officials says, “I don’t know what that bitch thinks she’s doing,” had to be rewritten to remove the expletive, per the outside legal firm hired by Sony’s. “The lawyer said, ‘Unless you can show me that at one point a senior Facebook executive referred to an ex-employee as a bitch, you can’t do that.’ So it was that.”

On the subject of test screenings, Sorkin said that the studio “had a real concern for secrecy,” which meant the test screenings were each “70 people on the studio lot, all of them Sony employees.” “It is not a great polling sample,” he added.