Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s latest project has proved to be a beast in Japan…

The 41-year-old Spanish Goya Award-winning film director and screenwriter’s psychological thriller The Beasts has won three awards at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival, including the Tokyo Grand Prix, best director and best actor for Denis Menochet.

The film, which premiered in an Out Of Competition slot at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, follows a French couple who move to Spain’s Galician countryside to run an organic farm, but receive a hostile welcome from the locals.

The Tokyo Grand Prix prize comes with a cash award of Y3M (US$20,400).

Iranian filmmaker Houman Seyedi’s satirical drama World War III took the Special Jury Prize at the festival following its wins in Venice for best film and best actor in the Horizons section. Tokyo’s Special Jury Prize comes with a cash award of Y500,000 (US$3,400).

Best actress went to Aline Kuppenheim for her role in Manuela Martelli’s 1976, in which she plays a woman sheltering a man during Chile’s Pinochet dictatorship. The best artistic contribution award went to Sri Lankan film Peacock Lament, directed by Sanjeewa Pushpakumara.

The festival’s audience award went to Rikiya Imaizumi’s By The Window, about a man confronted by his wife’s affair, which was one of three Japanese films to be selected for the international competition.

In the festival’s Asian Future competition, the best film award went to Butterflies Live Only One Day, directed by Iranian filmmaker Mohammadreza Vatandoust, who was on hand to accept the award in person.