China’s Xin Zhilei has won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival, becoming the first Chinese woman to receive the honour in 14 years.
The 39-year-old brought the Golden Lion trophy home on Saturday for her role in The Sun Rises on Us All, directed by Cai Shangjun.
The film sees Xin play the harassed owner of a fashion retail business who is trying to reconcile with her former lover, who served time in prison for a crime she had committed.
“I feel like I am dreaming,” Xin said in her acceptance speech, adding that she had been dreaming of standing on an international stage since she became a film actress more than a decade ago.
“Look, today I am finally here … I am proud of myself. I am also proud to be a Chinese actress standing once again on the stage of the Venice Film Festival,” she said.
“I also want to tell all the girls to boldly chase your dreams – who knows, one day they might come true, just like they did for me.”
The last time a Chinese actress won the award was in 2011, when Hong Kong cinema icon Deanie Ip Tak-han took home the prize, following mainland China’s film queen Gong Li, who became the first Chinese actress to win in 1992.
