MACAU, Dec 15 — A film that explores a father and son relationship, Hunting Season, bagged the best film award at the second International Film Festival and Awards Macau (IFFAM) this year.

The film is the directorial debut of young filmmaker Natalia Garagiola from Argentina.

"When we watch film awards, this always happen to others so we had never imagined that we would be standing up here to receive an award for my first feature film,” Garagiola said when accepting the award at the awards ceremony in Macau Cultural Centre last night.

She later told a brief press conference that she is already working on her second film with the same producers as Hunting Season.

"I don’t have a title for the second film yet, or I have a title but my producers don’t like it,” she said.

Garagiola’s next film will be about a female doctor grappling between her faith and science in the course of her duty.

Garagiola and producers Santiago Gallelli, Matias Roveda, Benjamin Domenech and Gonzalo Tobal received a cash prize of US$60,000 for the award which was presented by Datuk Michelle Yeoh and Laurent Cantet.

A French film that delved into domestic violence and a child caught between his parents, Custody, won two awards last night.

French filmmaker Xavier Legrand won the Best Director award while the young actor who plays the 12-year-old Julien in the film, Thomas Gioria, won the Award for Best New Young Actor.

Legrand, who accepted the award on behalf Gioria, said the boy presented a raw performance in his role of a boy caught in between the conflict between his violent father and mother.

A British thriller set on the island of Jersey, Beast, also won two awards.

Jessie Buckley won the Best Actress Award while Cinematographer Benjamin Kracun won the Award for Technical Contribution.

China film, Wrath of Silence, won the Jury Prize and the lead actor, Song Yang, won the Best Actor Award.

The Best Screenplay award went to Samuel Maoz for Foxtrot, a film on the effects of war.

Meanwhile, Swedish film on the 1980 Wimbledon, Borg McEnroe, won the Macau Audience Choice Award.

Other awards presented during the glittering award ceremony were:

Career Achievement Award — Udo Kier

International Star of the Year — Donnie Yen

Asian Blockbuster Film 2017 Award — Wolf Warrior 2

Asian Stars: Up Next Awards — Celina Jade, Ludi Lin, Piolo Pascual, Rajkummar Rao, Shioli Kutsuna, Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying and Ahn Seo-hyun.

The main competition awards were decided by the international line-up of jury comprising of Jury President Laurent Cantet and jury members Joan Chen, Jessica Hausner, Lawrence Osborne and Royston Tan.

The competition line-up comprised of 10 international films from first and second time directors.

This is the second year IFFAM was held and this time, it was with an increase in audience numbers and sold-out screenings for Journey’s End, Angels Wear White, Call Me By Your Name, The Last Recipe, A day and Reign of Assassins.

A total 48 screenings were held at the Macau Cultural Centre, Macau Tower and Cinematheque Passion during the week-long festival.

IFFAM organising committee president Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said the festival has created an exchange platform for industry professionals from across the world.

"It has tailor-made a training program for aspiring Macanese filmmakers to broaden their international perspectives, with our goal to foster cultural and creative industry development and immerse local audiences into a new depth of appreciation for international films,” she said during her speech.

She said the Macao Special Administrative Region Government has expressed its dedication in pushing for the development of various creative industries to further enrich the cultural offerings in Macau.

"It is our aspiration to forge the film festival into one of the major international film events in Asia,” Fernandes, who is also the Macau government tourism office director, said.

The second IFFAM awards ceremony was hosted by Astrid Chan Chi Ching and Laurence Cheng Tan Shui.

Earlier in the evening, an international line-up of filmmakers, actors, actresses and industry figures graced the red carpet at IFFAM.

Among the notable invited guests included Donnie Yen, Datuk Michelle Yeoh, Udo Kier, Jack Tan, Charles Heung, Nanami Sakuraba, Rina Uchiyama, Natalia Garagiola, Benjamin Doménech, Matias Roveda, Lautaro Bettoni, Lola Dueñas, Santiago Gallelli, and Ofir Raul Graizer.