Santiago Mitre is earning acclaim in China…

The 35-year-old Argentinian filmmaker’s latest thriller Paulina (aka La Patota) has won the Tiantan Award at the closing ceremony of the Beijing International Film Festival, which took place from April 16-23.

The film centers on Paulina, who after moving back home to teach in a suburban high school, must deal with the disapproval of the people around her when she returns to work after being brutally assaulted by a gang.

The film, directed by Mitre, also picked up the best screenplay and best actress (Dolores Fonzi) awards at a ceremony held on Saturday night.

The best director award went to Denmark’s Christina Rosendahl for her film, The Idealist. Louis Hofman was named best actor for his role in another Danish film Land of Mine (aka Under Sandet.) China’s “Go Away, Mr Tumor” was given the best visual effects award.

The competitive section was announced only days before the festival began. It came as a surprise, as many in the industry had been led to believe that the BJIFF had become a non-competitive festival. The jury was headed by Brett Ratner.

The sixth edition of the festival again included a film market, a conference series and a project pitching section. The popularity of the pitching sessions continued to boom with the number of projects submitted increasing by half to 674.

Mitre, whose credits include The Student and Carancho, picked up four prizes for Paulina at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and two prizes at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.