A Japanese film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa was awarded the International Film Critics Award on Saturday at the 54th Cannes International Film Festival.
The selection of the thriller "Kairo" makes the third consecutive year a Japanese film has won the award, following Nobuhiro Suwa's "M/OTHER" in 1999 and Shinji Aoyama's "Eureka" in 2000.
"Kairo," which stars Haruhiko Kato and Kumiko Aso, tells a story of fear inspired by the Internet, which in the film conveys images and voices of the dead.
The prize is separate from the festival's official awards and is awarded by a panel of film critics and journalists from various countries.
The film, which Kurosawa also wrote, begins with the death of a young man, who leaves behind a mysterious floppy disk containing a virus that contaminates users and radically alters their behavior.