MUMBAI: Israeli film Intimate Grammar about a boy in the 1960s who stops growing for three years claimed the top prize at the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival, giving director Nir Bergman the festival‘s main award for a second time.

The film that was awarded the $50,000 Sakura Grand Prix from among 15 competitors from over 80 countries and regions tells the story of Aaron, the son of a Holocaust survivor who seeks refinement and art amid an increasingly militant society.

Incidentally, Bergman becomes the first director to win the Sakura Prize twice, having previously won in 2002 for Broken Wings.

Bergman told a news conference last week that the film was based on an Israeli novel called "Book of Intimate Grammar" by David Grossman that "gave him an emotional shock as if reading about my own life."

"I just loved the characters so much and I thought they deserved the big screen," he was quoted by festival organizers as saying.

The award for Best Director went to Gilles Paquet-Brenner for Sarah‘s Key, a French film about the fate of a Jewish family during World War Two. The film won the Audience Award as well.

Kaneto Shindo, a 98-year-old Japanese director, won the special jury prize for Post Card that shows the impact of World War Two on the residents of a rural Japanese community.

Fan Bingbing won the Best Actress award for her role in Buddha Mountain a joint China-Taiwan co-production also took the award for Best Artistic Contribution. Wang Qianyuan won the Best Actor awards for The Piano in a Factory.