The Filipino film Shackled was presented with the Best Feature Film award at the second Ha Noi International Film at a ceremony held yesterday in the capital.

Directed by Lawrence Fajardo, the film tackles the process of corruption in the police force. Considered a brave film, it attempts to break the propagated myth surrounding the police. It makes use of the most obvious of ironies, juxtaposing slogans and symbols with acts that blatantly betray those symbols' meanings.

"I was very happy and touched when my film was called out. It is the first time it has been nominated at an international film festival," said Fajardo.

The jury also presented The Best Short Film award to 15-minute Indonesian film Bermula Dari A (Starting from A). The film tells the story of an extraordinary relationship between a blind girl and a deaf boy.

"Disabled people are not often highly respected in Indonesia. I dedicate my film to them," said the director Purla Negara.

Turkish actor Ilyas Salman won the best leading actor title for his performance in Night of Silence, and China's Yin Yaning won the best leading actress for her role in Song of Silence.

Director Iskanda Usmonov from Tajikistan was named best director for his film Telegram.

Mina Yonezawa was named best young director for the short Japanese film Solo. The jury prize was awarded to Vietnamese feature film Thien Menh Anh Hung (Blood Letter) and the ten minute Vietnamese animation Bo Vang (The Yellow Bull).

This year, 37 films from the Asia-Pacific region were shown in competition at the festival in different categories, including Feature Movie, Short Film, and the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) award (which went to Night of Silence).

Fourteen films from the Asia-Pacific region competed for Best Feature Movie, including two Vietnamese films Thien Menh Anh Hung (Blood Letter) and Dam Me (Passion).

With its slogan of "The Unification and Development of Asia-Pacific cinema", the festival, known as the country's biggest cinema event in 2012, aimed to honour cinematic work of excellence, high humanity and artistic value, said Hoang Tuan Anh, minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

During the festival, 100 feature films, documentaries and short films from 31 countries and territories were shown overall in nine cinema complexes in Ha Noi for five days.

"I hope that our future film festivals will continue to contribute to the unification and development of the Asia-Pacific film industry," Tuan added.

The third Ha Noi International Film Festival is expected to be organised in 2014.