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These are not easy times for film festivals, with many of the world’s largest buffeted by political and financial headwinds, and South Korea’s highly-regarded Busan International Film Festival (Biff) has not been immune to the current instability.

Following last summer’s management turmoil, during which many of the festival’s founders and top executives quit, Biff put interim leaders in place and achieved a level of stability for its October 2023 edition. Earlier this year, Park Kwang-su, a veteran filmmaker with long ties to the festival, was appointed as chairman. Ellen Y.D. Kim, also an industry veteran who has previously worked at Biff and Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, was appointed as head of Biff’s industry platform, Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm).

But the recruitment process for a permanent festival director did not yield the desired results. With time running out for this year’s edition, former...

Korea’s Busan International Film Festival has unveiled the full program of its 29th edition, which will open with the world premiere of Uprising, produced and co-written by Park Chan-wook, and close with Spirit World, starring Catherine Deneuve and directed by Singapore’s Eric Khoo.

Directed by Kim Sang-Man, Uprising marks Park’s first collaboration with Netflix. Gang Dong-won and Park Jeong-min star in the period epic, which Park co-scripted with Shin Chul, about two childhood friends who are turned into bitter adversaries.

Spirit World stars Deneuve as a legendary singer who flies to Japan for a final sold-out concert after which she embarks on an unexpected life in the spirit world with one of her biggest fans as her guide. Masaaki Sakai also stars in the film, a France-Singapore-Japan co-production that is being sold internationally by Goodfellas.

Busan also announced that Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa has been named Asian Filmmaker Of The Year.

Asian-produced teen and coming-of-age films will be the focus of a special section at this year’s Busan International Film Festival which is heading for its 29 edition in October.

With 10 titles, the section comprises a mix of notable recent productions, such as Malaysian body horror and self-discovery title “Tiger Stripes,” and a pair of world premieres.

In addition to “Tiger Stripes,” which won the Grand Prix Prize in Critics Week at Cannes in 2023, was selected as Malaysia’s Oscar contender only to be cut by local censors, the selection includes: “City of Wind,” winner of the Orizzonti Award for best actor at Venice last year; Okuyama Hiroshi’s “My Sunshine,” from this year’s Cannes Un Certain Regard section; Sora Neo’s “Happyend,” which will play at Venice next month’; Shuchi Talati’s “Girls Will Be Girls,” winner of the audience awards at Sundance in January; and “Fishbone,” which won...

Now in its 23rd edition, the New York Asian Film Festival has been delivering high-octane thrills, riveting drama, hilarious comedies, and beyond from across Asia and the world for over two decades. This year’s edition is no different, offering highlights from Cannes (Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In), Sundance (Dìdi (弟弟), Brief History of a Family), and Venice & TIFF, plus world premieres. Ahead of the festival kicking off July 12 at Film at Lincoln Center, we’re pleased to premiere the action-packed exclusive trailer.

“For so many, Asian films start and end with Parasite or Everything Everywhere All At Once (who could blame them?), but the real action is happening in the trenches of Asian cinema, where audacious auteurs and daring debutantes are unleashing a tidal wave of talent that’s about to crash on American shores,” said Samuel Jamier, festival director and president of the New York Asian Film Foundation.

Mongolia’s film industry is on the rise, with a momentum that began at Cannes in 2023.

Zoljargal Purevdash’s If Only I Could Hibernate was the first Mongolian film to be shown in Cannes’ official selection when it played in Un Certain Regard last year, going on to win a jury prize at Tokyo FilmEx and scoring box-office success both at home and internationally.

It was followed by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s City Of Wind, the first feature from the Asian country to play Toronto and Venice.

Both features followed the introduction of a film law in January 2022 to promote production in Mongolia,...

The 50th Annual Seattle International Film Festival (Siff) wrapped up on Sunday and announced the winners of the 2024 Golden Space Needle Audience and Juried Competition Awards.

The festival began on May 9 and screened 261 films representing 84 countries with “62% of the feature films were created by first or second-time filmmakers; 43% were created by women or nonbinary filmmakers; 35% of filmmakers identify as a Bipoc director; and nearly 60% are currently without U.S. distribution and may not screen commercially in the United States,” according to Siff.

Siff holds two categories of competition: juried and audience based. Juried competitions include five feature subcategories including the Official Competition, New American Cinema Competition, New Directors Competition, Ibero-American Competition and Documentary Competition. Short film categories include live action, animation and documentary.

In addition, over 32,000 ballots were submitted for the Golden Space Needle Awards (Gsna). Films judged through the GSNAs are selected by audience members through post-screening ballots. The categories include best film,...

The 21st IndieLisboa International Film Festival will take place from 23rd May to 2nd June in Lisbon. The festival aims to address the gap in film distribution created by the dominance of mainstream productions. Each year, it attracts casual viewers and film professionals worldwide, offering them the chance to discover recent works by emerging talents and revisit films made by renowned directors.

IndieLisboa features 7 sections, with 4 of them being competitive. Additionally, it offers events for industry professionals, including workshops, masterclasses, debates, a script-writing lab, a film fund, a pitching forum, and screenings of works in progress. This year, apart from the retrospective of Palestinian artist Kamal Aljafari, the festival will present 12 short and 13 full-length films that are productions or co-productions of Asian countries.

A Traveler's Needs (2024) by Hong Sang-soo (National Premiere)

South Korea, 90'

The newest film of the prolific director had its world premiere at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival,...

Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights of Alireza Khatami’s “The Things You Kill.” The film is in post-production.

Khatami is already known for Cannes 2023 Un Certain Regard title “Terrestrial Verses” and “Oblivion Verses,” which was awarded best screenplay in Venice Horizons competition 2017 and won the Fipresci Prize.

Le Pacte will release “The Things You Kill” in France.

In the film, Ali, a university professor, is haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, and coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance. As long-buried family secrets resurface, the police tighten their noose, and doubts begin eroding his conscience, Ali has no choice but to look into the abyss of his own soul.

The star-studded Turkish cast includes Ekin Koç (“Burning Days”), Erkan Kolçakköstendil, Hazar Ergüçlü (“The Wild Pear Tree”) and Ercan Kesal (“Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”).

Khatami said: “‘The Things...

Filipino director Sheron Dayoc’s The Gospel Of The Beast won the top Golden Star Award for best Southeast Asian film at the first Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (Hiff) in Vietnam, which also saw several titles dropped from the final programme due to censorship by local authorities.

The Gospel Of The Beast marks the first feature in seven years from Dayoc and tells the story of a teenage boy who accidentally kills his classmate and runs away with an older man he barely knows, forming a unique father-son relationship. It premiered at Tokyo in October.

Scroll down...

The Gospel Of The Beast, directed by the Philippines’ Sheron Dayoc, picked up the Golden Star Award for Best Southeast Asian Film at the first edition of the Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (Hiff) in Vietnam.

Nicole Midori Woodford’s Singapore-Japan collaboration, Last Shadow At First Light, won multiple awards in the festival’s Southeast Asia competition, including the Jury Prize, best cinematography (Hideho Urata), best screenplay (Nicole Midori Woodford) and best visual effects (Laokoon VFX).

Oasis Of Now, directed by Malaysia’s Chee Sum Chia, took awards for best director and best actress for Vietnam’s Tạ Thị Dịu, who plays an immigrant in the film. Singaporean drama Wonderland won awards for best actor (Mark Lee) and best supporting actor (Peter Yu), while best supporting actress to Rawipa Srisanguan for Thailand’s Solids By The Seashore.

Indonesian action drama 13 Bombs was awarded with best sound design...

TorinoFilmLab (Tfl) has selected three international co-productions as winners of its 2024 Audience Design Fund, which provides financial aid and coaching for films at the distribution stage.

The three awarded projects are Indian director Kapadia Payal’s All We Imagine As Light; Egyptian directors Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir’s The Brink Of Dreams; and US-based Nepalese director Deepak Rauniyar’s The Sky Is Mine.

Each film is currently in post-production and will receive a €45,000 grant plus three online consultancy sessions to advise on innovative audience engagement and outreach strategies.

All We Imagine As Light is the second film from Kapadia Payal,...

What’s a film without distribution? The Popcorn List sets out to make sure that doesn’t happen to the best indies.

Founded by Lela Meadow-Conner and Barbara Twist, the inaugural annual survey spotlights 20 features that debuted at major or regional film festivals this past year and come highly recommended by festival programmers. Nineteen out of the 20 movies have reviews on Letterboxd, despite not yet having theatrical or digital distribution in the U.S. All 20 have won awards — including Audience Awards and Jury Awards — at festivals like Sundance and SXSW.

Billed as being The Black List for undistributed films, the 2024 Popcorn List highlights independent films that are currently still without domestic U.S. distribution, like the documentary “Chasing Chasing Amy” about the making of Kevin Smith’s comedy.

The other 18 are: “Ajoomma,” “American Pot Story: Oaksterdam,” “Art for Everybody,” “Asog,” “Blood Sweat & Beers,” “Caterpillar,” “Citizen Sleuth,” “City of Wind,” “Crows Are White,...

The inaugural Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (Hiff) in Vietnam has unveiled its line-up of about 100 films, including 12 each for the Southeast Asia competition and for the first or second film competition, with directors Anne Fontaine and Hirokazu Kore-eda among its guests.

Scroll down for line-up

The Asian premiere of French biopic Bolero will open the festival on April 6. Director Fontaine and leading actor Raphaël Personnaz will be present for the film’s Asian premiere, which will take place at the city’s historic Opera House.

Further notable festival guests include acclaimed Japanese director Kore-eda who will receive...

With the focus on mid and short films increasing significantly this year, Osaka Asian Film Festival presented another quite intriguing edition, with the choices from both within Japan and the rest of Asia highlighting the quality of the programming once more. At the same time though, the fact that both Japanese and Korean cinema, which make up for a large part of the program, are not on their best years, does take a toll. Particularly regarding the former, the repetition of the same tropes, and more importantly, the almost complete lack of tension most Japanese movies seem to exhibit nowadays, does border on the annoying. There were still some films that stood out, with “Snowdrop”, “Swimming in a Sand Pool” , “Inch Forward”, and “Girls and Boys” exhibiting some fresh ideas, but the aforementioned fact remains. At the same time, it is also a fact that is quite difficult to find...

The Osaka Asian Film Festival (Oaff) 2024 has announced the results of each award on March 10, 2024. These are as follows:

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 Award Winners

★ Grand Prix (Best Picture Award)

This award is given to the best film among the Competition films, as selected by the jury. The winner receives 500,000 yen. The Oaff 2024 Jury, comprised of Directors Dave Boyle, Angga Dwimas Sasongko, and CEO, Mimosa Films, Inc. Murata Atsuko, having viewed all 14 films in competition, decided as follows:

Winner | “City of Wind” | France, Mongolia. Germany, Portugal, Netherlands, Qatar | Director: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir

Jury Comment:

Working within the confines of the coming of age genre, the Grand Prize winning film illuminates a world we had not seen before and tackles issues of spirituality and intergenerational conflict with a deft and confident hand. The film depicts the growth of the central character with sensitivity and features a revelatory performance at the center.

Korean Action

Korean action drama “A Shop For Killers” has become the most viewed local original on Disney+ in the Asia Pacific region so far in 2024, the streamer has revealed.

Set in contemporary Korea, the eight-part series follows college student Jeong Jian who dives for cover in her childhood home after a series of highly skilled assassins come after her. Fighting to survive, Jian begins to remember invaluable lessons her uncle taught her before his apparent suicide, drawing on them to help her stay alive. Jian now has to uncover her uncle’s hidden past and figure out why so many people are desperate to gain access to her house and the extensive arsenal hidden inside.

The cast includes Lee Dongwook (“Guardian: The Lonely”) and Kim Hyejun (“Connect”). “A Shop For Killers” is based on the popular novel by Kang Jiyoung, written by Ji Hojin and Lee Kwon, and directed...

Oscar winner Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s formalist arthouse drama Evil Does Not Exist won the best film prize Sunday night at the Asia Film Awards in Hong Kong.

The Japanese film industry had a big night overall at the 17th edition of the awards ceremony, which was hosted this year in Hong Kong’s gleaming new Xiqu Centre, part of the city’s $2.7 billion West Kowloon Cultural District development. Japanese festival favorite Hirokazu Kore-eda won best director for his mystery drama Monster, while the great Koji Yakusho took best actor for Wim Wender’s moving minimalist drama Perfect Days. Hamaguchi’s chief collaborator on Evil Does Not Exist, Eiko Ishibashi, won best music and the Kaiju critical and commercial sensation Godzilla Minus One claimed both best visual effects and best sound.

In many ways, it was Zhang Yimou’s night, however. The venerated Chinese director took the stage twice, once to...

Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” was Sunday evening named as the best picture at the Asian Film Awards.

The 17th edition of the prizes was held at the Xiqu Centre, part of the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong.

While “Evil Does Not Exist” and Korean blockbuster “12.12: The Day” had dominated the nominations with six each, including those in the best film category, the prizes on Sunday were much more evenly distributed. No title collected more than two prizes.

Outside, crowds failed to be muted by the March drizzle, though VIP guests were given escorts with purple umbrellas.

Filmmaker and industry attendance was also robust. Those spotted on the red carpet and pre-event cocktails included: Lee Yong Kwan (former chair of the Busan film festival), Tom Yoda, Udine festival heads Sabrina Baracetti and Thomas Bertacche, Anthony Chen, Stanley Kwan, Rina Damayanti, Hong Kong distributor Winnie Tsang,...

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist won Best Film at the Asian Film Awards (AFAs) this evening in Hong Kong. Scroll down for the full list of winners.

This is the second year running that a film helmed by Hamaguchi has picked up the award. He won the top prize last year with Drive My Car. This year, however, the director was not in attendance to accept the award due to what he described as “work commitments” in a video message played at the top of the ceremony.

Evil Does Not Exist, which also picked up an award for original music, debuted at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. The film follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house,...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2024 Oscars Predictions:

Best International Feature Wim Wenders’ ‘Perfect Days’

Weekly Commentary: The United Kingdom is poised to win its first Academy Award with Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” and what a deserved win it will be.

But while I have the floor: it’s time for the...

The world moves fast, and everyone knows it. New technology is increasingly becoming a part of everyday life, no matter where you are in the world. There is a mixture of fear and excitement in the air, as people learn to work, socialize and play in a multitude of new and innovative ways. But do these new ways of living connect us to our neighbors or alienate us from them? When new ways of living become normalized, what happens to old cultural traditions? Director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir explores these questions in her debut feature film ‘City of Wind' to astounding effect: It is a movie that is both profoundly thought-provoking and deeply sentimental.

City of Wind is screening at Cinemasia

The movie delivers its message through a character study of protagonist Ze, a 17 year-old boy living with his family in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital city. Ever since he was a kid,...

“City of Wind” is the debut feature film by Mongolian director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir. Presented last September at the 80th Venice Film Festival, it won the “Best Actor” award in the Horizons section for the performance of Tergel Bold-Erdene. The film received numerous nominations at major world festivals, including the Palm Springs International Film Festival (Best Foreign Language Film – Fipresci Prize), Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival (International Competition), and Asian Film Awards. At the Pingyao International Film Festival, in addition to being nominated for the Rossellini Award and People's Choice Award categories, it was recognized as the Best Director (Roberto Rossellini Award).

City of Wind is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

Without a shadow of a doubt, we are faced with an interesting and promising debut. We find ourselves in the ger district of the icy Ulaanbaatar. A shaman with a deep guttural voice, enveloped in cigarette smoke and hidden behind a traditional mask,...

From March 5 to 10, the 16th edition of the CinemAsia Film Festival will bring Asian cinema to Amsterdam at Studio/K, Rialto De Pijp, and Rialto Vu. Since CinemAsia's first edition in 2004, the Competition program has been at the heart of the festival. This year, the competition features seven titles from a new generation of filmmakers from China, Japan, Indonesia, India, Mongolia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. On March 10, the 2024 CinemAsia Jury Award winner will be announced during the closing ceremony, and the festival will conclude with the film Gaga by Golden Horse-winning director Laha Mebow, the first indigenous female director of Taiwan, who will be in attendance.

Seven competition films covering the diversity of Asia

In the Competition program, CinemAsia puts the spotlight on emerging independent filmmakers with a distinct artistic voice and cinematographic vision. The films showcase the wealth of themes and genres in Asian cinema and reflect a mosaic of cultural,...

Three Japanese films enjoying their world premieres, along with festival favorites “City of Wind” and “Solids by the Seashore,” are set to appear in the 13-title competition section of the Osaka Asian Film Festival in March.

The event will be held March 1-10 at venues including ABC Hall, Cine Libre Umeda, T-Joy Umeda and the Nakanoshima Museum of Art. The opening and closing films will be announced in early February.

The 19th edition of the festival, which will eventually contain 55 feature and short films, is set to also include three special programs – a “Thai Cinema Kaleidoscope,” “Taiwan: Movies on the Move,” and “Special Focus on Hong Kong” – as well as its regular Spotlight Section on underrated Asian films and the Indie Forum of more challenging and innovative works.

The competition titles are: “City of Wind,” by Mongolia’s Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir; “Fire on Water,” by Malaysia’s Sun-j Perumal; “Hyphen,” by...

Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever (“Banel & Adama”) has acquired international rights to “Shambhala,” the first Nepalese film to premiere in competition at the Berlinale or any other top film festival.

Directed by Min Bahadur Bham, “Shambhala” is also the first South Asian film to be selected in Berlinale’s competition lineup after three decades. Bham is best known for his feature debut, “Kalo Pothi,” which won a prize at Venice Critics’ Week in 2015. The helmer previously directed “Bansulli,” which was Nepal’s first selection at the Venice Film Festival in 2012.

“Shambhala” is set in a Himalayan polyandrous village in Nepal, where a newly married and pregnant woman, Pema, tries to make the best of her new life. But soon, her husband Tashi vanishes, prompting her to embark on a journey into the wilderness to find him, accompanied by her monk.

The film shot in the world’s highest settlement, located...

The CinemAsia Film Festival in Amsterdam has unveiled titles from seven different Asian countries for its competition section.

The festival will play at the Studio/K, Rialto De Pijp and Rialto Vu venues March 5-10, 2024. The event will close with the out-of-competition screening of “Gaga,” a drama about indigenous communities in Taiwan, directed by Laha Mebow.

“Gaga” documents the challenges faced by a commune after the death of a respected tribal elder who, while alive, had held things together. Following his death problems that emerge include a land dispute, financial difficulties, an unwanted pregnancy and the risk of over-riding ‘Ga Ga’ or old tribal norms. It debuted at the 2022 Golden Horse festival and won the best director and best supporting actress awards. In 2023, it won a trio of awards including best narrative feature at the Taipei Film Festival.

This year’s seven competition titles include: “A Song Sung Blue,” by China’s Geng Zihan,...

Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights to Lenny and Harpo Guit’s new feature “Heads or Fails,” the duo’s follow-up to Sundance comedy “Mother Schmuckers.”

Now in post, “Heads or Fails” tells the story of Armande Pigeon, a queen of shenanigans in Brussels who struggles to make ends meet because she can’t stop gambling on everything, always ending up on the wrong side of luck. When she teams up with Ronnie one night, everything changes – they win it all. And when you hit a winning streak, you have to know when to stop.

Lenny and Harpo Guit’s previous film, “Mother Schmuckers,” premiered at Sundance in the Midnight section in 2021 and was critically lauded. Along with having directed numerous short films, they also have their own YouTube channel, Clubb Guitos.

“Heads or Fails” stars Maria Cavalier-Bazan, Axel Perin (“Mother Schmuckers”), Maxi Delmelle (“Mother Schmuckers”), Michael Zindel...

A total of 35 films from 24 countries and regions have been shortlisted to compete for 16 awards at this year's Asian Film Awards.

Renowned Japanese director Kurosawa Kiyoshi will serve as the Jury President for this year's Awards. As the first Japanese director to hold this position, Kurosawa Kiyoshi is deeply honored. He will lead the Jury and over 200 Voting Members in selecting the winners for this year's Asian Film Awards.

The winners of other Afa awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Excellence in Asian Cinema Award, Afa Next Generation Award, and Rising Star Award, will be announced later.

The 17th Asian Film Awards Nomination List

Best Film

12.12: The Day (South Korea)

Evil Does Not Exist (Japan)

Paradise

Perfect Days (Japan)

Snow Leopard (Mainland China)

Best Director

Kim Sung-soo | 12.12: The Day (South Korea)

Gu Xiaogang | Dwelling by the West Lake (Mainland China)

Hamaguchi Ryusuke | Evil Does Not Exist (Japan)

Kore-eda Hirokazu...

‘Snow Leopard’, ‘Paradise’, ‘The Goldfinger’ and ‘Godzilla Minus One’ also land multiple nods.

South Korean box office hit 12.12: The Day and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lead the nominations for the 17th Asian Film Awards, with six nods each including best film.

Also up for best film is Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise from Sri Lanka-India, Wim Wenders Perfect Days from Japan and Chinese feature Snow Leopard by the late Pema Tseden.

Scroll down for full list of nominations

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hong Kong on March 10 and will be decided by a...

Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, and the period action pic 12.12: The Day, from Korea, lead the nominations at this year’s Asian Film Awards.

Both films received six nominations, including Best Film and Best Director. Directed by Kim Sung-soo, whose credits include Asura: The City Of Madness and The Flu, 12.12: The Day is set against the backdrop of the real-life military coup of 1979, which resulted in an eight-year military junta in South Korea. The cast includes Hwang Jung-min (The Wailing), Jung Woo-sung (Asura: The City Of Madness), and Lee Sung-min (The Spy Gone North). Released on November 22, the film sailed past the 12 million admissions mark at the Korean box office over the Christmas holiday period, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023 in the market.

Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist — which debuted out of Venice — follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live...

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

Something you often hear cinephiles proclaim is that “Every year is a good year in film.” Well, that’s obviously true––if one pays attention and knows where to look––but then there are also years that are simply better. To me, 2023 has turned out to be one of those.

It’s a year where the top festivals like Cannes, Berlin, and Venice all overperformed with stellar lineups. Geographically speaking, American/UK cinema can be proud of its output while productions from the rest of the world, especially France, Japan, Latin America, didn’t disappoint either. It’s also a year where not only indie/arthouse films delivered, but (some) blockbusters dared to get smart too. Even the presumed Oscar contenders this season include legitimate masterpieces in the mix.

A range of subjects, ranging from hot button to mystical, await Academy voters considering the contenders from South Asia in the international feature category.

The most visible film from the region is certainly Bhutan’s “The Monk and the Gun,” Pawo Choyning Dorji‘s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.” In the film, Dorji uses the first elections in one of the world’s youngest democracies to comment on what is lost as his country modernizes. The Variety critics pick, following its festival premieres at Telluride, Toronto, Rome and Busan, sold to a raft of major territories worldwide, including Roadside Attractions in the U.S.

Another South Asian feature in the Oscar race that’s striking a high profile is Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Zarrar Kahn’s “In Flames,” Pakistan’s entry to the category. The film debuted at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, kicking off a stellar festival run including Toronto,...

Every year since its creation in 1956, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) invites the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The category was previously called the Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed in April 2019 to Best International Feature Film, after the Academy deemed the word “Foreign” to be outdated.

The award is presented annually by the Academy to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. For the 96th Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must be first released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was October 2, 2023, and 92 countries submitted a film. The 15-film shortlist will be announced on December 21, 2023, followed by the official nominations on January 23, 2024.

Here are this edition's Asian Submissions for Best International Feature Film.

Shortlist of 15 films to be announced December 21, nominations out on January 23, 2024.

The Academy has announced eligible features in the categories of international feature film, animation, and documentary for the 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024.

The shortlist of 15 films will be announced on December 21, and the nominations announcement is January 23, 2024.

International

Eighty-eight countries or regions have submitted films eligible for consideration in the international feature film category. An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes long) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track. Namibia is a first-time entrant.

Academy members...

Festival has programmed 75 films from 36 countries.

The Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 20th edition, which runs from November 24-December 2.

The festival is opening with Richard Linklater’s action comedy Hit Man, starring Glen Powell, and is screening 75 films in total from 36 countries.

Marrakech’s official competition, which comprises first and second feature films, includes Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Cannes Competition title Banel & Adama, Lina Soualem’s Venice Giornate degli Autori documentary Bye Bye Tiberias and Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq’s feature debut Hounds, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

Scroll down for full line-up

Johnny Barrington,...

Richard Linklater’s action comedy “Hit Man” is set to open the Marrakech International Film Festival, which has announced its lineup of more than 70 films mixing known titles and fresh fare.

The fest is forging ahead with its 20th edition, which will run Nov. 24- Dec.2 in the ancient Moroccan city despite the Israel-Hamas conflict that has caused cancellations of several other fests in the region, as well as the earthquake that hit the country in September.

“Hit Man,” for which organizers declined to specify whether talent will attend, will screen as part of Marrakech’s red carpet gala screenings. Italian director Matteo Garrone is expected to make the trek for the gala of his Venice prizewinning immigration drama “Io Capitano” and Michel Franco will be coming to present another Venice prizewinner, “Memory,” starring Jessica Chastain, who is presiding over the fest’s main jury.

Also expected on hand for...

The 20th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival has announced its selection, opening with Richard Linklater’s comedy Hit Man.

The event, running from November 24 to December 24, will unfold two months after the devastating earthquake in the nearby Atlas Mountains in September, which killed more than 2,000 people.

The management team has decided to push on with the event to support Marrakech, which suffered very little damage and relies heavily on tourism for its livelihood.

Hit Man will play as part of the festival’s six picture red carpet Gala selection which also includes Matteo Garrone’s Italian Oscar entry Me Captain and Michel Franco’s Memory.

Previously announced high-profile guests due to attend this year include Martin Scorsese, who will act as a mentor to emerging filmmakers attending the industry-focused Atlas Workshops, and Jessica Chastain as president of the jury.

She will be joined by Iranian actress and director Zar Amir,...

Oscar voters in the Best International Feature Film category have received their group assignments for this year’s initial round of voting, with 89 films included on the seven lists that the Academy has sent to members.

The lists, which were obtained by TheWrap, include presumed favorites “The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom), “The Taste of Things” (France), “The Promised Land” (Denmark) and “Perfect Days” (Japan), along with a number of documentaries, among them Estonia’s “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” Brazil’s “Pictures of Ghosts” and Ukraine’s “20 Days in Mariupol.”

The 89 films are four short of the record of 93 qualifying films in the category. The list of group assignments does not make up the Academy’s official list of eligible films; it’s possible that assigned films might still fail to qualify before first-round voting begins on Dec. 18. For the most part, though, films that are included in the group...

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon East-West Award

Huang Jianxin

International Contribution to Chinese Cinema Award

Norman Wang

Fei Mu Awards

Fei Mu Awards: Best Film

“Only the River Flows” Dir. Wei Shujun.

Fei Mu Awards: Best Director

Geng Zihan for “A Song Sung Blue”

Film Review: A Song Sung Blue (2023) by Zihan Geng

Fei Mu Awards: Best Actress

Lyu Xingchen for “Carefree Days” (dir. Xu Lingling)

Fei Mu Awards: Best Actor

Zhang Yu for “Records Without Words” (dir. Li Lizhong)

Fei Mu Awards: Jury Award

“Dance Still” Dirs. Qin Muqiu, Zhan Hanqi

Fei Mu Awards: Special Mention (joint winners)

“The Night Rain South Township” Dir. Li Binbin.

“Undoing Time” Dir. Li Pu

Fei Mu Awards: Best Short Film

“Questions to Heaven” Dirs. Wenqi, Zheng Ziyi.

Roberto Rossellini Awards

Roberto Rossellini Awards: Best Film

“Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” Dir. Pham Thien An

Roberto Rossellini Awards: Best Director

Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir for “City of Wind...

Two titles which debuted at Cannes this year were named as the major prize-winners at the seventh edition of the Pingyao International Film Festival in China.

Wei Shujun’s black comedy-thriller “Only the River Flows” won the festival’s Fei Mu prize for best Chinese film. “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” by Vietnamese feature film debutant Pham Thien An, won the Roberto Rossellini prize for best international film. The picture is a Vietnam, Singapore, France, Spain co-production and won Cannes’ Camera d’Or for best first film.

Other prizes went to Hong Kong-based Norman Wang, a veteran consultant, marketeer and festival scout, and to Huang Jianxin, a leading mainland Chinese director-screenwriter and producer whose directing career has ranged from satire to propaganda. He also produced Sun Zhou’s Gong Li- and Tony Leung-starring “Zhou Yu’s Train.”

The festival, originally conceived by Jia Zhangke and Marco Mueller, is held in the Unesco-heritage,...

Wei Shujun’s Only The River Flows was presented with Best Film in the Fei Mu Awards at this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival (Pyiff), while Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell, directed by Vietnam’s Pham Thien An, won Best Film in the festival’s Roberto Rossellini Awards.

The Fei Mu Awards recognise up-and-coming Chinese filmmakers selected in the festival’s Hidden Dragons section. The Roberto Rossellini Awards are presented to films in the Crouching Tigers section for emerging international filmmakers.

Both Only The River Flows and Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell premiered at this year’s Cannes film festival, the former in Un Certain Regard and the latter in Directors Fortnight where it won the Camera d’Or.

Geng Zihan won Best Director in the Fei Mu Awards for A Song Sung Blue, which also premiered in Cannes Directors Fortnight. Luc Besson, who was in Pingyao with Dogman,...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Don’t have a favorite Mongolian film yet? Worry no more. City of Wind, writer-director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s feature debut, is here to expand your cinematic map and win your heart. Following a premiere in Venice, it screened at the Filmfest Hamburg and proved an absolute charmer. Slight as it may seem in narrative scope, this coming-of-age tale buzzes with tenderness and so much soul it feels positively healing.

We are introduced to the protagonist at a ceremony performed inside a yurt. Accompanied by well-wishers, an old man is kneeling in front of someone covered head to toe in bells, feathers, and a giant headgear, addressed only as “Spirit Grandfather.” From behind the face veil, a raspy and ancient voice answers the old man’s questions and offers solace. When the ritual is over and the traditional garb removed, “Spirit Grandfather” turns out to be 17-year-old Ze (Tergel Bold-Erdene), a...

China’s Pingyao International Film Festival has announced the line-up for its seventh edition (October 11-18), which will open with Wei Shujun’s Only The River Flows and close with the world premiere of Fei Yu’s Football On The Roof.

Wei’s 1990s-set noir thriller, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes film festival, is also one of 11 titles competing in Pingyao’s Hidden Dragons competition for emerging Chinese filmmakers. Football On The Roof tells the story of a female soccer team fighting against the odds in the remote mountains of Yunnan province.

The Hidden Dragons line-up also includes Geng Zihan’s A Song Sung Blue, which premiered in Cannes Directors Fortnight, along with world premieres including Hao Feihuan’s Records Without Words, Li Binbin’s The Night Rain South Township and Yang Pingdao’s A Romantic Fragment (see full line-up below).

Pingyao has also...

The indie drama City of Wind, marking the feature directorial debut of Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, has been set as Mongolia’s International Feature Oscar entry for 2024.

The news comes following its recent world premiere in the Orizzonti Competition of the Venice Film Festival, where actor Tergel Bold-Erdene won the Venice Horizons Award for Best Actor.

The film from the creative nicknamed Dulmaa tells the story of Ze (Tergel Bold-Erdene), a 17-year-old serving as the shaman for his village, who at the same time studies hard at school, in order to succeed in the cold, callous society of modern Mongolia. When Ze encounters Maralaa (Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba), his senses are awakened and another reality seems possible.

Also starring Bulgan Chuluunbat, Ganzorig Tsetsgee, and Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren, City of Wind is produced by Katia Khazak and Charlotte Vincent. Writer-director Purev-Ochir adapted the film loosely from her debut short Mountain Cat, which premiered in competition at...

I first encountered Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir's work back in 2021 at the Sundance Film Festival. I was enchanted by the short film "Shiluus" (then titled "Mountain Cat") about a girl in modern-day Mongolia who is brought to a local shaman by her mother. It is only when the shaman lifts his mask that we realize that the man beneath the mask is merely a boy, the same age as the girl. When they meet outside after the shaman ceremony, the two strike up a rapport that feels both flirtatious and youthful. I remember thinking back then that I would watch a full-length feature exactly about this concept. So, when I saw that Purev-Ochir had indeed turned that idea into a film called City of Wind, I felt compelled to watch it.

For more on Venice's standout films, read our dispatch coverage: "Biopics Reloaded" and "Hitmen, A.I., and Dangerous Women."Poor Things.Main Competition(Jury: Damien Chazelle (chair), Saleh Bakri, Jane Campion, Mia Hansen-Løve, Gabriele Mainetti, Martin McDonagh, Santiago Mitre, Laura Poitras, and Shu Qi)Golden Lion: Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize: Evil Does Not Exist (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)Silver Lion Best Director: Matteo Garrone (Io Capitano)Special Jury Prize: Green Border (Agnieszka Holland)Best Screenplay: Pablo Larraín and Guillermo Calderón (El Conde)Best Actress: Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla)Best Actor: Peter Sarsgaard (Memory)Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress: Seydou Sarr (Io Capitano)Explanation For Everything.HORIZONSJury: Jonas Carpignano (chair), Kaouther Ben Hania, Kahlil Joseph, Jean-Paul Salomé, and Tricia Truttle)Best Film: Explanation For Everything (Gábor Reisz)Best Director: Mika Gustafson (Paradise Is Burning)Special Jury Prize: Una Sterminata Domenica (Alain Parroni)Best Actress:...

Although Italy and France took the lion's share of awards at the 80th Biennale, and Yorgos Lanthinmos took home the Golden Lion, a number of productions from Asia still found space to shine, starting with the latest festival sensation, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who went home with the Silver Lion for “Evil Does not Exist”. In more detail:

Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize to:

Aku Wa Sonzai Shinai (Evil Does Not Exist) by Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japan)

the Orizzonti Award For Best Actor to:

Tergel Bold-Erdene in the film Ser Ser Salhi (City of Wind) by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir

Lion Of The Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award For A Debut Film to:

Ai Shi Yi Ba Qiang (Love Is A Gun) di Lee Hong-Chi (Hong Kong/Taiwan)

Check the review of the film Film Review: Love Is A Gun (2023) by Lee Hong-Chi|

the Venice Classics Award For Best Restored Film to:

Ohikkoshi (Moving...

The young people of Mongolia are caught between centuries of tradition and the demands of the modern world in City of Wind, the new film and first full-length feature from award-winning shorts director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (Snow in September, Mountain Cat).

The film, which premiered in Venice and is screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, follows the relationship between Ze, a 17-year-old, gentle Mongolian shaman and Maralaa, a young woman who takes him outside his world into the, for him, alien urban world of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital city.

First-timer Tergel Bold-Erdene, who plays Ze, won the best actor honor for the Venice Horizons sidebar for his performance. In an exclusive first trailer of the film (see below), viewers follow Ze as he moves between the ancient spiritual traditions of his homeland and the barrage of the modern world. Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba plays Maralaa. Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren, Ganzorig Tsetsgee and Bulgan Chuluunbat co-star.

With Venice Film Festival wrapping up after quite an epic year, Damien Chazelle’s jury handed out their awards, giving the top prize to Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, led by La La Land star Emma Stone. Elsewhere, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Matteo Garrone, Priscilla‘s Cailee Spaeny, and Memory‘s Peter Sarsgaard picked up top prizes.

Check out the list below courtesy of Cineuropa.

Competition

Golden Lion for Best Film

Poor Things – Yorgos Lanthimos (Ireland/UK/USA)

Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize

Evil Does Not Exist – Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Japan)

Silver Lion – Award for Best Director

Matteo Garrone – Me Captain (Italy/Belgium)

Volpi Cup for Best Actress

Cailee Spaeny – Priscilla (USA/Italy)

Volpi Cup for Best Actor

Peter Sarsgaard – Memory (Mexico/USA)

Award for Best Screenplay

Guillermo Calderón, Pablo Larraín – El conde (Chile)

Special Jury Prize

Green Border – Agnieszka Holland (Poland/France/Czech Republic/Belgium)

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Talent

Seydou Sarr...