Notizie

We say it every year, but that’s only because it’s true every year: The New York Asian Film Festival is the most fun you could have at the movies this summer. And that’s especially true this summer, as the festival — which proudly brings American crowds into “the trenches” of Asian cinema — is expanding its mission statement with a blockbuster slate that incudes an ass-kicking Don Lee sequel (“The Roundup: Punishment”), the world premiere of a new “Baby Assassins” movie, a Louis Koo/Sammo Hung crime epic fresh from Cannes (“Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”), and more can’t-miss spectacles that demand major international attention.

But Nyaff isn’t just growing bigger and wider; it’s growing deeper as well. The festival’s 2024 edition offers one of the richest and most inclusive slates that Nyaff has ever assembled (no mean feat), with programming that ranges from hard-hitting Taiwanese social dramas,...

Busan Dean Appointment

Zhang Lu, the Chinese Korean director, has been appointed as dean of the Chanel x Biff Asian Film Academy, part of the Busan International Film Festival.

Zhang has been making feature films since 2004, when his “Tang Poetry” won acclaim at the Locarno and Vancouver festivals. He has since made titles including “Grain in Ear” (2005), which won the New Currents Award at Busan, “Desert Dream” and the recent “The Shadowless Tower.” He was also a professor at Yonsei University for eight years.

Indonesia’s Kamila Andini was announced as the Academy’s directing mentor, while Urata Hideho is set as cinematography mentor.

The Academy’s 20-day curriculum runs Sept. 22nd to Oct. 11th. The main festival runs Oct. 2-11 and the Asian Film Market (Oct. 5-8).

Old Fox Keeps Winning

“Old Fox,” directed by Hsiao Ya-chuan, won five of the top prizes at the Taipei Film Awards. Its haul included best feature,...

The New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff) has revealed the features that will compete for this year’s Uncaged Award and that Hong Kong actor Nicholas Tse will receive the Screen International Star Asia Award.

The eight-strong competition for best feature film at the festival, running July 12-28, will include the North American premiere of Thai hit How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, directed by Pat Boonnitipat.

The film, which ranks as this year’s biggest film at the Thai box office to date, is a family drama that stars popular Thai singer Putthipong Assaratanakul (aka Billkin) as a...

Awards News

Hit crime thriller “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” received 13 nominations for the upcoming Taipei Film Festival’s Taipei Film Awards. These include nominations for best feature, best director, best screenplay, best actor, best supporting actress, and best supporting actor. It was followed by “Old Fox” with ten nominations and “Big,” with eight.

The film tells the story of a gangster who discovers that he is only the country’s third most wanted criminal and, before he dies, sets out to eliminate those ranking above him.

The best film contenders are “Salli,” “Trouble Girl,” “Big,” “Old Fox” and “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon.”

The best actor nominees include Frederick Lee for “Fish Memories,” Bai Run-yin for “Old Fox,” Vic Chou for “Be With Me,” Ethan Juan for “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” and King Jieh-wen for “A Journey in Spring.” The best actress...

Led by an excellent performance by Golden Horse winner, 12-year-old Audrey Lin, who had already proven her talent in “American Girl” but really lifts off here, “Trouble Girl” focuses on a girl with Adhd, in a style that will remind many of “Amiko”, but is also a rather different animal.

Trouble Girl is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival 2024

The girl in focus is Xiaoxiao and her energy and high sensitivity has been causing problems for her, her parents, and her classmates since childhood. And while the school environment offers some consolation, as the teachers of her classroom have explained her situation to other students and asked for understanding and help, the same does not apply in her home, as her father is constantly abroad working and her mother, Wei-fang, is really struggling. One of the most supportive teachers at school is Paul, who does retain, however, an affair with Wei-fang,...

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...

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,...

Audrey Lin began acting in theatre at the age of seven and in 2021, she gained recognition for her role in her debut film “American Girl”, for which she was nominated for Best New Talent at the Taipei Film Awards the following year. For her role in “Trouble Girl”, she won Best Actress at the Golden Horse awards, thus becoming the youngest to do so, at the age of 12.

On the occasion of Trouble Girl screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival, we speak with her about the award, portraying a girl with Adhd in the movie, her cooperation with her co-actors, the most difficult scene, juggling school and acting, and other topics.

Trouble Girl is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

For your performance in “Trouble Girl”, you won a Golden Horse Award. Did you expect this success, and how did you feel when you won?

I actually harbored no expectation for such recognition,...

Studied in the department of psychology at Taiwan University. Chin's shorts Lucky Draw (2019) and A Cold Summer (2019) have been recognized with awards at the New York Festivals – TV & Film Awards, Arc Ff, Golden Bell Awards, Kaohsiung Ff and have also been selected by Clermont-Ferrand International Short Ff, Taipei Golden Horse Ff, Short Shorts Ff Asia, and Singapore Chinese Ff. The screenplay Moon Spoon was awarded with 43rd Excellent Screenplay Awards. His latest featured film is Trouble Girl (2023). His project A Ghost In The Market was selected for the Hkiff Industry Project Market 2024.

On the occasion of his film “Trouble Girl”, screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival, we talked with him about shooting a film about a girl with Adhd and the research he did for the movie, kids and their issues nowadays, shooting in a school with kids as actors, Paul and the owl, and many other topics

Trouble Girl...

Led by an excellent performance by Golden Horse winner, 12-year-old Audrey Lin, who had already proven her talent in “American Girl” but really lifts off here, “Trouble Girl” focuses on a girl with Adhd, in a style that will remind many of “Amiko”, but is also a rather different animal.

Trouble Girl is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

The girl in focus is Xiaoxiao and her energy and high sensitivity has been causing problems for her, her parents, and her classmates since childhood. And while the school environment offers some consolation, as the teachers of her classroom have explained her situation to other students and asked for understanding and help, the same does not apply in her home, as her father is constantly abroad working and her mother, Wei-fang, is really struggling. One of the most supportive teachers at school is Paul, who does retain, however, an affair with Wei-fang,...

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...

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (Hkiffs) has unveiled 26 in-development projects for the 22nd Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf), which will become part of the newly expanded Hkiff Industry Project Market.

The lineup features both veteran and rising filmmakers including Koji Fukada, Hong Khaou, Jang Kun-jae, Qiu Jiongjiong, Patiparn Boontarig, Wang Xiaoshuai, Teruhisa Yamamoto, and Zhang Lu. The projects cover comedy, horror, action, romance and family drama, including seven first features, two animations and a string of cross-country collaborations.

Scroll down for full list of projects

“The selection is a testament to the resurgence of diversity and the revitalisation of international collaborations,...

Leading Asian film directors including Josh Kim, Fukada Koji and Patiparn Boontarig line up to pitch their in-development projects at the March edition of the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf).

Leading directors Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Lu will also be on the ground at Haf, operating as producers. So too will established producers Yamamoto Teruhisa (“Drive My Car”) and Michael J. Werner.

The 22nd edition of the Haf project market will run March 11-13 and sit alongside the four-day FilMart (March 11-14) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Haf is operated by The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society and this year will showcase 26 in-development projects. This year it will also be accompanied by the first edition of the Hkiff Industry – CAA China Genre Initiative (Hcg), which aims to support the development of Chinese language genre films.

Among the highlights: Wang Xiaoshuai will produce Zhang Yushan...

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...

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...

China-set drama Stonewalling, co-directed by husband-and-wife team Ryuji Otsuka and Huang Ji, won best narrative feature at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards, which is celebrating its 60th edition this year.

The film, which premiered in Venice and won best film at Hong Kong film festival’s Young Cinema Competition, follows a young woman in mainland China grappling with issues around career, relationships, health and fertility. It also won best editing, which was shared by Otsuka and Taiwan’s Liao Ching-sung, with the latter winning his first Golden Horse award after 12 nominations stretching back four decades.

The awards were evenly spread among the nominated films. Taiwan’s Wu Kang-ren won best leading actor for his role as a deaf-mute in Malaysian drama Abang Adik. Best actress went to 12-year-old Audrey Lin for her role in Trouble Girl, making her the youngest ever best actress winner at the Golden Horse awards.

Best...