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After an extremely successful five days, the 13th edition of CinemAsia Film Festival has come to a close. The festival had its highest seat occupancy ever and the program also enjoyed great public acclaim. As is tradition, during the Closing Ceremony of the 13th edition of CinemAsia Film Festival, the Competition Jury Award and the new Tao Kae Noi Young Critics Award were presented last night. The winners received an award specially designed by Megan Carapezza (artist and designer). The Taiwanese film Heavy Craving, which represents a strong female narrative of body shaming for international women’s day and was screened as Closing Film, was particularly well received by the audience.

Competition Jury Award

The Competition Jury, consisting of Aileen Li (Producer Detention), Inge de Leeuw (Programmer Iffr), Julian Ross (Programmer Iffr / Locarno), Floortje Smit (Film Journalist De Volkskrant) and Pete Wu (Writer and journalist), unanimously chose the Chinese “Balloon“, directed by Pema Tseden.

“Bumi Manusia” is an adaptation of the critically-acclaimed historical novel of the same title by author Pramoedya Ananta Toer. The narrative is rooted in the history of colonialism from Indonesia. And the love-story dwells in the concepts of being an ‘outsider’ or ‘insider’ – based on the historical notes of Dutch-ruling in their country.

“Bumi Manusia” is screening at Cinemasia Film Festival

An inter-racial relationship is at the center of the film, which becomes the crux of what the society around them dares to question. A purebred Javanese royal Minke (Iqbaal Ramadhan) gets attracted towards Indo mixed-Dutch girl Annelies Mellema (Mawar Eva de Jongh). Since this relationship didn’t fit the cruel customs of the Dutch regime of the time, it was bound to cause controversies. Having a mutual attraction was not enough for them to stay in a healthy communion. There was a pressure of societal expectations. And while societal...