The Asian Film Awards, an annual prestigious event celebrating Asian cinema, brings film talents from all over the world together, promoting Asian film culture to the world, while also facilitating exchanges between cinephiles and filmmakers. As the kick-off event for the 17th Asian Film Awards season, Asian Cinerama – 17th Asian Film Awards Selection, presented by the Asian Film Awards Academy in collaboration with Broadway Cinematheque, will be the first of a series of exciting programmes. Seven outstanding nominated films of the 17th Asian Film Awards will be screened in Hong Kong alongside two special screenings.  

World-class directors KUROSAWA Kiyoshi, KORE-EDA Hirokazu, GU Xiaogang, Prasanna VITHANAGE and MATSUNAGA Daishi will greet the Hong Kong audience at screenings. In addition, screenwriter SAKAMOTO Yuji (Monster), composer ISHIBASHI Eiko (Evil Does Not Exist), actors and actresses JIANG Qinqin, CHEN Jianbin (Dwelling by the West Lake), Audrey LIN, Terrance LAU Chun Him (Trouble Girl), Tergel BOLD-ERDENE (City of Wind), SUZUKI Ryohei and MIYAZAWA Hio (Egoist) will also attend these sharing sessions. This is the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that should not be missed! 

The Asian Cinerama – 17th Asian Film Awards Selection is presented by the Asian Film Awards Academy, in collaboration with Broadway Cinematheque and financially supported by Create Hong Kong and the Film Development Fund. Screenings will be held from 7 March (Thu) to 11 March (Mon) at Broadway Cinematheque, PREMIERE ELEMENTS and MOViE MOViE Cityplaza. Tickets will be available starting from 24 February. Please visit the Asian Film Awards Academy website (www.afa-academy.com) or Broadway Circuit website (www.cinema.com.hk) for more ticketing information. 

Screenings of Nine Featured Asian Films with Three Hong Kong Premieres  

This Asian Cinerama features three Best Film nominated films: 12.12: The Day, Evil Does Not Exist and Paradise. The selection also includes Dwelling by the West Lake, Monster (both receiving three nominations), City of Wind (nominated for Best New Director and Best Newcomer), and Trouble Girl (nominated for Best Actress). Two screenings of special presentation include Tokyo Sonata, the masterpiece of Japanese director KUROSAWA Kiyoshi, and Egoist, which got three nominations at the 16th Asian Film Awards. Among them, audience will be joining the Hong Kong premieres of 12.12: The Day, Paradise and Dwelling by the West Lake! 

Four Post-screening Talks of Creation Process in-depth 

We are honored to have respected international filmmakers with us at the post-screening talks, including the AFA17 Jury President KUROSAWA Kiyoshi, with his masterpiece Tokyo Sonata. The film won the Jury Prize of Cannes Un Certain Regard and the Best Film at the 3rd Asian Film Awards. Director KUROSAWA will attend the screening of Tokyo Sonata to share on his creative journey over the years. Director KORE-EDA Hirokazu usually writes his own screenplay, but Monster was an exception. He collaborated with renowned screenwriter SAKAMOTO Yuji. This critically acclaimed work, which adopts the narrative structure of multiple perspectives, won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival. It will be an exceptional opportunity for the audience in Hong Kong to join the conversation with this pair of reputed filmmakers on their collaboration. Prasanna VITHANAGE is one of the most important Sri Lankan directors, whose works address social and political issues of the country. Winner of the Kim Jiseok Award at the Busan International Film Festival, Paradise is a story set in the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. Writer-director VITHANAGE will present his film and discuss the current situation of the Sri Lankan cinema. After winning the Best Original Music at the Asian Film Awards for Drive My Car last year, musician ISHIBASHI Eiko has joined forces again with director HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke. Originally a visual project created for a music performance, the footage was developed into the feature Evil Does Not Exist. ISHIBASHI will talk about her experience in film music composing and her collaboration with director HAMAGUCHI. 

Four Screenings Showing up in Filmmakers in Attendance 

Nominees of the 17th Asian Film Awards will be joining sessions of Filmmakers in Attendance, which include the youngest winner of the Kurosawa Akira Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival, director GU Xiaogang together with cast members of Dwelling by the West Lake, JIANG Qinqin and CHEN Jianbin, winner of Orizzonti Award for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival Tergel BOLD-ERDENE from City of Wind, lead actor and actress in Trouble Girl – the youngest winner Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actress Audrey LIN and nominee of the Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Performer Terrance LAU Chun Him, director MATSUNAGA Daishi and the winners of Mainichi Film Awards for Best Actor and Supporting actor SUZUKI Ryohei and MIYAZAWA Hio of Egoist will attend screenings of their respective films to meet the audience. 

Asian Cinerama – 17th Asian Film Awards Selection 

Screening schedule: 

Paradise 

7 March 2024 (Thu) 19:30 Broadway Cinematheque 

Prasanna VITHANAGE is one of most important contemporary film directors in Sri Lanka. This film set in the Sri Lanka’s economic crisis won the Kim Ji-seok Award at the Busan International Film Festival. 

Guests: Prasanna VITHANAGE