Renowned Director and Esteemed Actors Assemble in Hong Kong for the Highly Anticipated “Asian Cinerama”
Striving to connect cinephiles and filmmakers across different regions in Asia and expanding the Asian film market worldwide, we hope to facilitate diverse cultural consumption within the global community through the cinematic medium.
Presented by the Asian Film Awards Academy in collaboration with Broadway Cinematheque, with financial support from Create Hong Kong and the Film Development Fund, Asian Cinerama – 17th Asian Film Awards Selection has come to a close! Over the course of five days, not only did local audiences enjoy a feast of seven outstanding nominated films from the 17th Asian Film Awards (AFA) and two special screenings, but also the opportunity to interact with world-class filmmaking masterminds, ranging from renowned Japanese director KUROSAWA Kiyoshi to aspiring actress Audrey LIN.
Kicking off the series was the Sri Lankan film Paradise, which received multiple nominations at the 17th Asian Film Awards. Set against the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, Paradise is the latest work from Prasanna VITHANAGE, who is recognised as one of the most prominent contemporary film directors in Sri Lanka. During the film’s post-screening discussion, VITHANAGE pointed out that history is an ongoing dialogue between an individual and the past. In the face of turbulent conditions, he found himself pondering the question, “What can I do?”, which led him to begin documenting his emotions, and eventually gave birth to the screenplay of this film.
Broadway Cinematheque welcomed City of Wind leading star and Mongolian aspiring actor Tergel BOLD-ERDENE, who received the Best Newcomer award at the 17th Asian Film Awards. BOLD-ERDENE confessed that prior to filming, his understanding of religions in Mongolia was rather limited; however, this role allowed him to gain a profound appreciation of Shamanism and even find a mentor from whom he learnt about all things Shamanic.
One of the highlights of Asian Cinerama is the special screening of Tokyo Sonata, directed by this year’s AFA jury president KUROSAWA Kiyoshi. Having won the Jury Prize of Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival and Best Film at the 3rd Asian Film Awards, the film is a milestone in KUROSAWA’s career. In response to an audience member’s question about interesting anecdotes from his collaboration with actor YAKUSHO Koji, KUROSAWA shared, “Before Tokyo Sonata, YAKUSHO took on roles such as a samurai, a prime minister, and a good father, which I wasn’t particularly interested in. When I told him that he would be playing a thief this time around, he appeared to be very excited and immediately agreed to join in.”
It is impossible to speak of celebrated Japanese productions of the past year without mentioning Evil Does Not Exist, HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke’s latest work, which received the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. The film was also honoured with the Best Film award at the 17th Asian Film Awards, and marks musician ISHIBASHI Eiko’s second collaboration with HAMAGUCHI. In the film’s post-screening talk, ISHIBASHI said that the duo was able to spend more time bouncing ideas off of each other, which was a rare opportunity under the film’s tight production budget. Expressing her gratitude, she likened the experience to the act of ‘moving forward together in darkness’.
The Korean historical drama 12.12: The Day received 6 nominations in this year’s AFA. Director KIM Sung-soo and actor PARK Hoon, who went on to win Best Supporting Actor, met the audiences prior to the screening. The pair happily greeted the audience in Cantonese, while PARK Hoon showered the audience with finger heart signs. The interaction was filled with joyful moments, with the duo taking group selfies with the audience and gifting autographed posters to six lucky members. The session ended in a high, with cheers erupting as PARK invited a female viewer to stand beside him.
For his film Dwelling by the West Lake, Chinese director GU Xiaogang became the youngest recipient of the Kurosawa Akira Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival. GU attended the film screening with actress JIANG Qinqin, Best Actress at the 17th Asian Film Awards, and actor CHEN Jianbin. Towards this, GU expressed his excitement saying that it had been a long time since he last saw the pair. The actors showed their gratitude towards receiving the roles, remarking on connections between the characters and their experience, which allowed them to deliver natural and compelling performances.
Audrey LIN, the lead actress of Trouble Girl, was recently crowned the youngest winner of the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress. She expressed hopes to continue acting and perhaps take part in Hong Kong productions. Her co-star, Terrance LAU Chun-him, highlighted the complex emotions and conflicted relationships he encountered when embodying this role, which he tackled through in-depth conversations with the director to understand the multi-faceted character.
Aside from Tokyo Sonata, this year’s Asian Cinerama also brought back to the silver screen the Japanese film Egoist, which received multiple nominations at the Asian Film Awards last year and was selected for many international film festivals. The film’s leading star SUZUKI Ryohei was honoured with the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award of this year’s AFA while his co-lead MIYAZAWA Hio served as one of the youth ambassadors. In the post-screening talk, the duo, alongside director MATSUNAGA Daishi, warmly greeted everyone in Cantonese and Mandarin and welcomed questions from the audience. MATSUNAGA shared that the project began with his desire to create a film for those who were experiencing loss and felt lonely during the pandemic. When asked if the protagonist, Kosuke, is both loving and selfish, the director joked that questions from Hong Kong audiences were always difficult. He proceeded to quote a line from the film, “as long as we believe it’s love, then it’s love”, and suggested that love and selfishness coexist.
While the 17th Asian Film Awards has officially come to an end, the Academy will continue to organise a wide array of film-related events in the coming year. Striving to connect cinephiles and filmmakers across different regions in Asia and expanding the Asian film market worldwide, we hope to facilitate diverse cultural consumption within the global community through the cinematic medium.
Please contact us if any questions,
Email: info@afa-academy.com
Tel: +852 3195 0608
Website: www.afa-academy.com
