Susanna Tjokro, Contributor, Singapore
Two traditional film powerhouses -- India and China -- reexerted their dominance in Asia's film industry in Asia, taking five and three awards respectively in the recent second Asian Festival of First Films in Singapore.
India, whose Bollywood movies have long ruled the Asian market, won the categories of Best Director, Best Producer, Best Actress, Best Cinematorgraphy and Best Documentary Film.
China, on the other hand, won Best Screenplay, Best Film and Foreign Correspondents Association Choice awards.
The second Asian Festival of First Films, which kicked off on Nov. 29, came to an end on Dec. 6 at the Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel. At least 22 feature films and documentaries from 13 countries were screened daily at Golden Village Cinemas and The Arts House.
China's The Road, a beautiful love story spanning over three decades, was the star of the festival, winning three of the 10 award categories for Best Film, Best Screenplay and Foreign Press Choice's ""Purple Orchid"" Awards. The Road has captured many hearts in terms of the plot, cinematography and superb acting.
The film traces the emotive relationship between Lao Cui, an old bus driver working in a small town in Yunnan province, and Chunfen, a young and pretty bus conductor who is also Lao Cui's apprentice. The two proved to be a mismatched couple thrown together due to circumstances. This movie evolves through the life of Chunfen over a period of three decades.
Considering that The Road is a first time movie, the make-up was particularly stunning. The transformation of Chunfen from a cheerful, pretty young woman to a weary old woman was simply remarkable.
Just like any other film festival, not all movies screened during the event appealed to the audience. Some were outright boring. Journalists covering the event, however, chose The Road as their favorite movie. It is the movie that we wanted to talk and write about -- in other words, a movie that we recommend other people to watch.
For the two categories of Best Producer and Best Director, the jury decided to give the awards to Indian Ramakant Gaikward for Dombivli Fast and Lam Nguyen for Journey from the Fall of the United States.
Asian origin in AFFF is defined as being of Asian descent (i.e. with at least one parent being native to an Asian country or the applicant being a citizen of a Asian country).
Each winner received a dazzling Swarovski trophy as well as an exclusive Raymond Weil timepiece. Winners of the Best Director, Best Producer and Best Cinematographer categories also won a film or an audio short course of their choice at a maximum cost of S$22,000 from the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) Institute, the world's largest international network for media technology education.
Several of the AFFF 2005 award winners -- most notably The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, Electric Shadows, I for India and Dear Pyongyang -- have gone on to win major awards at Berlin, Las Palmas, New York, Rotterdam and Sundance film festivals.
This year's international jury panel boasts well-known names from the movie world such as actress and Hong Kong Film Award winner Cecilia Yip; award-winning screen writer Jim Hart (best-known for Bram Stoker's Dracula); internationally acclaimed Indian film director Ketan Mehta of Mangal Pandey (The Rising Fame); BBC Asia Awards winner and British documentary director Michael York; as well as German scholar and director Victor Langhoff.
The closing ceremony was attended by a celebrity crowd, including British actress Gina McKee as well as renowned Hong Kong actor, Anthony Wong.
List of winners
Best Screenplay:
Zhang Jiarui & Daju Yuan for The Road (China)
Best Director
Ramakant Gaikward for Dombivli Fast (India) and Lam Nguyen for Journey from the Fall (USA)
Best Producer
Ramakant Gaikward for Dombivli Fast (India) and Lam Nguyen for Journey from the Fall (USA)
Best Actor:
Le Go in The Road in the Air (Taiwan)
Best Actress
Kangana Ranaut in Gangster (India)
Best Cinematographer
Tassaduq Hussain for Omkara (India) & Bobby Singh for Gangster (India)
Best Documentary
One Show Less (India) produced by Nayantara Kotian
Best Director of Documentary
Roseanne Liang, Banana in a Nutshell (New Zealand)
Best Film
The Road (China)
Foreign Correspondents Association Choice ""Purple Orchid"" Award The Road (China)
For more information on the AFFF, please log on to www.asianfirstfilms.com or visit the blog at www.afff2006.blogspot.com
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