SFIAAFF 2009: Mosque in Morgantown and Forgotten Woman
Smitha Radhakrishnan reports on two of the documentary selections from this year's San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
SFIAAFF 2009: Project Kashmir
Directors Senain Kheshgi and Geeta V. Patel probe the Kashmiri conflict by turning their cameras on themselves in Project Kashmir.
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Forever Enthralled actor Yu Shaoqun
A Celebration of Asian Cinema, Hong Kong-style
The 3rd annual Asian Film Awards once again did justice to the difficult task of celebrating the best in Asian cinema.
This year's Asian Film Awards benefitted from unpredictability. The Good, the Bad, the Weird led the way with nominations, but since the nominating committee doesn't overlap with the final awards jury (headed by Michelle Yeoh), anything goes in the final tally. And as usual, the Asian Film Awards didn't disappoint, going out of its way to award deserving films that otherwise held no indication of winning. Like Hirokazu Kore-eda's masterful Still Walking winning for best director, despite no nomination for best picture. Or Gina Pareño as best supporting actress, despite competing against her fellow Service co-star Jaclyn Jose.
The best part of the awards announcement was that no film received more than one award, except best picture winner Tokyo Sonata, which also won best screenplay. Awards were spread across not just films, but films from various nations and of various production sizes. This is important in such an awards ceremony which aims to speak for an entire continent. The amazing thing is that though many films were certainly overlooked, the Asian Film Awards were able to keep everyone happy without losing any of its credibility as a critical body.
Unfortunate, though not at all surprising, is the fact that as a ceremony, the Asian Film Awards are a very Chinese-centric event. While the winners and the jurors represent Central, East, South, and Southeast Asia, the celebrities present mostly hailed from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, where the ceremony took place. Special guests too, like Hou Hsiao-hsien and Brigitte Lin from Taiwan, gave the impression that the ceremony assumed a certain film audience. Additionally, many of the Chinese speeches were left untranslated, making the translations of certain Japanese and Korean speeches awkward and alienating in comparison. It's perhaps not surprising that the awards show was picked up for TV broadcast mostly by Chinese-language networks around the world.
That said, only in its third year, the Asian Film Awards is a work in progress. While most award shows boast stars to gain international stature, the AFAs have smartly chosen to gain credibility through its honorees. The winners at this year's awards were:
Best Film: Tokyo Sonata
Best Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu, Still Walking
Best Actor: Motoki Masahiro, Departures
Best Actress: Zhou Xun, The Equation of Love and Death
Best Newcomer: Yu Shaoqun, Forever Enthralled
Best Supporting Actor: Jung Woo-sung, The Good, the Bad, the Weird
Best Supporting Actress: Gina Pareño, Service
Best Screenwriter: Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Max Mannix, Tanaka Sachiko, Tokyo Sonata
Best Cinematographer: Jola Dylewska, Tulpan
Best Production Designer: Daniel Yan-kong Lee, The Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon
Best Composer: Hisaishi Joe, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Best Editor: Kim Sun-min, The Chaser
Best Visual Effects: Craig Hayes, Red Cliff
Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to Asian Cinema: Film Workshop
Edward Yang New Talent Award: Wei Te-sheng, Cape No. 7
Nielsen Box Office Award presented by the Hollywood Reporter: Priyanka Chopra
Date Posted: 4/3/2009