The curtain fell on the 22nd edition of theAsian Film Festival directed by Antonio Termenini, which took place at the Farnese cinema in Rome from8 to 16 April 2025. The winners were announced by the jury composed of Giulio Base, Gianluca Arnone and Luca Bove.
The Best Film Award went to the Vietnamese film Cu Li Never Cries by Pham Ngoc Lân, already winner of the Best First Feature Award at the Berlinale 2025.
The Best Director Award went to the Chinese film The Unseen Sisters by Midi Z, which tells of the destabilising arrival of a sister in the life of an actress.
The Prize for the Most Original Film was awarded ex aequo to the Indonesian film Tale of the Land by Loeloe Hendra Komara and the Myanmar film Ma-Cry of Silence by The Maw Naing..
The Best Actor Prize was awarded ex aequo to Yu-Ning Tsao and Hsiu-Fi Liu, stars of the film Pierce by Singaporean director Nelicia Low, the story of two brothers bound by secrets and a passion for fencing.
The Best Actress Award went to Laura Basuki, star of the Indonesian film Yohanna by Robby Ertanto, the story of a nun who discovers child exploitation during a humanitarian mission.
Once again this year, the Asian Film Festival saw the active participation of university juries, which awarded special prizes to the films selected for theNewcomers section and for the first time this year for theShort Films section . The prizes were awarded by two important Roman academic institutions: theUniversity of International Studies of Rome (UNINT) and the Rome University of Fine Arts (RUFA), through the direct involvement of the students, who evaluated the works with passion, competence and a critical eye.
The UNINT jury awarded Chun Sun-young ‘s A Girl with ClosedEyes as Best Film in the Newcomers section. This psychological thriller sees detective Min Ju grappling with a murder involving a childhood friend.
The RUFA jury awarded the Best Short Film Prize to Playground by Yaxing Lin.An intimate dialogue between a daughter and her young mother, mirroring two generations meeting at the age of 25.
Some pictures of the day:
