Winners and prizes
In the cool setting of the Farnese Arthouse in Rome, the eighteenth edition of the Asian Film Festival ended last night, June 23, which saw eleven countries compete with 28 feature films and 2 short films, including 5 international premieres, 6 European premieres and numerous Italian premieres. Representatives of the Embassy of Vietnam, of the Representative Office of Taipei in Italy, and of the Cultural Institute of Korea, among the countries with which the festival has drawn up, participated in the awards ceremony, welcomed by the artistic director Antonio Termenini. in recent years profitable cultural exchange relationships for the promotion of Italian cinema in the Far East and vice versa. The awards assigned by the jury chaired by director Valentina De Amicis and composed by Aldo Spiniello, film critic of “Sentieri Selvaggi” are the following (with specific motivation):
Best Film
Synapses (Chang Tso-chi, Taiwan, 2019)
For how it unveils the traps and hidden treasures in every family, for how it crosses dramas, small and big, in the apparent distance of shots that tell the slow, incessant passing of time.
Best Director
The Sons of Happiness (di Peng Shigang, Cina, 2021)
A Film that tells the failed dynamics of love and the dramatic contradictions of a society suspended between the bonds of tradition and the ruthless dictatorship of money.
Best Actress
Go Doo-shim (Everglow/Corea del Sud, 2021)
For the delicate and sensitive interpretation of a woman, no longer young of age, who rediscovers love and life beyond old wounds
Best Actor
Tran Anh Khoa (Rom/Vietnam, 2019)
An interpretation of instinct, energy and dynamism for a character who moves in the chaos and madness of Ho Chi Minh City
Most Original Film
Dancing Mary (di Sabu, Giappone, 2019)
A film that seamlessly crosses various forms of cinema, like portals that open parallel worlds, dimensions suspended between reality, vision, dreams and nightmares.
NEWCOMERS
Special Mention
Leaving Home (Tan Siang Yu, Singapore, 2021)
Special Mention
Zhuo Tan (Shallow/China, 2020)
For the intense interpretation of a woman and mother determined to retrieve her lost dignity
The prizes, artistic works created by the artist Fabio Truffa, were handed over to the intervening authorities: for the film Synapses, the representative of Taipei in Italy, S.E. Amb. Andrea Sing-Ying LEE, and the Director of the Cultural Division, Dr. Jessica Mei-Jung TENG; for “Everglow” was the director of the Institute of Culture of Korea Yongyoon Choi; on the other hand, a representative of the Vietnamese Embassy collected the work for the young interpreter Tran Anh Khoa.
Award-winning directors and actors, on the other hand, intervened in a video message for thanks.
See you next year!