Asian World Film Festival Reveals Asian Vision & Focus On Sections

Asian World Film Festival has announced the Asian Vision and Focus On sections for this year’s edition of the event, running November 12-19 at the Culver Theatre in Los Angeles.

Now in its third consecutive year, Asian Vision is a juried competition section that will screen seven standout films that have been overlooked by other festival competitions, with the top film honored with the Asian Vision Award.

The section will present two North American premieres – Kazakh neo-Western No Good In Sight: A Story, the debut film from director Alibi Mukushev, and Tibetan drama Released, directed by Khabu, who will participate in a Q&A following the screening.

The lineup also includes Chinese blockbuster Dear You, directed by Lan Hongchun, which was produced for around $2M and ended up grossing more than $285M at the China box office alone.

Also screening in Asian Vision are Kyrgyz social drama Kurak, directed by Emil Atageldijev and Erke Dzhumakmatova; music-driven romance I Wanna Be Your Lobster, from Myanmar’s Pyae Zaw Phyo; gritty action drama Bluefish, directed by Korea’s Lee Sang-hoon; and psychological drama Fear, directed by Apollinariia Degtiareva, a filmmaker based in the Sakha Republic in the far east of Russia.

AWFF Executive Director Georges N. Chamchoum said: “Asian Vision celebrates the numerous outstanding films from across Asia that deserve to be seen, appreciated and judged on their own merit. It is a sidebar that is very near to my heart, just like our Focus On program, which presents work from both major filmmaking hubs and countries with very limited industries such as Myanmar. Together, these programs give audiences a fuller appreciation of the breadth of Asian cinema.”

Focus On spotlights contemporary cinema from select nations and autonomous regions – this year including China, Japan, Palestine, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, and Taiwan – as well as a selection of member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Focus On China will include Once Upon A Time In The Middle East, which is China’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars; and the U.S. premiere of Peter Ho-sun Chan’s The Road Not Taken, which is screening as AWFF’s Closing Night Gala.

Focus On Palestine will present seven documentaries, including two official submissions for Best International Feature: Ahmed Hassouna’s Citizen Osama, which is Palestine’s entry, and Nicolas Wadimoff’s Who Is Still Alive, which has been submitted by Switzerland.

Also screening in the Palestine Focus are NAZA, from Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor; Teng Poh Si’s American Doctor; Maiken Baird’s Edward Said: Between Worlds; Colette Ghunim’s Traces Of Home; and Who Killed Alex Odeh? from Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans.

Focus On Taiwan will screen four award-winning films: one feature, Chen Yu-hsun’s A Foggy Tale, which is Taiwan’s Oscars submission, and three shorts. Chen will join producers Yeh Ju-feng and Lee Lieh for a Q&A following the screening.

Focus On Japan will screen Japan’s Oscars submission All Of A Sudden, directed by Hamaguchi Ryūsuke, along with the U.S. premiere of Hirota Yusuke’s animation Chimney Town: Frozen In Time.

Focus On Kyrgyzstan will include the North American premiere of Kassandra, directed by Bekzat Pirmatov, which is opening the festival, and Sean McDonnell’s documentary Beyond The Silk Road.

Focus On Korea will feature Korea’s Oscars entry Possible Love, directed by Lee Chang-dong, and the North American premiere of Kim Hyung-hyup’s recent hit Choir Of God.

Focus On ASEAN will bring together films from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore in a program curated and presented by Joanne Goh and the Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest). Among the highlights are two North American premieres: Phra Ruang: Rise Of The Empire (Thailand), directed by Chartchai Ketnust; The Sandbox (Singapore), directed by James Thoo; and Tears In Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), directed by Ridhwan Saidi, which will be making its U.S. premiere.