The "Asian Newcomer Award", which was established at the 7th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2004, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. In 2023, the Asian Newcomer Award was upgraded to the Golden Goblet Asian Newcomer Unit. After 20 years of development, the Asian Newcomer Unit has continuously discovered new film directors from China and other Asian countries and regions, supported new forces in Asian films, and promoted the diverse vitality of Asian films.
The "Asian Newcomer Award", which was born at the 7th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2004 and gradually grew from a sub-section of the film festival industry forum, is now in its 20th year. This is really something worth celebrating.
The first jury consisted of three people, American film scholar David Bordwell, famous Chinese director Huang Shuqin, and Japanese film historian Sato Tadao. I still remember very clearly Professor Bordwell's unique way of watching movies, with his small notebook and small counter, recording the number of shots and key plot points while watching the movie. He taught me that movies are not just about "watching".
In the days that followed, the jury team gradually grew. With the increase of the international influence of the Shanghai International Film Festival, more and more senior industry leaders joined the team. I remember when Director Bong Joon-ho saw the night view of Lujiazui, he excitedly said, "This is the building that Tom Cruise jumped from!" I remember the look on Director Im Kwon-taek's face when he couldn't calm down for a long time after watching "Zhalainor" and begged us to let him watch it again! I remember the look of humanistic care in Director Ador Kopelekrishhan's eyes when he carefully analyzed a kind of Indian folk dance technique! I remember that after the jury meeting on the last day, Ms. Chen Chong unbuttoned her clothes and said, "Let me have a good meal. So many good films are too troublesome!" I remember that Xia Yu would perform a little magic trick when he had time before the meeting or the film, and he was very happy to make everyone laugh! I also remember that Director Sabu once told me mysteriously that Hirosue Ryoko's son was in the same kindergarten as their child! What a lovely and real look of filmmakers! They taught me that movies can be "felt".
With the passing of David Bordwell earlier this year, the three judges of the first AsiaNews have all left us. But they must be pleased and happy with the growth and changes of AsiaNews over the past 20 years that they witnessed.
In the past 20 years, the number of registered films has increased from double digits to triple digits; the registration regions have spread from traditional East Asian film powers to the entire Asian region; filmmakers from obscurity to fame have walked on the red carpet of Asia New Media; encouraging emerging Asian film markets and promoting the development of Asian films with strength. Since 2015, in addition to the two traditional regular awards of Best Film and Best Director, the organizing committee has added awards such as Best Actor and Best Actress, making this unit more important, more comprehensive, and more favored. Asia New Media has received a debut film from a Japanese director in his 80s, and has also awarded the "Best Actor" to a 10-year-old Chinese actor. With the continuous improvement of professionalism, Asia New Media is as generous, humble, tolerant and open-minded as the city where it is located, Shanghai. It welcomes all new creations and encourages all new ideas.
At the beginning of the award, some people were worried that since all the directors were new and only Asian countries participated, would the finished films be watchable? Would the award be internationally competitive? Would the influence of the film festival be affected? Yes, the stories of new directors are more or less related to themselves or things around them. They present the world they see with their own eyes, but isn’t this the same world that most people can see? Their stories often have deeper emotions, more delicate expressions, and more cultural connotations. Aren’t these what the film world expects and embraces? In fact, more and more new directors and their works coming out of this platform are recognized and accepted by the market, and even sought after. Director Ning Hao went from "Green Grassland", which won the "Most Favorite Film among College Students", to the "Crazy" series that became popular all over the country; Director Cao Baoping and Director Wangma Caidan went from participating in the Asian New Film Awards to becoming judges of the unit. The former became a major director of commercial genre films, and the latter made unique national films shine in the world film scene. Many former winners are now emerging directors and actors who are leading the trend in the international film scene.
On a smaller scale, it is Asia New’s pride to be able to build such a stage for new Chinese film forces and help improve the quality and quantity of domestic films; on a larger scale, it is also Asia New’s mission and unshirkable responsibility to provide different perspectives for the world film industry and convey diverse culture.
To celebrate the important milestone of Asia New Media's 20th anniversary, the Shanghai International Film Festival will hold a special screening event to present the audience with outstanding award-winning works from the past 20 years. We invite industry insiders and film lovers to witness this film journey full of passion and dreams, review these works that represent the diversity and innovation of Asian films over the years, feel the hard work of the creators, and appreciate their unremitting pursuit and deep understanding of film art. Thank them for making today's "Asia New Media".
In this special and memorable year, let us go to the cinema together, feel the infinite charm of film art, and support and encourage young filmmakers with dreams. We hope that in the years to come, Asia New Films will continue to shine and contribute more wonderful works to world cinema. Let us meet at the Shanghai International Film Festival and witness the eternal shining of the light of film!
[Author: Pu Zixiao (former head of the Asian Newcomer section of the Shanghai International Film Festival)]
Details of the works are as follows:
South of the Clouds (2004)
South of the Clouds
Zhu
2004 1st Asian Newcomer Award
Best Director Award
Highlights:
The first award-winning work of the Asian Newcomer category worth remembering
As a well-known writer, Zhu Wen had a long-standing relationship with film. He once served as the screenwriter for the sixth-generation famous director Zhang Ming's masterpiece "Wushan Yunyu". He was also very clear about being a director. His first work "Seafood" won the Special Jury Award in the "Contemporary Film" unit pioneered by the Venice Film Festival that year, which was a blockbuster. This film is his second feature film. It tells the story of retired old man Xu Daqin, played by senior performing artist Li Xuejian, who went to Yunnan, where he had been dreaming for decades, to find an imaginary utopia in order to make up for the regrets of his youth. This is a work Zhu Wen dedicated to his father's generation. The natural and simple images are also poetic. He used his own language to tell the stories of the silent older generation, and his sincere heart was moving. This film won the Asian Film Critics Association Award in the Forum Unit of the Berlin Film Festival.
Glorious Fury (2006)
Trouble Makers
Cao Baoping
2006 3rd Asian Newcomer Award
Special Jury Award
Most Popular Award for College Students
Highlights:
The explosive masterpiece that conquered Tian Zhuangzhuang and Bong Joon-ho
Individuals and human nature under extreme circumstances are the themes that Cao Baoping's works are dedicated to exploring. In films such as "Li Mi's Conjecture" and "Dog Thirteen", Cao Baoping showed the emotions of individuals facing drastic changes. In "Glorious Fury", "The Burning Sun" and "Wade Through the Sea of Anger", he explored the complex human nature with events as the core. "Glorious Fury" brings together powerful actors such as Wu Gang and Wang Yanhui, telling the story of Ye Guangrong, the newly appointed village party secretary, using his wisdom to punish bullies and eliminate harm for the villagers. The film's dialogues are all in Yunnan dialect, which greatly increases the rural interest and writing strength, and contrasts with its absurd black humor. It has a deep reflection on human nature in bursts of laughter, and won the praise of Tian Zhuangzhuang, chairman of the Asian Newcomer Award Jury, and judges such as Bong Joon-ho, and finally won the Jury Special Award.
Zhalainuoer (2008)
Jalainur
Zhao Ye
2009 Sixth Asian Newcomer Award
Best Director Award
Most Popular Award for College Students
Highlights:
The most affectionate "thousand-mile farewell" between the master and the apprentice
Zhalainuoer is a Mongolian word meaning "sea-like lake". This is an industrial and mining city. The steam locomotive driver Zhu Laotou has worked in the coal mine for more than 30 years. Now, before he is about to retire, he suddenly decides to leave to find his daughter and her family who work and live on the Sino-Russian border. His apprentice signalman Li Zhizhong also followed him on the road after learning about it, silently following behind him to see his master off, but "after sending you a thousand miles, you must say goodbye". After his first feature film "Ma Wujia" amazed the world and won the first prize of the China Independent Film Annual Exhibition, Zhao Ye continued his style in his second personal feature film. The structure is simple, without dramatic conflicts and designs, but focuses on capturing the most subtle emotions and psychological activities of the characters, presenting a warm, affectionate and poetic farewell. This is not only a farewell between people, but also a farewell between people and work and the times. This film won the FIPRESCI Award at the 13th Busan International Film Festival.
Six Hundred Miles to Fuyang (2011)
Return Ticket
Deng Yongxing
2011 8th Asian Newcomer Award
Best Director Award
Highlights:
The most vivid and active people in the lower class of the city
Cao Li, a young woman from Fuyang, struggles to survive at the bottom of Shanghai. Her fellow villager Gou Ge gets a shabby bus and invites her to sell tickets to Fuyang. After she tricks the working aunts into getting on the bus and leaves, she stays. Fuyang is only 600 miles away from Shanghai, but it is her home that she can never go back to. Taiwanese director Deng Yongxing has worked in Shanghai for many years. He was inspired by the news about the Spring Festival travel rush and combined with his personal experience to write this moving story about going home. Qin Hailu, who was a judge of the 2008 Asian Newcomer Award, once again supports newcomers and plays the leading role. This film was produced by film master Hou Hsiao-hsien and also inherits his realistic aesthetics. In order to complete the filming in only 18 days, the director spent a year shooting a documentary, observing and recording the living conditions of the bottom people in this prosperous metropolis, and using a large number of non-professional actors to present the great power of reality with a rough texture. This film won the Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress awards at the 48th Golden Horse Awards.
The Band (2012)
Follow Follow
Peng Lei
2012 Ninth Asian Newcomer Award
Best Director Award
Highlights:
Peng Lei, the lead singer of the band "New Pants", makes his first feature film as a director
Peng Lei, the lead singer of the New Pants band, is a special presence among filmmakers. Whether it is the MVs of the albums "Dragon Tiger Man Dan" and "Wild People Have Love" or the feature films "Band" and "Dancing in the Room", he, who graduated from the Animation School of the Beijing Film Academy, has put the weird imagination of animation into the images. "Band" is his first feature film as a director. From the perspective of a girl obsessed with music, it discusses the various relationships between bands and rock music, ideals and reality, youth and Western culture. As the English title "Follow Follow" implies, what exactly are we drifting with and following? What do we really pursue in our hearts? New Pants member Pang Kuan, music critic Ding Taisheng and other real-world figures also make cameo appearances in the film.
First Love (2013)
Singing When We Are Young
Liu Juan
2013 10th Asian Newcomer Award
Special Jury Award
Highlights:
Zhang Yimou's documentary director interprets the youth love of the post-80s
Liu Juan, a female director born in the 1980s, had long followed Zhang Yimou to shoot behind-the-scenes documentaries of films such as "Three Shots Surprise" and "Under the Hawthorn Tree", but she has always been eager to make a film that belongs to them, the post-80s generation. Later, her project was shortlisted for Andy Lau's "Asian New Star Director" plan, and finally she shot this amazing feature film debut as she wished. This film was produced by Andy Lau himself. It is set in a small southern town in 1997 and tells the story of six young boys and girls who are about to face the college entrance examination and look forward to the future and pursue their dreams. It has both brilliant youth and strong nostalgia, and also pays tribute to the Hong Kong pop culture that has influenced a generation of mainland youth. Zhang Hanyun, the third runner-up of Super Girl in 2004, played a girl with a dream of singing in the film. Her wonderful performance was praised by Andy Lau as the biggest surprise of the film.
I'm Not Angry! (2014)
I'm not Angry!
Reza Dormishian
2014 11th Asian Newcomer Award
Best Film Award
Best Director Award
Highlights:
A tragic masterpiece of ill-fated realism
This film was one of the most anticipated and important new works in Iran that year. It was nominated for six awards at Iran's most famous Dawn International Film Festival and became the biggest favorite, but it was eventually withdrawn due to special reasons. The title "I'm Not Angry!" is a perfect irony. The film presents a sharp style that is completely different from the common family ethics films in Iran. It is about an angry young man who wants to get married but can't afford to buy a house. Through his experience of seeking help everywhere but hitting a wall everywhere, it makes a very sharp satire and criticism of the current situation in Iranian society. Despite the twists and turns in China, the film still won many awards at overseas festivals and was the only Iranian film selected for the Berlin International Film Festival that year.
0.5mm (2014)
0.5mm
Momoko Ando
2015 12th Asian Newcomer Award
Best Director Award
Highlights:
The Ando sisters teamed up for the first time to win the second place in the Junpo annual
Female care worker Yamagishi Sayo lost everything in an accident and ended up on the streets. In order to survive, she began to find some elderly people with their own problems, and forcibly provided care without being invited, entering their lives... Female director Momoko Ando personally brought her novel to the screen, using her younger sister, the powerful actress Ando Sakura, as the lead actress, and her father, the veteran actor Okuda Eiji, as the producer. With an ultra-long length of 196 minutes, she created a masterpiece that focuses on the aging of Japanese society and the alienation of interpersonal relationships, and is full of the brilliance of humanity. The young Ando Sakura showed her amazing acting skills in the film, and she was free and radiant among a group of veteran actors such as Emoto Akira and Tsukawa Masahiko, winning multiple Best Actress awards including the Film Junpo Award, and the film was also ranked second in the Film Junpo Annual Top Ten.
Funeral (2015)
Thithi
Raam Reddy
2016 13th Asian Newcomer Award
Best Film Award
Best Screenplay Award
Highlights:
Absurd yet realistic panorama of rural India
In a remote village in South India, a 101-year-old man of great reputation passed away. His three generations of descendants gathered together but each had their own ulterior motives, and the funeral showed all the ugliness of the world. Indian director Lareem Reddy's first feature film was extraordinary. He used a cross-narrative method to connect three clues together to show the life of three generations of a family. The film was shot on location in the countryside and used non-professional actors to pursue the most realistic texture, but at the same time it was injected with absurdity and irony, with laughter, anger and scolding at will, which was amazing. The film won the Golden Leopard Award for Best Film in the Contemporary Filmmakers Unit of the Locarno International Film Festival, beating "Roadside Picnic".
Decibel Life (2017)
Shuttle Life
Chen Shengji
2017 14th Asian Newcomer Award
Best Film Award
Best Actor Award
Best Photography Award
Highlights:
The resilience of poor families in Malaysia
Ah Qiang, his sister Hui Shan, and his mother who suffers from mental illness live a poor life in a low-rent housing in Malaysia, relying on each other for survival. His sister died in an accident. In order to let his sister go home, he must produce a birth certificate that does not exist, which makes him step by step go down a road of no return... The upper part and the lower part are poverty. This clever riddle by Malaysian director Chen Shengji is a self-mockery of the desperate poverty situation in Malaysia, and a cry that is hoarse but no one responds. This work, which won the Golden Horse Venture Capital 1 million first prize in the planning stage, faces the profound social problems in Malaysia with a deep and compassionate gaze, telling the sadness and helplessness of the grassroots people. While it is heartbreaking, it is also impressive for its unadorned frankness.
Tickets for this year's film festival will go on sale on the Tao Piaopiao platform at 12 noon on June 7.
Note: If the film list changes, please refer to the actual schedule.
