Filipino director Sheron Dayoc’s The Gospel Of The Beast won the top Golden Star Award for best Southeast Asian film at the first Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (Hiff) in Vietnam, which also saw several titles dropped from the final programme due to censorship by local authorities.
The Gospel Of The Beast marks the first feature in seven years from Dayoc and tells the story of a teenage boy who accidentally kills his classmate and runs away with an older man he barely knows, forming a unique father-son relationship. It premiered at Tokyo in October.
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The Gospel Of The Beast marks the first feature in seven years from Dayoc and tells the story of a teenage boy who accidentally kills his classmate and runs away with an older man he barely knows, forming a unique father-son relationship. It premiered at Tokyo in October.
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- 4/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Gospel Of The Beast, directed by the Philippines’ Sheron Dayoc, picked up the Golden Star Award for Best Southeast Asian Film at the first edition of the Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (Hiff) in Vietnam.
Nicole Midori Woodford’s Singapore-Japan collaboration, Last Shadow At First Light, won multiple awards in the festival’s Southeast Asia competition, including the Jury Prize, best cinematography (Hideho Urata), best screenplay (Nicole Midori Woodford) and best visual effects (Laokoon VFX).
Oasis Of Now, directed by Malaysia’s Chee Sum Chia, took awards for best director and best actress for Vietnam’s Tạ Thị Dịu, who plays an immigrant in the film. Singaporean drama Wonderland won awards for best actor (Mark Lee) and best supporting actor (Peter Yu), while best supporting actress to Rawipa Srisanguan for Thailand’s Solids By The Seashore.
Indonesian action drama 13 Bombs was awarded with best sound design...
Nicole Midori Woodford’s Singapore-Japan collaboration, Last Shadow At First Light, won multiple awards in the festival’s Southeast Asia competition, including the Jury Prize, best cinematography (Hideho Urata), best screenplay (Nicole Midori Woodford) and best visual effects (Laokoon VFX).
Oasis Of Now, directed by Malaysia’s Chee Sum Chia, took awards for best director and best actress for Vietnam’s Tạ Thị Dịu, who plays an immigrant in the film. Singaporean drama Wonderland won awards for best actor (Mark Lee) and best supporting actor (Peter Yu), while best supporting actress to Rawipa Srisanguan for Thailand’s Solids By The Seashore.
Indonesian action drama 13 Bombs was awarded with best sound design...
- 4/15/2024
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
It was kind of an unspoken (probably) agreement among artists from Japan, to not deal extensively with the events of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, for ten years, probably as a sign for respect for the ones lost and the ones who suffered due to the events. Since 2021 though, the local industry has started focusing on the events intently, with a number of movies and dramas being released since then. “Last Shadow at First Light” also moves in the same path, in an international co-production involving people from Singapore, Japan, Slovenia, Philippines and Indonesia, which premiered at the 71st San Sebastián International Film Festival in September.
Last Shadow at First Light screened at Qcinema
16-year-old Ami is a girl living with her father in Singapore, after her mother's death when she was little. Both of them miss her intensely, with him having embarked in a kind of solemn silence in...
Last Shadow at First Light screened at Qcinema
16-year-old Ami is a girl living with her father in Singapore, after her mother's death when she was little. Both of them miss her intensely, with him having embarked in a kind of solemn silence in...
- 11/29/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Japan has dominated this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa), with German filmmaker Wim Wenders’ latest Tokyo-set pic and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car follow-up taking the top prizes.
Wenders’ Cannes competition title Perfect Days won Apsa’s Best Film award, while Hamaguchi’s enigmatic Venice title Evil Does Not Exist nabbed the Jury Grand Prize this evening at the Australian ceremony.
“It is with great pleasure and pride that my Japanese producers Takuma Takasaki and Koji Yanai and myself received the news that our film Perfect Days was awarded Best Picture at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” Wenders said, accepting the award via video message.
He added: “Wow, what an honor. Especially for a German director. The film was, in many ways, a dream come true for all of us, especially the fact that nobody less than the great Koji Yakusho played the leading role, the humble public servant,...
Wenders’ Cannes competition title Perfect Days won Apsa’s Best Film award, while Hamaguchi’s enigmatic Venice title Evil Does Not Exist nabbed the Jury Grand Prize this evening at the Australian ceremony.
“It is with great pleasure and pride that my Japanese producers Takuma Takasaki and Koji Yanai and myself received the news that our film Perfect Days was awarded Best Picture at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” Wenders said, accepting the award via video message.
He added: “Wow, what an honor. Especially for a German director. The film was, in many ways, a dream come true for all of us, especially the fact that nobody less than the great Koji Yakusho played the leading role, the humble public servant,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Singaporean writer-director Nicole Midori Woodford is on a roll with her debut feature, Last Shadow At First Light, which premiered in New Directors at San Sebastian film festival and has two nominations at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSAs) for best screenplay and best performance (Mihaya Shirata).
Filmed in Singapore and Japan, the film follows a Singaporean teenage girl with a special connection to the spiritual world who goes on a road trip to uncover the mystery of her Japanese mother’s supposed death. She has been told her mother died by suicide during the recovery effort following the Japan 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed her maternal grandparents. But she doesn’t believe this to be true.
Meeting up with an uncle in Tokyo, they travel together to a town that was swept away by the tsunami although her uncle is more interested in the local pachinko parlour than helping with the quest.
Filmed in Singapore and Japan, the film follows a Singaporean teenage girl with a special connection to the spiritual world who goes on a road trip to uncover the mystery of her Japanese mother’s supposed death. She has been told her mother died by suicide during the recovery effort following the Japan 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed her maternal grandparents. But she doesn’t believe this to be true.
Meeting up with an uncle in Tokyo, they travel together to a town that was swept away by the tsunami although her uncle is more interested in the local pachinko parlour than helping with the quest.
- 11/2/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
A first trailer has been unveiled for Nicole Midori Woodford’s feature debut “Last Shadow at First Light,” which world premieres at the New Directors strand of the San Sebastian Film Festival.
The film is in competition for the New Directors Award. Starring acclaimed Japanese actor Nagase Masatoshi (“Sweet Bean”) and newcomer Shirata Mihaya, the film follows a teenage girl (Shirata) with a special ability to communicate with the spiritual world as she goes on a road trip from Singapore to Japan. On arrival, she is chaperoned by a cynical uncle (Nagase) to uncover the mystery of her strange dreams and her mother’s disappearance years ago. Tsutsui Mariko, Peter Yu (“A Land Imagined”) feature in supporting roles.
The feature is presented by Jeremy Chua’s Potocol (Singapore), Shozo Ichiyama’s Fourier Films (Japan), Studio Virc (Slovenia) and Happy Infinite Productions (Philippines), executive produced by Jermyn Wong and Sally Ng...
The film is in competition for the New Directors Award. Starring acclaimed Japanese actor Nagase Masatoshi (“Sweet Bean”) and newcomer Shirata Mihaya, the film follows a teenage girl (Shirata) with a special ability to communicate with the spiritual world as she goes on a road trip from Singapore to Japan. On arrival, she is chaperoned by a cynical uncle (Nagase) to uncover the mystery of her strange dreams and her mother’s disappearance years ago. Tsutsui Mariko, Peter Yu (“A Land Imagined”) feature in supporting roles.
The feature is presented by Jeremy Chua’s Potocol (Singapore), Shozo Ichiyama’s Fourier Films (Japan), Studio Virc (Slovenia) and Happy Infinite Productions (Philippines), executive produced by Jermyn Wong and Sally Ng...
- 9/23/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran and Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Ceremony will take place on November 3 on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Hong Kong filmmaker Clara Law will head the international jury for the 2023 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa).
Law, who is based in Australia, will preside over a five-person jury, alongside Malaysian actress Yeo Yann Yann, German producer Anna Katchko, Japanese cinematographer Hideho Urata, and Saudi executive Faisal Baltyuor.
The full list of nominations for the 16th Apsa will be announced on October 4; alongside the programme for the fifth Asia Pacific Screen Forum, which will run from November 1-4.
Both the Forum and the ceremony on November 3 will take place...
Hong Kong filmmaker Clara Law will head the international jury for the 2023 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa).
Law, who is based in Australia, will preside over a five-person jury, alongside Malaysian actress Yeo Yann Yann, German producer Anna Katchko, Japanese cinematographer Hideho Urata, and Saudi executive Faisal Baltyuor.
The full list of nominations for the 16th Apsa will be announced on October 4; alongside the programme for the fifth Asia Pacific Screen Forum, which will run from November 1-4.
Both the Forum and the ceremony on November 3 will take place...
- 9/21/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Yeo Siew Hua, the Singaporean director whose “A Land Imagined” won the Locarno Film Festival’s top prize in 2018, has cast acclaimed Taiwanese actors Lee Kang-Sheng and Wu Chien-Ho (“A Sun”) in his new “Stranger Eyes.”
The film, a thriller with domestic surveillance at its core, is currently shooting. It is set to wrap post-production by early 2024 and start a festival run thereafter. International sales are handled by France’s Playtime.
The Golden Horse-nominated Wu plays Darren, a struggling young father whose baby daughter has gone missing. When mysterious footage appears of his private and intimate life, Darren suspects that his neighbor Goh, a supermarket supervisor, is the voyeur linked to his daughter’s disappearance. Goh is portrayed by Lee, who is best-known for his three-decade-plus collaboration with Golden Lion-winning director Tsai Ming-liang. Increasingly frantic, Darren takes it upon himself to stalk Goh, meaning that the hunted becomes hunter.
“It...
The film, a thriller with domestic surveillance at its core, is currently shooting. It is set to wrap post-production by early 2024 and start a festival run thereafter. International sales are handled by France’s Playtime.
The Golden Horse-nominated Wu plays Darren, a struggling young father whose baby daughter has gone missing. When mysterious footage appears of his private and intimate life, Darren suspects that his neighbor Goh, a supermarket supervisor, is the voyeur linked to his daughter’s disappearance. Goh is portrayed by Lee, who is best-known for his three-decade-plus collaboration with Golden Lion-winning director Tsai Ming-liang. Increasingly frantic, Darren takes it upon himself to stalk Goh, meaning that the hunted becomes hunter.
“It...
- 8/18/2023
- by Patrick Frater and Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
While announcing the film before its premiere in Cannes, Salle Debussy, Thierry Frémaux and Pierre Lescure reminded the audience that Chie Hayakawa’s debut feature “Plan 75” was the first Japanese film to be competing in this selection in a very long time. The first screening took place in a packed theatre, and in the presence of the filmmaker and her team, with high expectations from a movie which steps in the domain of unpleasant, and those were mostly met.
“Plan 75“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
In her strong debut, Hayakawa sets the story in a near, dystopian future in which the Japanese government takes a concrete step to beat ‘the surplus of old citizens’. The propaganda machinery motivates them to enter the so called Plan 75 project, using embelished words for something that is simply supposed to end their lives. Painted as a well-meant act of euthanasia...
“Plan 75“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
In her strong debut, Hayakawa sets the story in a near, dystopian future in which the Japanese government takes a concrete step to beat ‘the surplus of old citizens’. The propaganda machinery motivates them to enter the so called Plan 75 project, using embelished words for something that is simply supposed to end their lives. Painted as a well-meant act of euthanasia...
- 11/10/2022
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
Production has wrapped in both Singapore and Japan on Nicole Midori Woodford’s supernatural art house drama “Last Shadow at First Light.” It stars Nagase Masatoshi, Tsutsui Mariko, Peter Yu (“A Land Imagined”) and newcomer Shirata Mihaya.
The story examines the intangible nature of trauma and the ripples of its aftermath through 16-year-old Ami (Shirata) who is haunted by visions.
“This is a film borne out of darkness and loss, of a family’s frailties, set in both Singapore and Japan. Shooting between two countries, I hope to capture the diverse mise-en-scene from the urban cities to the vast transformed landscapes my characters are lost within. It has been incredible to work with my actors amidst such poignant terrain.”
A large part of the filming took place in and around the city of Rikuzentakata in Japan, an area significantly affected by the tsunami and nuclear disaster of 2011.
Upon the discovery...
The story examines the intangible nature of trauma and the ripples of its aftermath through 16-year-old Ami (Shirata) who is haunted by visions.
“This is a film borne out of darkness and loss, of a family’s frailties, set in both Singapore and Japan. Shooting between two countries, I hope to capture the diverse mise-en-scene from the urban cities to the vast transformed landscapes my characters are lost within. It has been incredible to work with my actors amidst such poignant terrain.”
A large part of the filming took place in and around the city of Rikuzentakata in Japan, an area significantly affected by the tsunami and nuclear disaster of 2011.
Upon the discovery...
- 5/26/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
While announcing the film before its premiere in Cannes, Salle Debussy, Thierry Frémaux and Pierre Lescure reminded the audience that Chie Hayakawa’s debut feature “Plan 75” was the first Japanese film to be competing in this selection in a very long time. The first screening took place in a packed theatre, and in the presence of the filmmaker and her team, with high expectations from a movie which steps in the domain of unpleasant, and those were mostly met.
“Plan 75” screened at Cannes Film Festival
In her strong debut, Hayakawa sets the story in a near, dystopian future in which the Japanese government takes a concrete step to beat ‘the surplus of old citizens’. The propaganda machinery motivates them to enter the so called Plan 75 project, using embelished words for something that is simply supposed to end their lives. Painted as a well-meant act of euthanasia of...
“Plan 75” screened at Cannes Film Festival
In her strong debut, Hayakawa sets the story in a near, dystopian future in which the Japanese government takes a concrete step to beat ‘the surplus of old citizens’. The propaganda machinery motivates them to enter the so called Plan 75 project, using embelished words for something that is simply supposed to end their lives. Painted as a well-meant act of euthanasia of...
- 5/23/2022
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
Acclaimed Japanese drama Shoplifters took home the best film prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards which were held in Brisbane, Australia on Thursday night.
Auteur filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film, about a family of small-time crooks who take in a child they find outside in the cold, previously won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The Jury Grand Prize went to Lee Chang-dong’s well-received drama Burning, while best director went to Nadine Labaki for Capernaum. Acting prizes were awarded to India’s Nawazuddin Siddiqui for Manto and to China’s Zhao Tao for Ash Is Purest White.
The awards are open to 70 countries containing 4.5B people. A total of 46 films from 22 territories received Apsa nominations.
Select winners:
Best Feature Film
Shoplifters (Japan)
Kore-eda Hirokazu, Matsuzaki Kaoru, Yose Akihiko, Taguchi Hijiri
Jury Grand Prize
Burning (South Korea)
Lee Joon-dong, Lee Chang-dong
Achievement In Directing
Nadine Labaki...
Auteur filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film, about a family of small-time crooks who take in a child they find outside in the cold, previously won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The Jury Grand Prize went to Lee Chang-dong’s well-received drama Burning, while best director went to Nadine Labaki for Capernaum. Acting prizes were awarded to India’s Nawazuddin Siddiqui for Manto and to China’s Zhao Tao for Ash Is Purest White.
The awards are open to 70 countries containing 4.5B people. A total of 46 films from 22 territories received Apsa nominations.
Select winners:
Best Feature Film
Shoplifters (Japan)
Kore-eda Hirokazu, Matsuzaki Kaoru, Yose Akihiko, Taguchi Hijiri
Jury Grand Prize
Burning (South Korea)
Lee Joon-dong, Lee Chang-dong
Achievement In Directing
Nadine Labaki...
- 11/29/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Japanese social drama “Shoplifters” was named best film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards on Thursday. Directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu, the film previously won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
“’Shoplifters’ turns an intimate story about an unusual family into a metaphorical social analysis that is relevant not only for Japan, but everywhere,” said “Leviathan” producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who headed the main prize jury.
The Jury Grand Prize, or second place award, went to “Burning,” by South Korea’s Lee Chang-dong. The best director prize went to Nadine Labaki for “Capernaum” (Lebanon).
The prizes were presented at a ceremony at the Exhibition & Convention Centre in Brisbane, Australia. Winners each receive a stunning glass ornament made by Brisbane artist Joanna Bone.
Those treading the red carpet included Mpa chief Charles Rivkin, popular Australian actor Jack Thompson, British filmmaker and educationalist David Puttnam, Singaporean director Anthony Chen,...
“’Shoplifters’ turns an intimate story about an unusual family into a metaphorical social analysis that is relevant not only for Japan, but everywhere,” said “Leviathan” producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who headed the main prize jury.
The Jury Grand Prize, or second place award, went to “Burning,” by South Korea’s Lee Chang-dong. The best director prize went to Nadine Labaki for “Capernaum” (Lebanon).
The prizes were presented at a ceremony at the Exhibition & Convention Centre in Brisbane, Australia. Winners each receive a stunning glass ornament made by Brisbane artist Joanna Bone.
Those treading the red carpet included Mpa chief Charles Rivkin, popular Australian actor Jack Thompson, British filmmaker and educationalist David Puttnam, Singaporean director Anthony Chen,...
- 11/29/2018
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Singaporean filmmaker, Yeo Siew Hua is to receive the Young Cinema Award at the upcoming Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Indian director and actress, Nandita Das will receive the Fiapf Award.
Yeo’s prize is awarded in recognition of his film “A Land Imagined,” which won the Golden Leopard prize at Locarno earlier this year. The prize is open to directors making their first or second narrative feature films, and is awarded by Apsa, Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema (Netpac) and the Griffith Film School.
Apsa described the film as a “well-scripted, deftly directed and beautifully-lensed thriller (that) vividly captures the dangers for and the loneliness of illegal workers against the background of Singapore’s controversial land reclamation project.” The film’s Japanese director of photography Hideho Urata is also nominated for an Apsa cinematography prize. The Apsa Academy previously sponsored Yeo through a year-long mentorship program.
Previous...
Yeo’s prize is awarded in recognition of his film “A Land Imagined,” which won the Golden Leopard prize at Locarno earlier this year. The prize is open to directors making their first or second narrative feature films, and is awarded by Apsa, Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema (Netpac) and the Griffith Film School.
Apsa described the film as a “well-scripted, deftly directed and beautifully-lensed thriller (that) vividly captures the dangers for and the loneliness of illegal workers against the background of Singapore’s controversial land reclamation project.” The film’s Japanese director of photography Hideho Urata is also nominated for an Apsa cinematography prize. The Apsa Academy previously sponsored Yeo through a year-long mentorship program.
Previous...
- 11/22/2018
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Winner of the Golden Leopard in Locarno for the first time in Singaporean cinema, “A Land Imagined” is an intriguing urban noir that unfolds much like a dream.
“A Land Imagined” is screening at Five Flavours Festival
Set in industrial Singapore, in the country’s coastline that has been reclaimed from other countries like Vietnam and Malaysia, the story begins with police detective Lok investigating the disappearance of migrant worker Wang. Lok, who suffers from insomnia, undertakes his task with very little eagerness, but the story becomes more complex when another worker who used to hang out with Wang, Ajit, also goes missing. Somewhere at that point, the focus of the story changes and Wang becomes the central character. We witness him also suffering from insomnia after an accident during work that has him working as a driver for half the meager pay he already received. His lack of sleep...
“A Land Imagined” is screening at Five Flavours Festival
Set in industrial Singapore, in the country’s coastline that has been reclaimed from other countries like Vietnam and Malaysia, the story begins with police detective Lok investigating the disappearance of migrant worker Wang. Lok, who suffers from insomnia, undertakes his task with very little eagerness, but the story becomes more complex when another worker who used to hang out with Wang, Ajit, also goes missing. Somewhere at that point, the focus of the story changes and Wang becomes the central character. We witness him also suffering from insomnia after an accident during work that has him working as a driver for half the meager pay he already received. His lack of sleep...
- 11/18/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Winner of the Golden Leopard in Locarno for the first time in Singaporean cinema, “A Land Imagined” is an intriguing urban noir that unfolds much like a dream.
Set in industrial Singapore, in the country’s coastline that has been reclaimed from other countries like Vietnam and Malaysia, the story begins with police detective Lok investigating the disappearance of migrant worker Wang. Lok, who suffers from insomnia, undertakes his task with very little eagerness, but the story becomes more complex when another worker who used to hang out with Wang, Ajit, also goes missing. Somewhere at that point, the focus of the story changes and Wang becomes the central character. We witness him also suffering from insomnia after an accident during work that has him working as a driver for half the meager pay he already received. His lack of sleep leads him to a nearby internet cafe run by Mindy,...
Set in industrial Singapore, in the country’s coastline that has been reclaimed from other countries like Vietnam and Malaysia, the story begins with police detective Lok investigating the disappearance of migrant worker Wang. Lok, who suffers from insomnia, undertakes his task with very little eagerness, but the story becomes more complex when another worker who used to hang out with Wang, Ajit, also goes missing. Somewhere at that point, the focus of the story changes and Wang becomes the central character. We witness him also suffering from insomnia after an accident during work that has him working as a driver for half the meager pay he already received. His lack of sleep leads him to a nearby internet cafe run by Mindy,...
- 8/14/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Cooked with a broth of a few too many ideas, A Land Imagined is a so-close-to-being-great Singapore neo-noir that does all the right things, but simply does too many of them in its snappy 95-minute running time. Only his second feature, Singapore-born writer-director Yeo Siew Hua was awarded the Gold Leopard in Locarno for his enigmatic new film.
His story tells of a detective who arrives on a land reclamation site to investigate how and why one of the workers disappeared. What Yeo presents is remarkable for its style and ambition but also for its scattered folly, a world of Lynchian dreams and techno-surrealism that somehow echoes both Chinatown and Wong Kar-wai. It’s also a tale buckling at the knees under all that symbolism and with at least one too many loose ends left dangling.
The opening act promises much. Thrusting an unsure foot into Yeo’s alluring world is detective Lok,...
His story tells of a detective who arrives on a land reclamation site to investigate how and why one of the workers disappeared. What Yeo presents is remarkable for its style and ambition but also for its scattered folly, a world of Lynchian dreams and techno-surrealism that somehow echoes both Chinatown and Wong Kar-wai. It’s also a tale buckling at the knees under all that symbolism and with at least one too many loose ends left dangling.
The opening act promises much. Thrusting an unsure foot into Yeo’s alluring world is detective Lok,...
- 8/11/2018
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
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