10th (2009)
"PINOY SUNDAY"
(Taiwan=NHK
=Philippines
=France)
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"TAHAAN : A boy with a grenade"
(India)
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"TRUE NOON"
(Tajikistan)
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"FINDING SHANGRI-LA"
(China)
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"CAPTAIN ABU RAED"
(Jordan)
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PINOY SUNDAY
2009 / Taiwan=NHK=Philippines=France / 84min.
NHK co-production film
*2010 Taipei Film Festival Industry Award
*2010 Toronto Film Festival
*2010 Vancouver International Film Festival
*2010 Pusan International Film Festival
[Synopsis]
Filipino migrant laborers live and work in the city of Taipei. They live far from their families, working in lonely and harsh conditions with the threat of instant deportation if they cause any trouble. Dado and Manuel work under such conditions. They take the greatest pleasure in attending Mass on Sundays. With many fellow countrymen, it seems as if they are in Philippine. One Sunday, Dado and Manuel come across a sofa, which has been discarded by the roadside, and decide to carry it back to their factory dormitory. However, it is no easy task carrying a big, heavy sofa. Will they make it back to the dormitory in time for curfew?
Starring two popular comedian actors, this film portrays the tough lives of Filipinos living in a foreign country with a comedic touch.
[Director / Co-writer]
Wi Ding Ho
[Co-writer]
Ajay Balakrishnan
[Cast]
Epy Quizon
Bayani Agbayani
Alessandra De Rossi
Meryll Soriano
TAHAAN : A boy with a grenade
2008 / India / 101min.
*2009 Hong Kong International Film Festival
*2009 Seattle International Film Festival
[Synopsis]
Eight-year-old Tahaan lives with his grandfather, mother and older sister in the Kashmir Valley. Since his beloved father has been missing for the past three years, the family is having a hard time making a living. In the face of hardship, Tahaan's best friend is a donkey called Birbal. One day, Tahaan's grandfather suddenly passes away, and Birbal is sold, despite Tahaan's plea, to a traveling salesman in order to pay debts. Tahaan treks across the mountains to follow the salesman in the hope of getting irreplaceable Birbal back. Eventually a young man approaches Tahaan and promises that if Tahaan does exactly what he is being told, he will get Birbal back.
Director Santosh Sivan, also a noted cinematographer, depicts a pure and innocent story of friendship between a boy and his donkey. It is set in a stark yet magnificent landscape, against the backdrop of an unstable political and social situation.
[Director / Screenplay / Camera]
Santosh Sivan
[Cast]
Purav Bhandare
Victor Banerjee
Anupam Kher
Rahul Bose
TRUE NOON
2009 / Tajikistan / 83min.
*2009 Pusan International Film Festival
*2010 International Film Festival Rotterdam
*2010 Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival Fukuoka Audience Award
[Synopsis]
The time is just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The setting is two villages in the mountainous terrain close to the border between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The people of the two villages visit each other regularly and live in friendship, with everyone supporting each other. Russian Kirill Ivanovich, who has been working at the meteorological station in the upper village for decades, has always sought to return to his family far away, in vain. Nilufar, his beautiful assistant whom he is very fond of, is to be married to a young man in the lower village. While the villagers are busy making preparations for the wedding, an unforeseen event occurs that totally transforms the lives of the people. Kirill dashes off to help the villagers face their trouble. The day of the wedding arrives and as the bride descends to the lower village, the time edges closer to noon…
This is the debut full-length feature from director Nosir Saidov, who has worked as assistant director to Bakhtiyar Khudoinazarov. This is the first full-length film to be produced in Tajikistan since the fall of the Soviet Union.
[Director]
Nosir Saidov
[Screenplay]
Safar Haqdodov
[Cast]
Yuriy Nazarov
Nasiba Sharipova
Nasriiddin Nuriddinov
Shodi Soleh
FINDING SHANGRI-LA
2008 / China / 107min.
*2009 Cairo International Film Festival Special Mention (Cinematography)
[Synopsis]
Ji Ling, who has lost her young only son in a car accident, cannot accept the reality in her grief. She feels a vicious hatred towards the driver who does not admit his guilt and is frustrated with her husband's attitude as he seeks reconciliation. One day, Ji Ling finds a note in the room of her dead son. On it is written a hint for a treasure hunt they had once played together in the past. Taking the picture written on it as a clue, she heads for the holy Meili Snow Mountain in Yunnan Province. Led by a variety of people she meets in the awe-inspiring backdrop of Yunnan Province, her journey comes to an unexpected conclusion…
This film is part of the Yunnan New Film Project, which commissioned films from ten female directors, all set in Yunnan Province. This is the first feature film of Ismene Ting who is a theatre director.
[Director / Screenplay]
Ismene Ting
[Cast]
Chu Jr-Ying
Matt Wu
CAPTAIN ABU RAED
2007 / Jordan / 103min.
*2007 Dubai International Film Festival Best Actor
*2008 Durban International Film Festival Best First Feature Film
*2008 Seattle International Film Festival Best Director
*2008 Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Dramatic Competition Audience Award
*2008 Academy Awards Foreign Language Film Category Official Entry from Jordan
[Synopsis]
Abu Raed is a widower who works as a janitor at Amman's International Airport, living out his elderly years quietly. One day, his life changes a little when he takes home a pilot's hat he found discarded in the trash at the airport. He starts telling stories of foreign countries that he himself has only read about in books to his neighborhood children who believe him to be a real pilot. In this way, Abu Raed becomes involved in these deprived children's everyday lives. One of the children, Murad, insists that Abu Raed is not really a pilot. Unknown to everyone, however, Murad, is suffering from violence at the hands of his father. Abu Raed tries to help Murad with Nour, a beautiful female pilot.
This is the feature-length debut of director Amin Matalqa, who was born in Jordan and raised in the United States.
[Director / Screenplay]
Amin Matalqa
[Cast]
Nadim Sawalha
Rana Sultan
Hussein Al-Sous
Ghandi Saber
