NHK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL + Sundance Institute/NHK Award

My Mongolian Mother
2010 / China / 100 min.

*2010 Busan International Film Festival A Window on Asian Cinema
*2011 Fajr International Film Festival Competition of Asian Cinema
*2011 Golden Rooster Award Best Actress
*2011 Huabiao Film Award Best Actress

[Synopsis]
1960's, China. Due to a devastating famine, many children were separated from their families and sent to Inner Mongolia to be adopted. QiQigema, who lives a frugal life in the Xi Lin Gol grasslands, decided to adopt Chen Chen and Yusheng despite her husband's resistance. The children grow up as nomads in the grasslands of Mongolia, under the loving care of their foster mother. 20 years later, they find out that their birth parents are looking for them. The story depicts the life of a hard-working mother and her family in the time of China's Great Cultural Revolution. Na Renhua's impressive performance as the foster mother is a must-see.
The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in October 2010. The director Ning Cai was born and raised in Inner Mongolia where much of the story takes place. He acted in various films including Heavenly Grassland, and debuted in 2005 as a director in Season of the Horse. He portrayed the changing lives of the Mongolian nomads as their grasslands increasingly turn into desert. He is also the head of a film production company.

Loving You, Loving Me (Khob Khun Thee Rak Kan)
2011 / Thailand / 101 min.

[Synopsis]
3 up-and-coming directors join forces for this film. The story is about 3 families. It reminds us of the often forgotten, important things of every-day life such as love and sympathy.

— Joi is a talented but arrogant music college student. He is kicked out of college orchestra and assigned to assist an eccentric professor in his fieldwork. Joi's autistic sister joins them on their journey to record the sound of nature.
— Muay, who was spoiled throughout her up-bringing, is a self-centered college student. She ends up helping her grandfather of Chinese descent at his small shoe workshop. Her grandfather disagrees with her father's business method of mass production and expansion, and confronts him.
— A woman obeys her husband, who works as a military doctor, and follows him to Southern Thailand where terrorist activity is occurring frequently. She would like to return to Bangkok, her hometown. Their son was raised a Buddhist, but he befriends many Muslims in the south and opposes their return to Bangkok. Her husband is silent and remains by her side. She is torn…

The Music student is played by "Pup", a member of the popular Thai pop band Potato. Lalida Sasiprapha nee Panyopas, a TV drama star, plays the wife of the military doctor. The film opened in theaters in Thailand in May 2011.

URUMI
The Guy who fought against Vasco Da Gama
2011 / India / 120 min.

*2011 International Film Festival of India Indian Panorama opening film

[Synopsis]
The story takes place in Kerala Province of southern India in the 16th Century. The native soldiers fight to protect their land against the oncoming forces of Vasco Da Gama. To the Western world, he is known as a Portuguese explorer who discovered India, but he was an invader from the natives' point of view. This film is based on Gama's 2nd and 3rd trips to India. Urumi is the name of a whip-like flexible sword used in a traditional Indian fighting method called Kalaripayattu.
Prithviraj, who plays the lead character, is a young, up-and-coming actor. The best friend, a Muslim character, is played by Prabhu Deva, who is widely known as a master of traditional dance. The director Santosh Sivan is also the director of cinematography. He shows off his magnificent shooting technique in this Malayalam film. In India, it was released in theaters in March 2011. URUMI was also dubbed into Telugu and other languages and released in many other parts of India as well as film festivals around the globe.
Director/Producer/Cinematographer Santosh Sivan previously presented TAHAAN — A boy with a grenade at The 10th NHK Asian Film Festival in 2009.

A Cube of Sugar (Yek Habbeh Qand)
2011 / Iran / 114 min.

*2011 Busan International Film Festival A Window on Asian Cinema
*2012 Miami International Film Festival

[Synopsis]
In Iran, an old city lies near a desert. Normally quiet and peaceful household becomes cheerfully busy as the family starts setting up long-anticipated wedding of Passand, the youngest daughter. Living abroad, the groom is not present, but the sisters and the rest of the family are fully occupied preparing for the feast. All the relatives start to gather, each bringing their personal problems with them. All of a sudden, an unexpected event turns everything upside down. Normal and abnormal aspects of the Iranian life are depicted as the story unfolds.
The meticulous camera work and story are the highlights of the film, as the conversations between numerous characters reveal their inner minds. The director, Reza Mirkarimi's So Close, So Far received many praises when it was shown at The 7th NHK Asian Film Festival in 2006. A Cube of Sugar was released in Iran on October 12th, 2011 and was a huge hit.