2012-05-19
Shunji Iwai to chair the jury panel of SIFF\'s Asian New Talent Award
Shunji Iwai, director of Love Letter and All About Lily Chou-Chou, will be the jury president of the Asian New Talent Award in the 14th Shanghai International Film Festival.
As a standard award after the Golden Goblet Award in the SIFF film competition section, the Asia New Talent Award (ANTA) was established in 2004. Continually seeking out and promoting emerging Asian film talents to stimulate the region’s industry, the organizing committee attaches great importance to this award. RMB 300,000 is allocated to the winner of Best Film and Best Director.
Over past sessions, ANTA has encouraged a good number of talented Asian filmmakers to gain an international perspective. Young directors, Ning Hao, Wanma Caidan, Gao Qunshu, Zhang Meng from mainland China, Shu-Yu LIN from Taiwan China, Iranian Hassan Yektapanah, and Indonesian Ravi Bharwani, have all won the attention of the industry worldwide.
Ning Hao entered the ANTA shortlist with Mongolian Ping Pong. He attracted the FOCUS: First Cuts and directed his first film Crazy Stone assisted by producer Yu Weiguo. He has become one of the most well-known new directors. Zhang Meng, another young director from the ANTA competition has also received international acclaim. He won the Special Jury Prize for Lucky Dog in 2008. Juror Qing Hailu was so impressed he became Zhang’s film partner. Zhang brought his new project The Piano in a Factory to China’s Film Pitch and Catch (CFPC) the following year. It caught the eye of Korean director Jae-young Kwak who became art producer of the project. At last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival, The Piano in a Factory entered the main competition and won the Best Actor Award. There will be a special panorama for it in this year’s SIFF.
As a standard award after the Golden Goblet Award in the SIFF film competition section, the Asia New Talent Award (ANTA) was established in 2004. Continually seeking out and promoting emerging Asian film talents to stimulate the region’s industry, the organizing committee attaches great importance to this award. RMB 300,000 is allocated to the winner of Best Film and Best Director.
Over past sessions, ANTA has encouraged a good number of talented Asian filmmakers to gain an international perspective. Young directors, Ning Hao, Wanma Caidan, Gao Qunshu, Zhang Meng from mainland China, Shu-Yu LIN from Taiwan China, Iranian Hassan Yektapanah, and Indonesian Ravi Bharwani, have all won the attention of the industry worldwide.
Ning Hao entered the ANTA shortlist with Mongolian Ping Pong. He attracted the FOCUS: First Cuts and directed his first film Crazy Stone assisted by producer Yu Weiguo. He has become one of the most well-known new directors. Zhang Meng, another young director from the ANTA competition has also received international acclaim. He won the Special Jury Prize for Lucky Dog in 2008. Juror Qing Hailu was so impressed he became Zhang’s film partner. Zhang brought his new project The Piano in a Factory to China’s Film Pitch and Catch (CFPC) the following year. It caught the eye of Korean director Jae-young Kwak who became art producer of the project. At last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival, The Piano in a Factory entered the main competition and won the Best Actor Award. There will be a special panorama for it in this year’s SIFF.
In the ANTA, the jurors are all outstanding and influential filmmakers such as Tian Zhuangzhuang, He Ping, Jia Zhangke, Kwon-taek Im (Korea), Joon-ho Bong (Korea), Jean-Michel Billard (France), Joan Chen, Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand), and Isao Yukisada (Japan).
The jury president of this year is director Shunji Iwai, author and leader of the Japanese New Film Movement. He is regarded as an eizo sakka (visual artist) and the Japanese Wong Karwai. His Love Letter in 1995 started a great wave in Asia and made him popular among young filmgoers. Actually, Shunji Iwai once won the Grand Prix with All About Lily Chou-Chou in 2002, and films directed or supervised by him have been screened in panorama several times. In 2009, Dumpling Girls, in which he was the screenwriter and producer, entered China’s Film Pitch and Catch (CFPC).
As it is in its eighth year, ANTA will continuously focus on the combination of content originality and marketability. An increasing number of production companies prefer directors and films from ANTA, and more and more films are entering the competition. The list of nominees will be released in May, and the jury panel chaired by Shunji Iwai will announce the winners on June 17 at the award ceremony.
Biographical sketch of Shunji Iwai
One of the most popular and influential Japanese directors of his generation, the multi-talented Shunji Iwai is commonly recognized for his distinctive and innovative visual style. Despite insisting that he is an eizo sakka (visual artist), characters and plot themes are often consistently well developed. He writes his own screenplays, edited several of his films, and has even composed scores for his more recent efforts.
Love Letter in 1995 struck a strong chord with contemporary Japanese youth and soon after was warmly received by the whole of South Asia and even some western nations. In 1996, Picnic won the Press Examinant Award in the Berlin International Film Festival. In the same year, he released the futuristic Swallowtail Butterfly set in a nameless subterranean city. In 2004, he directed Hana and Alice. The Kon Ichikawa Story, a documentary made in 2006, was a tribute to a director he admired. In 2008, he contributed to New York, I Love You with renowned directors from other countries.
As it is in its eighth year, ANTA will continuously focus on the combination of content originality and marketability. An increasing number of production companies prefer directors and films from ANTA, and more and more films are entering the competition. The list of nominees will be released in May, and the jury panel chaired by Shunji Iwai will announce the winners on June 17 at the award ceremony.
Biographical sketch of Shunji Iwai
One of the most popular and influential Japanese directors of his generation, the multi-talented Shunji Iwai is commonly recognized for his distinctive and innovative visual style. Despite insisting that he is an eizo sakka (visual artist), characters and plot themes are often consistently well developed. He writes his own screenplays, edited several of his films, and has even composed scores for his more recent efforts.
Love Letter in 1995 struck a strong chord with contemporary Japanese youth and soon after was warmly received by the whole of South Asia and even some western nations. In 1996, Picnic won the Press Examinant Award in the Berlin International Film Festival. In the same year, he released the futuristic Swallowtail Butterfly set in a nameless subterranean city. In 2004, he directed Hana and Alice. The Kon Ichikawa Story, a documentary made in 2006, was a tribute to a director he admired. In 2008, he contributed to New York, I Love You with renowned directors from other countries.
Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism
