16 March 2023

CinemAsia Film Festival 2023 announces Award winners

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What a week! After six days filled with Asian cinema, community events, special guests and food at Studio/K, Rialto De Pijp, and Rialto VU, we concluded the 15th edition of CinemAsia Film Festival on Sunday 12 March with the award ceremony and the screening of the Hong Kong super star filled film Where the Wind Blows 風再起時.

 

During the festival, jury members Martijn te Pas, Suzanne van Voorst and Taiki Saksipit gathered to watch the competition programme to present their conclusions at the closing night award ceremony and announce the winner of the 2023 CinemAsia Jury Award.

 

CinemAsia’s COMPETITION program puts the spotlights on emerging, independent filmmakers placing them side-by-side with established makers of high-quality mainstream films. Each film represents a strong cinematographic and artistic vision. These films highlight the richness in themes and genres Asian cinema has to offer and reflect a complex kaleidoscope of cultural, social and political characteristics that appear in the region.

 

The films in the 2023 Competition:

 

The winner of the 2023 CinemAsia Jury Award is…

 

SMALL, SLOW BUT STEADY ケイコ 目を澄ませて

Director MIYAKE Shô

Japan, France, 2022

The hero of CinemAsia’s Jury Award winning film is a fascinating, authentic and stoic young woman. Headstrong and hardworking, she does not need to use words to communicate clearly. The co-stars of this exquisite character study, shot on warm 16mm and with a sound design that perfectly matches the limited sensory experiences of our young heroine, are equally impressive in their subtle and convincing performances. The screenplay, intelligent and open, is unpredictable like life itself and ultimately this moving film sticks in our imagination, as if it has been an impressionistic memory of our own. The director has a wise cinematic eye and we very much look forward to being taken on another film journey by him in the future. The unanimous winner of CinemAsia’s 2023 Jury Award is Small, Slow but Steady by director MIYAKE Shô.

~ Martijn te Pas, Taiki Saksipit, Suzanne van Voorst, CinemAsia Film Festival 2023 Jury

 

The 2023 Jury special mention goes to:

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Director Makbul MUBARAK

Indonesia, 2022

For its daring subject matter, tense tone, wonderful photography and its assured, mature direction by a debut feature filmmaker, the jury would like to give a Special Mention to Autobiography by director Makbul MUBARAK.

~ Martijn te Pas, Taiki Saksipit, Suzanne van Voorst, CinemAsia Film Festival 2023 Jury

 

The Tao Kae Noi Audience Award goes to:

DEMIGOD: The Legend Begins

Director Chris HUANG Wen-Chang

Taiwan, 2022

Based on a beloved Taiwanese television series, Demigod: The Legend Begins is a blockbuster that fuses the imaginative battles of wuxia with the traditional art of glove puppetry known as budaixi. Director Chris HUANG Wen-chang and his brother Vincent HUANG Wen-tze, who voices all of the film’s main characters, have worked in glove puppetry for over four decades, keeping this art form alive and reinventing it for the modern era. This visually striking work is a dashing piece of artistry, replete with maniacal villains, magical landscapes, and mysterious plots. With an average score of 4.55 out of 5, Demigod… is the winner of this year’s Tao Kae Noi Audience award, leaving behind 95th Academy Awards’ nominee All that Breathes (4.48) and The Exiles (4.44).

 

CinemAsia On Tour The Hague: 12 – 15 May 2023

Both Demigod: The Legend begins and Autobiography are going On Tour to Filmhuis Den Haag.

Full Film List The Hague: