Alternative Film Guide

As its title clearly states, the Asian Festival of 1st Films consists of first feature-film works by nationals of Asian countries (or “semi-Asian” countries, such as Armenia and Cyprus), or by their descendants. All nominees are supposed to be first timers in their respective categories.

The four nominees in the Best Film category are:

Nishikant S. Kamat’s Dombivali Fast (India), which, according to its website, tells “the story of every man who journeys to and fro everyday, trapped in metal boxes [in this case the Dombivali Fast, above], trying to beat the monstrosity he himself created”;

Zhang Jiarui’s Fangxiang zhi lu / The Road (China), about the lives of a provincial bus driver and his wife through four decades of recent Chinese history;

Ham Tran’s U.S.-made, Vietnamese-language Journey from the Fall, which follows a Vietnamese family struggling to remain together after the fall of Saigon;

and Robin Moran’s Maskot (Indonesia), about a man who, in order to inherit the family business, must find a new chicken mascot for his family’s company logo printed on ketchup bottles.

Note: Jiarui has directed three previous feature films, but The Road marks his début as a film producer. That’s why it received a Best Film nomination, though Jiarui himself was ineligible for the Best Director Award.

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