OSAKA ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2022

The list of award winners

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Grand Prix (Best Picture Award)

“Aloners”

혼자 사는 사람들

Korea|Director: HONG Sung-eun (홍성은)

Jury Comment:

“Aloners” deals with the very contemporary subject, not only in Korea but around the world, of people living alone. The beauty of the film, however, is not just the choice of the subject. We are impressed by the excellent usage of film language, such as the shot which captures the protagonist alone, answering the phone at work. Both solitude and the connection with others are illuminated through human life and death, which gives the film serenity and strength.

Comment from Director HONG Sung-eun:

I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me this big award that I never expected. It is even more significant because the award was given by the Osaka Asian Film Festival, which has a particularly close relationship with independent Korean films.

I always wanted to make a film that the people I made the film with would be proud of, and I am filled with joy to have the opportunity to rejoice with them.

Whenever I feel that my life as a film director is hard and painful, I will reflect on gratitude and happiness through this undeservedly loved memory.

Once again, thank you to everyone who worked hard for the festival and to the audience.

예상하지 못한 큰 상을 이렇게 주셔서 진심으로 감사드립니다.

한국 독립 영화인들과 특히 연이 깊은 오사카 아시안 영화제에서 주시는 상이라 더욱 뜻깊습니다.

저는 언제나 같이 작업한 사람들이 자랑스러워할 수 있는 영화를 만들고 싶었는데, 이렇게 그들과 같이 기뻐할 수 있는 기회가 생겨 뿌듯합니다.

영화감독으로서의 삶이 고단하고 괴롭다는 기분이 들 때마다 이 과분하게 사랑 받은 기억으로 감사와 행복을 되새기겠습니다.

영화제를 위하여 수고해주신 모든 분들과 관객들께 다시 한 번 감사드립니다.

Most Promising Talent Award

IIZUKA Kasho

飯塚花笑

Japan|“Angry Son” (世界は僕らに気づかない) Director

Jury Comment:

Dealing with both racial and gender identities is no easy job but Director IIZUKA skillfully portrays how a young man faces his own sexuality and identity crisis as a Filipino-Japanese. His journey to explore his future reasserts the importance of embracing differences especially when we’re still living in a world divided by discrimination and injustice. The performances by both GOW and HORIKE Kazuki (堀家一希) are powerful.

This proves Director IIZUKA’s ability to direct actors and to handle conflict in drama.

Comment from Director IIZUKA Kasho:

We are delighted that our film "Angry Son" has been selected for the competition section and that we have received the wonderful award of 'Most Promising Talent Award'. I believe that this award is the result of the efforts of all the people of Gunma Prefecture who have supported my creative activities, as well as all the performers and staff. In these chaotic times, we see so many divisions, but I will continue to look at the world, shape it and try my best to help others by seeing what I can do with film. This is a happy start for our work. Thank you once again for giving us this wonderful award.

Competition Special Mention

“Anita”

梅艷芳

Hong Kong|Director: Longman LEUNG (梁樂民)

Jury Comment:

Watching “Anita” at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022 was a memorable experience for the jury. Assumingly it was the same for the audience. Because the film’s budget scale differs considerably from other entries, it was difficult for us to regard the film as a fair candidate for the awards, but we decided to make a Special Mention, hoping it will leave its mark on the Osaka Asian Film Festival.

The touching film lovingly portrays the life of Anita, a shining star of Hong Kong entertainment, and the history of the unique city of Hong Kong from the 1980s to the present day. We sincerely hope that this film will be shown on the big screen in Japan in the future.

Comment from Director Longman LEUNG:

I would like to thank the jury members of the Osaka Asian Film Festival and my Japanese friends for their love of Anita MUI's films.

Anita always said that she loved Japan, so winning this award was a great encouragement to our team.

We hope that the Corona epidemic will soon be under control and that we will see you/each other again.

感謝大阪電影節評審、還有喜歡《梅艷芳》電影的日本朋友。梅姐生前常常提起她很喜歡日本的,獎項給我們團隊很大的鼓舞,希望疫情能盡快過去,我們能再次相聚。

ABC TV Award

“The First Girl I Loved”

喜歡妳是妳

Hong Kong|Directors: Candy NG (吳詠珊), YEUNG Chiu Hoi (楊潮凱)

ABC TV Comment:

The shine of romance in the time of fresh but fragile adolescence is vividly captured with beautiful images and convincingly delivered in a well-made entertaining film.

Comment from Director Candy NG, YEUNG Chiu Hoi:

First of all, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to OAFF for recognising and acknowledging our movie, “The First Girl I Loved”. Being graduates from a film school, making movie was definitely our greatest dream. We are very grateful to our team and everyone who have been supporting us all the way.

I wish this movie can give some breathing space to the audience in this tensed world nowadays.

The six years of film production were enjoyable.

Though it was a pity that we couldn’t come to Japan and join the film festival this time, we felt very honoured and privileged to be one of the awardees.

Since this is actually our first feature film in our career, winning this award really means a lot to us and we deeply appreciate the recognition of OAFF.

Moreover, it is very encouraging to receive a lot of pleasant feedbacks from the audience.

As directors, the tears and laughter of the audience are the greatest comfort and encouragement for us.

Once again, thank you so much for all of the support and blessings. Looking forward to meeting you again in the near future.

Yakushi Pearl Award

BAYARTSETSEG Bayarjargal

Mongolia|“The Sales Girl” (Khudaldagch ohin) Lead Actor

Yakushi Pearl Comment:

BAYARTSETSEG Bayarjargal impressively realizes a new image of a Mongolian woman of the new generation, through the role of Saruul, who never hesitates to explore an unknown world.

Comment from Ms. BAYARTSETSEG Bayarjargal:

Hello everyone, I am very happy to receive the Yakushi Pearl Award at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022 for my first film “The Sales Girl.”

I met wonderful people and learned a lot from this film.

I will continue to do my best.

Сайн байцгаана уу? Энэ өдрийн мэндийг хүргэе. Миний анхны тоголсон кино Худалдагч охин Осака Asian film festival д шалгарсанд маш их баяртай байна. Энэ кинонд сонгогдож шалгараад мундаг хүмүүстэй нэг хамт олон болж ажилсан энэ хүмүүсээс их зүйл сурж авсан. Цаашдаа улам хичээх болноо

JAPAN CUTS Award

“Sanka: Nomads of the mountains”

山歌 (サンカ)

Japan|Director: SASATANI Ryohei (笹谷遼平)

JAPAN CUTS Comment:

We are pleased to present the JAPAN CUTS Award to “Sanka: Nomads of the Mountains”, a stirring 1960s-set coming-of-age drama that confronts societal progress and development in Japan's mountainous regions. Beautifully shot and bolstered by compelling performances, Sanka's human drama delivers a melancholic and moving reflection on the societal conflicts and turmoil prevalent in postwar Japan, depicting the struggles of a nomadic tribe when its way of life is threatened by the onset of modernity.

Comment from Director SASATANI Ryohei:

I am very honoured to have received the JAPAN CUTS Award for the film “Sanka: Nomads of the mountains” from amongst many other films.

This film was made after winning the Scenario Grand Prize at the Isama Studio Cinema Festival in Nakanojo Town, Gunma Prefecture. The film was shot during a break in the rain clouds. The cast and crew experienced the beauty of the rain-soaked trees and the spray of the rivers, which filled them with a sense of deep beauty, as well as the constant attacks of ground-crawling leeches that sucked our blood, and the fear of flash floods.

I am overjoyed that the fruits of the chaotic filming that we managed to pluck out of the chaos have been recognised in this way. This award is not just for me, but for all the people involved in this film, and above all, it is like a gift from the nature of Nakanojo Town. I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Housen Short Film Award

“We'll Never Get Lost Together Again”

Turkey, Russia, Ukraine|Director: Eugene KOSHIN

Jury Comment:

Depicting the coincidental encounter and parting of a young Ukrainian man and woman on a trip to Turkey, the film successfully eternalizes a moment for the two, who will never get lost together, and embraces the charm unique to time-limited short films. Although it is difficult to ignore the current tragic situation of the filmmaker's homeland, the film is nevertheless a story of everyone who wanders through a foreign land. The universality is remarkable and deeply evocative.

Comment from Director Eugene KOSHIN:

On behalf of the entire crew and all the cast, I would like to thank the OAFF Programing Director for selecting our film for the festival, and the members of the jury for choosing to honor our work with the Housen Short Film Award. I am extremely delighted by this appreciation of our efforts in Japan, whose art (and in particular the films of KUROSAWA Akira and MIYAZAKI Hayao, the prose of AKUTAGAWA Ryunosuke and MISHIMA Yukio, and of course the engravings of Hokusai) I have cherished for many years. It is indirectly Japan that our film is connected to, thanks to the two of its main references, Sofia COPPOLA's “Lost in Translation" and Alain RESNAIS' "Hiroshima, My Love".

The story of our film, which took four years and all my savings to produce, began with two events. In the spring of 2017, I saw a crazy old woman praying on the pier in a Turkish village. Against the backdrop of the vast blue sea, she was repeating just one word: "Allah." And just a couple of weeks later, I, like my character Sasha, actually got lost in France with an incredibly attractive girl who I instantly fell in love with (where is she now?). As we parted ways with her at the Kiev train station, she whispered to me the phrase that later became the title of the movie: "We'll Never Get Lost Together Again!"

Our dream was to make a kind film about love, about relationships, about fleeting feelings and (to use the title of Milan KUNDERA's novel appropriately here) about the "unbearable lightness of being”. It's up to the audience to decide whether or not we've succeeded.Perhaps some spectators may see some Orientalist tendencies in our film. Let me assure you right away that I am as far as possible from this view of the relationship between East and West. I believe in their dynamic relationship. I believe in a common future for all humanity.

Now, as I am writing these lines sitting in a bomb shelter during another air raid alert because my homeland has been attacked by another country for a completely far-fetched reason, this thought - of a unified future of humanity - may seem premature at the very least. But our crew and cast are now scattered all over Ukraine, and some have ended up in Europe, in Asia, or on other continents. Some of them are in cities besieged by the Russian army. Some, fortunately, are safe and, like the characters of my film, wander aimlessly through foreign cities, listening to incomprehensible foreign languages and trying to get accustomed to a new unfamiliar reality.

When this war is over, I wish that in Ukraine, in Japan, and all over the world, movies would be made not about war, but about love. Then perhaps all of humanity on our common planet will have some chance of salvation.

Lviv, Ukraine, March 22 2022

Housen Short Film Award Special Mention

ABE Junko

阿部純子

Japan, Nepal|“Bagmati River” (バグマティ リバー) Cast member

Jury Comment:

ABE delivered a perfect performance under extremely severe filming conditions, playing the role of a woman searching for her brother who is missing on Mt. Everest.

Comment from Ms. ABE Junko:

This is the first time I have participated in the Osaka Asian Film Festival.

I am sincerely grateful that not only were two of my films, “Bagmati River” and “Miss Osaka”, screened, but also that I was selected for the Housen Short Film Award Special Mention for “Bagmati River.”

Osaka is my home town.

The award was a pleasant surprise for my parents, who happened to be there to see the closing film “Miss Osaka.”

I am very grateful to have met people who, in the difficult circumstances of the Corona disaster, have protected and encouraged the expressive activity of cinema and cultural diversity.

I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the filming and everyone who came to see the film.

Audience Award

“Anita”

梅艷芳

Hong Kong|Director: Longman LEUNG (梁樂民)

Photo Gallery

ABC Hall

ABC Hall

“Anita”
Audience Award

A pearl accessory
from Yakushi Shinju to Audience Award

Housen Short Film Award
Jury Members

ABE Junko, “Bagmati River” Cast member
Housen Short Film Award Special Mention

Housen Short Film Award Presenter
Presenter DOI Chiyaki, Housen Cultural Foundation

JAPAN CUTS Award Presenter
Alexander FEE, NY Japan Society

“Sanka: Nomads of the mountains” JAPAN CUTS Award
Director SASATANI Ryohei

“Sanka: Nomads of the mountains” JAPAN CUTS Award
ARIYOSHI Tsukasa, the Japanese distributor Magic Hour

Yakushi Pearl Award
  

BAYARTSETSEG Bayarjargal, "The Sales Girl" Lead Actor,
Yakushi Pearl Award

ABC TV Award Presenter
ITAI Akihiro, ABC TV

Competition Jury Members
  

“Anita”
Competition Special Mention

Director IIZUKA Kasho
"Angry Son", Most Promising Talent Award

“Aloners”
Grand Prix