ASIAN AWARDS AT BERLIN FESTIVAL

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The politely received Berlin Film Festival (Variety's final word, "There may not have been any major discoveries or artistic triumphs, but the fest will go down as a pleasurable 10 days of world cinema.") has passed out its award bears (different from Jackie Chan's buddy bears) and Asian movies didn't win much of anything. Of course, this could be viewed as totally normal given that there weren't many Asian films at Berlin in the first place.

BEST SCORE (silver bear!)
Peter Kam, ISABELLA

FIPRESCI Prize for a Film in the Forum
So Young-Kim, IN BETWEEN DAYS

CICAE PRIZE  for a Film from the Panorama
Zhang Yuan, LITTLE RED FLOWERS

NETPAC Prize
Yang Yong-hi, DEAR PYONGYANG

Grand Prix of the Deutsches Kinderfhilfswerk
Auraeus Solito, THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS

(Full list of awards here)

There seems to be a growing consensus that 2005 has been a relatively blah year for Asian films. The highly anticipated movies (SEVEN SWORDS and THE PROMISE are two examples) seem to be regarded as somewhat disappointing and enjoyable only if you squint hard and look at them sideways, whereas the movies that seem to be getting into festivals are mostly respectable, but not very exciting (SHANGHAI DREAMS, EVERLASTING REGRET). It's indicative of what a down year it's been that a solid, well-made action film, SHA PO LANG, has elicted such rapturous praise from the fan community.