2006 ASIAN FESTIVAL OF 1st FILMS ANNOUNCES 10 AWARDS TO RISING ASIAN FILM TALENTS
“The Road” from China Hat-Tricks with Triple Awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay and Foreign Correspondents Association Choice “Purple Orchid” Award
Singapore, 6 December 06 – First-time filmmakers who aspire to succeed won glittering crystal awards at the star-studded closing award ceremony of the Asian Festival of 1st Films held on 6 December 2006 at the Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel. 22 feature films and documentaries from 13 countries were screened daily at Golden Village Cinemas and The Arts House. Winners of the 9 Category Awards and Foreign Press Correspondents Choice were presented tonight after a week-long festival from the 30 November – 5 December 2006.
In an impressive hat-trick, 3 awards of the 10 award categories for Best Film, Best Screenplay and Foreign Press Choice’s “Purple Orchid” Award were bagged by “The Road” (China), a beautiful love story spanning 3 decades.
For the two categories of Best Producer and Best Director, the jury decided to give the awards to both Ramakant Gaikwad for Dombivli Fast (India) & Lam Nguyen and Ham Tran for Journey from the Fall (USA).
The event was attended by a celebrity crowd comprising the local and regional who’s who as well as a large spectrum of well-established, Academy and Bafta award-winning members of the international film community.
Tonight’s panel of presenters included acting veteran Hong Kong-based Anthony Wong of John Woo’s Hard Boiled, world-renowned actress and Bafta award-winning Gina McKee of Notting Hill, local actress Wong Li Lin with MediaCorp Television, Dr Christopher Chia, CEO (Media Development Authority) and Daniel Yun, CEO (Raintree Pictures). The jury include Cecilia Yip from Hong Kong; two-time Academy award winner James V. Hart from the USA, Ketan Mehta from India, two-time Bafta award winner Michael Yorke from the UK and Volker Langhoff from Germany.
The summary of awards presented at the ceremony is as follows:
Best Screenplay
Zhang Jiarui & Daju Yuan for “The Road”(China)
Best Director
Ramakant Gaikwad for “Dombivli Fast” (India) & Lam Nguyen for “Journey from the Fall” (USA)
Best Producer
Ramakant Gaikwad for Dombivli Fast (India) & Lam Nguyen for “Journey from the Fall” (USA)
Best Actor Male
Le Go in “The Road in the Air” (Taiwan)
Best Actor Female
Kangana Ranaut in “Gangster” (India)
Best Cinematographer
Tassaduq Hussain for “Omkara” (India) & Bobby Singh for “Gangster” (India)
Best Documentary
“One Show Less” (India) produced by Nayantara Kotian
Best Director Of Documentary
Roseanne Liang, “Banana in a Nutshell” (New Zealand)
Best Film
“The Road” (China)
Foreign Correspondents Association Choice “Purple Orchid” Award
The Road (China)
Winners each received a dazzling Swarovski trophy designed by Swarovski especially for AFFF, by Sanjay Sharma, who has designed trophies for many prestigious events including the 2004 ICC Awards – the “Oscars of Cricket”. They additionally received an exclusive Raymond Weil timepiece.
Prizes:
Best Film – cash + trophy + watch
Best Director – cash + trophy + watch + SAE short audio or film course of their choice
Best Producer - trophy + watch + SAE short audio or film course of their choice
Best Cinematographer – trophy + watch + SAE short audio or film course of their choice
For more information on the AFFF, please log on to www.asianfirstfilms.com or visit the blog at www.afff2006.blogspot.com.
About the Presenters
GINA MCKEE
Fairly well-known in her native Britain for her work on such television series as Our Friend in the North, The Brass Eye, and The Lenny Henry Show, Gina McKee started earning recognition among transatlantic audiences with her work in a series of films during the late '90s.
McKee made her film debut in 1988, when she had a bit part as a nurse in Ken Russell's Lair of the White Worm, a camp-fest starring a then-unknown Hugh Grant. Although McKee would eventually work with Grant again eleven years later in Notting Hill, in the meantime she played bit roles in such films as The Rachel Papers (1989) and Mike Leigh's Naked (1993). In 1999 McKee could be seen in a major role in the aforementioned Notting Hill; over the course of that same year, she did more substantial work in Michael Winterbottom's ensemble family drama Wonderland, and Women Talking Dirty, the latter of which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. McKee also had secondary roles in Mike Figgis' The Loss of Sexual Innocence and Luc Besson's The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc.
ANTHONY WONG
Anthony Wong is one of the most talented actors in Hong Kong He made his debut in screen in 1986 in a movie Kiss me Goodbye (Lian ai ji jie). In 1982 he got his first nomination in HK film awards for supporting role in Now You See Love, Now You Don't. In 1999 he won his second best actor award from the Beast Cops. Anthony has directed himself 2 movies, New Tenant in 199 and Top Banana Club 1996. Anthony is mostly known from his villain parts like in John Woo's Hard Boiled.
About the Jury
CECILIA YIP (HONG KONG)
Of her impressive repertoire of 45 feature length films to date, Cecilia Yip has snagged the Best Actress Award in the 3rd and 7th Hong Kong Film Awards and the ‘Best Supporting Actress Award, in the 11th Hong Kong Film Awards. She has been awarded the ‘Best Actress Award’ in the 27th Golden Horse Award for the film This Thing Call Love acted in television programmes in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the P.R.C. and was nominated in the 30th Taiwan Golden Bell ‘Best Actress Award’ for her performance in the television series Heaven Sword Versus Dragon Sabre. She has also performed on stage with lead roles in four plays in Hong Kong.
JAMES V. HART (USA)
James is an award-winning scriptwriter from Hollywood. His writing/producing credits include; Hook, directed by Steven Spielberg, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Muppet Treasure Island & Jack And The Beanstalk: The Real Story, directed by Brian Henson, Contact, directed by Robert Zemeckis, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, directed by Kenneth Branagh as producer with Coppola and John Veitch, also directed by Brian Henson, a Jim Henson/CBS mini-series, Tuck Everlasting, directed by Jay Russell for Disney with Sir Ben Kingsley, Sissy Spacek, William Hurt.
KETAN MEHTA (INDIA)
Ketan Mehta's very first film Bhavni Bhavai won him instant acclaim. His movies have been selected for various international film festivals such as Nantes (France) and the Moscow Film Festival, where his movies have won numerous awards over the years, including: Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Jury, Best Film.
Mirch Masala was one of Ketan Mehta's triumphant efforts which won him the Best Film Award at Hawaii. It was released to 52 cinemas in the United States.
MICHAEL YORKE (UK)
Michael Yorke is a filmmaker, photographer, writer and anthropologist. He has made 24 documentaries for television and won many awards including the San Francisco Golden Gate Award, two Royal Television Society awards, a BAFTA nomination, the UN Environmental Award, the National Geographic Earthwatch Award, and the BBC Asia Award.
As an academic anthropologist and a documentary filmmaker, his focus has been to educate and inform viewers on the value of other cultures’ knowledge heritage.
VOLKER LANGHOFF (GERMANY)
Volker was awarded a scholarship with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (A.M.P.A.S.), the award-giving body responsible for the Oscars. Among his long list of credits are the 1993 film Estelle, the 2001 B-52, and Uprising '89, Dresden, which won the Golden Dove award in the International Week of Documentaries and Short Films in Leipzig.
About Teamwork Productions
Teamwork is a highly versatile entertainment company, with roots in the performing arts, social action, and the corporate world. Our expertise lies in the area of entertainment including Television, Film – documentary and feature, Event Management, Social Communication, Creation and Development of Contemporary Performing and Visual Arts Festivals across the world and in nurturing new talent across arts forms.
Teamwork Films, India, Teamwork Productions Singapore, Teamwork Films Pvt Ltd UK, Friends of Music and TWF Arts Society and liaison offices in Hong Kong and New York have initiated a wide range of projects in Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA.
About Asia Media Festival 2006
The Asia Media Festival (AMF) 2006 is a media fiesta held from 13 November to 1 December 2006 comprising events for both trade professionals and consumers. The festival features anchor trade events such as the Asia Television Forum, Asia Film Market & Conference, Asia Animation, Media Financing Forum, Asian Television Awards and the Asian Festival of 1st Films. AMF 2006 also includes an array of exciting workshops, conferences and exhibitions for both media enthusiasts and practitioners. Running parallel to the trade events is MEDIAction!, an outreach initiative organised by Media Development Authority to inspire the general public to discover the benefits and possibilities that media can offer for work, learning and play. More information on AMF 2006 can be found at www.asiamediafestival.com.
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