New Asian Cinema

The recent box office success Godzilla vs. Kong encapsulates the vibrancy and prosperity of Hong Kong, a city that has been featured in Hollywood blockbusters such as Ghost in the Shell, Tomb Raider, Pacific Rim and many more.

In May 2019, Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage, embracing a world of non-binary and gender equality. Last year, director Patrick Liu’s Your Name Engraved Herein became the first LGBTQ-themed film to surpass NT$100 million in Taiwan’s domestic box office.

Doing the Work is a series profiling key recipients of HFPA Philanthropy Margaret Wu was happy to see the sycamore trees. Not in-person, but represented in their true glory on-screen through The Newcomer, a ten-minute short film that follows a Canadian expatriate who begins to acclimate to the streets of Shanghai.

Black and white films are a staple of world cinema. From achievements in the early silent era such as Metropolis (1927) and M (1931) to masterpieces like The 400 Blows (1959), Tokyo Story (1953) and Wings of Desire (1987), this format never actually died after color films were invented.

When it comes to choosing the official foreign-language submission to enter the Oscar race, each country carefully looks through many entries submitted by the best filmmakers. The horror genre is a rare pick for considerations.

Munich-based Mongolian filmmaker Byambasuren Davaa’s documentary The Story of the Weeping Camel was an Oscar nominee in 2005. The film has a very rare theme.

In 2006, Sacha Baron Cohen’s mockumentary comedy film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was very well received, both critically and commercially. Cohen later won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

There are over 12 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) who reside in another country for a limited period of employment. Films that center around the lives of OFW are usually tear-jerking dramas, such as Anak (2000), Ilo Ilo (2013) and Caregiver (2008), depicting the hardship and injustice OFW face while working abroad.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, China has surpassed the United States to become the world's biggest film box office for the first time. Producing over $460 million in ticket sales, the epic war movie The Eight Hundred is the year’s biggest-grossing movie in the country.

Starting in the 1980s and the early ‘90s, competition from Hollywood swept through Asia. The cinema of Thailand was known for its hardcore action films, but it hit a low point when audiences shifted their attention to Hollywood blockbusters.