by Jean-Marc Thérouanne
The Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema salutes fraternally the great Iranian director Jafar Panahi, whose film «un simple accident» won the prestigious Palme d’or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. This well-deserved award crowns a humanist thriller that poses the serious question of the possibility of the pardon of the oppressed towards his executioner to achieve national reconciliation, on condition of repentance of the latter.
Jafar Panahi is a giant of the world cinema, multi-award-winning author of eleven feature films and seven shorts (Golden Leopard Locarno 1997, Golden Lion Venice 2000, Golden Bear Berlin 2015, Golden Cyclo Vesoul 2010, …). He was president of the jury at the 10th FICA Vesoul 2004.
“Simple accident” also wins the citizenship award.
The Vesoul IFF Asian Cinema also extends its warm congratulations to Chinese director Bi Gan for the Special Prize of the Cannes 2025 jury, awarded to his film «Résurrection». After “Kaili Blues” and “A Great Journey to the Night”, “Resurrection” continues Bi Gan’s innovative work in exploring the form of narrative, image and staging. The main actress, the sublime Shu Qi, is a significant asset.
Filmmakers from Near East Asia have won several important awards. The Golden Camera for a Feature Film was awarded to the film “The President’s Cake” by Iraqi filmmaker Hasan Hadi, who also won the Audience Award at the Directors’ Fortnight; the Golden Camera of the short film was won by the Palestinian director of Israeli nationality Tawfeek Barhom for «I’m Glad You’re Dead Now».
Palestinian directors Arab and Tarzan Nasser received the Un Certain Regard Director’s Award for their third film, “Once Upon a Time in Gaza”.
Other directors from the Indian subcontinent, Adnan Al Rajeev (Bangladesh) wins the special mention of the Golden Camera short film for «Ali»; or from the Caucasus, Deni Oumar Pitsaev (Chechnya) is awarded the Golden Eye and the French Touch Jury Prize for his documentary film “Imago”; or from the Far East, Heo Gayoung (South Korea), receives the first prize of the Cinef (ex-Cinéfondation), for “First Summer”, Qu Zhizheng (China), the second prize of the Cinef, for “12 moments before the Flag-raising Ceremony”, and Mini Tanaka (Japan), third prize at CINEF for “Ginger Boy”. These three prizes are awarded to three young talents who guarantee the future of Cinemas of Asia.
From South-East Asia a surprising «A useful ghost» of the Thai Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, won the Grand Prix de la Semaine de la Critique. This film recycles the ghost stories, dear to Thai cinema, by telling an ecological fable of fight against air pollution: stripper!
Taiwanese film with “Left-Handed Girl” by director Shih-ching Tsou wins the Gan Foundation award for diffusion. The co-screenwriter is the American Sean Baker, Cannes 2024 golden palm for «Anora». The film features a single mother and her two daughters, including the very touching nine-year-old Nina Ye.
Other non-award-winning Asian films attract attention because of their quality. Being selected for the Cannes Film Festival is a prize in itself.
“Renoir” by the Japanese director Chie Hayakawa, whose previous film “Plan 75” radically addressed the worrisome subject of the aging of the world population by providing a more than disturbing solution, paints the portrait of a girl with unusual sensitivity.
“Woman and Child” by Iranian director Saeed Roustaee addresses in this talkative melodrama the social prejudice against a divorced woman raising her children alone.
Exit 8» by Genki Kawamura (Japan) tells the Kafkaesque misadventures of a man trapped in the meanders of the subway corridor. “Sons of the Neon Night” by Juno Mak (Hong Kong) immerses the viewer in the world of ultra-violent gangs for the control of global drug trafficking.
“Homebound” by Neeraj Ghaywan (India) paints a chilling portrait of an India confronted with its caste or religious prejudices during the COVID epidemic.
«Pale Light on the Hills» by Kei Ishikawa (Japan) is a film about the difficulties of accurately reconstructing the family past.
“Magellan” by Lav Diaz (Philippines) attempts to reconstruct the famous sailor’s colonial and marine adventure.
«Love On Trial» by Koji Fukada (Japan) immerses the viewer in the ruthless universe of show-business where a singer from a Girls-Band is forbidden the right to love by her imprésarios.
«Brend New Landscape» by Yuiga Danzuka (Japan) analyses the relationship between an architect father, his children and his wife.
«Lucky Lu» by Lloyd Lee Choi, an Asian-American director invites us to a cruel dive into the Asian community in New York. References to the «bicycle thief» of Vittorio de Sica are implicit. The film is held at arm’s length by the remarkable interpretation of the first male role of Chang Chen, a leading Taiwanese actor.
«Kokuho – Le maître du kabuki» by Lee Sang-il (Japan) is a river film tracing fifty years of the lives of two kabuki actors. It is the most beautiful film seen at the 78th Festival de Cannes, in the line of «d’Adieu, ma concubine» by Chen Kaige.
“Girl on Edge” by Jinghao Zhou (China), a psychological thriller set in the middle of figure skating. He is an example of this current tendency in the cinema to mix genres, with a result, alas, inconclusive.
“Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk” by Sepideh Farsi is a poignant documentary dedicated to photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who was killed in an Israeli army bombing raid on her home on 16 April 2025.
Among the most striking films seen at Cannes this year, the Israeli film “Yes” by Nadav Lapid is an amazing film about the drama of the massacres perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and its terrible consequences on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. This film questions the desire for revenge that leads to a dead end. The stylistic form of the film and the acting of the actors are prodigious. This is not an ordinary film, it calls you to the depths of being.
The panorama of films from all over Asia, from the Near to the Far East, presented at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, would not be complete without mentioning the great classics of Asian cinemas presented in the «Cannes Classics» section.
“Days and Nights in the Forest” by Satyajit Ray (India), a bittersweet comedy, analyses the social distancing between young men of the Indian bourgeoisie when they meet girls from deep India, “The Girls” by Sumitra Peries (Sri Lanka), comedy drama focuses on describing the destructive effect of class and caste prejudices, “Hard Boiled – Any Way” by John Woo (Hong Kong), is a great classic of detective and action films with the charismatic actor Chow Yun-fat, “Saïd Effendi of Kameran Hosni (Iraq), is a neorealist curiosity from Iraq, “The Arch” by T’Ang Shushuen (Hong Kong), is a little gem from the point of view of the great beauty of black and white photography, the subtlety of acting, the psychological analysis of the characters, the historical reconstruction of provincial China of the seventeenth century, in a word it is a masterpiece, “Floating Clouds – Floating Clouds” by Naruse Mikio, cult melodrama with the immense Japanese actress Mariko Okada, Set in post-war Japan, shaken by its defeat, “Yiyi – A One and Two” by Edward Yang (Taiwan) depicts the family life of a 40-year-old businessman with two children including his 8-year-old son. The latter has melted millions of viewers of this subtle film devoted to emotional conflicts, the discovery of the world and love. This masterpiece won the Cannes 2000 Prize for Best Director.
The 78th Cannes Film Festival allowed to discover or review 32 Asian films for the delight of cinema professionals. They will be keen to share them with film moviegoers around the world when they are released in cinemas or during upcoming festival programming. To follow …
Written on 28 May 2025 by Jean-Marc Thérouanne, on his return from Cannes.
