Asian cinema has been gaining a greater acceptance in the international market, a trend clearly evident at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), among the most high-profile film festivals in North America.
'Margarita with a Straw', directed by Los Angeles-based Indian director Shonali Bose, won the top award in a special competition for Asian films in Toronto this year.
Artistic director Cameron Bailey, who was also responsible for introducing African cinema to the festival, is now putting the same energy into promoting Asian films and filmmakers.
"Asia is a huge part of the globe, and there's every reason for us to reflect this in our 'global' festival," he said.
In fact, one of the strengths of TIIF over the years has been its discovery of new Asian talents, many of whom have become globally renowned filmmakers. Mr Bailey spoke with pride about famed directors such as John Woo from Hong Kong, Hou Hsaio Hsien from Taiwan, Hirokazu Kore-eda of Japan, Lino Brocka from the Philippines and Anurag Kashyap from India, who were all first "discovered" by TIFF.
This year's new discoveries included Ken Kwek from Singapore, Liew Seng Tat from Malaysia, Diep Hoang Nguyen from Vietnam, Afia Nathaniel from Pakistan, and Rooth Tang from Thailand.
Rooth is based in the United States, and shot his film Sway, which was premiered at TIFF, on a very modest budget of $120,000.
"It's a dream debut for any filmmaker to be at TIFF," he told Asia Focus. "Apart from the big, international names, I also got to meet many important people from the Asian film industry."
Another expat Asian filmmaker who created waves at Toronto was Korean director Albert Shin, who is based in Canada. His film In Her Place attracted large numbers of Korean and other Asian viewers based in Toronto.
"You can't go wrong with Asian films at our festival, as we have ready audiences for all of them in Toronto," said Bailey, referring to the 58% expat population in Canada's largest and most multicultural city.
A unique section of the festival, entitled "City to City", this year featured Seoul. Last year it featured the Bollywood capital of Mumbai. "This section features cities noted for producing vibrant cinema, and both these Asian cities have produced some brilliant filmmakers," said Bailey.
Fourteen Korean films were screened at TIFF, which featured a large Korean delegation including the Korean Film Council. Many of the Korean films screened at TIFF were picked up by international distributors, said council members.
Bollywood was represented by superstar Priyanka Chopra, who presented her riveting sports-biopic Mary Kom, which was released in Canada soon after the festival. She and first-time director Omung Kumar said that TIFF was a very important event for Indian films in terms of their international release.
Given Toronto's huge Indian population, it was not a coincidence that the newly elected Film Commissioner of the city is Zaib Shaikh, an actor, director and writer of Indian origin.
A unique Indian film screened this year at TIFF was Tigers, a big-budget Asian film shot with European funds. The movie had a large Indian cast but was directed by the Oscar-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic.
There were many more East-West productions, which have now become a unique phenomenon in Asian cinema, reflecting the high cost of film production. The Cambodian film The Gate was a co-production with France, directed by the famed French director Regis Wargnier. The mega-budget Hong Kong film Revenge of the Green Dragons was directed by local directors Andrew Loo and Andrew Lau, but was shot in New York and produced by none other than Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese.
Although the Toronto event is not a competitive film festival, it has a special award Netpac Award (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema). Netpac was founded by the Indian film luminary Dr Aruna Vasudev in 1990 and is the biggest platform for Asian cinema in the world. It grants awards to Asian films at more than 23 festivals in 21 countries and five continents.
At TIFF there were 14 Asian films to choose from and the eventual winner was a movie from India, Margarita with a Straw, directed by yet another expat Asian filmmaker first discovered in Toronto — Los Angeles-based Indian director Shonali Bose. Margarita created waves at TIFF when it was bought by a top Japanese sales agent for an international release.
The Industry section of TIFF is another one of its important constituents, as it is attended by well-known distributors and sales agents from around the world, eager to buy films, including Asian fare.
Chinese director Chen Kaige's filmTogether created a stir in 2002, when it was bought by a big American sales agent for a multi-million dollar price.
This year, there were a record 43 film sales within the first week of the festival, and these included many Asian movies. Among them was the Chinese road-comedy Breakup Buddies, which obtained instant sales for multiple regions including North America, Australia and New Zealand.
In fact, the Chinese film market was the chief focus of the Asian Film Summit, another special feature of TIFF, which was held for the third consecutive year.
Festival director Bailey said the Summit served as "a kind of bridge between the film industry professionals of Asia and the West, who want to know more about each other".
This year's Summit was attended by high-level executives of top Asian distribution houses, including Sahamongkol from Thailand, CJ Entertainment from Korea, UNI from Japan, and many others, including HSBC. Well-known Asian directors including Andrew Lau and Ning Hao took part in the panel discussions.
Bailey expects more directors and films from Southeast Asia to make their mark in Toronto in the years ahead.
"There's a distinct growth of good cinema from Southeast Asian countries, and we are sure it'll get more exciting and challenging with the formation of the [Asean Economic Community] next year," he said.
Another distinctive feature of TIFF is that, apart from the film festival, the organising committee stages a range of cultural events throughout the year. Bailey said he was proud that these have included many Asian programmes, including retrospective looks at the work of legendary Indian filmmakers Satyajit Ray and Raj Kapoor, and also the important exhibition "100 Years of Chinese Cinema".
"Our annual budget is about $40 million" said David Carey, director of government and foundation relations. "Most of this comes from donations." That's why TIFF is proudly known as a "charity" festival.