The Asian Festival of First Films (AFFF), the world’s premiere film and documentary festival celebrating first-time filmmakers, recently opened in Singapore.
According to festival director Sanjoy K Roy, “The nominations for this year‘s Asian Festival of first Films have once again shown the extent of excellent talent that emerges each year from enterprising debut film makers. This year we received an outstanding 638 submissions from over 23 countries, from which 28 films and documentaries have been selected for nominations across the 11 award categories.”
Nominees from across the world will congregate in Singapore until Dec. 10 to celebrate and view the best films of the year.
This year’s jury of internationally renowned film makers from across the world — including Tikoy Aguiluz, award- winning Filipino film producer, film director, screenwriter and cinematographer, Yim Ho, iconic film director from Hong Kong, and Nadia Tass, one of Australia’s most respected and unique film makers — will come together over the next few days to view all nominations and select the best in each award category.
The Festival draws to a close on Dec. 10 with a star studded awards night to be held at Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel, hosted by Beatrice Chia. Several of the international nominees will be flying in to attend, including Bosco Francis, who is in the running for Best Actor due to his outstanding performance in Eric Khoo’s My Magic, budding new talents Hao Lihong and Jia Xuhua, who are hoping to win the categories Best Actor and Best Actress for their performances in the Chinese love story The Mountain and the Song, and award-winning Bollywood actress, Nandita Das, who has turned her hand to directing in her debut film Firaaq. Filipino filmmaker Dante Nico Garcia, the man behind Ploning, is nominated for Best Director and also for Best Screenplay. Fellow Filipino Auraeus Solito is nominated for Best Producer.
For information visit www.gv.com.sg and www.theartshouse.com.sg. AFFF is part of the Asia Media Festival 2008.