The rise of quality in the entries of this list becomes evident every year, with movies from countries such as Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan finding a number of way outs through festivals and streamers, winning awards all over. Of course, Iran still heads the region, as its biggest movie industry, but the biggest surprise this year came from Sri Lanka, which produced three films of true quality.
Without further ado, here are the best West-Central Asian (rest of Asia one could say) films of 2023, in random order. Some films may have premiered in 2022, but since they mostly circulated in 2023, we decided to include them.
20. Under the Sky of Damascus by Heba Khaled, Talal Derki, Ali Wajeeh (Syria)
“Under the Sky of Damascus” is a great documentary, a testament to the quality and the impact of the medium, and a movie that truly deserved the International Competition Golden...
Without further ado, here are the best West-Central Asian (rest of Asia one could say) films of 2023, in random order. Some films may have premiered in 2022, but since they mostly circulated in 2023, we decided to include them.
20. Under the Sky of Damascus by Heba Khaled, Talal Derki, Ali Wajeeh (Syria)
“Under the Sky of Damascus” is a great documentary, a testament to the quality and the impact of the medium, and a movie that truly deserved the International Competition Golden...
- 1/4/2024
- by AMP Group
- AsianMoviePulse
A range of subjects, ranging from hot button to mystical, await Academy voters considering the contenders from South Asia in the international feature category.
The most visible film from the region is certainly Bhutan’s “The Monk and the Gun,” Pawo Choyning Dorji‘s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.” In the film, Dorji uses the first elections in one of the world’s youngest democracies to comment on what is lost as his country modernizes. The Variety critics pick, following its festival premieres at Telluride, Toronto, Rome and Busan, sold to a raft of major territories worldwide, including Roadside Attractions in the U.S.
Another South Asian feature in the Oscar race that’s striking a high profile is Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Zarrar Kahn’s “In Flames,” Pakistan’s entry to the category. The film debuted at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, kicking off a stellar festival run including Toronto,...
The most visible film from the region is certainly Bhutan’s “The Monk and the Gun,” Pawo Choyning Dorji‘s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.” In the film, Dorji uses the first elections in one of the world’s youngest democracies to comment on what is lost as his country modernizes. The Variety critics pick, following its festival premieres at Telluride, Toronto, Rome and Busan, sold to a raft of major territories worldwide, including Roadside Attractions in the U.S.
Another South Asian feature in the Oscar race that’s striking a high profile is Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Zarrar Kahn’s “In Flames,” Pakistan’s entry to the category. The film debuted at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, kicking off a stellar festival run including Toronto,...
- 12/12/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/28/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/28/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Oscars 2024: Palestine selects Venice doc ‘Bye Bye Tiberias’; Hong Kong, Bangladesh and Panama enter
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/25/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Following the excellent “Moshari”, Bangladeshi Nuhash Humayun has come up with another horror short, this time focusing on a local concept, of a preference regarding white foreigners in terms of a number of financial aspects, including apartment rent and retail trade.
“Foreigners Only” is screening at Vienna Shorts
Hasan, a tannery manager who has developed intense skin problems due to his work, is desperately trying to find an apartment to live. Not even money, however, seem to convince the latest landlord, who does not want locals, and even more, someone like Hasan in his apartments. With his girlfriend already having broken up with him due to his profession, the tanner finds himself in his wit's end when, during a visit to a pharmacy, the owner usher a Caucasian male to the front of the busy line. Violence ensues, with Hasan finding a rather extreme solution to his problems.
Nuhash Humayun...
“Foreigners Only” is screening at Vienna Shorts
Hasan, a tannery manager who has developed intense skin problems due to his work, is desperately trying to find an apartment to live. Not even money, however, seem to convince the latest landlord, who does not want locals, and even more, someone like Hasan in his apartments. With his girlfriend already having broken up with him due to his profession, the tanner finds himself in his wit's end when, during a visit to a pharmacy, the owner usher a Caucasian male to the front of the busy line. Violence ensues, with Hasan finding a rather extreme solution to his problems.
Nuhash Humayun...
- 6/3/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Born in Rupatoli, Mohammad Rabby Mridha moved to Dhaka in 2007 and started his storytelling journey in 2015 with a TV commercial for a fashion brand. Thenceforth, he made a lot of TV commercials and music videos. “No Ground Beneath the Feet” is his debut fiction film.
On the occasion of “No Ground Beneath the Feet” screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival, we speak with him about Bangladeshi cinema, forced marriages and the issue with flood the country faces, Mostofa Monwar and Priyam Archi, and other topics.
Bangladeshi cinema seems to be experiencing a significant bloom in the last few years. There is you, Abdullah Mohammad Saad, Kamar Ahmad Simon, Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, Rezwan Shahriar Sumit, and Mahde Hasan, all of whom had international success. Why is that do you think?
Abdullah Mohammad Saad, Kamar Ahmad Shimon, Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, Mostafa Sarwar Farooqi, Abu Shahed Emon, Rezwan Shahriar Sumit are very knowledgeable and talented people.
On the occasion of “No Ground Beneath the Feet” screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival, we speak with him about Bangladeshi cinema, forced marriages and the issue with flood the country faces, Mostofa Monwar and Priyam Archi, and other topics.
Bangladeshi cinema seems to be experiencing a significant bloom in the last few years. There is you, Abdullah Mohammad Saad, Kamar Ahmad Simon, Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, Rezwan Shahriar Sumit, and Mahde Hasan, all of whom had international success. Why is that do you think?
Abdullah Mohammad Saad, Kamar Ahmad Shimon, Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, Mostafa Sarwar Farooqi, Abu Shahed Emon, Rezwan Shahriar Sumit are very knowledgeable and talented people.
- 3/26/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Bangladeshi cinema seems to be experiencing a significant bloom in the last few years. Starting with the constant presence of Mostofa Sarwar Farooki in the festival circuit, and continuing with a number of directors that have been making a splash lately, such as Abdullah Mohammad Saad, Kamar Ahmad Simon, Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, Rezwan Shahriar Sumit, and Mahde Hasan, the presence of local cinema is increasing as much as the quality of the country’s productions. Mohammad Rabby Mridha comes to add his name to the aforementioned, with his debut work, “No Ground Beneath the Feet”.
No Ground Beneath the Feet is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
The story focuses on Saiful, an impoverished ambulance driver, who finds himself in an impossible situation, as he has migrated to Dhaka to earn the livelihood of his and his family. His days in the city had not allowed him to avoid temptation,...
No Ground Beneath the Feet is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
The story focuses on Saiful, an impoverished ambulance driver, who finds himself in an impossible situation, as he has migrated to Dhaka to earn the livelihood of his and his family. His days in the city had not allowed him to avoid temptation,...
- 3/15/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Set before Bangladesh became an independent country, when it was still part of Pakistan, “Jaago Bahey” focuses on the issues Bangladeshian people faced at the time, through three episodes, which might as well be short movies, that highlight three different aspects.
“Jaago Bahey” is streaming on Chorki.com
The first episode is titled “Shobder Khowab” and deals with the issue of the language, by focusing on the working environment of an office in an imports-exports company. The middle-aged employees speak and write in Bengali, but their boss insists that all transactions in the office must take place in Urdu. The protagonist has real trouble learning the new language, even hiding his struggle from his wife, and the bullying ways of his boss do not help at all. Eventually, however, and as the employees get fired one by one, another agenda is revealed.
Siddiq Ahamed directs an episode that moves in a somewhat repetitive fashion,...
“Jaago Bahey” is streaming on Chorki.com
The first episode is titled “Shobder Khowab” and deals with the issue of the language, by focusing on the working environment of an office in an imports-exports company. The middle-aged employees speak and write in Bengali, but their boss insists that all transactions in the office must take place in Urdu. The protagonist has real trouble learning the new language, even hiding his struggle from his wife, and the bullying ways of his boss do not help at all. Eventually, however, and as the employees get fired one by one, another agenda is revealed.
Siddiq Ahamed directs an episode that moves in a somewhat repetitive fashion,...
- 1/5/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Back in 2016, Abdullah Mohammad Saad made quite an impact with his debut feature, “Live from Dhaka”, which ended up screening in festivals all over the world, and winning Best Director and Best Performance awards for Mostafa Monwar, from Singapore International Film Festival. Five years later, Saad returns with a film that is easy to say that is even better. “Rehana Maryam Noor” is the first Bangladeshi film to screen in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, and also the Bangladeshi entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards
“Rehana Maryam Noor” is screening at Five Flavours
Rehana is a 37-years old woman who is working as an assistant professor at the Medical Academy in Dhaka. She is tough, strict and not particularly sociable, something that has given her something of a “fame” among the students. At the same time, she has to...
“Rehana Maryam Noor” is screening at Five Flavours
Rehana is a 37-years old woman who is working as an assistant professor at the Medical Academy in Dhaka. She is tough, strict and not particularly sociable, something that has given her something of a “fame” among the students. At the same time, she has to...
- 11/19/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Abu Shahed Emon, a Bangladeshi filmmaker with close ties to Busan, is back at the festival with “No Ground Beneath the Feet,” directed by debutant Mohammad Rabby Mridha. He braved two weeks of quarantine to be in Busan in person.
The film, which premieres at the festival’s ‘A Window on Asian Cinema’ strand, follows the travails of an ambulance driver in Dhaka and the struggles of his wife in a slowly shrinking river delta, while tackling universal themes of climate change, poverty and societal ills. The cast includes Mostafa Monwar, who won best performance at the 2016 Singapore International Film Festival for “Live from Dhaka”), Priyam Archi and Deepanwita Martin (“Made in Bangladesh”).
Emon has been busy during the pandemic and will continue being so in the months to come. As a producer, he has a raft of films in various stages of production via his Golpo Rajjo Films.
Drama...
The film, which premieres at the festival’s ‘A Window on Asian Cinema’ strand, follows the travails of an ambulance driver in Dhaka and the struggles of his wife in a slowly shrinking river delta, while tackling universal themes of climate change, poverty and societal ills. The cast includes Mostafa Monwar, who won best performance at the 2016 Singapore International Film Festival for “Live from Dhaka”), Priyam Archi and Deepanwita Martin (“Made in Bangladesh”).
Emon has been busy during the pandemic and will continue being so in the months to come. As a producer, he has a raft of films in various stages of production via his Golpo Rajjo Films.
Drama...
- 10/9/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
I was quite curious about this film, since this was my first contact with Bangladeshi cinema. At the end, Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s feature film debut made me to want to search more the country’s cinema.
Live from Dhaka is screening at Five Flavours, that will be on in Warsaw November 15-22.
Sazzad is a truly desperate man, whose handicapped leg seems to be the least of his worries. The stock market has crashed, and his stocks’ value has plummeted. He is paying for a loan, and he barely manages to make payments. He is pathologically jealous of his girlfriend, Rehanna, to the point that he is suspicious of every phone call she receives. His brother, Michael, who is staying with him, is a drug addict, who occasionally has fits of rage when he cannot find his dose, trying to persuade Sazzad to give him money. Tired of his situation in Dhaka,...
Live from Dhaka is screening at Five Flavours, that will be on in Warsaw November 15-22.
Sazzad is a truly desperate man, whose handicapped leg seems to be the least of his worries. The stock market has crashed, and his stocks’ value has plummeted. He is paying for a loan, and he barely manages to make payments. He is pathologically jealous of his girlfriend, Rehanna, to the point that he is suspicious of every phone call she receives. His brother, Michael, who is staying with him, is a drug addict, who occasionally has fits of rage when he cannot find his dose, trying to persuade Sazzad to give him money. Tired of his situation in Dhaka,...
- 10/3/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Bangladeshi director Abdullah Mohammad Saad has teamed with Singaporean producer Jeremy Chua on drama “I See Waves,” an Asian Project Market selection. Produced by Chua’s Potocol, the film follows a tormented medical professor who finds her definitions of justice tested after she witnesses a sexual assault.
“I have a lot of friends who went to private medical schools and kept hearing a lot of stories from them,” Saad told Variety. “Some of them stayed with me, especially this harassment incident.”
Joining the project as co-producer is Bangladesh’s Rajiv Mohajan, a journalist who has also worked as an assistant director on eminent filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s “Television,” which closed Busan in 2012, and “Third Person Singular Number” (2009).
The team has raised $45,000, which includes $10,000 in development money from Busan’s Asian Cinema Fund, of the $250,000 budget. “Our strategy is to split the budget into 40% private equity and 60% soft funds,” says Chua.
“I have a lot of friends who went to private medical schools and kept hearing a lot of stories from them,” Saad told Variety. “Some of them stayed with me, especially this harassment incident.”
Joining the project as co-producer is Bangladesh’s Rajiv Mohajan, a journalist who has also worked as an assistant director on eminent filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s “Television,” which closed Busan in 2012, and “Third Person Singular Number” (2009).
The team has raised $45,000, which includes $10,000 in development money from Busan’s Asian Cinema Fund, of the $250,000 budget. “Our strategy is to split the budget into 40% private equity and 60% soft funds,” says Chua.
- 10/8/2018
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
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