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| HELD : |
14th – 24th September, 1995 |
| VENUES : |
Solaria Cinema 1, Meiji Seimei
Hall, Toei Grand |
| EXHIBITION OF: |
26 films from 11 nations and
regions |
| ATTENDANCE: |
Focus on Asia ’95 – FIFF 15,596
Sponsored Event 3,682
TOTAL 19,278 |
| OPENING FILM: |
The Blue-Veiled(1995/Iran) |
The festival in 1995 was held for 11 days due to a national
holiday, which served as one of the reasons for its record-breaking
attendance, drawing a total of 19,278 to the theaters including
those who came to see the sponsored events. A Last Note, a posthumous
work of the late Japanese actress, Nobuko Otowa, drew big crowds
to the theater. Because the theater could not accommodate everyone
who came to see the film, an unprecedented additional screening
of the motion picture was held.
The festival in 1995 featured Iranian films that began attracting
worldwide attention from the late 1980’s. Apart from Abbas Kiarostami
and Mohsen Makhmalbaf who had already been recognized, many
other individuals representing the Iranian film industry were
introduced. The seven films exhibited in Fukuoka were then placed
on loan to the Iranian Film Festival which was held in 1996
in Tokyo.
Film director Lee Ang brought his first feature film, Pushing
Hands, to our film festival in 1995. The exhibition of this
film, as part of a “father’s trilogy”, following The Wedding
Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman which were respectively shown
in Fukuoka in 1993 and 1994, became the talk of the town. Tony
Leung, the star from Hong Kong, was to visit Fukuoka to promote
his film, He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Father. However, his winning
the Gold Lion Award at the Venice International Film Festival
held right before our festival for his starring role in Cyclo,
forced him to change his schedule. Being forced to abruptly
cancel his trip to Fukuoka, Tony Leung, instead, sent a taped
message to his fans who were looking forward to seeing the actor
at the festival.
Our festival news letter, “Focus on Asia”, made its first appearance
in March, 1995. The news letter, has since been issued three
times a year. The fact that participants to our festival such
as Adoor Gopalakrishnan from India, Cherd Songsri from Thailand,
Dang Nhat Minh from Vietnam and N.Uranchimeg from Mongolia realized
their collaborative film projects at NHK sponsored Asian Film
Festival is just one example of the fruitful results of the
Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival.
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