With the 21st Century drawing closer to us, an increasing number
of new film directors exhibiting their highly motivated films
have taken the central stage to our festival. These new film
directors have given us such films as Let There Be Light (Turkey),
Who Is Running? (Thailand), The Contact and Christmas in August
(Korea). The last two films have enticed the Japanese audience
in taking an interest in films made by new generation filmmakers
of Korea. From India, a major film producing country, came 5
films in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam. Sound track compact
discs full of attractive song and music highlighting such films
as Melody and The Duo sold extremely well at the theaters.
The theme for the 1998 festival symposium was “Asian Films Today
and Its Future”. Various problems were raised concerning the
film industry of Asian countries facing economic crises with
a confirmation of common concern addressed by those involved.
Film director Dang Nhat Minh, a leading figure in the Vietnamese
film industry, gave a lecture for a seminar at the Kyushu Institute
of Design.

　The permanent video screening facility at the Elgala Hall, one
of the screening theaters used from the previous year, facilitated
the exhibition of works of video. Nepal and Cambodia participated
in our 1998 festival by presenting their works in the form of
video. Recognized for his talent, Tsering Rhitar Sherpa, a young
Nepalese director, received an offer from NHK to co-produce
his next film, Mask of Desire. The Japanese film, Children of
the Plains was well received as well. The film, after being
screened in Fukuoka, was invited to film festivals in Iran and
India.
1998 marked the launching of our official home page that provides
festival information not only to Japan but to the world as well.

　As of the end of March 1998, over 100 motion pictures previously
exhibited at the Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival
have been acquired at the Fukuoka City Public Library.