RETROSPECTIVE | From Polina to Green Book, a true story behind a road trip – a track record of famous premieres

Since 2016, IFFAM has been lauded for shining a light on Asian cinema and for its recognition of new directors and producers. First year’s opening film was Polina, directed by Valarie Muller and Angelin Prelojocal. It was a story of a dancer entering Moscow’s prestigious Bolshoi Ballet. The Best Film award went to The Winter. Best Director was Marco Martins of Saint George, starring Nuno Lopes, who won Best Actor. Lyndsey Marshal in Trespass Against Us was Best Actress.

In 2017, Artistic Director Mike Goodridge kicked off the festival with the showing of Paddington 2. Hunting Season by Natalie Garagiola was Best Film. International Star of the Year award was given to Donnie Yen. Samuel Maoz was awarded Best Screenplay for the movie Foxtrot. The tennis drama Borg / McEnroe was given the Macau Audience Award. The newly augured 2017 Best Technical Contribution went to Benjamin Kračun for his work in Custody. Best Actor and Actress was given to Song Yang and Jessie Buckley respectively, while Xavier Legrand won Best Director for Custody. The Jury Prize went to Wrath of Silence and Udo Kierb was awarded the Career Achievement Award.

Last year, the festival opened with Green Book, a comedy-drama film about a journey between an Italian-American and a black musician in the 1960s America – which won the top Oscar this year. 2018 was when Kwon Man-ki’s debut feature Clean Up was named Best Film and Argentine director Barbara Sarasola-Day’s thriller White Blood was awarded The Jury Prize.Swedish director Gustav Moller won Best Director for The Guilty, Jakob Cedergren was named Best Actor. Aenne Schwarz of Germany’s All Good took home the Best Actress award. Mexico’s The Good Girls, by Alejandra Marquez won the Audience Prize. Up the Mountain by Zhang Yang, a documentary on an artist’s life in remote China, was considered Best New Chinese-language film in New Chinese Cinema. Finally, the President of last year’s IFFAM jury, Chinese Director Chen Kaige, took the “Spirit of Cinema” Achievement Award.