The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) is a worldwide organization of 29 member countries. It was created as the result of a conference on Asian cinema organized by Cinemaya, the Asian Film Quarterly, in New Delhi in 1990 at the instance and with the support of UNESCO, Paris.
Headquartered in Singapore, the NETPAC is a pan-Asian film cultural organization involving critics, filmmakers, festival organizers and curators, distributors and exhibitors, as well as film educators. It is considered a leading authority on Asian cinema.
Organizational scope and activities Since 1990, it has programmed Asian sections of international film festivals, introduced filmmakers from Asia to the world, brought out a compendium of the existing film infrastructure in different Asian countries, organized seminars and conferences and instituted an award for the Best Asian Film at festivals like Singapore, Busan, Jeonju, Kerala, Kazakhstan and Osian's Cinefan among those in Asia; Berlin, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Rotterdam, Vesoul and others in Europe; at Brisbane in Australia; Hawaii in the US; Antalya in Turkey and Black Nights in Estonia.
The NETPAC Award is given at select international film festivals to promote Asian cinema by spotlighting exceptional films and discovering new talents. Among filmmakers who have won this award more than twice are Sri Lanka's Prasanna Vithanage (5 times); Kazakhstan's Adilkhan Yerzhanov (4 times); China's Wang Xiaoshuai (thrice) and Hao Jie (thrice); the Philippines' Lav Diaz (thrice) and Brillante Mendoza (thrice); Malaysia's Ho Yuhang (thrice); and South Korea's Kim Ki-duk (thrice).
NETPAC Award winners
1993 Singapore International Film Festival Winner The Peach Blossom Land (Stan Lai, Taiwan)
1994 Berlin International Film Festival Winner All Under the Moon (Yoichi Sai, Japan) Special Mention Shackles (Nansalmaagin Uranchimeg, Mongolia) Singapore International Film Festival Winner The Servile (Adoor Gopalakrishnan, India)
1995 Berlin International Film Festival Winner Undo (Shunji Iwai, Japan) Winner Elephant Song (Go Riju, Japan) International Film Festival Rotterdam Winner The Servile (Adoor Gopalakrishnan, India) Singapore International Film Festival Winner A Borrowed Life (Wu Nien-jen, Taiwan) Special Mention Mee Pok Man (Eric Khoo, Singapore)
1996 Berlin International Film Festival Winner ...And the Moon Dances (Garin Nugroho, Indonesia) Special Mention Heaven-6-Box (Hiroyuki Oki, Japan) Busan International Film Festival Winner Three Friends (Yim Soon-rye, South Korea) International Film Festival Rotterdam Winner Heartbreak Island (Hsu Hsiao-ming, Taiwan) Winner Nostalgia for Home Country (Nhat Minh Dang, Vietnam) Singapore International Film Festival Winner Good Men, Good Women (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan) Special Mention It's a Long Way to the Sea (Jahnu Barua, North India)
1997 Amiens International Film Festival Winner Somersault in a Coffin (Derviş Zaim, Turkey) Berlin International Film Festival Winner Focus (Satoshi Izaka, Japan) Busan International Film Festival Winner Bad Movie (Jang Sun-woo, South Korea) International Film Festival Rotterdam Winner 2 Duo (Nobuhiro Suwa, Japan) Singapore International Film Festival Winner 12 Storeys (Eric Khoo, Singapore) Special Mention The Long Journey (Lê Hoàng, Vietnam)
1998 Amiens International Film Festival Winner Walls Within (Prasanna Vithanage, Sri Lanka) Berlin International Film Festival Winner The Pickpocket (Jia Zhangke, China) Busan International Film Festival Winner The Power of Kangwon Province (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea) Special Mention A Killing Story (Yeo Kyun-Dong, South Korea) International Film Festival Rotterdam Winner Dance of the Wind (Rajan Khosa, India) Special Mention Green Fish (Lee Chang-dong, South Korea) Singapore International Film Festival Winner In the Navel of the Sea (Marilou Diaz-Abaya, the Philippines) Special Mention Hold You Tight (Stanley Kwan, Hong Kong) Taiwan International Documentary Festival Winner Out for Love...Be Back Shortly (Dan Katzir, Israel) Special Mention Nadya's Village (Seiichi Motohashi, Japan)
1999 Amiens International Film Festival Winner Death On A Full Moon Day (Prasanna Vithanage, Sri Lanka) Berlin International Film Festival Winner 2H (Ying Li, China) Winner Dil Se.. (Mani Ratnam, India) Busan International Film Festival Winner The Bird Who Stops in the Air (Jeon Soo-il, South Korea) Special Mention The Uprising (Park Kwang-Su, South Korea) Cinemanila International Film Festival Winner Birth of A Butterfly (Mojtaba Raei, Iran) Special Mention Fetch A Pail of Water (Jeffrey Jeturian, the Philippines) Singapore International Film Festival Winner Connection by Fate (Wan Ren, Taiwan) Special Mention Beshkempir (Aktan Abdykalykov, Kyrgyzstan) Special Mention The Power of the Kangwon-du Province (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea) International Film Festival Rotterdam Winner The Servant's Shirt (Mani Kaul, North India) Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Winner Shiro the White (Katsuyuki Hirano, Japan) Special Mention Annyong-Kimchi (Tetsuaki Matsue, Japan) Special Mention I Love (080) (Yang Li-chou, Taiwan)
2000 Amiens International Film Festival Winner The Orphan of Anyang (Wang Chao, China) Berlin International Film Festival Winner The Lady of the House (Rituparno Ghosh, India) Winner Nabbie's Love (Yuji Nakae, Japan) Special Mention Making Sun-Dried Red Peppers (Jang Hee-Sun, South Korea) Busan International Film Festival Winner Chunhyang (Im Kwon-taek, South Korea) Dhaka International Film Festival Winner Padadaya (Linton Semage, Sri Lanka) Winner Saroja (Somaratne Dissanayake, Sri Lanka) Hawaii International Film Festival Winner Breaking the Silence (Zhou Sun, China) Special Mention Spinning Gasing (Teck Tan, Malaysia) International Film Festival Rotterdam Winner Nang Nak (Nonzee Nimibutr, Thailand) Winner Paper (Ding Jiancheng, China) Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Winner Yi Yi (Edward Yang, Taiwan) Special Mention Peppermint Candy (Lee Chang-dong, South Korea) Singapore International Film Festival Winner Darkness and Light (Chang Tso-chi, Taiwan) Winner So Close to Paradise (Wang Xiaoshuai, China) Taiwan International Documentary Festival Winner Alone (Dmitry Kabakov, Russia) Special Mention Happy Birthday, Mr. Mograbi (Avi Mograbi, Israel) Special Mention The Lost Kingdom (Lee Hsiang-Hsiu, Taiwan) Venice Film Festival Winner Platform (Jia Zhangke, China) Special Mention The Isle (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea)
2001 Berlin International Film Festival Winner Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine (Bahman Farmanara, Iran) Special Mention Wharf of Widows (Trong Ninh Luu, Vietnam) Brisbane International Film Festival Winner What Time Is It There? (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan) Special Mention The Wrestlers (Buddhadeb Dasgupta, India) Busan International Film Festival Winner Take Care of My Cat (Jeong Jae-eun, South Korea) Special Mention Bad Guy (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea) Special Mention Waikiki Brothers (Yim Soon-rye, South Korea) Cinefan Asian Film Festival Winner Demons (Mario O'Hara, the Philippines) Cinemanila International Film Festival Winner Batang West Side (Lav Diaz, the Philippines) Fajr International Film Festival Winner Going By (Iraj Karimi, Iran) Hawaii International Film Festival Winner Devils on the Doorstep (Jiang Wen, China) Special Mention The Day Toshi was Born (Hikaru Yoshikawa, Japan) International Film Festival Rotterdam Winner Daughters of the Sun (Maryam Shahriar, Iran) Special Mention The House of Guavas (Dang Nhat Minh, Vietnam) Jakarta International Film Festival Winner – Short Film The Greatest Day Dreamer (Liew Wai Ming, Singapore) Special Mention Wired (Chung Fa Yang, Taiwan) Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Winner Under the Skin of the City (Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Iran) Special Mention Firefly Dreams (John Williams, Japan) Singapore International Film Festival Winner A Poet (Garin Nugroho, Indonesia) Special Mention This is My Moon (Asoka Handagama, Sri Lanka) Venice Film Festival Winner Secret Ballot (Babak Payami, Iran) Winner Quitting (Zhang Yang, China) Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Winner My Migrant Soul (Yasmine Kabir, Bangladesh) Special Mention Pansy & Ivy (Kye Un-kyoung, South Korea) Special Mention Mysterious Object at Noon (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand)
2002 Berlin International Film Festival Winner Chen Mo and Meiting (Liu Hao, China) Special Mention Fish and Elephant (Li Yu, China) Brisbane International Film Festival Winner Seafood (Zhu Wen, China) Special Mention Whispering Sands (Nan T. Achnas, Indonesia) Busan International Film Festival Winner Road Movie (Kim Insik, South Korea) Cinefan Asian Film Festival Winner Lan Yu (Stanley Kwan, Hong Kong) Cinemanila International Film Festival Winner Hollywood Hong Kong (Fruit Chan, Hong Kong) Special Mention Harmful Insect (Akihiko Shiota, Japan) Hawaii International Film Festival Winner Eyes of a Beauty (Hu Guan, China) International Film Festival Rotterdam Winner Wave (Hiroshi Okuhara, Japan) Special Mention Secret Ballot (Babak Payami, Iran) Locarno International Film Festival Winner Mr. & Mrs. Iyer (Aparna Sen, India) Special Mention Our Times (Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Iran) Special Mention Obor Kalandia (Sobi al-Zobaidi, Palestine) Singapore International Film Festival Winner Eliana, Eliana (Riri Riza, Indonesia) Special Mention I-San Special (Mingmongkol Sonakul, Thailand) Taiwan International Documentary Festival Winner Sky-blue Hometown (Kim So-young, South Korea)
2003 Bangkok International Film Festival Winner A Tale of a Naughty Girl (Buddhadeb Dasgupta, India) Berlin International Film Festival Winner Blessing Bell (Hiroyuki Tanaka, Japan) Special Mention Bird-Man Tale (Garin Nugroho, Indonesia) Brisbane International Film Festival Winner Oasis (Lee Chang-dong, South Korea) Special Mention Letters in the Wind (Ali Reza Aminal, Iran) Busan International Film Festival Winner Untold Scandal (E J-yong, South Korea) Cinefan Asian Film Festival Winner Drifters (Wang Xiaoshuai, China) Cinemanila International Film Festival Winner Divine Intervention (Elia Suleiman, Palestine) Special Mention Dekada '70 (Chito S. Rono, the Philippines) Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Winner The Coast Guard (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea) Locarno International Film Festival Winner Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea) Singapore International Film Festival Winner 15 – The Movie (Royston Tan, Singapore) Special Mention Unknown Pleasures (Jia Zhang-ke, China) Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema Winner Cry Woman (Liu Bingjian, China)
2004 Berlin International Film Festival Winner South of the Clouds (Zhu Wen, China) Special Mention Final Solution (Rakesh Sharma, India) Brisbane International Film Festival Winner The River's End (Behrooz Afkhami, Iran) Busan International Film Festival Winner 3-Iron (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea and Japan) Special Mention So Cute (Kim Su-hyeon, South Korea) Cinemanila International Film Festival Winner Min (Ho Yuhang, Malaysia) Dhaka International Film Festival Winner Swaraaj – The Little Republic (Anwar Jamal, India) Hawaii International Film Festival Winner Peep 'TV' Show (Yutaka Tsuchiya, Japan) Honorable Mention Rewind (Hak-son Kim, South Korea) International Film Festival Rotterdam Winner The Missing (Lee Kang-sheng, Taiwan) Special Mention Uniform (Diao Yi'nan China) Locarno International Film Festival Winner Story Undone (Hassan Yektapanah, Iran) Winner The Hunter (Serik Aprymov, Kazakhstan) Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian Cinema Winner Listener's Choice (Abdellatif Abdelhamid, Syria) Singapore International Film Festival Winner Ira Madiyama (Prasanna Vithanage, Sri Lanka) Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival