Three Chinese filmmakers have been given the inaugural Asian Brilliant Stars (ABS) awards at the ongoing Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale).

    Xu Haofeng has received the best director award for helming* “The Master,” writer Liu Zhenyun won the best screenwriting recognition* for the film “Someone to Talk to,” while Ye Ning with Chinese entertainment firm Huayi Brothers won the best producer award for his work on “The Wasted Times.”

    For the first time, the Berlin International Film Festival has set up an exclusive award section for Asian films to highlight Asian movies and demonstrate the profound* cultural heritage and social values of Asia.

    The Chinese filmmakers have swept all three categories at the ABS awards this year.

    The ABS is a joint initiative* of organizations including Asian Film & Television Promotion, European Shooting Stars and the Beijing Film Academy, and it is supported by the Berlin International Film Festival committee.

    Meanwhile, Chinese-language film “The Foolish Bird” also premiered at the Berlin event. Directed by Chinese filmmaker Huang Ji and her Japanese husband Ryuji Otsuka, the movie tells the story of a teenage girl in rural China as her parents have left for the big city to find work. Huang said the story mirrors her own experience growing up as a “left-behind” child.

    This is not the first time that the directing couple has explored the theme of “coming of age” among rural children whose parents are absent*. Their previous collaboration “Egg and Stone,” also about the life of a teenage girl in a Chinese village, took home the highest Tiger Award at the 2012 International Film Festival Rotterdam.

    (SD-Agencies)