Asian films, filmmakers shine at Palm Springs Film Festival(3)

South Korean director Kang Yi-kwan also attended the Festival with his film Juvenile Offender, which is his country's contender for the Academy Awards. The film is a story of a troubled 16-year-old who winds up in a detention center until the authorities track down the mother he thought was dead. It is regarded as a "neo-realist, social conscience drama."

Kang, who studied sociology in college before turning to filmmaking, said in an interview with Xinhua that he had studied juvenile offenders and made a short film on the issue before doing the feature film.

"My goal is to have a story that the audience can enjoy and also think about these problems in society," said Kang.

Philippe Muyl, a French director who has made a Chinese film in collaboration with producers in China, attends the Festival with his film Nightingale. Muyl takes the audience on a Chinese road trip through spectacular mountain villages to discover the daily existence of the people and the beauty of nature.

The story is about the relationship between a grandfather and his granddaughter. A previous film "The Butterfly" was very popular with Chinese audiences, which led him to the production of this new film.

"People perceive China through television and film," Muyl told Xinhua. "I want them to see the beautiful countryside they don't know."

Nightingale has three screenings at the festival and is well received by the audience as "poetically and beautifully done."

Asian films and their filmmakers are well received at the festival, one of the largest in the United States.

"I'd like to see more Chinese film submissions for PSIFF," said Therese Hayes, Programmer for Asian films at PSIFF.