The Road Not Taken best film of 2018 Asian New Talent Award

The Chinese film The Road Not Taken edged out four other Asian movies to win best film for the 2018 Asian New Talent Award at the ongoing 21st Shanghai International Film Festival.

Directed by Tang Gaopeng and featuring stars including Wang Xuebing and Ma Yili, the movie released in 2018 entails several people of different personalities who encounter each other on a road in Western China, and a series of incidents happen during the three days and two nights.

Announced at an awarding ceremony on Friday night, Yui Kiyohara from Japan won best director of the 2018 Asian New Talent Award for her movie Our House. Chinese actor Ding Xihe was awarded best actor for his performance in Looking For Lucky, while Iran’s Negar Moghaddam was named best actress for her role in Dressage.

The Philippines' Shireen Seno won best script writer for Nervous Translation, and China’s Ouyang Yongfeng was presented best cinematographer for Blue Amber.

The Asian New Talent Award of the Shanghai International Film Festival was launched in 2004 with an aim of gathering new forces in film creativity, excavating and tapping fresh young faces on the screen, and boosting newly made productions by young filmmakers into a worldwide perspective.

Since 2015, the festival has upgraded the Asian New Talent Award, and set a target goal of promoting "Asian, Chinese and New Talent" features in movies. Movies eligible to sign up for the six awards of best film, best director, best actress, best actor, best script writer and best cinematographer must be one of the first two works of Asian directors, actors, screenwriters and cinematographers.