''Asia'' () is a 2020 Israeli drama film directed by Ruthy Pribar, starring Alena Yiv and

Shira Haas Shira Haas (born ) is an Israeli actress. She first rose to local prominence for her role in the television series '' Shtisel'' (2013–2021). Her international breakthrough came with her portrayal of Esther "Esty" Shapiro in the Netflix minis ...

. The film was premiered online at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival (due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

), where it won the awards for

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress award ...

(Shira Haas), Best Cinematography (Daniella Nowitz) as well as the

Nora Ephron Nora Ephron ( ; May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing romantic comedy films and received numerous accolades including a British Academy Film Award as ...

Prize (Ruthy Pribar). After winning Best Picture at the 30th Israeli Academy Awards (

Ophir Award The Ophir Awards (), full name: the Israel Film Academy Award, sometimes also known as the Israeli Oscars or the Israeli Academy Awards, are film awards for excellence in the Israeli film industry awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Tele ...

s), it was automatically submitted as the Israeli entry for the Best International Feature Film at the

93rd Academy Awards The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 2021 ...

, but it was not nominated. The film won eight additional

Israeli Academy Awards The Ophir Awards (), full name: the Israel Film Academy Award, sometimes also known as the Israeli Oscars or the Israeli Academy Awards, are film awards for excellence in the Israeli film industry awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Televi ...

(

s) out of a total twelve nominations, including both Best Leading Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Menemsha Films gained North American distribution rights to the film in June 2020, and announced its theatrical premiere at

Film Forum The Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. It is a four-screen cinema open 365 days a year, with up to 250,000 annual admissions, nearly 500 seats, 60 employees, over ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 2020.

Synopsis

Asia (35) and Vika (17) are a mother and daughter living side by side, close yet distant. Asia, who became a mother at too young an age, struggles to understand and connect with her teenage daughter. Asia prefers to focus on her work as a nurse, while Vika spends most of her time at the skatepark with her friends. When Vika's health begins to deteriorate, Asia realizes she must try to become the mother Vika so desperately needs. Vika's condition becomes an opportunity for both of them to rediscover each other.

Premise

''Asia'' is a mother-daughter drama film. A thirty-five year old single mother named Asia immigrated to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

from Russia with her daughter Vika, where she works as a nurse at a hospital. IndieWire wrote:

Cast

* Alena Yiv as Asia *

as Vika * Tamir Mula as Gabi * as Stas * Eden Halili as Natalie * Or Barak as Roy * Nadia Tichonova as Valentina * Mirna Fridman as Rose * Tatiana Machlinovski as Lena * Evgeny Tarlatzky as Boris

Production

Filming for ''Asia'' took place in late 2018. The film was edited by Neta Dvorkis and produced by Yoav Roeh and Aurit Zamir with casting direction by Esther Kling, the same director who assigned

with her award-winning debut role in ''

Princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

'' (2014).

Release

''Asia'' premiered online at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, which could not take place physically due to the

. The film is spoken in Hebrew and Russian with English subtitles. The movie had its first screening on 17 April 2020

Reception

Critical response

, the film holds approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on reviews with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "An intelligent and touching portrait of a family at odds, ''Asia'' is an auspicious feature directorial debut for writer-director Ruthy Pribar." Eric John of '' IndieWire'' described the film as "A modest, intimate mother-daughter drama with one of the most wrenching finales in recent memory." David Rooney of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote "Ruthy Pribar makes an assured feature debut, balancing sobriety with emotional intensity in Asia"

Accolades

After premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, the film won 3 awards: Best International Actress for

, Best Cinematography for Daniella Nowitz and the

Prize for Ruthy Pribar. The latter is a $25,000 prize awarded to a female writer or filmmaker "with a distinctive voice". The jury of the festival (

Danny Boyle Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on the films ''Shallow Grave (1994 film), Shallow Grave'' (1994), ''Trainspotting (film), Trainspotting'' (1996) and its sequel ''T2 Tra ...

William Hurt William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. For his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Cannes Film Festival Award for B ...

) wrote about Haas: "Her face is a never-ending landscape in which even the tiniest expression is heartbreaking; she’s an incredibly honest and present actress who brings depth to everything she does." After winning Best Picture at the 30th Israeli Academy Awards (

s), it was automatically selected as the Israeli entry for consideration for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards.

References

External links

* * * {{Israeli submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film 2020 drama films 2020 films Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic Israeli drama films 2020s Hebrew-language films 2020s Russian-language films Films shot in Israel Films set in Jerusalem 2020 multilingual films Israeli multilingual films Films about immigration Films about families Russian-language Israeli films