''Asia'' ( he, אסיה) is a 2020 Israeli drama film directed by Ruthy Pribar, starring

Alena Yiv Alena (Alona) Yiv ( he, אלונה איב, russian: Алёна Ив; born on November 30, 1979) is an Israeli actress and director. Biography Born as Alyona Ovsyanick (russian: Алёна Овсянник) in Saint Petersburg, Soviet Russia, to ...

and

Shira Haas Shira Haas ( he, שירה האס; born ) is an Israeli actress. She initially gained national prominence for her roles in local film and television, having won two Israeli Ophir Awards out of five nominations since 2014. In 2020, she gained int ...

. 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, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

), 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 aw ...

(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 her romantic comedy films and was nominated three times for the Writers Guild of America Award and the Academy Award f ...

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

Ophir Award The Ophir Awards ( he, פרס אופיר), colloquially 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 Television. The award, named ...

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 (

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 Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget. Ka ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2020.

Premise

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

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

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

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

wrote:

Cast

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 regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

'' (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-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, and Stephen Wang ...

, 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 ''

'' 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 films including ''Shallow Grave'', '' Trainspotting'' and its sequel ''T2 Trainspotting'', '' The Beach'', '' 28 Days Later'', '' Su ...

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

) 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

* * * * {{Metacritic 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