Contents Opinion • The wonderful world of filmmaking Martín Rejtman 1. From West to East • Asia's magic lantern Alain Jalladeau • Breathless West, brilliant East Joan Dupont • Film scorecards 2. New waves • After the revolution: the cinema will carry us Mamad Haghighat • Shooting on a shoestring Brice Pedroletti • South Korea: freedom or love? I Myung-hee • The Chinese conundrum Jacob Wong • Don't blink now, it's Kazakhstan Cloé Drieu • Argentina's gritty resurgence David Oubiña • Brazil: revival at risk Pedro Butcher • Directors in exile Interviews by Sophie Boukhari • Technology, the artist's ally Yousri Nasrallah The rage for Asian cinema Dossier concept and coordination by Sophie Boukhari and James Burnet, respectively journalist and editor in chief of the UNESCO Courier. © East Film, Séoul The year 2000 is looking particularly auspicious for Asian cinema. From Iran, Japan, South Korea or China, filmmakers in the East are raking in awards at the most prestigious festivals, such as those in Cannes, Venice and Locarno (pp. 20-21). The same creative muscle is hard to find in the West, where the industry is now dominated by the laws of entertainment and profit (pp. 22-23). While neo-realism seems to be a major influence, each of these new waves has marked its own path. Ironically, as Iranian cinema grabs the international limelight, it is losing the official acceptance it won after the revolution of 1979 (pp. 26-28). In the dying days of Japan's major studios, young filmmakers are finding limited budgets alongside new-found freedom to focus on a disillusioned generation (pp. 28-30). The advent of democracy in South Korea and efforts to defend local production have spawned a new generation of directors who are winning plaudits at home and abroad. At the same time, China's "sixth generation" of directors is flourishing despite public indifference and the struggle against censorship (p. 33). On the other side of the world, some South American directors are making their own waves. The seventh art is proving to be particularly fertile in Argentina, where directors are turning a poetic eye to life on the street (pp. 34-36). While filmmakers in exile add to the ranks of this movement (pp.37-38), the advent of new technologies (p. 39), may carry it to new creative grounds.