What happened in Vesoul during the Festival International des Cinemas d’Asie

FICA is an important celebration of Asian cinema in Europe, and this year’s winners include the American-Bangladeshi-Indian drama, ‘No Land’s Man’

In post-Omicron 2022, some film festivals are happening again in-person and the annual Festival International des Cinemas d’Asie (FICA) celebrated its 28th anniversary as a physical event. The festival is an important celebration of Asian cinema in Europe, founded in 1995 by the redoubtable couple Martine and Jean-Marc Therouanne. For those unaware, Vesoul is a picturesque town in the east of France, almost at the Switzerland border, where the population of 15,000 used to double annually during the festival in pre-Covid times.

Despite two years of Covid, the festival is still going strong, thanks to the efforts of the Therouannes and their team. I was fortunate enough to visit, to cover the festival for Variety. The festival began with Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s Cannes prize-winner Kandahar (2001) and the Iranian master was kind enough to share his thoughts on independent cinema with me, mainly that streaming platforms are causing their slow death.