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It seems that the commercial value of Asian films, both of the past (for the most part) and of the current ones, is having an impact also on physical media, with a number of established and newer companies releasing even more movies from the region in 2023. At the same time, the competition seems to up the quality of releases which keep getting better and better, to the joy of collectors, a number of which are definitely among the writers of Asian Movie Pulse.

Without further ado, we list here 30 Best Asian DVD and Blu-ray releases of 2023, in no particular order.

1. The Katsuhito Ishii Collection (Third Window Films)

Over the course of his career Japanese auteur Katsuhito Ishii has gained not only popularity among the festival crowd but a loyal group of fans, which all the more understandable when watching his works, that are now gathered in one comprehensive boxset thanks to Third Window.

The director of ‘House Of Flying Daggers’ and ‘Full River Red’ will attend the festival in October.

Acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou is to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) later this month.

The director of House Of Flying Daggers and more recently box office hit Full River Red, which will screen in the gala strand of TIFF, will be honoured in recognition of his career and long-standing contributions to the film industry.

The filmmaker will receive the award at the TIFF opening ceremony on October 23 and later participate in a talk as part...

Despite some controversy from the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, which eventually led Zhang to withdraw both of his films from the program, “Not One Less” became another international success, netting four awards from the Venice Film Festival, including the Golden Lion. The script is adapted from Shi Xiangsheng's 1997 story “A Sun in the Sky',' and takes place during the particular decade, when primary education reform had become one of the top priorities in the People's Republic of China. About 160 million Chinese people had missed all or part of their education because of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and in 1986 the National People's Congress enacted a law calling for nine years of compulsory education. By 1993, it was clear that much of the country was making little progress on implementing nine-year compulsory education, so the 1993–2000 seven-year plan focused on this goal. One of the major challenges educators...

‘Decision To Leave’ won three and Hirokazu Kore-eda named best director.

The Asian Film Awards (Afa) celebrated its comeback edition in Hong Kong tonight (March 12) and named Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car best film.

The Japanese film, which premiered at Cannes in 2021 and won best international feature at last year’s Oscars, won a further two awards at the AFAs: best editing for Azusa Yamazaki and best original music by Eiko Ishibashi.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave went into the night as the favourite, with a leading 10 nominations for the South Korean film,...

A Cliff Too Far: Yimou Navigates Tortured Times in Period Espionage Thriller

Arguably the most successful and prolific of the Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers, Zhang Yimou shows no signs of slowing down in nearly forty years of making films. While many of his cohorts from the Beijing Film Academy remain steadfast and relevant (including his Palme d’Or winning cohort Chen Kaige), the Golden Bear and two-time Golden Lion winner continues with a new spate of recent projects, including espionage period drama, Cliff Walkers (formerly known as Impasse).…...

Global drama producer Fremantle is teaming with Fabula, headed by director Pablo Larrain (“Jackie”) and producer Juan de Dios Larraín (“Gloria Bell”), to produce “La Jauría” (The Pack), a brand new Spanish-Language drama series starring Daniela Vega, the lead in Fabula’s Academy Award-winning “A Fantastic Woman.”

A psychological gender crime thriller set against and energized by “Ni una Menos,” Latin America’s MeToo movement, Fabula’s first international drama series has tapped as its showrunner Lucía Puenzo, one of Latin America’s most renowned women writers-directors.

Marking Vega’s debut in a Latin American drama series, “La Jauría” is scheduled to shoot in January 2019.The eight-part series also stars Antonia Zegers.

“La Jauría” opens at Santa Inés, a posh private Catholic school whose students stage a take-over in protest at a teacher’s suspected sexual assault of a student. Blanca Ibarra, a student leading the takeover, suddenly goes missing.

Whatever you think of his checkered oeuvre, Zhang Yimou is undeniably a maestro of modern Chinese cinema. Few could match the international acclaim or box office success earned by the 66-year-old director, whose artistic path mirrors the breathtaking steps made in Chinese history and film industry. While his early works helped catapult Chinese cinema to the global festival spotlight, his middle phase led the way in commercial blockbusters with Chinese characteristics.

Zhang will receive the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker award in Venice ahead of the out-of-competition screening of “Shadow”on Sept. 6.

The allure of Zhang’s filmmaking often comes from the screen divas and captivating female roles he cultivates. Gong Li, who collaborated with him nine times, remains the most luminous presence. So good is he at plucking talent out of obscurity that every time a new project is announced, the media eagerly awaits the next “Mou Girl.”

Born in 1950 in Xi’an,...

With the Venice Film Festival a little over a week away, there are two new collateral awards joining the lineup of prizes alongside the likes of the Fipresci and the Label Europa Cinemas. The entries are the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award and the Fundación Casa Wabi – Mantarraya (Mexico) Award. Both will go to filmmakers at the fest, providing winners with residency opportunities.

The HFPA prize is designed for three filmmakers from the Horizons sidebar and will be given for Best Film and Best Director as well as a Special Jury Prize. The laureates will participate from January 2-23, 2019, in a three-week long residency program in Los Angeles. The program will include masterclasses, workshops, mentoring, screenings and education events in partnership with Film Independent. Separately, three other filmmakers will be selected for the same program by the Filmmaker Lab of the Toronto Film Festival.

The Fundación Casa Wabi – Mantarraya prize...

Zhang’s new film Shadow will play out of competition at the event.

Chinese director Zhang Yimou will receive the Glory to the Filmmaker award at the 75th Venice International Film Festival (Aug 29- Sept 9).

The award, which is given to ‘a figure who has left a particularly original mark on contemporary cinema‘, will be presented on September 6 at the Palazzo del Cinema, before the world premiere of Zhang’s new film Shadow, screening out of competition.

He is a two-time winner of the Golden Lion for best film in competition at Venice, for The Story Of Qiu Ju (1992) and...

China’s master of the big spectacle, Zhang Yimou, will receive the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker award at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The award celebrates a filmmaker who is considered to have made an original contribution to innovation in contemporary cinema.

“Zhang Yimou is not only one of the most important directors in contemporary cinema, but with his eclectic production, he has represented the evolution of global language of film, and at the same time, the exceptional growth of Chinese cinema,” Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera said in a statement.

Zhang’s period martial-arts film “Shadow” will screen Sept. 6 at Venice out-of-competition ahead of its Sept. 30 release in Chinese theaters. The action drama re-imagines an epic story from China’s Three Kingdoms period, and is visualized in the style of a Chinese ink-brush painting.

Zhang has been in competition on the Lido four times, with “Raise the Red Lantern...

The Venice International Film Festival will present veteran Chinese director Zhang Yimou with this year's lifetime achievement award, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory prize.

Zhang, a regular at Venice, is a two-time winner of the festival's Golden Lion award for best film. He received it for The Story of Qiu Ju in 1992 and Not One Less in 1999.

He will present his latest movie, the martial arts period drama Ying (Shadow), in an out-of-competition slot at the Venice festival. Zhang will receive his award in the Italian city on Sept. 6, just before the film's world premiere.

Arguably ...

The Venice International Film Festival will present veteran Chinese director Zhang Yimou with this year's lifetime achievement award, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory prize.

Zhang, a regular at Venice, is a two-time winner of the festival's Golden Lion award for best film. He received it for The Story of Qiu Ju in 1992 and Not One Less in 1999.

He will present his latest movie, the martial arts period drama Ying (Shadow), in an out-of-competition slot at the Venice festival. Zhang will receive his award in the Italian city on Sept. 6, just before the film's world premiere.

Arguably ...

Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia managing director Barbara Robinson will be feted with the new Visionary Award at the annual CineAsia convention in Beijing.

Robinson joined the Columbia Tristar Motion Picture Group in 1988 to found the division and develop, produce and acquire local-language feature films. Her award-winning successes include Zhang Yimou's Not One Less and Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

"There is perhaps no single person working in our industry today who has done more to help nurture, cultivate and grow the production of local, Asian language films than Barbara Robinson," CineAsia co-managing director Mitch Neuhauser said. "Single-handedly, she has helped to create the incredible worldwide awareness of the important role that Asian productions play in the motion picture industry."

Before joining Columbia, Robinson served as vp programming for Encore International and as vp production and licensing at Era International.

CineAsia will be held Dec. 5-7, and Robinson will receive her honor at the final night banquet and awards ceremony. The convention is produced and managed by the VNU Expositions Film Group, a division of VNU Business Media, the parent company of The Hollywood Reporter.