Yesterday we looked at a Cambodian film, I Am Super Student, which has become an unlikely hit in the kingdom. This quirky title belies its heavy theme: teenage drug addiction in Phnom Penh. While the slickly produced film may tell a compelling story, lightened by a few laughs, the movie’s premise is sadly rooted in reality: Cambodia has a drug problem.

While large chunks of Southeast Asia have had to grapple with drug abuse, due to geography Cambodia is unfortunately something of a crossroads through which a myriad of highly addictive, life threatening substances routinely pass.

“The manufacture, trafficking and use of illicit drugs through Cambodia continue to grow, as the production particularly in Southern Shan State in Burma triggers a spill over effect in surrounding countries,” Olivier Lermet from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Phnom Penh told The Diplomat. “In recent years, Cambodia has become a growing transit location in the Asia Pacific region and is being increasingly targeted as a potential producing base.”

Indeed, as Lermet points out, last year Cambodian law enforcement authorities seized record amounts of crystalline methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine, most of which was linked to transnational organized crime and destined for international markets across the Asia-Pacific region, from Australia to Taiwan and Thailand. Aside from the illicit merchandise bound for overseas black markets, domestic drug users tend towards the harder end of the spectrum.

“Over 80 percent of all (Cambodian) drug users use methamphetamines, followed by heroin, inhalants and other drugs, including cannabis,” Lermet added. “Methamphetamine pills (yaba/yama) are the most widely used drug in Cambodia, although crystalline methamphetamine is becoming more widely available and its use is on the rise, particularly in Phnom Penh and among youth.”

Who puts themselves in such harm’s way? According to Lermet, an estimated 77 percent of all drug users in Cambodia are younger than 26. While illicit drug use was traditionally rife in urban settings, it has begun to spread to the nation’s rural areas in recent years, particularly along the Lao and Thai border regions.

As I Am Super Student depicts, a major driver behind the rise of drug addiction among youth is their sheer accessibility. On the ubiquity of drugs, GoSihanoukville.com, a web portal to a premier Cambodian beach resort warns foreign visitors: “Trust us – don't bother looking for it – it will inevitably find you.” Indeed, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville are reputed to have a live and let live attitude to drug use.

Line producer of I Am Super Student, Allan Cheung, seconds this point, telling The Diplomat, “It is reported that foreigners requesting cocaine are sometimes provided with heroin instead.”

Yet, Cambodia is not alone. The entire region has a history of being deeply entangled in the drug trade.

Three decades ago, the Golden Triangle produced 70 percent of the world’s opium. This drug output has largely shifted to the Golden Crescent, centered on Afghanistan, which is now the source of 92 percent of the world’s opium, according to the UN, as reported by The New York Times.

While this is good news for the so-called War on Drugs, the real problem has shifted to the producing countries themselves. For the Indochinese region surrounding Cambodia, the drugs of choice may differ, but their devastating effects are universal. Users in Burma and Vietnam prefer to shoot heroin, while Cambodians prefer amphetamines uppers like methamphetamine.

“Crystalline methamphetamine is the biggest problem drug for Cambodia,” Lermet said. “The methamphetamine pills (yaba/yama) market is largely confined to the Greater Mekong Subregion and almost exclusively a concern in Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam... It is possible that it got introduced and transmitted by migrants or truckers to working communities in Lao PDR and Cambodia.”

Yet, tracing the route by which drugs are moved is only a start. The true origin of Southeast Asia’s drug problem is knotted up in a host of social problems afflicting a wide swath of the socioeconomic spectrum from impoverished urban youth to members of the middle class and even upper class professionals with money to burn.

“Typically, most teenagers in Cambodia who get involved with drugs start by smoking marijuana…a ‘gateway drug’,” Cheung said. “Drug abuse is increasing among street children and rates of HIV/AIDS are increasing due to intravenous drug usage.”

Along with the spread of AIDS and other deadly blood-borne diseases, where drugs pop up, a host of other dangerous variables follow, from violence involving criminal peddlers to chemical explosions or even car accidents – events that can claim the lives of innocent bystanders. The reasons behind the decision to put oneself in such harm’s way may be hard to fathom for many, but the profile of an average user is anything but straightforward.

“Drug use does not necessarily evolve from poverty – it is a more complex issue,” Lermet explained. “It can be a result of poverty and at the same time it can also lead to poverty. The drug problem touches all levels of society.” Yaba/yama, for example, has traditionally been the preferred drug of the working class – namely truckers and manual labourers who use it for a cheap physical boost – as well as students and sex workers. “Drug use among women appears to be on the rise as well,” Lermet added.

Acknowledging the widespread nature of this epidemic, law enforcement officials and health professionals are pushing a number of initiatives in the hopes of severing the problem from its root. There are a few key trends at play. One, there is a need for cooperation across borders – this is an international problem. And two, as a counterbalance, there is a growing awareness of the need to treat those struggling with addiction compassionately.

“As in most countries, there is a high level of stigmatization and condemnation of drug use and dependence in Cambodia,” Lermet said. “To reduce stigma at local village level and to create awareness among communities, voluntary community-based treatment has been developed as a sustainable drug treatment alternative.”

The Community Based Treatment (CBTx) Program, championed by the Cambodian government, with support from the United Nations, has seen promising results in reducing drug dependence and providing psycho social and healthcare to drug users. The program’s key word is “rehabilitation”.

“This is a big step to fight the problem of drug use and dependence as it shifts the focus of drug dependence and usage as a health issue that requires treatment and not as a criminal issue that requires punitive measures,” Lermet continued. “Drug users are now less likely to hide and are more likely to engage with NGOs and local authorities due to a more supportive law enforcement environment... This development is the key to reducing the stigma in communities.”

Of course, much work remains to be done. “In recent years drug control in Cambodia has made impressive achievements,” Cheung added. “But we should not forget that this problem affects everyone. Drug production in Cambodia is not only intended for the domestic market. It is intended for the world.”

According to a report just released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Australia is the happiest country to call home in the developed world for the third straight year, besting other nations renowned for contentment, such as Canada and Sweden. Factors like work-life balance, income, housing and overall satisfaction were weighed in making the Better Life Index, which ranks 36 countries.

There are good reasons for Australia’s repeat win. For one, it has weathered the global recession notably well. As of 2012, the economy Down Under has maintained a growth rate of around 3.5 percent. Natural resources are another arrow in its economic quiver. Its proximity to Asia, particularly China, where demand for resources is surging, has been a boon for the nation.

It turns out that Aussies have a lot to be thankful for in employment terms as well. Of the nation’s population from the ages of 15 to 64, 73 percent have jobs (the OECD average is 66 percent). Further, disposable income is $26,242, against an OECD average of $23,047. Life expectancy figures are also encouraging at 82 years (compared to an OECD average of 80 years).

When combined – plentiful opportunities, ample incomes, longevity – this adds up to a slightly more nebulous quotient for “satisfaction”. The global average level of satisfaction is 80 percent, compared with Australia’s 84 percent. It’s worth noting that this is still below levels in Mexico, Norway and New Zealand.

Trailing close on Australia’s heels are Sweden, Canada, Norway and Switzerland, while the other Asia-Pacific nations in the list include Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, which all fall in the mid-levels.

Ultimately, happiness is a slippery quality to boil down to a metric. But many have tried using a variety of factors, as the Huffington Post notes. Other attempts to gauge life satisfaction include the sustainability-minded Happy Planet Index, which puts Costa Rica at the head of the global pack, and the Gallup list, which puts Denmark at the head (and has Australia outside the top five).

I Am Super Student shows a side of Cambodia rarely seen on film. There are no pristine shots of Angkor Wat, sleepy village scenes or Buddhist monks. Instead, audiences are shown a dark aspect of modern life in Phnom Penh: the reality of drug addiction among teens.

And for young actor Rous Sophea, who is something of a heartthrob in the country, descending (in character role terms) from an “idol” to a drug addled youth was a refreshing change of pace.

“After being in Khmer Idol and promoting it for one year, I was tired of having the sweet goodie-goodie clean image. I felt like I was an unreal cartoon character and was always told what to do,” Sophea told the Phnom Penh Post, adding that he drew inspiration from Trainspotting, Danny Boyle’s 1996 film about heroin addicts in a gritty part of Edinburgh in the 1980s.

Across the globe in Phnom Penh, I Am Super Student, a US$100,000 production by Fx Entertainment, shows us teenagers drifting in and out of dilapidated flats, inhaling drug smoke through straws and acting out the dramas associated with addiction – a persistent problem in Cambodian society. For more details on I Am Super Student, visit here, and visit here to view a trailer.

The filmmakers enlisted the help of anti-drug organizations and Calvary City Church of Cambodia, which “believed in the project from the start and were a great partner to work with,” the film’s line producer Allan Cheung told The Diplomat. “They provided us with a lot of case studies for references when creating the movie’s script.”

An eclectic cast of young stars, acting veterans – including DySaveth, Tep RinDaro and Roline (a transgendered comedian whose voice swings between the masculine and feminine) – combines with direction from Hong Kong to make a film that has been a great success at the domestic box office.

While I Am Super Student has a hard-hitting message, it is delivered with a light touch. All is well at Anajak High School until a dancer – one of the cool kids named Visal – becomes addicted to drugs. To support his habit he descends into a world of crime, shoplifting and running errands for gangsters.

In steps a rookie cop, David, who is given the hardship assignment – a punishment for flirting with too many women on the job – of working undercover at the school, where he poses as a student. He works alongside a fellow cop who is posing as a teacher. Together they try to bust the drug dealers operating in the school. In the end, it is revealed that a trusted adult is responsible for dealing.

“The reactions have been impressive,” Cheung said. “People who had watched the film tell us it is one of the most gripping and funny movie they have seen so far in Cambodia and they say it makes you start enjoying and memorizing the school life.”

Cheung continued, “The teen spirit that runs through I am Super Student should have lent the film a bright and fresh feel. Every little element here, from the story and the setting to the music and the packaging, is an acknowledged new Khmer cinema convention.”

Indeed, the film is not only attracting people to the box office; it is elevating Cambodian cinema to new heights in itself.

“We have worked with an almost completely professional crew from Hong Kong, Malaysia and local Cambodia taking almost one year for pre-production, production and post-production of this movie,” Cheung said. “It has been a struggle. Luckily, audience are all impressed by the quality and moved by the story.”

Cheung added, “Cambodian film quality standards are stepping up with recent production of feature films to discover in theatres. Film festivals that have happened in Cambodia such as ASEAN Film Festival, EU Film Festival, and Cambodia International Film Festival are also a platform of inspiration and exchange that provides exposure for Cambodian filmmakers that constantly seek to create better films.”

I Am Super Student demonstrates that film is being elevated to a more refined platform in Cambodia, this heightened aesthetic sense ultimately serves the higher purpose of exploring a very thorny issue plaguing Cambodian society.

Just how bad is Cambodia’s drug problem? And whom does it affect – mainly those at the margins or those with ample means? We look at this in more depth tomorrow.

North Korea has ample Stalinist architecture. It has a towering monument to the Dear Leader wearing a giant bronze anorak. It has the “hotel of doom”. It even has a theme park with knockoffs of Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower. But Kim Jong-un has decided something is missing: a world-class ski resort.

According to a report in The Telegraph, Kim, who was apparently schooled in the alpine arts while studying in Switzerland, recently made the trip to Masik Pass Skiing Ground to offer his “on the spot field guidance” on the building of the resort. Peaks near the site – which offers 68 miles worth of mountainside – rise to 4,400 feet. Perfect, the plan goes, for beginner, intermediate and advanced level powder hounds to shred through the snow come winter time. Not to mention a resort hotel, cable cars, even a heliport, according to state media.

The project is but one more strike in an ongoing North-South rivalry. Many believe Kim’s vision was inspired by South Korean city Pyeongchang’s winning bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Park Sang Kwon, head of inter-Korean automaker Pyeonghwa Motors, told Yonhap News Agency in January that “the North seems to want to develop a small ski resort first and build this up depending on demand.”

Apparently, Kim is so far pleased with progress. According to Korean Central News Agency, Kim “mounted an observation deck to hear a detailed report on the construction of the skiing ground.” It added, “He was greatly satisfied to learn that soldier-builders have constructed a skiing area on mountain ranges covering hundreds of thousands of square meters.”

Not to be beaten by Mother Nature, Kim has further ordered that the resort be completed in full by the coming winter.

A nearby military airfield is being considered as a potential airport for eager skiers, of whom Kim is confident there will be legions. To accommodate them, Kim has also ordered that clothing and equipment for the sport be manufactured domestically – a necessity in light of UN sanctions that prohibit the import of all luxury goods.

No matter. “A skiing wave will seize the country,” state media reported him as saying.

Despite the fact that Hindi-language Bollywood is often used as an umbrella term, Indian cinema is multitudinous, which is why Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan called the popular moniker into question at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month.

Indeed, Bachchan (“Big B”) has raised a good point. There are as many flavors of Indian movies as there are languages to drive the stories told in the Subcontinent’s films. The palate is larger-than-life: gods and goddesses, issues of caste and religious diversity, melodramatic tales of star-crossed lovers, and of course, song and dance.

“Bollywood has often been portrayed as a musical-producing industry in the west, which is untrue,” Parichay Patra, a graduate student at Monash University who is co-editing Salaam Cinema: Representations and Interpretations – Celebrating 100 Years of Bombay Cinema, told The Diplomat. “Indian film scholars are quite certain about the fact that genre-determination is impossible in this part of the world… So what the Western audience should keep in mind is that generic divisions do not exist in Indian cinema.”

Without the life raft of genre categories to cling to, where does one begin? This is where we left off last time. Thanks the general internationalization of cinema and the attention drawn to Indian cinema this month on Bollywood’s 100^th anniversary, Bachchan’s sentiment is catching on. To make this point clear, a quick summary of India’s cinematic history is in order.

“It is possible, to my mind at least, to divide ‘Indian cinema’ into a few phases,” Rochona Majumdar, associate professor of Indian cinema history in the University of Chicago’s Department of Cinema and Media Studies, told The Diplomat. “During this time and until after independence (from the British Raj) the Indian film industry was organized, much like Hollywood, into studios… (which) made films in multiple languages.”

According to Majumdar, from this matrix emerged a number of classics, such as Do Bigha Zamin (directed by Bimal Roy), The Apu trilogy (Satyajit Ray), Mother India (Mehboob Khan), Awara and Shri 420 (Raj Kapoor), Saheb Biwi au Ghulam and Pyaasa (Guru Dutt), Meghe Dhaka Tara (Ritwik Ghatak), Sholay (Ramesh Sippy), Deewar (Yash CHopra), Amar Akbar Anthony (Manmohan Desai).

If India’s overwhelmingly diverse cinematic history was boiled down into decade-long blocks of time, it would look something like this. In the beginning – 1913 to be precise – there was Raja Harishchandra (see above). Then came the advent of sound in films (“talkies”) in the 1930s. This major leap was followed by a series of breakthrough films in the 1940s and 1950s, including the landmark Hindi film, Mother India (1957).

“All Hindi films come from Mother India,” Dudrah said.

Moving on, Rajesh Khanna was a notable romantic hero of the 1960s, the “angry young man genre” of the 1970s (with a young Amitabh Bachchan at the helm). In the 1980s, Disco Dancer (1982), a rags-to-riches story of a street performer set against the backdrop of the disco era, and romantic drama Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (translated as, From Doom to Doom, 1988) were blockbusters, while more familiar names in the West like Sharukh Khan began to emerge in the 1990s. Finally, in the 2000s, a new crop of directors began to make films with a more global sensibility.

Where is the easiest starting point? Dudrah makes that choice simple. “For those who are just getting started, I’d recommend two films,” he said. “Sholay (1975), a ‘curry Western’ that is high on action and melodrama with amazing stars and Indian cinema’s most memorable villain.”

The second film on Dudrah’s starter list is 1995 romantic comedy Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (aka DDLJ). DDLJ, voted India’s favorite film over the past 100 years, marks the entry of the diaspora on the film scene.

“There is amazing chemistry between Shahrukh Khan and Kajol,” Dudrah said. “Here's the kicker. The film (DDLJ) was still running in cinemas after six years.”

Last week, jugglers, mimes and Japanese performance troupe R mansion congregated in a shopping plaza to celebrate the first anniversary of Japan’s hottest architectural attraction: Tokyo Skytree.

Since opening as the world’s second tallest tower last one year ago on May 22, guests continue to stream through Tokyo Skytree’s doors and up to its observation deck. In its first year alone, 5,400,000 people visited the 40 billion yen ($395 million) structure. In its first few months it was virtually impossible to get tickets without booking far in advance.

Just behind the 829-meter-high (2,720 feet) Dhubai’s Burj Khalifa, the Skytree towers over Japan’s largest city at 634 meters (2,080 feet). Rival towers include the Canton Tower Guangzhou (600 meters) and Toronto’s CN Tower (553 meters); and in its own backyard, Tokyo Tower (nearly half Skytree’s height at 333 meters).

Similar to Tokyo Tower – the red, Eiffel Tower spin-off that is Japan’s second highest structure, frequently targeted by Godzilla in film – Skytree was in fact built with more in mind than giving people panoramic views of the city. Constructed by Obayashi – a general contractor with plans to build a “space elevator” by 2050 that would transport 30 people at a time a tenth of the way to the moon – Skytree is in fact a digital terrestrial broadcasting center for Tokyo and its environs.

While Skytree may not quite transport visitors into the stratosphere, its upper observation deck is 450 meters above the Earth, offering stunning views of the megalopolis. It takes 50 seconds to reach the first lower deck at 350 meters (2,000 yen with advanced reservation) and another 30 seconds to reach the upper perch another 100 meters higher (for an additional 1,000 yen). Views from the ground-up are equally stunning, as seen in this well-done time lapse sequence.

Based in the heart Tokyo’s historical heart, Skytree looms over the Sumida and Arakawa rivers, once the lifeblood of Old Tokyo. Visitors can also compare a reproduced image from a folding screen painting from the feudal days that gives a sense of how modern Tokyo has evolved on Edo’s geographical foundations. Indeed, the view from Skytree suggests that Tokyo is more a cluster of “cities within the city”, with hubs like Shibuya, Shinjuku and the area surrounding the old Imperial palace delineated by their unique landmarks. On clear days, visitors can also glimpse Mt. Fuji.

Setting Skytree apart from many of its competitors, the lattice structure stands on shaky ground – literally, in terms of earthquakes; but even more so due to the fact that it is partially reclaimed from Tokyo Bay. Yet, even in tremor-prone Japan, Skytree’s builders are confident that the structure would withstand the strongest of quakes thanks to the shinbashira principle.

Drawing on this traditional building technique, Skytree was built around a column at its center, like Japanese pagodas of old. In Skytree’s case, this appears as a hollow concrete tube at its core that reduces the impact of vibrations from earthquakes by 50 percent.

Indeed, the Japanese got it right when it comes to pagoda architecture. As the Economist points out, only two of the nation’s wooden pagodas have toppled due to earthquakes in 1,400 years. Even when the Great Hanshin earthquake decimated Kobe in 1995, in neighboring Kyoto, the five-storey pagoda on the Toji Temple grounds remained unscathed.

In this sense, Skytree draws on the best of Japanese tradition, while standing as a powerful symbol for Japan’s hopes for the future.

To learn more about this architectural marvel, from numbers and figures to making reservations, visit Skytree’s website here.

Michael Bay’s upcoming Transformers 4 movie has already received a lot of attention, especially after announcing that China’s actress Li Bingbing will be joining the cast.

Li Bingbing is one of China’s most recognizable actresses. Her previous roles include playing the White hair witch Ni Chang in The Forbidden Kingdom and starring in Resident Evil: Retribution as Ada Wong. In Transformers 4 she will be starring opposite a number of notable actors including Mark Wahlberg, Kelsey Grammar, and the Hunger Games’ Stanley Tucci.

World of her role in the new Transformers’ flick first came from m1905.com, a Chinese film and media website owned by the production company China Movie Channel. Michael Bay was enthusiastic about the latest star to join his movie, stating: “Being able to work together with Li Bingbing makes me very excited.”

Li will not be the only Chinese national to start in the film. In fact, there will be a Transformers 4 reality show in China that will cast Chinese actors to join the film. “Between 50,000 and 80,000 Chinese citizens are expected to enter the competition to win four speaking roles opposite Mark Wahlberg in the summer 2014 film.” Progress on the contest can be found here (Chinese link). Sid Ganis, chairman of Jiaflix Enterprises, signed an agreement with Paramount Pictures and China Move Channel to “select filming sites within China, to do theatrical promotion, and possibly for post-production activities.” Ganis explained that the Transformer 4 reality TV show will look a lot like American Idol, and that he and six other judges (along with Michael Bay’s input) will select four contestants to fill the roles for the movie.

Similar to Iron Man 3, Transformers 4 will shoot many of its scenes in China and is being jointly produced with a Chinese company.

As China’s film industry and market continue to grow rapidly, we might expect to see even more Hollywood films moving in this direction. Last year alone, box office revenues in China were US$2.7 billion and China has surpassed Japan as the second largest film market in the world, following the U.S.

What do you think? Are you interested in seeing Transformers 4? Would you like to see more U.S.-Sino movies in the future, why or why not? Tell us your thoughts!

Elleka Watts is an editorial assistant at The Diplomat.

Asia has had a good showing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, now in its 66th year, from three Asian directors on the illustrious panel of judges to a number of Asian films being screened. And of course, with Bollywood celebrating its centenary this month India has received special treatment as this year’s guest country.

Appearing alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, legendary Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan said, “I just feel that the Indian film industry has its own identity...so I'd rather call it 'the Indian film industry', especially now we celebrate 100 years of the Indian film industry this year.”

Bachchan (aka “Big B”) was making a point that is becoming increasingly clear: Indian cinema is not the monolithic entity media often makes it out to be. It is as wildly diverse as its country of origin. Further, Indian film is moving full speed ahead just like the Subcontinent itself, propelled by the youthful exuberance of a new crop of directors beginning to emerge.

Most notably, a group of young Indian filmmakers walked the red carpet for the gala screening on Sunday of their film Bombay Talkies. The film comprises four short stories directed by Dibakar Banerjee, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap and Zoya Akhtar. It pushes social boundaries and violates taboos, with Johar’s segment addressing the subjects of same-sex relationships and denial – a hot button for Indian society.

“There are a lot of directors who started directing movies in the early 2000s,” Banerjee said. “They kind of took mainstream Bollywood films, big sets, stars and narratives and gave them a very new tilt which reflects the urban India of today.”

While the attention being paid to India may be significant, the nation’s presence at Cannes is not new.

"Bollywood has been at Cannes for at least a decade. But nothing much has happened yet,” Rajinder Dudrah, Senior lecturer in Screen Studies at the University of Manchester, told The Diplomat. “But lots of endorsements have taken place off the red carpet as I’m sure they will this year too."

India is not the only Asian country with a presence on the Riviera this year. Rubbing shoulders with major Western directors making new film debuts, including Steven Soderbergh (Behind the Candelabra), Roman Polanski (Venus in Fur), and the Coen Brothers (Inside Llewyn Davis), were some other big names of Asia. Japan’s Takashi Miike, Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke and Hong Kong’s Johnnie To stand out. Further, the jury, headed by Steven Spielberg, includes Taiwanese Oscar winning director Ang Lee, director Naomi Kawase of Japan and Indian actress Vidya Balan.

Among films to screen at Cannes, Andy Lau’s Firestorm has fared well, selling rights across Asia. In the film, Lau stars as a hardened police inspector who must break some rules to catch some criminals.

A slew of other Asian films are either enrolled in official competition or honored in some form. One of them, a Japanese tearjerker called Like Father, Like Son, tells the tale of a father who discovers that his six-year-old son was accidentally switched at birth. Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, the family drama is one of many official selections for competition.

A Japanese film with a decidedly different tone is Takashi Miike’s Shield of Straw, also up for competition. The movie tells the story of a billionaire who puts out a one-billion-yen bounty in a newspaper for a man he claims murdered his granddaughter. Given Miike’s penchant for slick, hyper-violent scenes, the premise sounds promising.

In A Touch of Sin, Chinese director Jia Zhangke casts his gaze at a slew of social inequities plaguing his country, from corruption to the growing income gap. Jia’s film is also enrolled in official competition.

Four Asian films officially received “un certain regard.” Bends, a Hong Kong film directed by first-timer Flora Lau with cinematography by Australian great Christopher Doyle (extensive collaborator with Wong Kar Wai), explores the complicated relationship of a wealthy Hong Kong woman and her chauffer from the mainland.

Death March is a Filipino independent film directed by Adolfo Alix Jr. that explores the brutal conditions endured by U.S. and Philippine troops under the Japanese Imperial army during World War II.

Other heavy-hitting films include The Missing Picture about Cambodia’s genocidal history and Norte, the End of History, a four-hour drama about a man who is unjustly thrown in jail for a murder he didn’t commit. A host of other official selections came from Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Taiwan. The complete list, compiled by The Wall Street Journal, can be seen here.

So how did all the films enrolled in competition fare? The results will be unveiled May 26 when the festival is wrapped up. Stay tuned.

Since May 2, visitors to Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour who have come to take in the stunning view of the city’s magnificent skyline and mountainous backdrop have been greeted by an eye-catching addition: a 16.5-meter-tall inflatable rubber duck bobbing in the bay.

After being deflated for “maintenance” for a week, prompting a bout of collective despair, the giant inflatable fowl is back. The aptly named Rubber Duck Project is a quirky art piece set free to float in the bay until June 9 by Dutch artist Florentijin Hofman as part of the city’s massive art week – month, really – currently underway.

The month of May is shaping up to be an annual artistic tour de force for Hong Kong, with galleries across the city displaying increasingly sophisticated and globally relevant exhibitions, both catering to the city’s burgeoning art market and elevating the overall aesthetic consciousness of the city.

Aside from catching the eyeballs of visitors to Victoria Harbour, Hofman’s duck alludes to a deeper point. During Hong Kong’s manufacturing heyday in the 1970s, rubber ducks of the bathtub variety were a major revenue generator for the city. Today, the blown-up version plying the polluted waters of the harbor heralds the arrival of a different market force: modern art.

Hong Kong’s presence in this mega-market is growing by the year. It will receive another massive boost today with the kick-off of the first, hotly anticipated Art Basel fair.

“The turnout at this time of year has always been strong; however I think that the buzz around Art Basel Hong Kong will have a significant effect on the caliber of international collectors,” Mark Saunderson, co-founder and Director of the Asia Contemporary Art Show, told The Diplomat.

Art Basel is but one of Hong Kong’s many epic shows currently underway. A number of other galleries – both local and non – also hold numerous satellite shows this week, selling art that ranges from the traditional to the bleeding edge. A list can be seen here.

The Asia Contemporary Art Show is one of the largest. Inaugurated last year, it managed to bring together around 60 galleries and attract more than 5,500 visitors. This year’s show, to be held on four floors of the JW Marriott, will feature more than 70 rooms with 2,000 artworks produced by young, emerging and mid-career artists, aimed at slightly more budget-conscious collectors. The show is one of many, and more will come.

“The arrival of international auction houses, followed by the international ‘big boys’ Gagosian, White Cube, Perrotin have changed the landscape from sleepy Chinese contemporary back water to one of the most exciting frontiers for art - the market is in the East,” Saunderson said. “With rear guard action by government and playing regional catch up, with M+ and development of West Kowloon Cultural District, the Asia region offers an established base of serious buyers and collectors.” And importantly, he adds, there waits “in the wings a broader educated and aspiring public.”

This month has seen a wave of tributes to Bollywood cinema, in celebration of its 100th anniversary, from the BBC’s Bollywood 20 with Rajinder Dudrah to a ten-part series in The National.

Stories have documented all aspects of the world’s second largest film industry, worth an estimated U.S. $2 billion, from the losing battle with modernity being waged by talkies viewed in tents in rural Maharashtra to the industry’s greatest directors and its phenomenal growth over the past century. Iconic Bollywood villains, surprising facts and more than enough “best of” lists have taken up a large slice of bandwidth on the Subcontinent this month.

But in the midst of all this chatter, one simple fact often gets buried from view for all but aficionados of Indian film. In short, Bollywood – as we know it today and as it is being reported on heavily this month by media around the world – has only existed since the 1990s.

“The term 'Bollywood' is used to mean the Mumbai-based Hindi film industry in its post-liberalization phase. Economic liberalization came to India only in the 1990s,” Parichay Patra, a graduate student at Monash University who is co-editing Salaam Cinema: Representations and Interpretations – Celebrating 100 Years of Bombay Cinema, told The Diplomat.

As more wealth flowed into India’s burgeoning cities, the rise of a middle class propelled the transformation of what was before simply a film industry with a mixed reputation into a massive culture industry.

“We refer to this film+culture industry as Bollywood,” Patra added. “The pre-liberalization cinema industry is still referred to as Mumbai-based Hindi cinema industry and not Bollywood. But for a lay reader, they are synonymous.”

While “Bollywood” may be barely scratching the surface of the true breadth of Indian cinema, Hindi cinema rooted in Mumbai has defined the tone that pervades much of India’s cinematic output. To be sure, there are numerous regional cinema industries that would seem massive by the standards of many nations.

“Some (of these industries) are as big and as prosperous as Bollywood,” said Patra, who listed Kolkata’s massive Bengali film industry, alongside others: Hyderabad’s Telugu industry, a Tamil one in Chennai, a Kannada one in Bangalore and a Malayalam one in Kochi, among several others. “Tamil films are quite popular among the diasporic Tamil audience in Malayasia and Singapore, Malayalam films are equally popular among the Malayali immigrants in Dubai. Tamil and Telugu industry are quite huge ones, and the gross annual turnout of these regional industries far exceeds that of Bollywood (in sheer number of films, at least).”

Dr Rajinder Dudrah, a senior lecturer in screen studies at the University of Manchester, agrees. "Tamil cinema is huge is southern states; in some cases moreso than Hindi," he told The Diplomat, adding an important point. "Bollywood travels across borders. Bollywood is in the vernacular; Hindi/Urdu. It's understood by everyone, from street workers to the upper classes, regardless of whether Hindi is the first or second language."

It was this geographic reach, thanks to a built-in linguistic advantage, which allowed Bollywood to prevail as the dominant cinema on the Subcontinent. And the precedent can fairly be described as “epic.”

“Most Indian films (not the art films) tend to be three hours long, with at least five song sequences, heavily melodramatic,” Rochona Majumdar, associate professor of Indian cinema history in the University of Chicago’s Department of Cinema and Media Studies, told The Diplomat. “While the film business started with mythological (films), it soon gave way to ‘socials’.”

She continued, “Post-independence a kind of super-master genre evolved, often referred to as ‘masala’ that combined the elements of socials and action by bringing together family sagas, romance, action, melodrama.”

Dudrah seconds this assessment: “There is a lot of tradition. Indian films in general are steeped in it: Mythology, the founding pillars of Indian society. Many stars have acted in the roles of demigods and goddesses.”

He continued, “Melodrama and movement…singing and dancing are also important. They help break up the action and add new layers of depth to the story. Combined with the length, it takes staying power to sit through a standard Indian film.”

Melodrama and myth, gods and goddesses from an ancient, multitudinous faith that has produced epics like the Ramayana. Add to this one of the world’s most complex, diverse societies in terms of linguistics, race and religion; not to mention caste. With such dramatic terrain to cover, where does one begin?

Next, we’ll try to at least begin answering this question with the help of more expert advice. We’ll take a look at the highlights from Indian cinema and attempt to offer a primer, a starting point, for those who would like to begin exploring the films of the Subcontinent.