The 2nd Asian Festival ofFirst Films (AFFF) has announced the nominations for this year's event in Singapore.

Best film contenders areVietnamese-born American director Ham Tran's Journey From The Fall, which received themost nominations including best director, best producer and best actress;Chinese director Zhang Jiarui's The Road,Nishikanth Kamat's Dombivli Fast fromIndia and Robin Moran's Maskot from Indonesia.

The nominations werepresented by Indian director Mira Nair and Singapore actress Fann Wong.

Opened to first-timefilm-makers, AFFF has received 330 entries from 60 countries this year, ofwhich 22 films were selected to compete for nine awards. The selectioncommittee consisted of Alex Law from Hong Kong, KunalKohli (India), Raymond Lee (Philippines), Daw Ming Lee (Taiwan) and Sirkka Moeller (UK). A separate jury panel forthe awards will be announced later.

This year, the event willrun from Nov 29 until Dec 7 as part of the Asia Media Festival, hosted by Singapore's Media Development Authority, which also has amedia financing forum, Asia TV Forum and Asia Film Market. AFFF's gala awardswill be held on December 6.

AFFF organisers TeamworkProductions aim to set up a film fund to provide seed money to film-makers. "Weexpect the festival to break-even by the third year. The profits will then befunneled into a fund for first-time film-makers," says AFFF executive producerShweta Asnani.

She adds that AFFF alsoplans to establish an academy of film practitioners by 2008 as a network forthe Asian film community.

Best Film
Maskot (Indonesia)
DombivliFast (India)
Journey From the Fall (US)
The Road (China)

Best Director
Nishikanth Kamat (Dombivli Fast, India)
Ham Tran (Journey From the Fall, US)
Sheng Zhimin (Bliss, China)
Siwaporn Pongsuwan (A Bite of Love, Thailand)

Best Producer
Teresa Mo (Men Suddenly in Black 2, Hong Kong)
Ramakant Gaikwad (Dombivli Fast,India)
Lam Nguyen (Journey From the Fall,US)
Li Ling (The Road, China)

Best Actor
Alvin Neo (Becoming Royston, Singapore)
He Xingquan (Bliss, China)
Le Go (The Road in the Air, Taiwan)

Best Actress
Diem Lien (Journey from the fall, US)
Guan Jiangge (Bliss, China)
Kangana Ranauat (Gangster, India)
Eri (Valley of Flowers, India, France, Japan, Germany)

Best Script
Robin Moran, Joko Nugroho, Ari MSyarif (Maskot, Indonesia)
Terence Teo, Nicholas Chee (BecomingRoyston, Singapore)
Zhang Jiarui, Yuan Daju (The Road,China)
Da Yi Li, Chang Lee Shmolo (Go GoG-Boys, Taiwan)

Best Cinematographer
Nitin Bal Chauhan (Lost or Found, India)
Ken Minehan (Becoming Royston, Singapore)
Tassaduq Hussain (Omkara, India)
Yudhvir Singh (Gangster, India)

Best Documentary
BagherBachcha (India)
House No. 103 (Israel)
AHero's Journey (Singapore)
One Less Show (India)

Best Documentary Director
Roseanne Liang (Banana in a Nutshell, New Zealand)
Adi Helman (Jonathan, Israel)
Cheng Gong (Don't Cry, China)
Manak Matiyani, Kuber Sharma (All About Our Mothers, India)