Palm Springs Film Festival features 'Back to 1942'

The 25th Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), one of the largest in North America, featured Tuesday night Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's film "Back to 1942".

"It's a great film in so many ways," said Theresa Hayes, an Asian film programmer at PSIFF, which started Friday.

Hayes was deeply impressed by the accurate presentation of the subject and the dedication of the director.

"Back to 1942", listed as Awards For Best Foreign Language Film at PSIFF, is a large-scale historic epic that tells the story of human suffering during the devastating drought in Henan, China. It is based on Liu Zhenyun's novel "Remembering 1942." Three million refugees died of natural disasters and Japanese invasion during that time.

The film, which premiered at the International Rome Film Festival, is Feng's second film as an Oscar contender following "Aftershock" in 2010.

The ten-day PSIFF will screen 46 out of 76 films that have originally been qualified in Foreign Language Film Category for the 86th Academy Awards.

A special jury of international film critics will review all of the foreign films selected at PSIFF to decide The Award for Best Foreign Language Film of The Year, Best Actor and Best Actress.

About 135,000 people from across the United States attend the festival every year.