Ruth Pribar’s ‘Asia’ was a big winner at Israel’s Orphi Awards (their Oscars equivalent) ,and is that country’s entry this year for the Academy Awards. It’s a relation ship about a young mother and her daughter. Alena Yiv plays Asia, a Russian immigrant in Jerusalem raising a teenager, and is running against time – her daughter Vika (Sira Haas) has a degenerative disease. It’s a depressing film – you just know situations will just get worse and yes, it does. I don’t know if I was in the right mood when I saw this, and the film just made me reallys ad and depressed afterwards. It has great performances from the two female leads, but in the end, it just wasn’t for me.