Tag: Festivals

Nippon Connection Confirms Full Lineup for 2024

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Nippon Connection, the largest showcase for Japanese cinema anywhere in the world, returns with another fantastic selection of new and classic films screening in Frankfurt from 28th May 2nd June. This year’s Nippon Rising Star Award will go to Kotone Furukawa whose films Best Wishes for All, Secret:A Hidden Score, and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy will also be screening.

NIPPON CINEMA

  • (Ab)normal Desire – drama directed by Yoshiyuki Kishi following those who feel their desires place them at odds with mainstream society.
  • 18×2 Beyond Youthful Days – nostalgic drama from Michihito Fujii in which a man travels to Japan from Taiwan in search of the woman he worked with in a karaoke bar 18 years previously.
  • All The Long Nights – gentle drama from Sho Miyake in which a pair of co-workers bond over their respective difficulties in the workplace.
  • Best Wishes To All – a visit to her grandparents’ home forces a young woman to reckon with the price of “happiness” in Yuta Shimotsu’s eerie indie horror. Review.
  • Dreaming In Between – latest from Ryutaro Ninomiya (One Day You Will Reach the Sea) in which a medical issue unknown to those around him causes changes in a teacher’s behaviour.
  • Fly Me To The Saitama -FROM BIWA LAKE WITH LOVE – long-awaited sequel to the surreal 2019 comedy.
  • From The End Of The World – charged with the responsibility of saving the world, a teenage girl wonders if she should in Kazuaki Kiriya’s pre-apocalyptic drama. Review.
  • God Seeks In Return – genre mashup from Keisuke Yoshida in which a YouTuber seeking fame teams up with an events manager.
  • Ichiko – psychological thriller from Akihiro Toda (The Name) revolving around a woman’s absence.
  • KUBI – Nobunaga-themed jidaigeki from Takeshi Kitano.
  • Kyrie – musical drama from Shunji Iwai.
  • Let’s Go Karaoke! – musicial comedy from Nobuhiro Yamashita in which a teenage boy is forced to help a yakuza win a karaoke competition.
  • missing – heartrending drama in which the parents of a missing little girl turn to the media for help.
  • Penalty Loop – sci-fi drama in which a man becomes trapped in a time loop after taking revenge for his girlfriend’s murder.
  • PERFECT DAYS – laidback drama from Wim Wenders revolving around a man who cleans toilets for a living.
  • Ripples – A middle-aged woman becomes a devotee of a strange cult in order to restore order to her life in Naoko Ogigami’s quirky dramedy. Review.
  • Secret: A Hidden Score – remake of the Taiwanese tragic romance.
  • Takano Tofu – A sudden brush with mortality convinces an ageing tofu maker to marry off his middle-aged daughter in Mitsuhiro Mihara’s charming dramedy. Review.
  • Die Tänzerin (The Dancing Girl) – 1989 German-Japanese co-produced adaptation of Mori Ogai’s The Dancing Girl. Screening in original German version.
  • Die Tochter des Samurai – 1937 German co-production in which the son of a samurai family returns home changed after studying in Germany.
  • We’re Millennials. Got A Problem?: The Movie – comedy from Nobuo Mizuta (The Apology King) in which a slacker son’s family sake business, not to mention his marriage, is on the rocks.
  • Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy – a series of chance meetings and a healthy dose of fantasy lead a collection of wounded souls towards a kind of liberation in Hamaguchi’s whimsical triptych. Review.
  • The Yin Yang Master Zero – fantasy film set in the Heian era in which a magic student and nobleman team up to investigate a conspiracy.
  • YOKO – an isolated woman begins to rediscover herself while hitchhiking to her estranged father’s funeral in Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s quietly moving road movie. Review.

NIPPON ANIMATION

NIPPON VISIONS

  • ABYSS – drama from Ren Sudo in which a man develops a relationship with a guy from his brother’s funeral.
  • Alien’s Daydream – surreal comedy in which a reporter investigates alien abductions in the local area.
  • Belonging – indie drama from Kahori Higashi in which the deceased are reincarnated as inanimate objects.
  • Hijacked Youth – Dare To Stop Us 2 – sequel to the 2018 drama set in Nagoya in 1983 as Koji Wakamatsu decides to open a cinema.
  • HOYAMAN – he tranquil island life of a pair of brothers is interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious woman in Teruaki Shoji’s quirky comedy. Review.
  • Inch Forward – an indie filmmaker experiences various setbacks while trying to complete her latest film in Su Yu-Chun’s cheerful dramedy. Review.
  • LONESOME VACATION – roadtrip drama in which a rockabilly private eye is tasked with investigating his the former lover of his girlfriend’s father.
  • Psychic Vision: Jaganrei – classic horror from 1988 in which it’s discovered the author of a hit pop song has been dead for several years.
  • PushPause – a small hotel becomes a refuge for those “struggling with the everyday” in Ryoma Kosasa’s heartwarming drama. Review.
  • Qualia – bitter family drama in which a chicken farmer’s wife faces constant humiliation.
  • SEPTEMBER 1923 – drama revolving around the pogrom against Koreans in the wake of the 1923 Kanto earthquake.
  • Visitors –Complete Edition– – drama set during the outbreak of a demon plague.

NIPPON DOCS

NIPPON RETRO

  • The Bad Sleep Well – Akira Kurosawa’s 1960 Shakespearean revenge tale. Review.
  • The Black Test Car – Yasuzo Masumura’s tale of corporate espionage.
  • Dragnet Girl – classic 1930s crime drama from Yasujiro Ozu.
  • Pale Flower – Masahiro Shinoda’s nihilistic New Wave 1964 crime drama.
  • Stakeout – Yoshitaro Nomura’s 1958 noir classic in which a policeman’s marital dilemma is played out by the melancholy suspect he is sent to surveil.
  • Take Aim At The Police Van – early Seijun Suzuki film in which a prison warden uncovers a network of corruption.
  • Youth Of The Beast – a stranger in town provokes a gang war in Seijun Suzuki’s 1963 crime drama.

Nippon Connection takes place in Frankfurt, Germany from 28th May to 2nd June. Tickets are available now via the official website where you can also find full details on all the films as well as timetabling information. Unless otherwise stated, films screen in Japanese with English subtitles. You can keep up with all the latest information by following the festival on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Flickr, and Instagram.

Focus Hong Kong Returns to The Garden Cinema 24th June

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Focus Hong Kong returns to The Garden Cinema on 24th June with a double bill of two contemporary classics.

Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down

Leung Ming Kai and Kate Reilly’s four-part anthology attempts to capture the flavours of a Hong Kong in transition. Imbued with a gentle nostalgia the four stories do not so much eulogise as celebrate the island’s unique culture while perhaps provoking questions about an uncertain future in the face of political instability and widespread protest. Review.

Made in Hong Kong

Handover Hong Kong becomes a teenage wasteland for alienated youth in Fruit Chan’s seminal 1997 drama as a small time street punk finds himself on a quest to deliver the bloodstained letters of a high school girl picked up by his friend while bonding with another young woman suffering with a serious illness. Review.

Both screenings take place at The Garden Cinema, London, on 24th June. Tickets are already on sale via the cinema’s website and you can keep up to date with all the latest news via Focus Hong Kong’s official website, Facebook Page, Twitter account, and Instagram channel.

Red Lotus Asian Film Festival Announces 2023 Programme

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Vienna’s Red Lotus Asian Film Festival returns for its second edition 20th to 23rd April with another handpicked selection of recent hits from across the region. Here’s a rundown of the East Asian features screening in this year’s programme:

China

  • Art College 1994 – animated feature from Have a Nice Day’s Liu Jian revolving around a collection of art students in the rapidly changing society of mid-90s China.
  • Journey to the West – a UFO obsessive journeys west in search of the meaning of life in Kong Dashan’s hilariously deadpan, absurdist epic. Review.

Hong Kong

  • A Guilty Conscience – a previously cynical lawyer puts the law on trial while correcting a miscarriage of justice in Jack Ng Wai-Lun’s screwball courtroom dramedy. Review.
  • Let It Ghost – indie horror anthology from first time director Wong Hoi.

Indonesia

  • Like & Share – two young women seeking escape from a repressive social culture find themselves betrayed by the hypocrisies of the online society in an infinitely empathetic drama from Two Blue Stripes’ Gina S. Noer. Review.

Japan

  • Your Lovely Smile – film director Hirobumi Watanabe stars as a version of himself in Malaysian director Lim Kah Wa’s comic paean for indie filmmakers and the microcinema landscape in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mongolia

  • The Sales Girl – a diffident student begins to open up after befriending an eccentric middle-aged woman who runs a sex shop in Janchivdorj Sengedorj’s quirky comedy. Review.

The Philippines

  • Insiang – Lino Brocka’s 1976 classic in which a young woman living in the slums of Manila decides to take revenge against her abusive mother and the step-father who raped her.

South Korea

  • Jeong-sun – a factory worker’s life is disrupted when a video of a sexual encounter with a colleague is leaked on the internet.

The Red Lotus Asian Film Festival runs in Vienna, Austria 20th to 23rd April. The full programme including films from India, Pakistan, and Iran is available on the official website along with ticketing links. All films screen in their original language with English subtitles. You can keep up with all the latest news by following the festival on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

BFI Flare Confirms Complete Programme for 2023

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The BFI’s LGBTQ+ film festival, BFI Flare, has announced the full programme for this year’s edition which runs at the BFI Southbank 15th to 26th March. This year there are a few features from East Asia included in the lineup including four from South Korea.

Cambodia

  • Lotus Sports Club – documentary filmed over five years following a trans man in his 60s who formed a football team for LGBTQ+ youth.

South Korea

  • The Dream Songs – etherial drama following two high school friends over the course of a day.
  • Life Unrehearsed – documentary following two Korean women who met each other at a summer camp in Germany in 1986 and have stayed in the country together ever since.
  • PEAFOWL – drama following a trans woman who is tasked with performing the memorial dance at her estranged father’s funeral.
  • XX+XY – teen comedy following an intersex high schooler who finds themselves at the centre of a love triangle.

BFI Flare runs at BFI Southbank 15th to 26th March, 2023. A small number of short films are also available to stream via BFI Player. The full programme can be found on the official website where tickets are already on sale. You can also keep up to date with all the latest news via the festival’s Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram, and YouTube channels.

Asian Pop-Up Cinema Announces Season 16 Japanese Showcase

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Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema will be returning for its 16th season March 18 to April 16 and has just announced the programme for its opening weekend which will be dedicated to Japanese Cinema. Running March 18 & 19 the Japanese Showcase will open with awards favourite A Man, while French-Japanese co-production Umami will follow March 22.

Saturday, March 18, 2:30 PM: A Man

Guest Host and introduction by Mark Schilling (Japan Times/Variety). A pre-recorded Q&A with Director Kei Ishikawa will be featured after the screening

©2022 "A MAN" FILM PARTNERS

The latest film from Kei Ishikawa (Gukoroku: Traces of Sin, Arc), A Man stars Satoshi Tsumabuki as a lawyer who is pulled into a web of intrigue when a former client asks him to investigate her late husband who had been living under an assumed identity.

Saturday, March 18, 5:30 PM: She Is Me, I Am Her 

Director Mayu Nakamura and lead actress Nahana, who is also the recipient of the Career Achievement Award, will be in attendance for an introduction plus a post-screening Q&A moderated by Mark Schilling.

Mayu Nakamura’s anthology film spins four of tales of contemporary loneliness exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic each starring actress Nahana as a conflicted housewife meditating on past regret, a lonely woman who takes a liking to a takeaway delivery driver, a sex worker displaced by the pandemic, and a blind woman who offers a hand of salvation to a telephone scammer. Review.

Sunday, March 19, 2:30 PM: Before They Take Us Away 

Producer Evelyn Nakano Glenn and Director Antonia Grace Glenn are scheduled to attend in person for an introduction plus a post-screening Q&A moderated by Mark Schilling

Antonia Grace Glenn’s documentary focusses on the Japanese Americans who evacuated voluntarily in the wake of Executive Order 9066 and avoided entering the internment camps but became refugees in their own country.

Sunday, March 19, 5:30 PM: Convenience Story

Introduction by Mark Schilling followed by Q&A moderated by Chicago-based writer Michael Foster after the feature presentation.

Surreal Lynchian adventure based on a story by film writer Mark Schilling and directed by Satoshi Miki following a blocked writer (Ryo Narita) who becomes trapped in a weird alternate reality after entering a mysterious convenience store. Review.

Wednesday, March 22, 6:30 PM: Umami

French-Japanese co-production starring Gérard Depardieu as a chef who has a near death experience and embarks on an existential journey to Japan haunted by his defeat in a culinary competition decades earlier at the hands of a Japanese ramen master.

The full lineup for season 16 will be announced Feb. 27. The Japanese Showcase runs at Evanston’s AMC 12 (1715 Maple Ave, Evanston, IL 60201) March 18 & 19 with Umami on following on March 22. Tickets are on sale now priced at $10, Seniors (62+) $8, and free for Students with valid ID & educational email address. Further details can be found on the official website and you can also keep up with all the latest news by following Asian Pop-up Cinema on  Facebook, Twitter,  Instagram, and Vimeo.

Fantasia Confirms Second Wave of Titles for 2022

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The Fantasia International Film Festival returns to cinemas for its 26th edition taking place once again in Montreal from July 14 to Aug. 3. With the full programme announced later this month here’s a look at the East Asian titles so far confirmed amid an impressive lineup of global genre cinema.

Japan

  • Anime Supremacy – adaptation of the novel by Mizuki Tsujimura following three women in the anime industry.
  • Baby Assassins – a pair of mismatched high school girls raised as elite assassins get swept into gangland conflict while forced to live together to learn how integrate into society in Yugo Sakamoto’s deadpan slacker comedy. Review.
  • Convenience Story – comedy from Satoshi Miki in which a failed comedian encounters a mysterious woman at a convenience store.
  • Girl from the Other Side – dark anime adaptation of the manga by Nagabe in which a little girl lost in the forest bonds with a mysterious beast.
  • Goodbye, Donglees! – animation in which two boys head off into the woods after being falsely accused of starting a fire.
  • Just Remembering – bittersweet love story from Daigo Matsui inspired by Jim Jarmusch’s Night on Earth.
  • Inu-Oh – a blind Biwa player and a cursed young man exorcise the spirits of the Heike through musical expression in Masaaki Yuasa’s stunning prog rock anime. Review.
  • Kappei – quirky comedy in which a collection of adults raised for an apocalypse that never happened must try to live normal lives.
  • Missing – darkly comic thriller in which a young girl searches for her father who went missing after saying he was going to claim the bounty on a serial killer he spotted in town.
  • The Mole Song: Final – undercover cop Reiji finds himself increasingly conflicted in his mission to take down Todoroki in the final instalment of the comedic trilogy. Review.
  • The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai – holding fast to samurai ideals a progressive retainer realises his era is at an end in Takashi Koizumi’s homage to classic samurai cinema. Review.
  • Popran – a self-involved CEO gets a course correction when his genitals suddenly decide to leave him in Shinichiro Ueda’s surreal morality tale. Review.
  • Shari – experimental film in which a red monster invades the ordinary life of a snowy town.
  • Shin Ultraman – big budget adaptation of the classic tokusatsu series directed Shinji Higuchi with a screenplay by Hideaki Anno.
  • What to Do with Dead Kaiju – satire from Satoshi Miki in which bureaucrats must try to decide how to dispose of the corpse of a defeated kaiju.

Korea

  • Chun Tae-il: The Flame That Lives On – animated biopic of labour activist Chun Tae-il who self-immolated in protest of Korea’s exploitative employment environment.
  • Heaven: To the Land of Happiness – a chronically ill thief and a “poetic fugitive” find themselves on the run from a “philosophical gangster” in Im Sang-soo’s playful existential drama. Review.
  • Next Door – drama inspired by the life of Kim Dae-jung in which the leader of the opposition tries to battle a government which has installed a surveillance team in the house next door.
  • On the Line – a former policeman gets back on the case when his wife is targeted by telephone scammers in Kim Gok & Kim Sun’s steely action thriller. Review.
  • The Roundup – sequel to The Outlaws starring Ma Dong-seok as a detective who pursues a vicious killer all the way to Vietnam.
  • Stellar – dramedy in which a man comes to understand his father while on the run in his beat up Hyundae Stellar.

Philippines

  • Whether the Weather is Fine – Philippine drama in which a mother and son search for missing loved ones in the aftermath of disaster.

Thailand

  • Fast and Feel Love – drama in which a world champion sport stacker has to learn to look after himself after his girlfriend dumps him.
  • One for the Road – a New York club owner returns to Thailand on learning that his friend has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The Fantasia International Film Festival runs in Montreal, Canada, July 14 to Aug 3. Full details for all the films are available via the the official website, and you can also keep up with all the latest news via the festival’s official Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram, and Vimeo channels.

Museum of the Moving Image Announces Complete Lineup for First Look 2022

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New York’s Museum of the Moving Image has announced the complete programme for this year’s First Look which takes place in person March 16 – 20. As usual there are a number of East Asian films on offer including the latest short from Tsai Ming-Liang, an absurdist voyage through mid-20th century China as seen through the eyes of a Sichuan Opera performer, a documentary focusing on the lives of Burmese oil drillers, and a surreal Indonesian parable about the corrosive effects of toxic masculinity and its links to oppressive authoritarianism.

The Night

(Screening alongside opening night feature Murina)

This 20-minute short from Tsai Ming-Liang captures the atmosphere of nighttime Hong Kong during the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement protests.

A New Old Play

Qiu Jiongjiong’s absurdist epic charts China’s mid-20th century history through the eyes of a Sichuan Opera performer on his way to the afterlife beginning with his childhood in post-Imperial china through to the dark days of the Cultural Revolution.

A Thousand Fires

Director Saeed Taji Farouky will be attending in person March 19

Saeed Taji Farouky’s beautifully shot documentary explores the lives of a family of independent oil drillers in Myanmar as a mother and father consider whether or not their son might be better off playing for a youth football team in the city.

Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash

Lead Actress Ladya Cheryl will be attending in person March 19

An absurdist parable about the corrosive effects of toxic masculinity and its links to oppressive authoritarianism, Edwin’s outlandish retro grindhouse drama sees a young man contend with literal and societal impotence through the medium of violence while falling in love with a woman equally in desire of revenge against her misuses at the hands of a misogynistic society. 

First Look runs March 16 – 20 at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image. Full details for all the films as well as the complete programme can be found on the official website where tickets are already on sale. You can also keep up with all the latest news by following the Museum on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022 Announces Complete Lineup

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The Osaka Asian Film Festival returns as a physical event taking place in the city from March 10 to 20, with a small retrospective of 10 Japanese indie features from previous editions streaming worldwide from March 3 to 21. This year’s edition will open with Zhang Lu’s Yanagawa, and close with Danish, Norwegian and Japanese co-production Miss Osaka.

China

  • Journey to the West – a true believer in the existence of extraterrestrial life travels to the mountains where he meets a man claiming to be in touch with aliens.
  • Love Will Tear Us Apart – youth romance adapted from a popular web novel in which a man looks back on his youthful love after receiving a phone call informing him she plans to marry someone else.
  • ON STAGE – documentary following the lead singer of rock band Second Hand Roses.

Hong Kong

  • Anita – biopic of the late Cantopop star and actress Anita Mui.
  • Far Far Away – quirky rom-com from Amos Why in which a 28-year-old IT guy finds himself the object of attraction for five women who each hail from distant corners of Hong Kong.
  • The First Girl I Loved – romantic drama in which two women reflect on their high school romance the night before one is set to marry someone else.
  • Mama’s Affair – latest drama from Kearen Pang (29+1) starring Teresa Mo as a woman who returns to work after raising her son.
  • My Indian Boyfriend – romantic comedy in which a boy from India romances a Hong Kong dancer who is also courted by a rich yet chauvinistic family friend.
  • Time – An elderly hitman displaced by the modern society gets a second chance at life after taking up “euthanasia” in Ricky Ko’s darkly comic yet moving drama. Review.

Japan

  • Angry Son – indie drama in which an angry young man from the country raised by a Filipina single mother contends with local xenophobia while looking for the father he has never known.
  • Confession – drama from actor/director Hideo Sakaki in which a young woman is confronted with her traumatic past after her estranged step-brother visits to tell her her mother has passed away. no longer screening
  • Far Away, Further Away – romantic drama from Shinji Imaoka in which an unhappily married woman bonds with a brokenhearted estate agent.
  • Howling – after losing his job having been accused of sexual harassment, 40-year-old Ryuji is propositioned by 20-year-old Akane only to discover she wants him to kill her father while his first love Chisato has married their former high school bully and is trapped in an abusive relationship.
  • To Be Killed by a High School Girl – outlandish manga adaptation starring Kei Tanaka as a handsome teacher who joined the profession because he has a taboo fetish of being murdered by a high school girl.
  • The Light of Spring – neorealist docudrama told from the point of view of a little boy who returns home to discover his mother and sister have left because his parents are separating.
  • Our House Party – semi-autobiographical LGBTQ+ indie drama from Shuichi Kawanobe in which a student begins exploring his sexuality after an encounter with the owner of a gay bar in Tokyo’s Shinjuku 2-chome.
  • Melting Sounds – MOOSIC LAB drama from Kahori Higashi in which a young woman returns to her grandmother’s home to find an old man in her garden recording ambient sounds so he can bury them in a “sound tomb”.
  • Miss Osaka – Danish-Norwegian-Japanese co-production in which a directionless young woman steals the identity of a Japanese friend after she mysteriously disappears.
  • Random Call – a struggling actor’s world expands after he’s drawn into a social experiment reconnecting with old friends through random phone calls.
  • Sanka: Nomads of the Mountains – drama set in 1965 in which a teenager studying for his exams encounters the Sanka, a community of nomads whose way of life is on the brink of extinction.
  • The Second Sino-Japanese War in Toy Films – silent compilation of early Showa documentary and propaganda films
  • Switchback – four teenagers are brought together by a summer workshop encouraging them to look deeper at their small hometown of Obu.
  • The Wonder of a Summer Day – sisters separated by divorce are reunited by a summer at grandma’s.
  • Yanagawa – latest drama from Korean-Chinese director Zhang Lu in which two brothers decide to visit “the Venice of Japan” in search of a woman they both loved 20 years previously
  • YU-GEKI~side story of “Love’s Twisting Path”~ – documentary following veteran director Sadao Nakajima during the production of Love’s Twisting Path.

Korea

  • Aloners – A solitary call centre employee is forced into a reconsideration of her way of life when a neighbour dies a lonely death in Hong Sung-eun’s melancholy character study. Review.
  • Boundary: Flaming Feminist Action – documentary focussing on the feminist action group formed in the wake of the violent murder of a woman at Gangnam Station in 2016.
  • The Girl on a Bulldozer – an angry young woman rebels when her father is injured in an accident which seems to be connected to a shady politician.
  • In Front of Your Face – An ageing actress returns to Seoul after many years abroad carrying with her a sense of melancholy vulnerability in Hong sang-soo’s gentle character study. Review.

Malaysia

  • Barbarian Invasion – Tan Chui Mui directs and stars as an actress making a comeback after retiring to become a housewife and mother only to be told the film can only be made if her ex co-stars.

Mongolia

  • The Sales Girl – a shy student of nuclear physics begins to explore her sexuality when covering a friend’s shift at a sex shop.

Philippines

  • Big Night – a gay beautician is confronted with her own complicity with injustice when her name is placed on a watch list.
  • Whether the Weather Is Fine – Philippine drama in which a mother and son search for missing loved ones in the aftermath of disaster.
  • You and Me and the Ending – a fugitive and a hotel maid find love at a holiday resort during a COVID-19 lockdown

Taiwan

  • Days Before the Millennium – Two Vietnamese women who came to Taiwan 20 years apart and in very different circumstances discover a sense of mutual solidarity in Chang Ten-Yuan’s migratory epic. Review.
  • Increasing Echo – marital drama in which a woman attempts to force her adulterous husband to visit his former mistress in a nursing home where she is living with dementia but he refuses and runs away.
  • Leave Me Alone – a petty gangster falls for a wealthy gallery owner while working as her driver.
  • Girls’ School <Digitally Remastered> – new restoration of the 1982 drama revolving around the transgressively close friendship between two high school girls.

Thailand

  • 4 Kings – a hardworking family man reflects on his time as a teenage delinquent after his daughter is involved in gang violence.

Vietnam

  • Camellia Sisters – three wealthy sisters plot against each other in this opulent melodrama.

Director in Focus: Satoko Yokohama

  • Chiemi And Kokkunpatcho – Yokohama’s mid-length graduation project in which a young woman working as a dental technician receives a wedding invitation from an old friend with whom she had previously fallen out.
  • German plus Rain – Yokohama’s first theatrical feature following a teenage girl who dreams of being a singer but works as an apprentice gardener along with a German guy who calls her “gorillaman”.
  • Bare Essence of Life – Aomori-set drama in the Tsugaru dialect starring Kenichi Matsuyama as an eccentric young man who falls in the love with a kindergarten teacher who has recently arrived in the town in search of her late boyfriend’s missing head. Review.
  • The Granny Girl – 30-minute short revolving around the life of an ordinary Tokyo couple
  • A Girl in the Apple Farm – 42-minute short starring Masatoshi Nagase and Youki Kudo as parents to a runaway daughter.
  • Camping, eating, and sleeping, alone. #7 Corned beef yukke in Nishiizu – 24-minute episode from the TV series starring Takahiro Miura.
  • A DAY-OFF OF KASUMI ARIMURA　#5 The Lid – 26-minute episode of the TV series starring Kasumi Arimura as a fictionalised version of herself in which she experiences difficulty trying to open a jar and ventures out in disguise in search of help.
  • Honsundonsukosuko – 4-minute short produced for TV starring Ryohei Suzuki

Osaka Asian Film Festival Online < Theater ONE >

Streaming worldwide with English subtitles March 3 to 21.

  • Torso – 2009 drama from Yutaka Yamazaki starring Makiko Watanabe, Sakura Ando, Arata Iura, Sora Aoi, and Renji Ishibashi revolving around an isolated office lady whose only comfort is a limbless male inflatable doll.
  • Breathless Lovers – 20-minute short from 2017 directed by Shumpei Shimizu in which a man chases the ghost of his late boyfriend.
  • Chigasaki Story – whimsical 2014 drama from Takuya Misawa (Murders of Oiso) in which students and teachers come together during a wedding at a hotel.
  • The Faceless Dead – 2009 feature from Kishu Izuchi in which an aspiring writer receives a phone call to tell her she is in the hospital and decides to visit to find out why someone is using her identity.
  • Jeux de Plage – Rohmerian drama in which college friends Sayaka and Yui take a trip to the beach where they meet up with Yui’s old pal Momoko but find their dynamic disrupted by sleazy passersby and mutual awkwardness. Review.
  • Mechanical Telepathy – 2018 feature from Aya Igarashi in which a researcher loses consciousness while trying to develop a machine to visualise the human mind
  • Nice to Meet You – 2011 drama from Takamasa Oe in which a student living alone with his mother discovers her diary in which she converses with his unborn brother.
  • Reiko and the Dolphin – 2019 family drama from pink director Shinji Imaoka in which a young couple try to come to terms with the loss of their daughter in the devastating earthquake which struck Kobe in 1995.
  • The Sound of Light – 2011 first feature from Juichiro Yamasaki in which a former musician returns home from Tokyo to take over the family farm.
  • The Sower – 2016 drama from Yosuke Takeuchi in which a man recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital falls under suspicion following a family tragedy. Review.

This year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival runs at venues across the city March 10 to 20, and online March 3 to 21. Full details for all the films as well as ticketing links are available via the official website and you can also keep up with all the latest details by following the festival on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Asian Pop-Up Cinema Season 14 to Open with Heaven: To the Land of Happiness

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Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema will return for its 14th season March 13 – April 10 in hybrid format with 17 films streaming online and 11 screening in cinemas across the city. The full programme will be revealed in early March, but to whet your appetite the festival has announced its opening, closing, and centerpiece galas as well as confirming that this season’s Bright Star Award will go to Taiwanese actor Kai Ko whose latest film Grit will also be screening.

Opening Film: Heaven: To The Land of Happiness (헤븐: 행복의 나라로, Im Sang-soo, 2021)

March 13 at AMC Niles 12 in Niles

The latest film from Im Sang-soo stars Youn Yuh-Jung alongside Choi Min-sik and Park Hae-il as a man with an incurable illness (Park) who cannot afford his treatment goes on the run with a white collar criminal (Choi) who has less than two weeks to live.

Sunday League (선데이리그, Yi Sung-il, 2020)

March 13 at AMC Niles 12 in Niles. Director Yi Sung-il scheduled to attend.

Washed up former football prodigy Jun-il makes ends meet as a temporary coach at a kids’ training centre but is about to be fired because he’s temperamentally unsuited to teaching small children. Offered the chance to coach three seemingly hopeless players for a new futsal team he unenthusiastically agrees and is promised a permanent position if only he can take the new side all the way to the league finals in Yi Sung-il’s sporting comedy.

Centerpiece Film: Arc (アーク, Kei Ishikawa, 2021)

April 3 at AMC River East 21

Inspired by a Ken Liu short story, Kei Ishikawa’s sci-fi drama follows a drifting young woman in search of immortality who encounters a mysterious cosmetics company that specialises in dead body sculptures while her mentor’s brother begins using the technology in order to prevent ageing among the living.

Closing Film: Waiting For My Cup of Tea (一杯熱奶茶的等待, Phoebe Jan Fu-hua, 2021)

April 10 at AMC River East 21

Taiwanese romance which begins on a cold Valentine’s Day when a fed-up university student hands a warm coffee to a boy shivering waiting for his girlfriend only to find herself swept into her classmate’s complicated love life and an unexpected romance of her own.

Grit (鱷魚, Chen Ta-pu, 2021)

April 10 at AMC River East 21

A young gangster named Croc goes back to work for his old boss at the city councillor’s office after his release from prison and is tasked with taking care of a stubborn farmer who flat out refuses to give up her land for redevelopment in a quirky rom-com from director-cinematographer Chen Ta-pu.

The full programme will be revealed in early March. Asian Pop-Up Cinema Season 14 runs online and in cinemas across Chicago March 13 – April 10. Full details for all the films as well as ticketing links will be available via the official website in due course and you can also keep up with all the latest news by following Asian Pop-up Cinema on  Facebook, Twitter,  Instagram, and Vimeo.

Glasgow Film Festival Announces 2022 Programme

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The Glasgow Film Festival returns to cinemas following last year’s online edition bringing another packed programme of recent cinema hits from around the world to screens in the city and beyond 2nd to 13th March. As usual there are a few East Asian offerings including Zhang Yimou’s long delayed One Second and the hotly anticipated animation Inu-Oh from Masaaki Yuasa.

Baby Assassins (ベイビーわるきゅーれ, Yugo Sakamoto, 2021)

Action comedy in which a pair of teenage girls are forced to become roommates after graduating from assassin school while working regular jobs trying to blend in with mainstream society only to accidentally get mixed up with yakuza!

Inu-Oh (犬王, Masaaki Yuasa, 2021)

Animated feature from Masaaki Yuasa (The Night is Short Walk on Girl, Lu Over the Wall, Ride Your Wave) featuring character design from Taiyo Matsumoto and based on the novel Tales of the Heike: INU-OH by Hideo Furukawa in which a young boy forced to wear a mask because of his unusual physical features befriends a blind biwa player.

Love, Life and Goldfish (すくってごらん, Yukinori Makabe, 2021)

An emotionally repressed bank clerk has a minor existential crisis when demoted to a rural backwater after a silly workplace mistake but thanks to his experiences with the goldfish-obsessed townspeople rediscovers the joy of feeling in Yukinori Makabe’s cheerfully absurd musical comedy.

Hommage (오마주, Shin Su-Won, 2021)

The latest film from Shin Su-Won (Pluto) stars Lee Jung-eun as a filmmaker re-evaluating her career after the poor reception of her last movie. An offer from a film archive to help restore a film by one of Korea’s earliest female filmmakers takes her back to the 1960s and allows her to rediscover her love for cinema.

One Second (一秒钟, Zhang Yimou, 2020)

Long delayed love letter to cinema from Zhang Yimou in which a man escapes a labour camp hoping to catch a glimpse of his daughter in a cinema newsreel.

Yuni (Kamila Andini, 2021)

Indonesian drama from Kamila Andini in which a young woman wanting to go to university becomes a subject of rumour after she rejects a series of potential suitors in her conservatively-minded local community.

The Glasgow Film Festival takes place at Glasgow Film Theatre and Cineworld Renfrew Street with some screenings at partner venues throughout the country 2nd to 13th March. Full details for all the films as well as the full programme are available via the official website, and you can stay up to date with all the latest news by following the festival on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.