Here it is… the much awaited line-up for this year’s Terracotta Film Festival, bigger and better than ever. It’s divided into four sections (Current Films, Terror Cotta, Spotlight on Indonesia and In Memoriam of Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui), all screening at the Prince Charles Cinema (June 6–9), except for the Indonesia section, which will be held at the ICA (June 11-15). Further festival highlights include masterclasses and a short film competition (with a trip to Hong Kong as top prize).
Because it’s such a lengthy list of films, I’ve limited myself to one-sentence synopses. If it grabs your interest, watch the trailer and/or hop over to the official festival website, where longer summaries are featured.
The official website has just gone live, although links for booking (which is meant to open today) don’t yet work. I would expect booking to be available some time later this afternoon.
May brings Cannes with many exciting film premieres. With the English Channel in our way, we’ll however have to make do with events on this island instead. Luckily, a whole lot is on offer this month, in all corners of the UK – Derby, London, Leicester and even Inverness. You can get a taste of Hong Kong cinema as well as watch quite a number of Japanese olden goldies (directed by Ozu Yasushiro and Kurosawa Akira, among others) at various cinemas and festivals across the country. There is also the Chinese Visual Festival, but nothing Taiwanese this month. Korean films fare a bit better – though only because our beloved Korean Cultural Centre (KCCUK) is, as always, screening two films as part of its Year of 4 Actors Korean Film Nights for year. The good news, however, is that the KCCUK has just launched another film season, Women on Screen, which commences in May and will run until August, doubling the monthly offering of screenings.
For trailers, click on film titles (where available).
Note: As always, I’ll update this post if I hear about any other events.
The KCCUK has announced a new, special film season entitled “Women on Screen: Understanding Korean Society and Women through Films”, which will run from May 9 to August 22, 2013. This season comes on top of their Year of 4 Actors Korean Film Nights.
I’m kinda starving (it’s almost 4 p.m. and I haven’t had lunch yet), so I’ll give you this week’s trailers without any further ado and shall head to the kitchen to make myself some gyoza and bibimbap.
If you are following the Whole Hog Theatre on Twitter, you will know that the Leamington Spa based theatre group that is putting on the world’s first stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s「もののけ姫」(Mononoke Hime/Princess Mononoke, 1997) has been making its way to Japan, where the play will have a run in Tokyo during Golden Week (April 29 to May 6, 2013).
As they touched down in Japan today, they were greeted by an article on their project in The Japan Times: Continue reading »
As May approaches, so does the Cannes, which is of course one of the highlights of the European film festival calendar. This morning the line-up was revealed, with a number of films from Asia to look foward to. I have listed them all below, with trailer and synopses as far as they are available.
Every year Sci-Fi-London comes to town and brings, as its title suggests, “all things science fiction” (quote) with it, meaning apocalypse and robot galore among other things.
The festival will be running from April 30 to May 6, 2013 this year, with a costume parade for “[c]osplayers, zombies, stormtroopers, steampunks, daywalkers, superheroes” or whichever other fantasy character tickles your fancy starting off the fun on April 28.
Films, which will screen at the Stratford Picture House and the BFI Southbank, come from all over the world, with multiple offerings from Asia included:
Year: 2013
Country: UK Language: English Director: Alexandra Rutter
Company: Whole Hog Theatre
Adaptation from:「もののけ姫」(Mononoke Hime/Princess Mononoke, Japan, 1997) Screenplay: not specified on programme or website Concept arts and set design: Polly Clare Boon Puppet design: Charlie Hoare Soundscore: Hisaishi Joe, arranged by Kerrin Tatman for the play Cast: James Blake-Butler, Lilith Brew, Adam Cridland, Oliver Davis, Andy Elkington, Jack Gyll, Jackie Lam, Amelie Leroy, Mei Mac, Miyake Yuriko, Jess Neale, Maximilian Troy Tyler, Victoria Watson, Samuel Wightman, Elizabeth Mary Williams Runtime: approx. 130 min (including 20 min intermission) Official website: http://www.wholehogtheatre.com (London performances),
http://www.princess-mononoke.jp (Tokyo performances – 日本語)
Teaser(16 sec, for Tokyo performances):
Seen during the play’s first run at the New Diorama Theatre in London. I attended the Friday evening performance. Further Princess Mononoke performances are scheduled for Tokyo (April 29 – May 6, 2013) and London (June 18-29, 2013). London tickets are sold out.
Note: I provide no synopsis of the story here – this review presumes you are familiar with Miyazaki Hayao’s film already and hence is also full of spoilers.
How does one even begin to imagine a stage adaptation of an animated film of the calibre of「もののけ姫」(Mononoke Hime/Princess Mononoke, Japan, 1997), made by the masters of Studio Ghibli and well loved the world round? It is not a challenge that most – even those with plenty of experience and unlimited budgets – would want to take on, but the Whole Hog Theatre, a young performance company from Leamington Spa, England, with only a handful productions (Dangerous Liaisons, Constanzo and Five Kinds of Silence) to their name, was undaunted by the task and simply went ahead anyway. Continue reading »
Year: 2011
Country: Japan Language: Japanese Director: Kobayashi Keiichi Screenplay: Kobayashi Keiichi Cinematography: Kobayashi Keiichi Soundscore: No soundscore. Cast: Ikeda Ai, Koshino Ena, Fujiwara Reiko, Takayama Tsubasa, Togetsuan Hakuysu Runtime: 117 min Distribution: Uzumasa Official webpage: http://www.momoirosora.jp (日本語/English) Official FB page:https://www.facebook.com/thePinkSky?fref=ts Twitter: @momoirosorawo
Trailer (subtitled):
Seen at the Raindance Film Festival in London, where Momoira Sora wo had its UK premiere and screened twice.
The heroine of Momoiro Sora wo is called Kawashima Izumi (Ikeda Ai). Izumi has no superpowers – she is not that kind of heroine, but rather an ordinary seventeen year-old girl. Izumi is gutsy and frank. She reacts impulsively – whipping water with a fishing rod a gazillion times in a sudden and extended explosion of frustration – and gives a wide, sheepish smile when she is fibbing, which happens on a regular basis. Although she doesn’t always know what she actually wants, she stays true to herself even if her sense of fairness is a little warped, at least from the point of view of others. Continue reading »
It’s funny sometimes how things are right before your eyes, but some how you don’t see them. Like the fact that the title of Shinkai’s forthcoming film has Kanji strokes in the form of leaves. How could I only notice it now?
Well, this isn’t what I mean to be writing about today, but the real topics of this post are a) the world premiere of the film, b) further character descriptions and c) a new image gallery for Kotonoha no Niwa.
April, April… this year is flying by… I would rather not think about it though. Instead, let’s just see what April has in store for us, film-wise mostly but also otherwise as there are some exciting events at the London Book Fair and elsewhere too.
Note: As always, I’ll update this post if I hear about any other events.
Year: 2012
Country: South Korea Language: Korean Director: Leesong Hee-il Screenplay: Leesong Hee-il Cinematography: Yoon Ji-Yoon (Baekya) Cast: Won Tae-hee, Li Yi-kyung (Baekya); Kim Young-jae, Han Joo-wan (Jinanyeoreum, Gapjagi); Kim Jae-heung, Chun Shin-hwan (Namjjokeuro Ganda) Runtime: 75 min, 37 min, 45 min Distribution: CinemaDal
Although there was not all that much on offer from South East Asia at this year’s London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, the BFI did do a mini-feature on Leesong Hee-il, whom they called “one of the most exciting contemporary gay Asian directors” in their festival programme. Leesong has, by now, quite a number of films to his name, all featuring a gay storyline in one way or another. His cinematic debut came in 2004 with a short featured in 동백꽃 (Dongbaegkkoch/ Camellia Project, 2004), but he is probably better known for his 2006 film 후회하지 않아 (Huhoehaji Anha/No Regret). In 2009 the director contributed to the 황금시대 (Hwang-geumsidae/Short! Short! Short!) omnibus project and also made the feature-length 탈주 (Talju/Break Away, 2009), finally following up in 2012 with the ‘One Night and Two Days’ trilogy of 백야 (Baekya/White Night), 지난여름, 갑자기 (Jinanyeoreum, Gapjagi/Suddenly, Last Summer) and 남쪽으로 간다 (Namjjokeuro Ganda/Going South), three unconnected stories which all began as shorts but the first of which was later extended into a 75-minute movie.
Yume Uru Futari appeared on quite a number of Top 10 Films of 2012 lists. Tom Mes, Catherine Munroe Hotes and Eija Niskanen all counted it among their favourites in a Midnight Eye feature and Jason Grey (Loaded Films) included it as part of the “10% goodness” of cinema of the past year over at Wildgrounds, to name some examples. Continue reading »
Although I watch quite a lot of films, there are generally few shorts among them. I like to be entertained for an hour or two because it’s a length that allows a decent amount of development in a story and characters. When there is a film festival, it is for this reason that when I have to choose between seeing a feature film or multiple 5-, 10-, 20-minute clips, I’ll habitually always go for the former and leave the latter as an afterthought – as also happened when the Pan-Asia Film Festival rolled around. Then CUEAFS had a ticket competition for the HK Fresh Wave Shorts screening on Twitter and somehow I got lucky (and I didn’t even mean to… only retweeted to spread the news about the competition).
While others may be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day around this time of the year, anime fans have declared the early spring the moment to express their appreciation of animation filmmaker Shinkai Makoto. This year it’s not just Global Shinkai Day, but Shinkai Weekend.
What better occasion could there be for this post? I have had these musings on my mind for a while already, but this is perfect opportunity to assemble them into a post sooner rather than later.
The Leeds Young People’s Film Festival, the children’s offshoot of the regular festival, released its programme yesterday. The festival runs from March 25 until April 5 and tickets are fairly cheap (£2 for under-19, £5/£4 for adults), so if you live in the area, treat yourself. There are a few films from Japan & Korea:
All kinds of things were happening this week, not quite substantial enough for each to make it into a post of their own and a bit too much to squeeze them into the Bonus Bits section of the Trailer Weekly, so, instead, I’ve assembled them into this post. Continue reading »
The Pan Asia Film Festival began this week and I skipped my Japanese class to attend the screening of《女朋友。男朋友》(Nyeobungu. Nambungu/GF*BF, Taiwan, 2013) and somehow – despite that backlog of reviews that reaches to the moon - reviewed it within two days (admittedly, staying up till four in the morning was part of this)*. I didn’t however go to see Lotte Reiniger’s Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed), the world’s first feature-length animation from 1926, as I had originally planned – purely for reasons of laziness and the fact that it didn’t seem possible to book concession tickets at the Southbank online (and the £15 full price was a little steep). I am kind of kicking myself for this lack of self-motivation, because that is definitely not a film that screens every day, plus it’s just lame of me as someone who loves animation to skip such an event *hangs head in shame*. Coming up next week is more of the Pan Asia Film Festival, the bimonthly KCCUK screening and lots of the London Lesbian Gay Film Festival, which I’m super-excited for.
Trailers…….this Trailer Weekly somehow ended up being full of images (alternative posters and things of the sort) but most of all I think it’s a really fabulous selection of films this week. Just because I wish I could watch half of them like right now.
*And then of course, no one comments on the review that I lost sleep over! Oh, you lovely lurkers. Either that or it’s badly written.
Year: 2012 Country: Taiwan Language: Mandarin, Min Nan Director: Yang Ya-che Screenplay: YangYa-che Cinematography: Jake Pollock Soundscore: Baby C. Cast: Chang Hsiao-chuan (Joseph), Gwai Lunmei, Rhydian Vaughan Runtime: 105 min Distribution: Atom Cinema Trailer:
Seen at the film’s European Premiere and the Opening Night Gala of the Pan Asia Film Festival. It will also be shown on March 17, 2013 in Glasgow.
Note: This review is a little spoilerish – somehow I ended up detailing quite a bit of what happens.
It is a little strange to watch a film and realise that you were in the middle of some of the history playing out on the screen, but, having been a child, you never noticed any of it all. If someone had asked me before the Nyeobungu. Nambungu screening if Taiwan ever had martial law, I would have shrugged; if someone had inquired whether anything much exciting was going on in the Taipei of the early 1990s, I would have said “not really”, for the most historically significant event I remember from one summer in 1989 (when I lived there for three months) and from a year and half between 1990 and 1991 (when I lived there again) is the breakout of the Gulf War because it meant that the guards at my USAmerican school started checking everyone’s IDs in fear of a potential retributory attack. Continue reading »
Exciting news from the Whole Hog Theatre today: They are taking their stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke to Japan! Early this morning they tweeted the following: Continue reading »
Year: 2011 Country: South Korea Language: Korean Director: Yeun Sang-Ho
Studio: Studio Dadashow, KT&G Sangsangmadang Screenplay: Yeun Sang-Ho Art Direction: N/A Animation Direction: N/A Soundscore: Eom Been Voice Cast: YangIk-joon, Oh Jung-se, Kim Hye-na, Kim Kkobbi, Park Hee-von Runtime: 97 min
Distribution: Terracotta (UK) Trailer (subtitled):
Dark themes in Hakkyo 2013: Best enemies (top row); parental neglect & abuse (bottom left); driven to suicide (bottom right).
학교 2013 (Hakkyo 2013/School 2013, South Korea, 2013), a television drama that recently aired on KBS2, explores the life and struggles of high school students on a number of levels, tackling issues such as the pressure of academic achievement, strained relationships with parents and suicide, but also the hierarchical structures of classrooms and bullying, breaking with the silence that still surrounds many of these problems in Korean society. Hakkyo 2013 deserves praise for the candid as well as sensitive portrayal of these issues, but it does not go all the way, for although the picture it presents is surprisingly dark, it is not one entirely without hope. Indeed, as television productions face the judgment of a media regulation agency and weekly viewing figures from an audience that remains hesitant about open conversations on such issues, it is left to a few, audacious films to play out the worst scenarios imaginable until the very end. One of these films – in animated form – is 돼지의 왕 (Daegieui wang/The King of Pigs, 2011).
Lots of stuff again – something from pretty much every (South East) Asian country. And nicely spread out over all the UK too, so it’s not just film-fun for Londoners!
Click on titles for links to trailers (when available).
The BFI has released its line-up for this year’s London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, with Leesong Hee-il films appearing threefold:
We have a feature and two mini-features from one of the most exciting contemporary gay Asian directors Leesong Hee-il with White Night, and Going South and Suddenly, Last Summer – moody, melancholic tales of suppressed desires. Continue reading »
Year: 2012
Country: France/Japan Language: Japanese Director: Abbas Kiarostami Screenplay: Abbas Kiarostami Cinematography: Yanagijima Katsumi Soundscore: Mohamadrez Delpak, Kikuchi Nobuyuki Cast: Takanashi Rin, Okuno Tadashi, Kase Ryō, Denden Runtime: 109 min
Trailer:
Seen at the film’s UK premiere at the 56th BFI London International Film Festival. Like Someone in Love will be released in select British cinemas via New Wave Films on June 21, 2013.
Like Someone in Love premiered in Cannes last year, where it sharply divided the critics, leaving some rather disenchanted, if not highly irritated, in particular with its rather abrupt ending. “[T]he curtain comes down with an arbitrary crash” noted Peter Bradshaw, resident film critic for The Guardian, while Mike D’Angelo (A.V. Club) gave it a “WTF” rating, declaring the final scene “a startling, truncated conclusion that seems completely out of proportion with the lazy, anti-urgent meandering that precedes it”, ending with the words ”I know there’s something happening here, but I don’t know what it is”. Continue reading »
