There’s one thing that everybody who snores has in common: the belief that their snoring is nowhere near as bad as what other people make it out to be, if they can admit to themselves they snore at all. It causes friction on a nightly basis in millions of relationships, and as a result, makes…
Category: Asian Cinema
Herman Yau on His Latest Work, “Customs Frontline”, and Filmmaking
Herman Yau’s latest film, Customs Frontline, premiered globally at the FEFF 26 in Udine this past May and is set for its Asian premiere in Hong Kong this July. A maverick director known for his prolific output, Yau was born in China in 1961 and studied Film at Hong Kong Baptist University. Over a remarkable…
“Bushido”: Exploring Humanity Through the Lens of a Fallen Samurai – An Insight with Director Kazuya Shiraishi
“Any movie that I make, I always think: ‘What is a human being?’” director Kazuya Shiraishi shares as he reflects on his latest project Bushido. The samurai period drama, or jidaigeki, tells the story of ronin Yanagida Kakunoshin (Tsuyoshi Kuanagi) who has fallen into poverty but has found peace in a humble living with his…
Discussing “Alienoid: Return to the Future” with Director Choi Dong-hoon and Producer Ahn Soo-hyun – Exclusive Interview
I first interviewed Choi Dong-hoon, one of South Korea’s leading directors and screenwriters, in 2015 at the BFI London Film Festival, where he was promoting his espionage action film Assassination. Choi, renowned for his consistent box-office success, spent several years developing the script for Alienoid, a sci-fi fantasy action film. After premiering Alienoid at the…
77th Cannes Film Festival: “Locust” Review
Every generation has its angry young men, rebelling against the cultural conformity of the era. From James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and Marlon Brando in The Wild One pushing back against the stifling conservatism of the Eisenhower age, to the various turn-of-the-century studies of disaffected adults stilted by middle-class life, these are snapshots…
77th Cannes Film Festival: “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In” Review
Kowloon Walled City, a military fort turned ungovernable residential area in Hong Kong that was demolished in 1993, feels like the product of a screenwriter’s imagination run wild. As depicted in Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, the city’s self-sustaining ecosystem is almost entirely shut off from the real world, its 35,000+ residents living and…
Beyond Preservation: Curation and Programming of Korean Film Archive – In Conversation with Kim Hong-joon, Director of the KOFA
The theme of the Far East Film Festival’s retrospective program this year was “Saving the Past: 50/50: Celebrating 50 Years of Korean Film Preservation” and it was focused on a tumultuous yet pivotal decade for Korean cinema. The 1950s were a time of great upheaval and these films – restored under the direction of the…
26th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Zhang Yudi, Director of “The Midsummer’s Voice” – Exclusive Interview
Peking Opera, a revered Chinese art form blending centuries-old traditions, faces challenges in modern times, struggling to engage the younger generation. Despite government support and international interest, efforts to modernise it and attract younger viewers have shown mixed results. However, Zhang Yudi’s film The Midsummer’s Voice offers a fresh perspective, focusing on the struggles of…
26th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Eugene Domingo and Jun Lana of “Becky and Badette” – Exclusive Interview
In Becky and Badette, director Jun Lana is facing the social media machine and what those who use it can be willing to do to gain fame. The comedy tackles this subject through Becky and Badette, played by Eugene Domingo and Pokwang. Best friends since their school days, they are in dead-end jobs, completely broke,…
26th Far East Film Festival “The Goldfinger” Review
Felix Chong’s loose fashioning of the real-life Carrian Group financial scandal of ‘80s Hong Kong into film is a polarising triumph that you’ll either get or you won’t. The Goldfinger has actors Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau reuniting on screen, two decades since their starring together in Internal Affairs (2002)—which, amazingly, was also directed…
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