The 2022 Udine Far East Film Festival was a real treat. Not only because of the great films in the programme, but because it was the first year that film guests were able to attend the event since Covid restrictions had been lifted. Mostly consisting of producers and filmmakers, we had a very productive and…
Category: Film events and festivals
75th Cannes Film Festival: “Metronom” Review
In the 70s, Romania was one of those places where being a free-spirited person was unwelcomed and dangerous. Any cultural activity had to pass through the sieve of harsh censorship, and the ubiquitous security services were eager to use their power to limit influence from the West. Romania was almost completely isolated from the world;…
75th Cannes Film Festival – “Les Pires” Review
Les Pires follows the story of film director Gabriel (Johan Heldenbergh) shooting his latest feature film in the impoverished suburbs of Boulogne-sur-Mer. His film – under the working title of ‘Pissing into the Northern Wind’ – follows the life of a young boy growing up in poverty. Aiming for realism, Gabriel and his team decided…
24th Udine Far East Film Festival: “Confession” Review
Confession, a remake of 2016’s Spanish thriller, The Invisible Guest, written and directed by Yoon Jong-seok, is truly one of the most interesting remakes of the past decade. The dark atmosphere and mysterious characters not only draw the viewer in, but also provoke deeper reflections on human behaviour in extreme situations. Undoubtedly, Yoon’s Confession keeps…
24th Udine Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Yoon Young-bin, Director of “Tomb of the River”
For the past 30 years or so, Asian cinema has become a part of life for European filmgoers. Although the Western continent itself has a lot to offer, the films from the Far East are the ones that grab viewers by their throats. It is important to remember that Far East cinema does not only…
24th Udine Far East Film Festival: “Tomb of the River” Review
The fact that in recent years it has been difficult to find a true representation of the noir genre shows that there are still opportunities out there for filmmakers to bring it back to life. In 2021, however, Yoon Young-bin, an emerging South Korean filmmaker, grabbed that chance by domestically releasing Tomb of the River,…
24th Udine Far East Film Festival: “Hostage: Missing Celebrity” Review
Breaking news! Hwang Jung-min, Korea’s top star, has been kidnapped by a gang of thugs and taken to a remote location. Well, not really, but that’s the concept of Pil Gam-sung’s action-thriller Hostage: Missing Celebrity. As per the previous (joke) announcement, Hostage: Missing Celebrity is what you probably expect it to be about: It follows…
24th Udine Far East Film Festival: “One Day You Will Reach the Sea” Review
Mana Kotani’s (Yukino Kishii) world is turned upside down the moment she learned that her best friend, and first love, Sumire Utsuki (Minami Hamabe) has died. The bright and bubbly woman she met on her first day of college has gone, there one moment and gone the next. It takes everything she has to keep…
24th Udine Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Park Dae-min, Director of “Special Delivery”
It took a while for Park Dae-min to make his first film. Although he graduated with a degree in architecture, he found his passion for filmmaking back in 2002 when he directed a short film Hey, What Are You Looking For, which was invited to screen at the Busan International Short Film Festival. Park Dae-min…
24th Udine Far East Film Festival: “Special Delivery” Review
Sometimes, when you have seen too many dramas, you just wish to chill out while watching a good action film. And Special Delivery, written and directed by Park Dae-min, is one of those films. Eun-ha (Park So-dam: Parasite) is a delivery driver who asks no questions. She works for Baek Sa-jang (Kim Eui-sung: Taxi Driver),…
In Conversation with Michał Krzywicki and Dagmara Brodziak, Creators of “The Day I Found a Girl in the Trash”
Raindance Film Festival, founded and run by Elliot Grove, has been helping emerging filmmakers since 1993. Although one wishes for more diversity in the festival programme – there is not enough Asian, South American nor African cinema – it is good to see that Eastern European cinema has been recognised for its talents. During the…
“Memoria” Review
At the 2018 Rotterdam Film Festival, director Apichatpong Weerasethakul opened the doors to the SleepCinemaHotel, a pop-up space playing a 120-hour art installation he’d directed, inviting all attendees to fall asleep to his typically dreamlike series of images. Weerasethakul believes in the relationship between cinema and dreams so strongly he actively encourages people to nod…
“My Films Are Never About the Past but They Are About the Way the Past Is Connected to the Present.” – In Conversation with Sergei Loznitsa, Director of “Babi Yar. Context”
Sergei Loznitsa, a Ukrainian filmmaker, has always been a regular at the Cannes Film Festival. He might not have been a frequent guest at BFI London Film Festival, however, whenever he attends the event, you know you will always be in for a treat with his new work. Sergei has been making films since 1996…
In Conversation with Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr., Director of “Wild Indian”
While the world is consumed by greed, hate and other unnecessary things, those who deserve attention are passing almost unnoticed, including Native Americans. They are often invisible, and so is their suffering. In the United States of America, one of the richest countries in the world, Native Americans have suffered, well, since the day colonists…
