The 29th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has announced its lineup for the ‘Korean Cinema Today – Special Premiere’ section, featuring five films, and the ‘On Screen’ section, which includes six drama series. The ‘Korean Cinema Today – Special Premiere’ section highlights and debuts the newest and most significant contemporary Korean commercial films, recognized for…
Tag: Asian Cinema
“Sleep” Review: A Sleepless Thriller That Thrives on Paranoia and Friction
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…
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…
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…
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 “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…
26th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Yeon Je-gwang, Lee Ju-seung and Jeong Soo-gyo of “The Guest” – Exclusive Interview
The Guest, written and directed by Yeon Je-gwang, presents a dark and gritty portrayal of a secluded love motel, where hidden cameras capture the most intimate moments of its guests. As two employees, Min-cheol (Lee Ju-seung: Socialphobia, Broken) and Young-gyu (Han Min: Joseon Attorney: A Morality, You Are My Spring), find themselves embroiled in a…
26th Far East Film Festival: “Bushido” Review
The jidaigeki, or samurai period drama, has been done a thousand times in a thousand different ways, but it can still feel refreshing like Kazuya Shiraishi’s Bushido. Based on rakugo, or comic storytelling, the narrative follows Kakunoshin Yanagida (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) a humble ronin who has fallen on hard times and lives in a small community…
26th Far East Film Festival: “The Roundup: Punishment” Review
In The Roundup: Punishment Ma Dong-seok strikes again… and again, and again in this rip-roaring action thriller that’ll have everyone’s hearts pumping. The fourth film in the franchise, Punishment sees detective Ma Seok-do (Ma) try to deliver just that after young Korean man Jo Sung-jae is killed in the Philippines and his mother begs the…
26th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Hur Jin-ho, Director of “A Normal Family”
Hur Jin-ho, renowned as the “master of Korean melodrama”, is in his element in his latest production, A Normal Family. Drawn from the pages of the Dutch author Herman Koch’s gripping best-seller The Dinner, the film revolves around two married – and morally very different – brothers who are forced to confront a harrowing family…
26th Far East Film Festival: “The Guest” Review
The slasher genre has long been a cornerstone of horror cinema, terrifying audiences with its iconic villains, suspenseful storytelling, and gruesome kills. From the masked killers of Halloween to the supernatural terrors of A Nightmare on Elm Street, slashers continue to draw viewers into their blood-soaked worlds. At the heart of the slasher genre lies…
26th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Samantha Lee, Director of “Rookie” – Exclusive Interview
Volleyball can be a space for romance, at least that’s what director Samantha Lee has imagined in her Filipino coming-of-age sports film Rookie. The movie opens with Pat Tingjuy’s Ace being transferred to a new school, she may be a skilled basketball player but the nuns at her academy think the sport turns girls into…
26th Far East Film Festival: “The Midsummer’s Voice” Review
Peking Opera is a Chinese art form with a rich history spanning over hundreds of years. Drawing inspiration from diverse sources including the music and dance traditions of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), the performing arts of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Southern Opera during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and the Kunqu Opera in…
