Chen Sicheng, a Chinese film director, producer, and screenwriter, is behind some of China’s biggest commercial successes, from the hugely popular Detective Chinatown films to thrillers such as Lost in the Stars and Sheep Without a Shepherd. His films often focus on crime, mystery and moral choices, that is why Being Towards Death comes as…
Tag: cinema
Tibet Film Festival Season: In Conversation with Tibet’s Strongest Female Voices in Filmmaking Today: Kunsang Kelden and Pema Shitsetsang
The presence of female Tibetan creatives and voices in cinema is beginning to outpace that of their male counterparts. Most notably, in the film festival space, with curators seeking to present a perspective on Tibetan filmmaking that has, until the past few years, been left silent. Since the founding of the Tibet Film Festival in…
“Comrades: Almost a Love Story” (1996) Review
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Hong Kong Film Archive has launched Close Encounters with Master Filmmakers: Movie Talks, a three-part series in which leading local directors share their own films alongside works that inspired them. The first edition features acclaimed director Peter Chan, best known for He’s a Woman, She’s a Man (1994), Perhaps…
“We’re Nothing at All” Review: A Fierce, Tender Cry for Society’s Most Vulnerable
On Valentine’s Day, a bus explodes in the middle of Hong Kong. The bomb is planted by a gay couple who kill themselves along with most of the passengers, leaving behind charred bodies and severed limbs. This shocking scene opens We’re Nothing at All, a brutal yet compassionate film that gives voice to some of…
79th Cannes Film Festival: “We Are Aliens” Review
Japanese animation is in a class of its own, with a style that is hard to match. While many countries produce visually impressive animated films, very few reach the same level of thoughtful storytelling that Japanese animation delivers. Its real strength is not just the beauty of the artwork or the technical skill behind it,…
79th Cannes Film Festival: “Che Guevara: The Last Companions” Review
Before Che Guevara became a symbol on posters and T-shirts, he was a revolutionary who helped change Cuba forever. Alongside Fidel Castro, he helped overthrow the Batista regime in 1959, promising dignity and equality for ordinary Cubans. Decades later, whether admired or criticised, Che’s shadow still hangs over Cuba and much of Latin America. His…
79th Cannes Film Festival: “Blaise” Review
Dimitri Planchon and Jean-Paul Guigue’s Blaise takes something very ordinary – the fear of saying the wrong thing and the need to be liked – and turns it into one of the strangest and funniest animated films in recent years. Beneath its dry humour and absurd situations lies a painfully honest portrait of people who…
79th Cannes Film Festival: “9 Temples to Heaven” Review
Thai cinema has always held a special place in Asian filmmaking, even if Western audiences overlooked it for many years. Early Thai films were often built around folklore, ghost stories, romance, and family drama, mixing spirituality with everyday life. During the 1970s and 1980s, Thai films were extremely popular in their domestic market, but internationally…
28th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Giddens Ko (Director) and Kai Ko (Actor) of “Kung Fu”
The 2026 Far East Film Festival opened with a duo of films by directors who were accompanied by their long-time cinema muses; the first was Singaporean director Anthony Chen, who arrived in Udine with Yeo Yann Yann, the lead actress of the final film of his Growing Up trilogy, a drama, We Are All Strangers….
28th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Chung Ji-young, Director of “My Name”
Centered on the painful and long-silenced history of the Jeju April 3rd Incident, My Name becomes a way of looking back at what has been forgotten. In our interview with director Chung Ji-young, he talks about the emotional responsibility of dealing with a history that was suppressed for decades, and how he chose to approach…
28th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Lee Sang-il, Director of “Kokuho”
In Kokuho, the lead character Kikuo must fight to prove his worth as an outsider to the world of Kabuki. For the film’s director, Lee Sang-il, it was art imitating life, he tells View of the Arts. “In the case of Kokuho, we are talking about an art that needs to be followed by your lineage, as in you need to…
28th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Koji Yakusho
In a darkened cinema in Udine, Italy, the audience watches the screen with rapt attention, it is a celebration of the life and career of Japanese actor Koji Yakusho. As they watch in awe, a figure steps out onto the stage, looking up at the medley of film scenes and the audience in front of him,…
28th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Chang Hang-jun (Director) and Yoo Hae-jin (Actor) of “The King’s Warden”
South Korea’s connection with its own historical roots is deeply embedded in popular culture. Period movies and costume melodramas have always held their own space, even during the nation’s gloomy times. From The King and the Clown (2005) and Masquerade (2012) to The Night Owl (2022), and back to the numerous retellings of the popular…
28th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Kim Do-young, director of “Once We Were Us”
After her film Kim Ji-young: Born 1982 (2019) sparked loud controversy in South Korea for its social and political criticism, the actress and director Kim Do-young has returned with her second feature, Once We Were Us, part of the competition at the 28th Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy. This emotional drama is a…
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