In the colorful world of Japanese manga live-action adaptations and musical-themed film productions, we can find a series of films that center around pop- and rock-bands that practically ooze ‘ikemen’ (good looking men) by the seams, while there is an (un)surprising lack of such films centering on female music groups. The reason for that lies…
Tag: Far East Film Festival
21st Udine Far East Film Festival: Door Lock Review
In a society, tightly dominated by men, is there a safe place for a woman? And what if the threat finds its way into the very hearth? Lee Kwon, who previously wrote and directed the horror-laced romantic comedy My Ordinary Love Story (2014), took on the adaptation of Jaume Balagueró’s Spanish film Sleep Tight. His…
21st Udine Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Jeon Do-yeon and Lee Jong-un of ‘Birthday’
Jeon Do-yeon is known as a “chameleon actress”. Throughout her 20-plus-year-long career, she played a great variety of roles that brought her the status of one of the most respected actresses in South Korean industry. In 2007, her performance in Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine earned her Best Actress award at Cannes Film Festival, making her…
In Conversation with Feng Xiaogang, the director of ‘I Am Not Madame Bovary’
Where to event start with Feng Xiaogang? He is a Chinese director, producer, screenwriter and actor, whose career has spanned for over 30 years. While bravely battling censorship, he has created a number of commercially immensely successful films, such as Be There or Be Square (Bújiàn búsàn, 1998), Cell Phone (Shŏujī, 2003), A World Without…
19th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Naoko Ogigami, the director of ‘Close-Knit’
While LGBT characters seem to be present in almost every Japanese drama or film, the reality is far from that in fiction; the members of the LGBT minority more often than not face scorn and are often shunned in their everyday lives. This is what makes Naoko Ogigami’s newest feature, Close-Knit (2017), that much more…
19th Far East Film Festival: In Conversation with Kim Tae-yoon, the director of ‘New Trial’
Kim Tae-yoon appears to be a fairly ‘new’ director on the South Korean cinematic scene, given that he only has three director credits under his belt (with him also being the screenwriter for all of his projects), even though his debut feature, A Cruel Attendance, dates all the way back to 2006. 3 features in…
19th Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy (21st – 29th April, 2017)
In less than a week, the 19th edition of the Far East Film Festival (FEFF) will open the doors of Teatro Nuovo “Giovanni da Udine” in Udine, Italy, and East Asian cinema will reign over the little city in the Italian Friuli-Venezia Giulia region for a full 9 days (21st – 29th April 2017). The FEFF…
VIEW OF THE ARTS 