Online course: “A journey through Asia”

Do you like cinema, K-dramas, and oriental popular culture? For ten days we will visit the most emblematic places in Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Macau, India, and Southeast Asia that have been immortalized in films such as Tales of Tokyo, The Red Lantern, Parasites, The Monsoon Wedding, Ong-bak, North or The Smell of Green Papaya.  Boarding is scheduled for Monday, April 25, 2022. 

Itinerary:

First stop: South Korea 

Monday, April 25th

Professor: Glòria Fernández 

Route: Seoul, Busan, Haeundae, ZDM, Gyeongju Historical City, Jeju Island.

For Sunday morning we have prepared a walk along the Han River in Seoul. But you suddenly discover the monster from Bong Joon-ho’s movie, The Host. You try to flee the city and for this, you move to Seoul Station where you take the high-speed train that connects the city with Busan… Too bad the zombies from Train to Busan await you inside.  After the nerves, you need to recover the calm, and for this, you move to the botanical garden of Geumgang Park, the place where the protagonists of Park Chan-wook’s film, I am a Cyborg, fell in love.

Second stop: Japan

Monday, May 2nd
Professor: Eduard Terrades Vicens

Route: Tokyo -Ginza, Shibuya, Shinjuku-, Sayama Park, Osaka, Hachijo Kojima Island, Yamagata Prefecture, Kobe, Hiroshima.

Who has not dreamed of walking the corridors of Himeji Castle, used during the filming of Akira Kurosawa in Ran? Who has not imagined walking a night in an alley full of yakuza as in Takashi Miike’s feature films? Wouldn’t you like to sleep on one of the idyllic beaches of Okinawa that appear in Takeshi Kitano’s Sonatine? Or to know the interior of Studio Ghibli and climb the catbus of Totoro? Although it seems that all these environments are part of a discontinued film… they can be real, and we will visit them!

Third stop: Mainland China

Monday, May 9th
Professor: Josep Santcristòfol

Route: Mainland China -Beijing, Shanghai, Shanxi Province, Hongcun, Jiuzhaigou National Park.

From the great wall, nothing seems impossible. Distances are shortened. After a three-hour excursion, the guide shows us the places where Zhang Yimou shot The Great Wall. But the name of the filmmaker takes us to the sumptuous palace of the Quiao family, in the province of Shanxi, where Gong Li gave life to one of his best characters in The Red Lantern.

Fourth stop: Hong Kong

Monday, May 16th
Professor: Enrique Garcelán

Route: Shopping day in Hong Kong: Causeway Bay, Nathan Road, Wing On Plaza, Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, Kowloon, Mongkok.

With the version that the singer Faye Wong made of ‘Dreams’ by The Cranberries in the film Chunking Express we start the route through Hong Kong, which will take us to a huge old building in the middle of Nathan Road, the Chungking Mansions. As if we were the characters of the movie PTU by Johnnie To we will have tea at the China Café, in the neighborhood of Mongkok, one of the most populated on the planet. The food will be tasted at The Red Pepper, a restaurant that seems to be taken from the old Shaw Brothers movies, and where Bruce Lee would shoot his mythical Game with Death.

Fifth stop: Taiwan and Macao
Monday, May 23rd
Professor: Enrique Garcelán

Route: We will walk through the natural settings where Silence by Martin Scorsese was filmed, passing through the municipality of Taichung filming place of The Life of Pi by Ange Lee.

From the Taipei of the 60s, 70s, and 80s described in the films of filmmakers of the stature of Edward Yang, to visit the southern part of the island in Fengshan, where the family of director Hou Hsiao-Hsien settled when leaving mainland China. We will spend the night in the town of Hongcun, near the Yellow Mountain. There we will discover the mirror-shaped lake, where we will remember the beautiful and poetic images of Tiger and Dragon by Ang Lee. The next day we will travel to Macau, whose casinos dazzle day and night, and its houses, reminiscent of Portuguese architecture, have hosted shoots such as Exiled (Johnnie To, 2006) or The Wonderful Isabella (Pang Ho-cheung, 2006).

Sixth stop: India 

Monday, May 30th
Professor: Víctor Muñoz

Route: Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kerala, Rajasthan, Himal Pradesh, Darjeeling.

Mumbai is the fourth most populous city in the world with about 15 million inhabitants. Cradle of masala cinema, of the Bollywood film industry, we will visit the sets of the latest Indian or international productions such as Slumdog Millonaire. We will take the train to Chennai, the same one that Shah Rukh Khan used in Chennai Express to reach the beaches of Goa, where the zombies of Go Goa Gone await us. We will also relive the places of the mythical Sholay, the best Indian film in history, and if time permits, we will move to Darjeeling, near Nepal, where the film Barfi!

Seventh stop: Philippines
Monday, June 6th

Professor: Glòria Fernández

Route: Manila, Luzon, Bohol Island, Palawan, Mindanao (Tawi-Tawi).

Immortalized by numerous directors (from the country itself or internationally), Manila has as many contrasts as souls roam its streets. With its almost 12 million inhabitants Manila is a city and there are many. Manila is Intramuros and Malate, but also Makati or Quezon City, it is Pasay and Quiapo… and each is a world, compared to the other. We will get lost in its streets, filmed by Brillante Mendoza or Lav Diaz, and we will visit some of its more than 7,000 islands, such as the inhabitants of Tawi-Tawi, portrayed in the film Thy Womb.

Eighth stop: Thailand

Monday, June 13th
Professor: Víctor Muñoz

Route: Bangkok, Phuket, Ko Samui Island, Chan Mai.

Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is one of the forty-nine countries that make up the Asian continent. Its capital and the most populous city is Bangkok, the center of political, commercial, and industrial activity. Interestingly, many films about the Vietnam War were shot on Thai soil, while others set in Thailand such as ‘El Bridge over the River Kwai‘ or ‘Anne and the King‘ were shot in other surrounding countries. We will visit the capital, Bangkok, some of its Buddhist temples, and we will finish the tour on the beaches of Phuket, usually seen in large international productions like The Impossible.

Ninth stop: Vietnam

Monday, June 20th

Professor: Enrique Garcelán

Route: Hanoi, Ho Chi-Minh City (ancient Saigon).

Immortalized by American cinema on countless occasions after the Vietnam War, in films such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, or Good Morning Vietnam -films that were shot in non-Vietnamese locations-, in 1993 the Vitnamite director resident of France, Tran Anh Hung, provided a new vision of the Vietnamese lands in films such as The Smell of the Green Papaya, Midsummer and Cyclo. From his hand and from the hand of the new Vietnamese directors we will travel through a country still unknown to Western eyes.

End of the journey: Southeast Asian

Monday, June 27th

Route: Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia-Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia.

The journey comes to an end. But there is still time to discover the landscapes and the cinema that comes to us in drops of Southeast Asia. Even so, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, or Indonesia can offer us some of the most beautiful routes of this end of the journey. The temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, where the last scene of the masterpiece Wishing to Love took place, or the spectacularity of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) promise that we will exhaust our reel of photos.

Casa Asia faculty:

Eduard Terrades Vicens: Master in radio, is a writer and critic expert in Japanese culture and cinematography, and a member of CineAsia since 2005, in addition to collaborating with different media and portals specialized in Japanese culture (Eikyo, Nipoweb, Otaku Bunka …). He has written books (Made in Kitano, Ten Years of Asian Terror), curated exhibitions, given lectures, and collaborates assiduously with the Manga Barcelona salon.

Víctor Muñoz: Active member of the CineAsia team, Víctor has specialized in the work of Web Manager and Community Manager (he leads the blog and social networks -Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram-) of CineAsia. An inveterate cinephile, he has been specializing in Asian cinematographies for 20 years and has written many articles and film reviews from Asia. 

Josep Santcristòfol Finishing his studies in Philosophy at the UAB, Josep has a degree in East Asian Studies (UAB) and is pursuing a master’s degree in Film and Audiovisual Studies from Pompeu Fabra, where he specializes in Chinese cinema. A regular collaborator of CineAsia for which he has written articles (CineAsia Yearbook Vol. III, cineasiaonline.com) and given some lectures on some directors and aspects of Chinese cinematography.

Gloria Fernández: Degree in Journalism and founding member of CineAsia, Gloria has collaborated in various publications and coordinated and written books, including “Johnnie To: Redefining Auteur Cinema” for the Sitges-International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, or Brillante Mendoza, portraying the Philippine reality or The cinema of Hong Sang-so for the Gijón Film Festival. Combining her teaching work in universities (UB, UMA, UIC), she is currently a programmer of the Sitges Festival and collaborates assiduously in other festivals, institutions, and cultural centers such as the La Caixa Foundation, Casa Asia or Filmoteca de Catalunya

Enrique Garcelán: Graduated in Cinematographic Direction and Script, he is a founding member of CineAsia. Enrique is part of the Programming Committee of the Sitges Film Festival and Fancine de Málaga. He combines this work with teaching at universities (UAB, UB, UIC, UMA, Carlos III University), film schools (La Casa del Cine, San Antonio de los Baños in Cuba), with collaboration with other festivals, institutions, and cultural centers, such as the La Caixa Foundation, Casa Asia and Filmoteca de Catalunya.

Collaboration with the Filmoteca de Catalunya:

The course would be complemented by a selection of Asian films that will be screened at the Filmoteca, on Thursdays at 5 pm, throughout the months of April (4 films) and May (4 films).

A collaboration that is free for students who enroll in the course. The screenings will feature a presentation by CineAsia, as well as a cine forum or debate, at the end of the session.

We will publish the selection of films at the moment they are confirmed by Filmoteca de Catalunya

The members of the Filmoteca will have a discount of 10% as well as the jublidadas people, students under 30 years old and unemployed.