The new Asian cinema

Starting from March 30th, CASA ASIA will present seven titles that encompass an extensive geography through which we can freely navigate through the moving image. The narratives they contain unite cultures and peoples, respectively consolidating their cultural identity. The itinerary begins in Korea followed by India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, and has been conceived to contribute to the reconstruction of the mosaic of scenes that this cinema offers us. All the films that will be screened were made between 2020 and 2023, therefore, we are talking about recent cinema that puts us in contact with a remote reality, but at the same time, very close and up to date. The program starts with “Where Would You Like to Go” by the Korean Kim Hee-Jung, followed by “Declaration” by the Indian director Mahesh Narayanan, “Orpa” by the Thai Theogracia Rumansara, “Motherless” by the Iranian director Seyyed Morteza Fatemi, “Eternally Younger Than Those Idiots” by the Japanese director Ryohei Yoshino, “Brothers” by the Kazakh Darkhan Tulegenov, and finally, “Aydinlar” by the Uzbek directors Muzaffarkhan Erkinov and Muzzafar Qoraboyev.

PROGRAMME

Saturday March 30th, 2024

Do-gyeong jumped in to save his student Jiyong from drowning. After the two pass away, Myeongji, Do-gyeong’s wife, and Jieun, Jiyong’s sister, are left alone in the world, having to cope with the loss of their loved ones. Myeongji travels to Warsaw, to try to escape her harsh reality. She meets an old friend and hides her husband’s death as if trying to reject the tragedy.

After studying at the Polish National Film School in Lodz, Kim Hee-jung made her first feature film The Wonder Years (2007), the story of a girl who embarks on a journey to find her biological mother. Her second feature, Grape Candy (2011) is a rumination of memories which dominate the present. Her third feature Snow Paths (2015) is the story of a man attempting to overcome trauma who is sent to a Catholic sanatorium for alcoholism and meets a nun who can spiritually commune with dead souls. Her latest feature, A French Woman (2019) follows the delirium of a woman who confronts her painful past through a mysterious time gate.

Saturday April 6th, 2024

Amidst a pandemic-affected Noida, a struggling Malayali couple, consisting of Hareesh and Reshmi, harbour dreams of breaking with their challenging life by migrating abroad. Both work in a glove factory, yearning for a better future. They record a video showcasing Reshmi’s skills, hoping to use it to secure employment opportunities overseas. However, their lives take a devastating turn when Hareesh receives a disturbing video via WhatsApp. It appears to be Reshmi’s original video, merged with explicit footage involving another woman engaged in a sexual act. This video unleashes unexpected emotional, social and marital imbalances that put their relationship at risk. Best Script Award in the Official Section of AFFBCN 2023.

Mahesh Narayanan born in 1975 in Kerala, is a filmmaker and editor known for his work in the Malayalam film industry. He started his career in the film industry as an editor. He worked as an editor on numerous films and gained recognition for his editing skills. He made his directorial debut with Take Off (2017), a film based on the evacuation of Indian nurses from Iraq during the ISIS insurgency. His film C U Soon (2020) gained attention for its unique screen recording format and storytelling. Narayanan has also worked as an editor on several Malayalam films and continues to be a notable figure in the industry.

Saturday April 20th, 2024

Orpa is a good 16-year-old student, forcibly betrothed by her father to a wealthy man from Jayapura. Reluctant to become a submissive housewife, one night she decides to escape to continue her studies in Wamena, where she wants to learn more about the medicinal effects of Papua’s plants. Along the way, she meets Ryan, a 28-year-old aspiring musician. During their journey, as they exchange ideas and opinions about life, a sweet friendship blossoms between them. Their journey is filled with difficulties, as they are pursued both by Orpa’s father and by villagers accusing Ryan of committing a murder.

Theo Rumansara was born in 1989 in Biak, Papua. He never took art seriously until he won a film competition in his high school back in 2004, what made him transition from IT programmer to a musician-filmmaker. In 2020 he won Jendela Papua, a talent scouting & filmmaking lab program which finally brought him closer to his chance to direct his first film Orpa, which won the Best Performance Award at the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival in 2022.

Saturday May 4th, 2024

A middle-aged couple, Amir Ali and Marjan, lead a quiet life until Marjan, who aspires to be a mother, meets Mahrouz, a woman who is trying to raise money for her son’s kidney transplant. When Marjan insists on renting a womb and this surrogate mother enters their life, they unintentionally go through different tests and face moral dilemmas unknown to them. The controversy surrounding subrogation is put on the table, showing the consequences of a yet not enough legislated practice.

Born in 1983 in Tehran, Seyyed Morteza Fatemi, writer, director, producer and TV host, is a graduate in Petroleum Engineering and PHD student of Political Philosophy. He started his career as a journalist, and he worked as chief editor in various weekly newspapers and press agencies. Afterwards, Fatemi entered Iranian Television and pursued his career as creator of Talk Shows and TV Series – including Dark Intelligence which won the Best TV Crime Drama Award in Moscow International Festival DetectiveFEST.

Saturday May 11th, 2024

The story begins with Horigai, a 22-year-old virgin who is about to graduate and gets a contract as a social worker. At the university, she is bored even though she knows she will graduate soon. But she meets Inogi, a girl with a tragic childhood, with whom she ends up getting along well. When Horigai’s friend, Homine, dies, she begins to discover the violence he was capable of that she couldn’t see when he was alive. Best Film Award in the NETPAC Section of AFFBCN 2021.

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1982, Ryohei Yoshino began making independent films while studying at Hosei University. After graduation, he enrolled at the Japan Institute of the Moving Image, where he majored in cinematography and lighting technology. He has won several awards for his short and medium-length films to date. He now works as a lighting engineer for music videos, radio program director and in many other fields.

Saturday May 18th, 2024

Akzhol, who just got out of the orphanage, starts a new life. He is convinced that his father is alive and starts searching for him. However, after meeting his neighbour Dimash, things change as they realise how easy is to earn a living by robberies and burglaries. Later, during one of the meetings with a relative, he learns about the existence of his brother, Dalen, who was adopted by wealthy parents and had an education impossible to access in any other way. Together they embark on a mission to find their father and that will throw light on things that neither of them could have imagined.

Darkhan Tulegenov was born in 1993 in Uralsk. At the age of 15 he entered the Kazakh Academy of Transport and Communications, and in 2012 he was admitted to the Kazakh National Academy of Arts. He has been a participant of many national and international film festivals, both national and international, and Brothers received the Spirit of Cinema Award at the Oldenburg Film Festival in 2022. He is also known for his short films Nabat (2020), The Route (2016), and Sunrise.

Saturday May 25th, 2024

The feature film Aydinlar narrates the story of the Aral Sea region, the past and present of the city of Muynak in particular. The protagonist of the film, Seyit, watches from a young age as the city of Muynak, where he was born and grows up, lies in ruins because of the drying up of the Aral Sea. Seyit is brought up by his grandfather Nurpeis, who tells him fairy tales about the sea, while he grows up alongside Kizlargul and Maman. But as soon as he is not a child anymore, he is forced to leave Muynak to have another fate.

Muzaffarkhan Erkinov was born in 1983. He has worked on many TV series, documentaries and short films. From his cinematic career, standout films include Armon, Iqtidar, Yagonam, Kasas, Avlony, Puankare and the one we present, Aydinlar, directed together with Muzaffar Qoraboyev. He has received national awards such as the Tasanno and the Ehtirom, and he obtained a prize at the International Film Festival for Creative Flight, and another at the Eurasian Film and TV Festival for Slavic Tale.

From March 30th to May 25th, 2024
C/ Girona, 175, 08025 Barcelona
Entrance fee: 5,50€

Cinemes Girona’s subscribers and members fee: 4€

The new Asian cinema

PROGRAMME

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