Asian Film Festival Barcelona

From OCTOBER 24th to NOVEMBER 3rd 2024

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The Asian Film Festival Barcelona celebrates its 12th edition

The Asian Film Festival Barcelona | AFFBCN, the Asian auteur film festival, reaches its twelfth edition this year and will be held from October 24 to November 3, 2024. The Festival maintains its hallmarks for another year, and will screen a hundred films representative of the experimental and independent cinema of the new Asian cinema, with the participation of filmographies from twenty countries in Asia and the Pacific.

AFFBCN 2024 will distribute its programming in five sections: Official, Official Panorama, Discoveries, NETPAC and Special, all of them in competition. The Phenomena room will host the inaugural film “Citizen of a Kind” by director Park Young-ju (Korea 2024), while the main bulk of films will be screened at the Cinemes Girona, including the one that will close this competition specialized in Asian cinema: “Time Still Turns the Pages” by director Nick Cheuk (Hong Kong, 2023). On the other hand, the FILMIN Platform and the BETEVÉ television channel will be the online headquarters.

For the director of the AFFBCN, Menene Gras Balaguer, “This year’s programming contains numerous surprises from the participating countries that will allow us to update our knowledge of the Asian film industry, subject to permanent change and innovation, and which we will continue to reveal.”

As new arrivals To add to the programming, this year the Festival incorporates a course dedicated to Asian cinema, a series of round tables, in addition to presentations and discussions with guest directors. And for the second time, a call has been launched aimed at directors, producers and film students, to present feature films and documentaries in the month of March that aspire to be part of the programming.

The AFFBCN 2024 will grant eighteen awards: for Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay in each of the competing sections: Official, Official Panorama, Discoveries, NETPAC, and Special, which will be awarded by their respective juries, composed of directors, film critics and writers, among others. For this twelfth edition, a new section, New Perspectives, is added, with its corresponding jury, the Young Jury, composed of film students, visual arts, and East Asian studies from national and international universities, which will award the prizes for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, based on a selection of the Festival’s competition films.

The Festival has the support of the ICEC (Generalitat de Catalunya), ICUB (Barcelona City Council), HKETO (Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Brussels), FICB (Fundació Institut Confuci de Barcelona), Embassy of Australia and Japan Foundation, among others.

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The AFFBCN has five juries: the Official Section, the Official Panorama Section, the Discoveries Section, the NETPAC Section, and the Special Section. For its 12th edition, taking place from October 24 to November 3, 2024, a new section called New Perspectives is being introduced, with an award granted by a Young Jury composed of students of film, visual arts, and East Asian studies from various national and international universities.

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TRAILERS

The Asian Film Festival Barcelona

The Asian Film Festival Barcelona | AFFBCN, the Asian auteur film festival, reaches its twelfth edition this year and will be held from October 24 to November 3, 2024

Retrospective of Australian Aboriginal cinema (2015-2023)

Opening film

Citizen of a Kind (2024), denounces this global problem, focusing on a mother who is involved in a desperate search for a loan to repair the losses she must take on because her business has burned down.

OPENING FILM

CLOSING FILM

FESTIVAL DIRECTOR’S LETTER

GEOGRAPHIES OF THOUGHT by Menene Gras

“The eleventh edition of the Asian Film Festival Barcelona | AFFBCN wants to keep contributing to the peak of Asian cinema, not only at international film festivals but also in the screens of our country. When we refer to Asian cinema, we are thinking about the cinematic industries of more than twenty countries that consider the cinematic culture an expression of a global and local event.”

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OPENING & CLOSING

OFFICIAL SECTION

OFFICIAL PANORAMA SECTION

DISCOVERIES

NETPAC

SPECIAL SECTION

RETROSPECTIVE OF AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL CINEMA (2015-2023)

The Retrospective of Australian Aboriginal Cinema (2015-2023) that we present as part of the Asian Film Festival of Barcelona (2024) brings together nine films made by Australian Aboriginal filmmakers over the last ten years. Its aim is to showcase a cinema that raises questions and suggests the need to immerse ourselves in the history of one of the oldest cultures on the planet.

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OPENING FILM

25th October at 19.00h

Yangzi’s Confusion

When the 10-year-old Yangzi steals her mother’s diary, she discovers that she was abandoned at a young age, causing a communication breakdown between her and her mother.

More info

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12.12: The day

Kim Sung-Soo / 2023

14 again: I Love you two thousand

Nareubadee Wetchakam / 2023

All We Imagine As Light

Payal Kapadia / 2024

Black Dog

Guan Hu / 2024

Bride Kidnapping

Mirlan Abdykalykov / 2024

Brief History of a Family

Jianjie Lin / 2024

Celluloid Underground

Ehsan Khoshbakht / 2023

Citizen of a Kind

Park Young-Ju / 2024

Girls Will Be Girls

Shuchi Talati / 2024

Ichiko

Akihiro Toda / 2023

My Sunshine

Hiroshi Okuyama / 2024

Ransomed (Bigongsik Jakjeon)

Kim Seong-hun / 2023

Song Of the South

Nguyen Quang Dung / 2023

Sweet Dreams

Ena Sendijarević / 2023

Terrestrial Verses

Ali Asgari, Alireza Khatami / 2023

The Glassworker

Usman Riaz / 2024

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Mohammad Rasoulof / 2024

Time Still Turns the Pages

Nick Cheuk / 2023

Tomorrow Is a Long Time

Zhi Wei Jow / 2023

Mike Hostench (President)

The career of Mike Hostench (Barcelona, 1967) has always been linked to the film industry. He began his career in the distribution sector, working for companies like Virgin and Gorgon Video, which specialize in film production and distribution. Later, Hostench held the position of Co-Director of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. He also works as a consultant for film distributors and production companies. He has written two screenplays that have premiered worldwide, authored three books on Asian and horror films, and collaborates with film magazines and websites. He speaks English, Catalan, Spanish, and basic Korean.

Aditya Bhattacharya

Aditya Bhattacharya, born in 1965, is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter, primarily known for his acclaimed feature film Raakh (1989). He is the son of renowned director Basu Bhattacharya and Rinki Bhattacharya, the daughter of Bimal Roy. He began his career in the film industry as an actor in Mandi (1983), a film by Shyam Benegal, where he played the role of Smita Patil’s boyfriend. His acting career also includes roles in Rihaee (1988) and Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2003), both directed by Sudhir Mishra. Aditya made his directorial debut with Raakh (1989), which received three National Film Awards and the Best Debut Director Award at the Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards. Meanwhile, he also worked as a photojournalist. In 1988, he moved from Bombay to Rome, where he directed an Italian film and several music videos. His film Dubai Return (2005), which he also produced under the banner Aditya Pictures, premiered at the IFFI Goa 2005. In 2012, he produced and directed Bombay’s Most Wanted (BMW), which was showcased at the Mumbai Film Festival.

Kamyar Mohsenin

Born in 1971 in Tehran, Kamyar Mohsenin studied Control and Instrumentation Engineering at Sharif University of Technology. In 1996, after working as a film critic and translator for various film magazines and publications of the National Film Archive of Iran, he launched, working as a reasearcher and co-creator, an analytical television program, Film 90’s. Mohsenin began his collaboration with the Farabi Cinema Foundation as a Research Executive in 1998. During his time with Farabi, he was involved in organizing international film events such as Fajr, Iranian Film Market, Children and Young Adults, Kish, Urban, and others. Mohsenin has taught various film history courses and has been a film critic for the International Film Guide, film magazines, newspapers, and television programs. Since 2016, he has been working at the Fajr International Film Festival as International Relations Manager and Programming Director. Mohsenin has served as a jury member at several film festivals, including the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2019, the Bosphorus International Film Festival in 2021, and the Asian Film Festival Barcelona in 2023.

Nastaran Moladi

Born in 1969 in Mashhad, Iran, Nastaran Molavi studied stage acting and directing in Niavaran Art School. She was also active as a puppeteer in Kanoon for some time. Afterwards, Molavi began her work as a film critic, working with film magazines such as Film and Art (as Editor in Chief), Soroush, Cinema Weekly, Form and Criticism, etc. As a film critic, she attended some TV programs, mainly discussing Irish and Chinese cinema. Molavi was the International Senior Programmer of Fajr International Film Festival, accredited by FIAPF as an international competitive film festival in 2021.

Yun Suik

Yun Suik (Seoul, 1985) is a director, screenwriter and editor who graduated in Digital Arts from the Seoul Institute of Arts. Yun Suik made his film debut with Groggy Summer (2013), presented at the Jeonju Film Festival. His second film, Heavy Snow (2023), was also screened at the Jeonju Festival and the Hamburg Festival.

JURY OF THE PANORAMA SECTION

Esteban Andueza (President)

Esteban Andueza is a cultural manager, translator, art curator, and promoter of artistic projects. He lived in China for 12 years, where he worked as a freelancer and also for prestigious institutions such as the Iberia Center for Contemporary Art and the Instituto Cervantes in Beijing. His work focuses on promoting cultural exchanges between Spain and China. Additionally, he collaborates with Antoni Muntadas, assisting in the projects the artist develops on the Asian continent.

Anastasia Stravinsky

Anastasia Stravinsky (Moscow, 1993) is a curator, art critic and art director at CIFRA, a multipurpose digital art platform that combines streaming, a marketplace, and education. She has been a member of the scientific secretariat of the Centre for Studies in Russian Art since 2020 (CSAR) and a member of the International Association of Art Critics since 2017 (AICA-Russia). She holds a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Art (RUDN) and a master’s degree in History and Dialogue of Cultures (Université Grenoble Alpes). She is presently studying a double PhD program in History of Art (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice). Since 2012 she has worked as a curator in museums and art galleries (NCCA, Gallery Park, ROSIZO, CSAR, CFZ, etc.) and has held more than 70 exhibitions, festivals and concerts. In 2014, as the great-niece of composer Igor Stravinsky, she founded and directed the Stravinsky Family Fund, where she curated and staged exhibitions, festivals and events dedicated to the Stravinsky family.

Batbayar Chogsom

Batbayar Chogsom was born in 1974 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and immigrated to Switzerland at the age of 26. After completing a basic journalism program, he graduated with a Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Zurich in 2012. He then went on to work as an archivist in the historical graphics and photographs collections at the Zurich National Museum. His film Out of Paradise (2018) was awarded Best Film at the Shanghai International Film Festival, and his most recent work, White Flag (2023), was selected for the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

Olga Shishko

Olga Shishko is a specialist in media art, founder, director, and curator of the MediaArtLab Center for Culture and Art. She has curated numerous exhibitions and projects, including Bill Viola: Journey of the Soul (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, 2021); At the End Abides the Beginning: Tintoretto’s Secret Brotherhood (San Fantin Church, Venice, 2019); and Man as a Bird: Images of Travel (Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel, Venice, 2017), among others. She is currently a professor at Ca’ Foscari University, where she focuses on researching the development of media art in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. She is also working on the Mapping Diaspora project and serves as Head of the Art Department at the CIFRA platform for Media Art.

Adriano Calero

Adriano Calero works as a cultural manager, graduated in Humanities and Film Direction. As a film critic, he specializes in Asian cinema. He publishes his texts in Las Furias Magazine, Transit: cine, and other media such as the +1 UIC Magazine. He is the creator, editor, and broadcaster of the Podcast Empanada Cultural, which broadcasts on Radio Fabra and Radio Desvern. He is also linked to Asian culture through martial arts, as a qualified instructor of Kali Filipino and Kuk Sool Won (traditional Korean MMAA).

JURY OF THE DISCOVERIES SECTION

Rosa Vergés (Presidenta)

Born in Barcelona in 1955, Rosa Vergés is a director and screenwriter of film and television. After studying Art History at the University of Barcelona, she decided to expand her studies at the University of La Sorbonne in Paris. With her first film, Boom Boom (1990), she won the Goya Award for Best New Direction, the Sant Jordi Award and Fotogramas de Plata. She has also been vice-president of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain and member of the National Council of Culture and Arts.

Javier Martín-Domínguez

Javier Martín-Domínguez has worked as a journalist in the press, radio and television. He was an international correspondent, with Radio Nacional and Televisión Española in the United States for ten years, and with La Vanguardia in Tokyo. He has received the Premio Cirilo Rodríguez for international journalism. His coverage included three U.S. presidential campaigns, Reagan’s visits to Moscow, Gorbachev’s visit to Washington, the funeral of Hirohito, and the coronation of Akihito. He is the author of the biographies of Paul Bowles and the surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. He directed the Seville European Film Festival for 4 years and has been a jury member at the festivals of Moscow, Sarajevo and Documenta Madrid and at the Asian Film Festival in Barcelona.

José Félix Collazos

José Félix Collazos is a filmmaker born in Bilbao. After completing his studies in Architecture, he moved to New York, where he studied screenwriting at Hunter College and directing at the Millennium Center. There, he began independently shooting his first short films in Super 8 and 16 mm. In 1993, he shot Muy negro, his first work in 35 mm, which was presented at numerous national and international festivals. His next work, Nocturno, was selected to open the Chicago Film Festival and participated in various international festivals such as Montreal, San Sebastián, and Saint Petersburg. It also won the Silver Horse at the Larissa New Filmmakers Festival in Greece. He has also worked as an art director, a radio scriptwriter, and has collaborated with the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Laura Noia

Born in Venice, Laura Noia graduated in Foreign languages and Literatures at Padua University. She had also been working in the culture section of the Socialist Party organizing international conferences and several TV programs. Later, she worked as production assistant and production manager in several national and international films such as Un sacco bello (Carlo Verdone, 1980), Pirates (Roman Polanski, 1986), Caccia alla vedova (Giorgio Ferrara, 1991) and Pinocchio (Matteo Garrone, 2019).

Natalia Díaz

Natalia Diaz Peñalver (Barcelona, 1967) is the director and co-founder of the Korean culture blog “Korea in Barcelona”. Created in 2017, it reports on all activities related to Korean culture that take place in Barcelona and Catalonia, with special emphasis on South Korean cinematography. She also publishes cultural articles and interviews with film directors, actors, and writers. On a personal level, she is passionate about Asian cinema and participates as an accredited press reporter in several film festivals.

JURY OF THE NETPAC SECTION

Nomuunzul Turmunkh (Presidenta)

Nomuunzul Turmunkh is a producer and screenwriter from Mongolia. She studied Business Administration and later Media Production at the American Intercontinental University in London. She has worked on several acclaimed films, such as The Sales Girl, White Blessing, and Silent City Driver, earning multiple international awards. Additionally, she is a member of NETPAC and serves on the Mongolian National Film Council. Her dedication to cinema has led her to participate at prestigious festivals, including the Busan International Film Festival, the Adelaide International Film Festival, and the Far East Film Festival.

Aizhan Kassymbek

Aizhan Kassymbek is a director and cinematographer from Kazakhstan. She is working on a series of films that take inspiration from the four basic elements, and her first two shorts, Water (2018) and Air (2018), were screened at festivals in Europe and Asia. Fire (2021) is her first feature film. It premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2021 and travelled to the Film Festival Cottbus in Germany and Singapore International Film Festival, among many others. Madina (2023) is her last film.

Sandra Mur Poyuelo

Sandra Mur Puyuelo (Huesca, 1986) has a Master’s degree in Specialized Communication and a PhD in Linguistic, Literary, and Cultural Studies. She has specialized in the Eurasian space, Russia, and Central Asia. She collaborates with distributors in this geographical area and film festivals as an intercultural interlocutor and mediator.

Alexis Racionero

Alexis Racionero Ragué is a writer and traveler. He holds a PhD in Art History, a degree in Geography and History, and is a specialist in Eastern philosophy, counterculture, and the hero’s journey. He is a founding professor at the ESCAC film school. A Gestalt therapist and generative coach, he is also a yoga and meditation teacher. Racionero contributes to La Vanguardia and El Mundo Deportivo. He has directed documentaries such as Rubbersoul, el viaje hippie a la India o Railway to Heaven, un tránsito de Beijing a Lhasa. He is the author of several books, including Darshan, filosofía oriental para la vida cotidiana, El viaje del héroe, Ecotopía, La mirada de oriente and Mushin, zen y sabiduría samurái para la vida cotidiana.

JURY OF THE SPECIAL SECTION

Sandra Sotelo (Presidenta)

Journalist and news correspondent at ABS-CBN Corporation. A teacher, freelance journalist, and active member of the Filipino community, Sandra Sotelo Aboy understands the value of news and believes in applying transversality in the journalistic activity she carries out. To manage her time, she jumped into the world of digital commerce with a 24/7 business project that allows her to dedicate herself to the promotion of her country’s culture and projects such as Contracorona which was screened at the AFFBCN 2023.

Louise Wu

Louise Wu is a writer, director, producer and multidisciplinary filmmaker from Beijing, China. She recently got her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dramatic Writing and minored in the Business of Entertainment, Media and Technology at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Often with emotional openness, her creative works explore themes such as the intricacies of interpersonal connections, the modern and urban living conditions, as well as the poetic vulnerability embedded in our shared human experience. Her professional work experience includes screenwriting, film development and distribution, as well as international cultural engagement. She is currently finishing her short film Love Complex while working as a Localization Specialist and Scriptwriter in the North American and Asian entertainment industry.

Álvaro González

Graduated in Screenwriting and Dramatic Writing from the Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya (ESCAC), Álvaro González collaborates with the distribution company Brigante Films (2017 – 2018). This is the company responsible for the distribution in physical and digital formats of Psycho Raman (Anurag Kashyap, 2016 – India) and Confession of Murder (Jung Byung-gil, 2012 – South Korea). He is also content a creator targeting the film dissemination of the Asian continent, under the name Atlas Del Cine Asiático. (TikTok/IG: atlasdelcineasiatico).

Jimena Tercero

Jimena Tercero (Madrid, 1998) is a multidisciplinary artist who investigates the relationship between the limits of identity and the human body through video, photo, performance and painting. She deals with concepts such as memory, tangible topics and play. She directed various shorts films such as Εγώ, Paranoid or Private (2022) exhibited at the Aspa Contemporary Gallery in Madrid, as well as her latest performance Me, myself and I (2023) at Teatros del Canal in Madrid. In addition, she directed documentaries like You are also here for the Artforchange-La Caixa project about Asperger syndrome.

Belén Abad

Belén Abad, based in Buenos Aires, holds a degree in Film Direction from the University of Cinema in Buenos Aires. After studying acting techniques and methodologies, she taught practical classes in Actor Direction at the same university from 2014 to 2018. She is currently working as a casting director and producer at Casting Club, a casting agency in Buenos Aires and Mexico City specialized in the search and formulation of casts for both advertising and fiction projects.

JURY OF THE OFFICIAL SECTION