THE NEW ASIAN CINEMA

From December 7th 2024 to February 22nd 2025

From the 7th of December, CASA ASIA will present 10 titles covering a vast geography through which we will be able to move freely through the moving image. The stories we are told unite cultures and peoples, each consolidating their identity. The itinerary begins in Bangladesh and is replicated in China, Japan, Iran, Korea, India, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. It has been conceived in such a way that one can freely choose to reconstruct the mosaic of scenes that this cinema offers us. All the films to be screened were made between 2022 and 2024, so we are talking about recent cinema that brings us into contact with a reality that is remote, but at the same time very close and highly topical. The programme begins with The Wrestler by Bangladeshi director Iqbal Hossain, followed by Abdullah Oripov by Uzbek director Erkinov Muzaffarkhon, Mithya by Indian director Sumanth Bhat, Unhappy Groom by Uzbek director Khusnora Ruzmetova, A Woman by Chinese director Wang Chao, Following The Sound by Japanese director Kyoshi Sugita, Wind Of Change by Iranian director Abbas Rafei, Toxic Parents by Korean director Ryohei Yoshino, Our Home by Indian director Remi Meitei and God’s Gift by Kyrgyz director Aser Zhuraeva. 


PROGRAMME 

PART 1 

Saturday, the 7th of December 2024 

The Wrestler | Iqbal Hossain | Bangladesh | 2023 | 92′ | VOSC | Drama 

This film illustrates the gradual and intimate register of the regional struggle of Bangladesh (Boli Khela), to portray the confrontation of his main characters. Moju (Nasir Uddin Khan) is an elderly fisherman who, not selling enough fish, decides to challenge the local champion, Dofor (AKM Itmam), to the delight of the community. Moju trains every day on the beach, which serves as his gym. His son and daughter-in-law dread the fateful end of the confrontation and try to prevent it from taking place. The Boli Khela fight requires discipline and stillness, its development is slow and serene. Throughout the film, we inevitably cease to be passive spectators and become involved in an exercise of esoteric meditation. This atmosphere is what makes the Bangladeshi film an excellent psychological thriller.  

Iqbal H. Chowdhury is a Toronto-based Bangladeshi-Canadian screenwriter and director with a degree in Film Production from Centennial College in Toronto. His first feature film, Boli (The Wrestler), won the top prize (New Currents Award) at the Busan Film Festival 2023. Also, author of three short films Dant (2016), Dhaka 2.00 (2017) and Rowai (2019). Chowdhury’s audiovisual narrative is replete with symbolic elements that, at times, can border with surrealism. Photography is a key element in his technique as shown by his chromatic choices.   


Saturday, the 14th of December 2024 

Abdulla Oripov| Erkinov Muzaffarkhon | Uzbekistan | 2023 | 109’ | VOSE | Drama 

The film tells the life story of the renowned poet Abdulla Oripov, considered both a phenomenon of 20th century Uzbek poetry and a national hero. Oripov wrote and lived according to the dictates of his heart and endured throughout his life the political games of the old regime fighting against the old political system with his poems and odes. The film portrays the suffering of the Uzbek intelligentsia throughout the 20th century until the country’s independence. Finally, it amends the poet’s death in exile, returning him to his people one last time through the screen. 

Erkinov Muzaffarkhon is a prominent Uzbek filmmaker, known for his work as a director, screenwriter and producer. His work focuses on historical and social drama, has received both national and international recognition. Muzaffarkhon has been praised for his ability to capture the essence of Uzbek identity. He is especially notable for the productions that deal with the lives of literary and historical figures, as in his latest film Abdulla Oripov (2024). 


Saturday, the 21st of December 2024 

Mithya | Sumanth Bhat 2023 | India | 98’ | VOSE | Drama  

Mithya is the name of Mithun, an eleven-year-old boy from Mumbai, who is trying to come to terms with the sudden loss of his parents. Things around him are getting bleaker as his relatives fight over his custody, while questions about the nature of his father’s death remain unanswered. These events fill the pre-teen with new and complex emotions as he searches for solid ground. Can new beginnings be forged or is it all just a search for something already lost? 

Sumanth Bhat is an Indian filmmaker known for his work in the Karnataka film industry. He stands out above all for the emotional approach he gives to his stories, always aware of personal growth. His cinema has been praised for its sensitivity and its visual narrative. He has collaborated with renowned talents such as composer Midhun Mukundan and cinematographer Udit Khurana. Sumanth Bhat is considered a promising director for his unique focus on Indian regional cinema.   


Saturday, the 11th of January 2025 

Unhappy Groom | Khusnora Rozmatova |  Uzbekistan | 2023 | 102’| VOSE | Drama 

The film explores Turkestan’s past through the history of Uzbekistan at the dawn of the 20th century, during the rule of the Russian Empire. The film highlights the contrast between ancient religious thought and the governmental incompetence of imperialist regimes. Amidst these tensions, two lovers face the difficulties of a life marked by social conventions, heresies and ambiguous traditions. In parallel, the drama of Salih, a salaried actor, is affected by the inability to meet the ambitious demands of Rahima’s family to marry her. This narrative strikingly reflects the parallels with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, where despite the lovers’ attempts to remain aloof from social scrutiny, they cannot avoid their toxicity. 

Khusnora Ruzmatova, a film director born in Uzbekistan, has received international recognition by winning the “For Humanism” award at the 19th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival. Uzbek cinema has experienced unprecedented visibility in recent years, not only because of the growth of its film industry, but also because of the international awards it has received. In 2023, Uzbek filmmakers won 15 international awards, highlighting the country’s growing influence on the global film scene. 


PART 2 

Saturday, the 18th of January 2025 

A Woman | Wang Chao | China | 2022 | 110′ | VOSE | Drama 

Based on the autobiographical novel Dream by the writer Zhang Xiu Zhen, the protagonist of this film works in a factory and, in her spare time, devotes herself to her family, but when she can, she tries to write. The action is set in the midst of the Cultural Revolution, between the 1960s and the early 1980s. In her personal and family life, she suffers daily abuse from her partner, whom she is supporting and with whom she has already had more children than she could have.  

Wang Chao worked for five years in the steel industry after graduating from university, although he was always interested in film and literature. In 1991, he entered the Beijing Film Academy, where he graduated in 1994 and began working as a film critic. He met Chen Kaige after the filming of Yellow Earth and was hired by him as an assistant director between 1995 and 1998 for the filming of Farewell My Concubine and The Emperor and the Assassin. He made his directorial debut with Orphan of Anyang, which he shot without permission. A Woman (2022), his latest film to date, was screened at the last edition of the Asian Film Festival Barcelona | AFFBCN to great public acclaim, after its screening at San Sebastian, where it was nominated for the Golden Shell. 


Saturday, the 25th of January 2025 

Following The Sound | Kyoshi Sugita | Japan | 2023 | 84′ | VOSE | Drama 

One day, Haru, who works as a bookstore clerk, reunites with Takeshi, whom she first met a few years prior, when she stopped him from jumping in front of a train. Takeshi offers Haru a job. Another day, Haru is worried about Yukiko who is sitting on a bench in front of the station and talks to her. This leads them on a small journey together. Haru takes along a cassette recorder left behind as an inheritance by her mother. The circumstances will lead Haru to confront guilt and regretful feelings once again for not having been able to help avoid the illness to give an end to her mom’s life. 

Kyoshi Sugita was born in 1977 and had his first feature film One Song selected for the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2011 and its theatrical debut in 2012. His second feature film, Song of Light, was selected for the 2017 Tokyo International Film Festival and the 2018 Jeonju International Film Festival. The film received high praise in major newspapers and the film magazine Kinema Junpo. He has also published the novels Kawa no Koibito/River Lovers and Hitotsu no Uta/One Song and participated as a photographer in the fourth poetry collection Uta Long Long Short Song Long by the poet Koichi Masuno.  


Saturday, the 1st of February 2025 

Wind Of Change | Abbas Rafei | Irán | 2023 | 86′ | VOSE | Drama 

Before she has time to process news of her teenage daughter’s troubled behaviour at school, Sara (Narges Mohmmadi) is confronted with an even more serious concern due to the disappearance of her husband. Sometime in the night, after a routine argument, he just got up and left, leaving behind a mystery that falls almost entirely on Sara to solve. Alongside with one of the neighbours, she desperately begins to seek for him. What comes quick into view though is just how dependent she had become on him to survive. The film is a mixture of suspense with social commentary as Sara simultaneously searches for her husband while struggling to reclaim her and her daughter’s independence. 

Abbas Rafei (Shiraz, 1962) is a graduate of Cinematography (from University of Television) and Dramatic Literature. Rafei established his own film production company in 1995, when he made his first feature film, Mina’s secret. In the international scene, he is best known for Butterfly in the wind (presented at Rio, Oslo, Umea, Mannheim, etc. and awarded at Festival D’ Amiens) and Oblivion season. His company, Filmnegaran, has been active in the production of TV Series, fiction films and documentaries and entered cooperation with several film production companies in different parts of the world.  


Saturday, the 8th of February 2025 

Toxic Parents | Ryohei Yoshino | Corea | 2023 | 104’ | VOSE | Drama 

Yoo-ri, a seemingly model student from a well-to do family suddenly commits suicide. Detectives suspect suicide, but her mother Hye-young believes that Yoo-ri’s classmate Ye-na and homeroom teacher Gi-beom were the killers. As the investigation dives into the lives of these people, it spirals out of control due to conflicting statements between the three, but detectives find out that Hye-young caused cracks in Yoo-ri’s heart. Deeply believing that she was doing everything possible for her child out of love, can Hye-young uncover the truth behind her daughter’s death?  

Kim Soo In is a South Korean screenwriter. She graduated from Dankook University’s Department of Creative Writing and completed her major in the Department of Film at Chung-Ang University’s Graduate School. She wrote adaptations and screenplays for a few feature films, including the adaptation of Oksu Station Ghost (2021) and the screenplay of B Cut (2021). Toxic Parents is her first feature film.  


Saturday, the 15th of February 2025 

Our Home | Romi Meitei | India | 2022 | 110′ | VOSE | Drama 

Belonging to an isolated fishing community of the Loktak lake, Chaoren makes the best use of his exclusive existence by excelling in school. When the canoe he uses every day to attend school must be sold off because of his father’s illness, his spirit is not dampened. He beats the long distance from his shanty floating hut to his school by swimming his way through. But when the Government issues an eviction notice demanding Chaoren’s family to leave their home, his dreams are left with the angst of a displaced person.  

Romi Meitei is prolific filmmaker who has given several box-office hits. Besides notching up commercial successes, his films have been screened in prestigious film festivals including IFFI, MIFF, IFFK and others. He has won the prestigious FIPRESCI (International Film Critics Awards) and NETPAC (best Asian feature film from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) awards. He has also received several Manipur State Film Awards. He is the Chairman of Mami Thawan Foundation which aims to render services for the welfare of Manipur. 


Saturday, the 22nd of February 2025 

God’s Gift | Asel Zhuraeva | Kyrgyzstan| 2023 | 75′ | VOSE | Comedy

An elderly childless couple with poor health live in a small village where barely anything ever happens when some unknown people leave a six-month-old baby at their front door. In the beginning, Initially, the old couple wants to hand over the child to the authorities, but having heard that young children could be being sold for trafficking with their organs, they decide to keep him. Caring for a baby turns the lives of older people in a completely different direction, and they end up finding a renewed interest.  

Asel Zhuraeva graduated from the Kyrgyz State Institute of Arts in 2010. She also coursed in the Film school of RustamIbragimbekov (Kiev, Ukraine, 2013) and afterwards she started lecturing at AUCA (2017 to 2019). She is the director at the Tazar Cinema Company and the head of Creative Women of Asia Foundation since 2010.  

  • From the 7th of December 2024 until the 22nd of February 2025, at 7 p.m.

    *This schedule may be subject to slight changes. Please consult the cinema listings

  • C/ Girona, 175, 08025 Barcelona

  • Ticket price: 5,50€

    Cinemes Girona Season Ticket holders and memebrs:4€

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