What does Asian cinema tell us?

When I ask myself what the so-called ‘Asian cinema’ tells us, following the widespread habit of naming a ‘European cinema’ or an ‘American cinema’, ‘Latin cinema’ or an ‘African cinema’, as if the difference between modes of narration and narratives could thus be understood, I cannot help but question what we mean. Beyond highlighting the existence of common signs, signals, or traces within an audiovisual production and film industry belonging to a shared geography, I do not believe it is sufficient to use such broad terms, not even when it comes to establishing a classification that separates and in some way orders stories. In a global society, where diversity is irreducible to a single model or modality, it may seem that segregation is imposed simply by using the aforementioned terms. With them, divisions turn into categories, mimicking the notions that separate the world into the two halves known as East and West. Through these, cultures from one part and the other of the world are grouped together, establishing a difference that seems to ignore the inverse tendency, which consists of “de-orienting” or “de-orientalising” what we call the East or “Oriental,” given its ever-increasing proximity due to the speed of information transfer and communication media.

While it remains true that the place we come from and the place we live in directly influences the narratives we construct, we must bear in mind that the moving image moves and travels freely, crossing borders without any physical limit being able to resist its circulation. In the digital society, it seems obvious that nationalisms of whatever kind identify with belonging and identity, and, to that extent, their evaluation results in conflicting opinions regarding the consequences that hang over the imaginaries that elaborate and construct the narratives that reach us, wherever we may be. The impact of technology on information and, conversely, on disinformation cannot be overlooked. But we cannot fail to consider the importance of information and the knowledge of other cultures that we owe to literature and cinema, the digitalisation of which has been crucial for the transmission of their narratives long before the advent of AI. Despite current diagnoses regarding the crisis of narration and other associated pathologies, its strength has not been weakened, nor have its screens, whose incessant replication continues to multiply following the proliferation of platforms and variety of formats serving the moving image.

Asian cinema continues to be presented, nonetheless, as a discovery, while its dissemination is increasingly widespread, both through platforms and different television channels or commercial cinemas, which are respectively betting on new markets. Beyond the balance of trade and the balances or imbalances of demand in the sector, the truth is that interest in Asian cinema in the West has grown emphatically over the last decade. The Asian film industry is pushing into the global market, seeking new audiences and trying to achieve an ever more extensive presence. The film industry of this continent currently holds a not inconsiderable weight, both in the internal market of each country and abroad. The great gap that existed in many countries between production for a local market and that which lent itself to export, becoming known through homologous translation and subtitling in English, no longer exists. The cases that illustrate this fact are numerous, understanding that diversity in a territory of physical, human, political, economic, and cultural geographies is imperative when it comes to addressing this phenomenon and others seemingly dissociated from a reality whose complexity cannot escape us.

We can only approach it by considering that today we are dealing with hegemonic cultures whose history cannot be ignored, often crossed by consecutive invasions by peoples subjected to the great colonial empires, where independence was not a completed fact until the last decade of the 20th century. The break-up of the former USSR and the independence of the five ‘stans’—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan—in 1991, illustrates the age of some recent hegemonic cultures, despite dealing with ancient traditions with a before and an after. In another order of events, the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan in 1947, followed by the later founding of Bangladesh. This country, belonging to British India until 1947 and East Pakistan until 1971, only achieved independence after a conflict that claimed many lives, and which is not unrelated to the tensions still existing in the region between India and Pakistan, as became visible in the sinister massacre of tourists in Kashmir last April 2025.

Asian cinema does not mean we are talking about a homogeneous cinema, nor a single industry or market. The same lack of definition is evident when talking about cinema made in the East as opposed to cinema made in the West. The underlying intention is not only to name the sovereignty of the producing countries but also to group or bring together these very countries, encompassing a wide geography that shares roots, linguistic characteristics, and cultures. The journey of words and images along the Silk Road for centuries, from the Far East to Central Asia and from there to Europe, lies at the origin of a globalisation that was precarious in its beginnings, but which established the first barriers between what has culturally, politically, and economically separated East and West. By Asian cinema, we understand a cinema that is produced in more than twenty countries, extending from Central Asia to Asia Pacific, passing through South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Always linked to a geography and a past that has known local conflicts which became global issues after the Second World War, this cinema progressively stops belonging only to the continent’s great powers to become an instrument for the transmission of knowledge that extends to all nations. A mass communication medium that connects private and public life, the individual and the society in which they reside, the place and the time of the action.

The leading international festivals in Europe and the United States have contributed decisively to the knowledge of a cinema that was very much a minority on our screens, until the emergence of those festivals that have directly committed to dedicating their programme entirely to Asian cinema. Cannes, Rotterdam, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, Toronto, Sundance, New York, and San Sebastian, to name some of the most inclusive ones, are among the precedents for a cinema that has managed to reach audiences for consumption. The power of Asian cinema has received essential recognition at these and other festivals that encompass an unlimited geographical scope in their respective programmes. The strength of Asian cinema has been notable in the last two decades of the 21st century, taking the form of an expanding cinema in terms of themes and genres, with an increasing number of women directors.

There are, however, two initiatives in Europe that deserve to be highlighted for having launched their proposal focused on Asian cinema from their inception. The Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema (VIFFAC), created in 1995 by Martine and Jean-Marc Thérouanne, who continue to direct the festival since then, was the first in Europe. And the Udine Far East Film Festival (FEFF), created in 1999, focused on the film production of China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, directed by Sabrina Baracetti. Both festivals are unmissable references for subsequent projects, which adopt and expand upon them to a greater or lesser extent in Spain, as well as in England, France, and Germany. Outside Europe, in Asia, the oldest Asian film festival is the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), created in 1976, followed by the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), founded in 1986, the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) in 1993, and the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in 1996, which, despite not being strictly focused on Asian cinema, are major showcases for the continent’s most recent audiovisual production in each edition. Finally, the Asian Film Awards, created in 2007 and based in Hong Kong, have clearly contributed to the visibility of the film industry. Competing with the aforementioned are the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952 and held in Goa since 1975, the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), specialising in documentaries and short films, the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), and the Global India International Film Festival (GIIFF), which focuses annually on the vast production of Indian cinema.

The current edition of the AFFBCN features, as in previous occasions, more than a hundred titles, a total of 120, among which those from Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Asia Pacific stand out, particularly from countries such as China, Japan, Iran, the Philippines, India, and Korea. To this, we must add the Retrospective that this year is dedicated to Japan, bringing together some of the titles that have won awards in the successive editions of the Festival between 2015 and 2025. Generally speaking, we aim for our selection to lend itself to discovery by spectators, users, and followers of a cinema that is still poorly known or not as well-known as we would wish. In this sense, the AFFBCN wants to give a voice to filmmakers of all nationalities encompassed in what we call “Asian cinema” as opposed to other Western cinemas, despite the hybridisation of trends consequent upon the globalisation of media in the digital society.

The AFFBCN 2025 presents a programme consistent with previous editions, drawing on the new releases from 2024 and 2025, and very exceptionally from 2023. When we talk about Asian cinema, we refer to a vast geography that covers the production and film industries of more than twenty countries, extending from Central Asia to Asia Pacific, crossing South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. The regional and national difference is characteristic of the multicultural diversity inherent in the hegemony and sovereignty of the Nation-States that form part of this continent.

This year’s proposal lies in the consolidation of an event that gives visibility to the sovereignty of the countries involved in the programming and seeks to showcase the most recent production of those competing in the sections where the more than one hundred selected titles are screened. The criteria used relate to the intention of facilitating information and knowledge of cultures of difference in a global market that has not managed to make their identity disappear despite the incessant diasporas and regional conflicts. The selection criterion, as in previous editions, is based on detecting the best and most recent production, which respectively corresponds to what we understand as those narratives that use drama as a tool to give visibility to the everyday, private, and public life of countries that cinema brings ever closer to us. The common thread of this edition unites nation and narration, understanding that the latter is what constructs and founds the former, despite the crisis of individual and collective narratives that the proliferation of screens highlights.

This year, we will enjoy the presence of the Afghan writer and activist Fawzia Koofi, for the presentation of Roya Sadat’s latest film, The Sharp Edge Of Peace (2024), about the negotiation process with the Taliban, which ceased on 15 August 2021 with their arrival to power. It is an historical testimony that helps us understand the steps taken for the peace process which was nevertheless interrupted by the outbreak of the conflict and the cessation of the freedoms achieved up until that time.

As in previous editions, we foresee the presentation of debut films by young directors who start their careers at the AFFBCN, just as they do in Busan, Shanghai, or other European festivals such as Cannes, Rotterdam, Berlin, Locarno, or Venice. But obviously, we also try to consider titles from the less young generations, whose interest is more than proven. From this perspective, we will also have Roser Corella and Stefano Obino (Berlin) for the presentation of Kickoff (2025), a film made with the help of a Rui de Clavijo Scholarship awarded by Casa Asia. The Filipino historian Nick Deocampo, CASA ASIA Award 2023, will give a masterclass on Filipino cinema at ECIB (Barcelona Film School), on 3 November at 12 pm. Deocampo will also be the President of the Official Selection Jury of the Festival. We will feature other presences such as the Japanese director Adachi Shin, who will present his film Good Luck (2025); the Kazakh director Malika Muckhamejan, with her film Longer Than A Day (2025); the Korean director Lee Mi-rang, with Concerning My Daughter (2023); the Indian director Adittya Kripalani, who will present his film, I Am Not An Actor (2025); the Japanese director Miwako Van Weyemberg, who will present Soft Leaves (2025); the Indonesian director Razka Robby Ertanto, who will present Midnight In Bali (2025); the Sri Lankan director Shaun Seneviratne, who will present Ben And Suzanne, A Reunion In 4 Parts (2024), and the Filipino director Antoinette Jadaone, who will present Sunshine (2024), a film that has aroused great interest in her country since its release.

By Menene Gras Balaguer
Director of Asian Film Festival Barcelona