NUEVAS MIRADAS DEL CINE ASIÁTICO

From October the 5th to December the 14th 2024

Asian cinema returns to the Cine Paz theaters with a program running from October 5 to December 14. Although it may seem a cliché to say that Spanish distributors are increasingly interested in having a growing repository of titles from the Asian continent, which until quite recently were almost exclusive to other European countries, Asian cinema is gaining more and more presence not only at national and international festivals but also in our theatres. The eleven titles that will be shown up until shortly before Christmas come from China, Korea, Japan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and the Philippines, and were made between 2022 and 2023. A Woman, by Wang Chao, will open this quarter’s program. This Chinese filmmaker, whose retrospective was featured at the last edition of the Asian Film Festival Barcelona, and who we had the honor of welcoming, makes an interesting exploration of private and public life during the Cultural Revolution based on the autobiographical novel Dream by writer Zhang Xiu Zhen. The list of titles reveals a preference for social drama, although comedy and documentaries have not been excluded, as evidenced by a title like Separation of East Pakistan, which aims to be an account with new evidence derived from recent research on the division of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh as an independent country. The stories told in Adagio (Korea), Our Home (India), Women from Rote Island (Indonesia), No Prior Appointment (Iran), and Following the Sound (Japan) are some of the titles announced here, which offer us a vision of a world we would hardly have access to if not through literature and cinema.

Based on the autobiographical novel Dream by the writer Zhang Xiu Zhen, the protagonist of this film works in a factory, and in her free time she dedicates herself to her family, but whenever she can, she tries to write. The action takes place during the Cultural Revolution, from the 1960s to the early 1980s. In her personal and family life, she endures daily abuse from her partner, whom she supports and with whom she has had more children than she could afford. However, she ultimately overcomes these circumstances thanks to writing, which becomes her liberation.

Wang Chao worked for five years in the steel industry, although he was always interested in cinema and literature. In 1991, he entered the Beijing Film Academy, where he graduated in 1994 and began working as a film critic. This is how he met Chen Kaige after the filming of Yellow Earth, who hired him as an assistant director between 1995 and 1998 for the filming of Farewell My Concubine and The Emperor and the Assassin. During that time, he wrote several short stories that inspired scripts for some of his films. With Orphan of Anyang, which he shot without authorization, he made his debut in film as a director. This film was selected in 2001 to participate in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2004, he made his second feature film, Day and Night, and with Luxury Car he completed in 2006 the trilogy about China on which he had been working for over five years. His fourth and fifth films, Memory of Love (2009) and Fantasy (2014), which were presented at the Un Certain Regard selection at the Cannes Film Festival that same year, despite their subtlety, show narrative maturity on the part of the director. Looking for Rohmer (2018) reveals Wang Chao’s interest in the critic and filmmaker Eric Rohmer and the Nouvelle Vague, to the point of making a film about him, although not necessarily a biographical one. A Woman (2022), his most recent film to date, was screened at the last edition of the Asian Film Festival Barcelona (AFFBCN) with great audience success, after its run at San Sebastián, where it was nominated for the Golden Shell.

Saturday 12th October 2024, at 12:00h

The film tells the story of a man and a woman going through a midlife crisis in their forties who meet in a quiet coastal village, where, despite their different backgrounds, classical music unites their lonely and wounded souls.

Yoon Seok-ho, born in 1957, earned a degree in Korean Language and Literature before pursuing a master’s in journalism at Yonsei University (1995). He is a director of South Korean television series. Beginning with Autumn Fairy Tale (2000), he directed several seasonal series dramas, such as Winter Sonata (2002), which had a major impact not only in Korea but also internationally, playing a key role in the Korean Wave.

Saturday 19th October 2024, at 12:00h

Amir, a seventeen-year-old soldier, lost his father during a war in the 2000s. Now, Amir dreams of a different life; he wants to become a professional baseball player. Thanks to consistent training with his coach, he manages to reach the final tryout at a local university. Unfortunately, the war breaks out again against the rebels, and Amir faces the difficult choice between pursuing his dreams or fighting on the battlefield.

Carlo Obispo earned a degree in Philosophy with a specialization in Artistic Communication at Saint Louis University. His first film, Purok 7 (2013), was part of the New Breed category at the 2013 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. His second feature, Gasping for Air (2016), was the opening film at the 2016 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. In 2020, he wrote and directed a Boys Love series called Better Days.

Saturday 26th October 2024, at 12:00h

Belonging to an isolated fishing community on Lake Loktak, Chaoren is a boy who not only helps with household chores but also excels as a brilliant student. When the canoe he uses every day to attend school must be sold due to his father’s illness, his spirit is not discouraged. He overcomes the long distance from his floating hut to his school by swimming. But when the government issues an eviction notice demanding that Chaoren’s family leave their home, his dreams remain burdened with the anguish of displacement. The situation is made worse given that this occurs in a strategically important and conflict-ridden region in northeastern India.

Romi Meitei is a prolific filmmaker who has delivered several box office hits. In addition to commercial success, his films have been screened at prestigious film festivals like IFFI, MIFF, IFFK, and others. He has won prestigious awards like FIPRESCI (International Film Critics Awards) and NETPAC (Best Asian film by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema). He has also received several film awards from the state of Manipur. He is the president of the Mami Thawan Foundation, which aims to provide welfare services for Manipur. His feature film Our Home won the Best Film award at the National Film Awards in India.

Saturday 2nd November 2024, at 12:00h

Nine days after his death, Abraham has not been buried, to fulfil his last message: “No funeral until Martha returns.” Martha’s return from Sabah (Malaysia) is, of course, a special joy for the family, especially for Orpha, the mother, and Bertha, her sister. However, after two years abroad, Martha has fallen into deep depression due to the assault she suffered while working as a labourer on a palm oil plantation. As head of the family, Orpha must also be a strong woman. However, due to an unfavourable environment, Martha once again became a victim of sexual harassment.

Jeremias Nyangoen was born in Pontianak in 1968. He is a graduate of the Jakarta Institute of the Arts and has worked as a film producer, actor, and screenwriter. His screenplays include Denias, Singing in the Cloud (2006) and The Beetle Soldiers (2011). Women from Rote Island is his debut as a feature film director.

Saturday 9th November 2024, at 12:00h

When Yasmin was six years old, the same age as her son now, her family emigrated to Berlin. Now, she must return to Iran due to her father’s death, but the journey is not easy given that her son is autistic. Upon arriving in Iran, Yasmin, who barely knew her father, is astonished by the inheritance he left her. Her brief and unwanted stay in her father’s hometown, which allows her to meet those who knew him, gives Yasmin a new way of understanding human beings, life, and death.

Behrooz Shoaibi was born in 1979 in Mashhad and has worked in various branches of cinema. As an actor, he began his career with The Glass Agency (1998) by Ebrahim Hatamikia and gained the attention of critics and audiences with Gold & Copper (2010) by Homayoun Asadian. His films and television series include The Sloe Garden (2005), Wings of Happiness (2008), Abandoned (2009), Somewhere Between Staying and Going (2010), and Secluded (2014). With his first feature film, The Corridor, Shoaibi won the Best Debut Film award at the 2013 Fajr Film Festival.

Saturday 16th November of 2024, at 12:00h

One day, Haru, who works as a clerk in a bookstore, reunites with Takeshi, whom she met a few years back when she stopped him from jumping in front of a train. Takeshi offers her a job. A day later, Haru becomes concerned about Yukiko, who was sitting on a bench in front of the station and speaks with her. This leads them to take a small journey together. Haru carries with her a tape recorder that she inherited from her mother. The circumstances cause Haru to once again face feelings of guilt and remorse for not being able to help her mother prevent the illness from ending her life.

Kyosha Sugita is a Japanese director, born in 1977, whose first feature film, One Song, was selected for the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2011 and released in theatres in 2012. His second feature, Song of Light, was selected for the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2017 and the Jeonju International Film Festival in 2018. The film received high praise in major newspapers and the film magazine Kinema Junpo. This filmmaker 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 poet Koichi Masuno.

Saturday 23rd November 2024, at 12:00h

Akzhol, who has just left the orphanage, begins a new life. He is convinced that his father is still alive and sets out to find him. However, after meeting his neighbour Dimash, things change as he sees how easy it is to make a living by stealing and robbing. Later, during a meeting with a relative, he discovers the existence of his brother Dalen, who was adopted by wealthy parents and received an education he could never have had access to otherwise. Together, they embark on the mission to find their father, uncovering things 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 participated in many film festivals, both national and international, and Brothers received the Spirit of Cinema Award at the 2022 Oldenburg Film Festival. Tulegenov is also known for his short films Nabat (2020), The Route (2016), and Sunrise.

Saturday 30th November de 2024, at 12:00h

An elderly couple with health problems and no children lives in a village, where very little happens to disturb them, until some strangers leave a six-month-old baby at their doorstep. At first, they want to hand it over to the authorities, but after hearing that young children can be sold for organ trafficking, they decide to keep it. Caring for the baby changes the course of their lives, giving them an important reason to keep living.

Asel Zhuraeva graduated from the Kyrgyz State Institute of Arts in 2010. She also took a course at the Film School of Rustam Ibragimbekov in Kiev in 2013, and later started teaching at AUCA from 2017 to 2019. She is the director of Tazar Cinema Company and has been the head of the Creative Women of Asia Foundation since 2010.

Saturday 7th December 2024, at 12:00h

Four lost souls, very different from each other, meet and manage to spread hope to keep living. In this debut film by its director, the exterior landscape also plays a prominent role as a mirror of the emotional state of the characters who inhabit it. Mongolia is a country that in recent years has seen the development of intimate cinema in contrast to an environment that continues to surprise.

Batzaya Gandush moved to Ulaanbaatar to study at the National University of Mongolia, where he studied law. In his final year, he abandoned his studies to enrol in the National Film School of Mongolia with the great Mongolian filmmaker Jigjidsuren. In 2019, Batzaya was diagnosed with leukaemia, for which he underwent a bone marrow transplant and had to undergo chemotherapy for a year. After overcoming the illness, Batzaya’s filmmaker friends convinced him to write the script for the film presented.

Saturday 14th December 2024, at 12:00h

Over the past 50 years, the historical account of what happened in 1971 has been shaped by both real events and others that are less so. This documentary seeks to bring together testimonies and reflections from eminent scholars, historians, researchers, politicians, journalists, and witnesses from the US, the UK, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Their observations help clarify the events that led to the separation of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh.

Javed Jabbar is a prominent filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer from Pakistan, known for his contributions to cinema and television in his country. He has worked on a variety of projects addressing social and cultural issues, highlighting his commitment to authentic storytelling. Jabbar is recognized not only for his cinematic works but also for his activism and advocacy for human rights. Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards and recognitions, establishing himself as an influential figure in the South Asian film industry. His creativity continues to inspire new generations of filmmakers.

Every Saturday at 12h, from 5th of October to 14th of December of 2024.
MK2 Cine Paz | Calle de Fuencarral, 125, Madrid.
Ticket price: 6€

NUEVAS MIRADAS DEL CINE ASIÁTICO

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