THE NEW ASIAN CINEMA

From May 10th to June 21st

CASA ASIA has selected seven films for the upcoming months’ Asian cinema program, covering a vast geography that allows us to travel freely through moving images. The stories presented connect cultures and communities, reinforcing their respective identities. The journey begins in South Korea and extends through Afghanistan, the Philippines, India, Iran and Kazakhstan, until reaching Nepal. The program is designed so that viewers can reconstruct the mosaic of scenes that this cinema offers.

All the films showcased were produced between 2022 and 2025, making this a collection of recent cinemas that bring us into contact with a distant reality while simultaneously being close and highly relevant.

The program begins with Adagio (South Korea) by director Yoon Seok-ho, continues with Sima’s Song (Afghanistan) by director Roya Sadat, A Lab Story (Philippines) by Carlo Obispo, Aparajito (India) by Anik Dutta, Ropewalker Memories (Iran) by Hamed Rajabi, Scheme (Kazakhstan) by Farkhat Zhurabayevich Sharipov and finally The Red Suitcase (Nepal) by Fidel Devkota.

PROGRAM

Saturday, May 10th, 2025 

The film follows a man and a woman going through a mid-life crisis who meet in a peaceful seaside village where, despite their different backgrounds, classical music unites their lonely and wounded souls.

Yoon Seok-ho, born in 1957, first majored in Korean Language and Literature before completing a master’s degree in Journalism at Yonsei University (1995). He is a South Korean television drama director. Starting with Autumn Fairy Tale (2000), he directed many seasonal series dramas such as Winter Sonata (2002), which caused a great impact not only in Korea but also overseas, and played a leading role in the Korean Wave.

Saturday, May 17th, 2025 

With the presence of the director

In 2023, in the streets of Kabul, a group of women led by the brave Suraya, 65, protested against the Taliban regime, demanding food, education and freedom. History takes us back to 1979, when Suraya and her friend Sima, trapped amid political instability, are on opposite sides in the fight for freedom. Suraya, a convinced communist, joins the pro-Russian movement, while Sima, a conservative Muslim, seeks refuge in tradition and marriage. Despite their differences, they share a strong commitment to women’s rights. As the political situation worsens, their friendship is tested, especially when Sima is forced to flee after joining the Mujahideen. Despite obstacles and manipulation by political forces, their link remains strong, revealing that their struggle went far beyond power.

Roya Sadat is the founder of Roya Film House, Afghanistan’s most important producer, with more than 20 years of experience in making films focused on the human rights of women and children. Her first feature film, A Letter to the President, made her the first Afghan director to be shortlisted for the Oscars. He has received multiple international awards, including the International Jury Prize at Vesoul IFF, the One Future Prize at Munich IFF and a Special Mention in the Discoveries Section of 2019 at the Asian Film Festival Barcelona | AFFBCN. In addition, she pioneered the creation of popular television dramas for TOLO TV, gaining recognition in the television industry. Sadat founded the RFH Academy Film School and the Herat International Women’s Film Festival, one of the most prestigious in the region. Despite the risks she has faced, her work seeks to give visibility to the situation of Afghan women and promote changes in the country. She has been awarded numerous prizes, such as the KIMDAEJUNG Nobel Cinema for Peace Award 2021, the US Department of State Women of Courage International Prize and the Malalai Medal for her brave fight for women’s rights.

Saturday, May 24th, 2025 

Pinky, an Aeta teenager obsessed with reading romance books, is chosen by the nuns to study at Josephine Cojuangco Tech Voc High School. One day, her teacher, Mrs. Kristine, announces the upcoming agriculture trivia contest, in which there would be a “lab” test. Pinky thinks she said a “love” test and volunteers to participate.

Carlo Obispo, a Filipino director and screenwriter, is a very present figure at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. He graduated in Philosophy with a specialization in Artistic Communication from Saint Louis University and is the author of films such as Purok 7 (2013), Gasping for Air (2016) and Baseball Player (2022), with his most recent work being A Lab Story (2024).

Saturday, May 31th, 2025 

Bengali Filmmaker Anik Dutta’s love-letter to Satyajit Ray that recreates the Master’s journey towards making his first film. In the year 1955 the young filmmaker Aparajito Ray was interviewed on All India Radio, Calcutta. He had just appeared on the international scene with Pother Podaboli, the film with which he made his debut obtaining an important recognition from the critics. Fragments of Ray’s personal and professional life, from his training years to his debut with his first film, intersperse with the mentioned interview, aiming to show how Aparajito manages to overcome the odds and fulfill a seemingly impossible dream.

Anik Dutta is a Bengali film director who made his directorial debut in 2012 with Bhooter Bhabishyat, by which he received the Best Director Award at the Anandalok Awards, and the Best Directorial Debut Award and Best Screenplay & Dialogue Award at the Zee Bangla Gourav Samman Awards. He also won Best Director with his movie Borunbabur Bondhu (2020) at the West Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards and at the Filmfare Awards East, and Best Dialogue at the Filmfare Awards East with the same film. Dutta also received the Best Director Award for his movie Aparajito (2022) at the West Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards 2023.

Saturday, June 7th, 2025 

One apartment. Two men: father and son. Against his son’s wishes, the father brings home sex workers. One of them, for the first time, refuses to leave and an unprecedented situation arises. The previously established principles of possession, ownership and consent begin to fade as the three of them live together. When the situation becomes untenable for the woman, she decides to leave, leaving father and son with the need to open to new horizons and seek freedom in dispossession. The absence of the woman becomes unbearable for them.

Hamed Rajabi (Hamedan, Iran, 1982) graduated in Film from the University of Tehran and participated in the 2011 Berlinale Talent Campus. He began his career directing short films and went on to direct his first feature film, A Minor Leap Down (2015), which was selected that same year for the Panorama section of the Berlinale, where he won the FIPRESCI Prize. He has also written the screenplay for two feature films directed by Majid Barzegar: Rainy Seasons (2010) and Parviz (2012), both selected for numerous international festivals. He also wrote the screenplay for Pooya Badkoobeh’s Dressage, which won the 2018 Special Mention Award in the Generation section of the 68th Berlinale. Ropewalker Memories (2023) is his second and last feature film as a director. Since then, he has won various awards and distinctions at several international festivals.

Saturday, June 14th, 2025 

Masha is going through a teenage crisis. In an attempt to get her way, she moves further and further away from her family, and circumstances lead her to meet new friends who are involved in an illegal profit program. Ram, Masha’s new friend, who is actually in love with her, invites her to earn money. He says all she has to do is go to a party and have fun, and the more friends she brings, the more money she will be paid. Unfortunately, when Masha recognizes the predatory strategy at stake, it is too late.

Farkhat Zhurabayevich Sharipov is a Kazakh film director, screenwriter and producer. He graduated from the National Academy of Arts of Kazakhstan. According to him, when he entered university as a young musician and member of the rock group «Utopia», he entered through the wrong door. Instead of sound engineer he postulated as a director until he was expelled. Later, in 2007, he graduated from the Sound Engineering department. He then went to the United States to study at the New York Film Academy, where he took a course in filmmaking that included production, script writing, filmmaking and acting.

Saturday, June 21th, 2025 

In a remote mountain village of Nepal, the lives of a pickup truck driver and a migrant worker intertwine in a narrative that reflects the country’s political and economic uncertainties. The driver sets out from the bustling Kathmandu airport on a mission to deliver a cargo and a mysterious red suitcase. Meanwhile, the migrant worker slowly makes his way towards the same village, facing loneliness and the challenges of the road. The film explores the personal stories of these two men: the driver, whose life is marked by Maoist violence and whose journey is based on the struggle for survival; and the migrant worker, whose constant phase symbolizes hope and perseverance in a world full of sacrifices and challenges. The revelation of the contents of their luggage is as surprising for those who receive it as for those who deliver it. With this magical road movie, Fidel Devkota proposes a powerful vindication of migrant workers and their living conditions, highlighting how migration, with all its experiences, unites people beyond geographical and cultural borders.

Fidel Devkota is a representative of Nepalese independent cinema, and his films explore themes relevant to contemporary Nepalese society, especially the experiences of migrant workers and marginalized communities. His works combine social drama and emotional and thought-provoking narratives. He made his debut in fiction with The Red Suitcase (2024), which was presented at the Venice Film Festival, transporting the viewer to a world of magical realism, imbued with cultural references from his native Nepal.

May 10th – June 21st, 2025, at 8:00 PM

*Program subject to changes. Check the cinema listings.
C/ Girona, 175, 08025, Barcelona
Ticket price: €5.50

Price for Subscribers and Members of Cinemes Girona: €4

THE NEW ASIAN CINEMA

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