18 / 07 / 2024 | News

The Asian Film Festival Barcelona | AFFBCN, the Asian auteur film festival organized by Casa Asia, 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 more than a hundred films representative of experimental and independent cinema of the new Asian cinema, with the participation of filmographies from twenty countries in Asia and the Pacific.

The AFFBCN's film production is as extensive as it is diverse, in the image and likeness of its countries of origin, with films from Iran, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Nepal; and new titles from such well-established film industries as those of Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and India.

AFFBCN 2024 will distribute its programming in five sections: Official, Official Panorama, Discoveries, NETPAC and Special, all of them in competition. One of the novelties of this edition is the Retrospective dedicated to Australian Aboriginal cinema with the screening of a total of 9 films.

The hundred films that can be seen at this festival specializing in Asian cinema correspond to the años 2023 y 2024 mostly, and The predominant genre is drama in all its meanings, although there are also some documentaries, short films and animated films.

The AFFBCN 2024 will grant eighteen awards: for best film, best director and best script for each of the five sections in competition: Official, Official Panorama, Discoveries, NETPAC and Special, which will award their respective juries, composed of directors, film critics and writers, among others. For this twelfth edition, a new section is added, New Perspectives, which has its corresponding jury, the Young Jury, made up of students of film, visual arts and East Asian studies from national and international universities, which will also award the prizes for best film, best director and best script, based on a selection of the films in competition at the Festival.

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.

Opening and closing

Inauguration film:

Citizen of a Kind

Dir. Park Young-ju
Korea, 2024

After losing her laundromat to a fire, Duk-hee, a single mother, receives a call from a bank offering her a generous loan, which she immediately accepts. But she soon realizes that she has been the victim of a phishing scam. She seeks help from the police, but is told that she will not get her money back. In a moment of desperation, Jae-min, the scammer who tricked her, calls her and explains that he is being held prisoner by a criminal organization and is being forced to run phone scams from China. After receiving this information, Duk-hee decides to investigate on her own and takes a flight to China with her friends.

At PHENOMENA, on Thursday, October 24, at 19 p.m. with the presence of the director

Closing movie:

Time Still Turns the Pages

Dir. Nick Cheuk
Hong Kong, 2023

High school teacher Cheng relives his painful childhood memories after discovering an anonymous suicide note from one of his students. The film, which won two awards at the prestigious Golden Horse Awards, is also the official poster image for this year's Festival.

At CINEMES GIRONA, on Saturday 2nd November, at 20pm, with the presence of the director

Australian Aboriginal Film Retrospective

The Australian Aboriginal Cinema Retrospective (2023-2015) presented at the Asian Film Festival in Barcelona (2024) brings together nine films made by Australian Aboriginal filmmakers over the past ten years, with the aim of immersing the public in the history of one of the oldest cultures on the planet. 

The unknown aboriginal cinema has a prominent place in this edition of the AFFBCN with the Retrospective that the Festival dedicates to a culture that identifies with landscapes of a history of resilience against colonial power and coloniality. Aboriginal cinema is characterized above all by the vindictive nature of its proposals and by the interest of its authors to correct history and take stock of the relationship between Aboriginal communities and colonial power, whose representatives established the rules of the game since the arrival of James Cook in 1770 in Australia.

This AFFBCN Australian Aboriginal Film Retrospective is comprised of Four documentaries and five fiction films, most of them dramas, except for one comedy. Precisely, personal experience and autobiographical narrative together with the archive provide this film with first-hand material to address the current circumstances of the Aboriginal population and the recovery of their rights as free citizens.

Cinemes Girona will host five films from this Retrospective: Emu Runner (2018)  The Drover's Wife (2021) My name is Gulpilil (2021) Top End Wedding (2019) and Sweet As (2022). The Filmoteca de Catalunya will screen three films: The Last Daughter (2022) Kindred (2023) and Winhanganha (2023), and one the Barcelona Film School: Spear (2015)

With this Aboriginal cinema retrospective, says the director of the Asian Festival Barcelona, ​​Menene Gras Balaguer, “We want to offer our audiences the opportunity to learn first-hand about one of the oldest cultures in the world. Largely silenced until the end of the last century, and after surviving adversity and attempts to put an end to its existence by the hegemonic colonial power, the resurgence of this culture also finds in cinema a means of communication that competes with literature and, like literature, a way to highlight its cultural identity.” 

Titles

1 – Kindred | 2023 | 88' | Gillian Moody, Adrian Russell Wills | Documentary

2 – The Last Daughter | Brenda Matthews, Nathaniel Schmidt | 2022 | 90' | Documentary

3- Winhanganha | Jazz Money | 2023 | 64' | Documentary

4- Sweet As | Jub Clerc | 2022 | 87' | Drama

5- My Name Is Gulpilil |Molly Reynolds|2021 |101' | Documentary

6- The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson| Leah Purcell | 2021 | 87' | Drama

7- Top End Wedding | Wayne Blair | 2019 | 103' | Comedy

8- Emu Runner|Imogen Thomas |2018 |95' | Drama

9- Spear | Stephen Page | 2015 | 84' | Drama

The must-see films of AFFBCN 2024

“Looking through the cinematographies that are taking place in this year's edition of the AFFBCN, one perceives an affirmation of regional and local identities that put us in contact with their differences and with the private and public lives that fiction and audiovisual language reveal to us,” says the director of the Menene Gras Balaguer Festival, who wanted to highlight twenty proposals that, in her words: “I consider these to be essential titles from which to explore the full programme of this 2024 edition of the Festival.”

China

From the vast production that has characterized the film industry of this country in recent years, we highlight the following titles:

Black dog

Director Guan Hu | 2024 | 116 min. | Drama
Official Section

Winner of the 'Un Certain Regard' section at the last Cannes Film Festival, Black dog is the highly anticipated new film by Guan Hu, director of the blockbuster Los 800 (2020), one of the highest-grossing films in the history of the country's cinema. Here, he leaves the big stage to delve into the story of friendship between a dog and an ex-convict returning to his hometown, played by Taiwanese star Eddie Peng.

Trending Topic

Dir. Yukun Xin | 2023 | 126 min. | Thriller-Drama
Official Section

After the success of his previous film at numerous festivals The silence of anger, Yukun Xin once again does not leave us indifferent with Trending Topic. Actress Dongyu Zhou, whom we know from Better Days o Love under the hawthorn, plays a journalist willing to confront power in order to reveal the secrets behind the suicide of a teenager. The editor will soon realize that truth and rigor have a price... and a very high one.

Brief History of a Family

Dir. Jianjie Lin | 2024 | 99 min. | Drama
Official Section

When Wei's parents welcome one of his classmates into their home, the family will have to put their bonds to the test. The mysterious young man will strain relationships and cause hidden secrets to surface. Jianjie Lin's directorial debut comes to the AFFBCN, after its successful run at the Berlin and Sundance festivals.


South Korea

One of the most popular films among fans will not only be present at the opening session of the Festival with Citizen of a Kind. These are some of the most notable proposals:

12.12: The Day

To you. Kim Sung-soo | 2023 | 141 min. | Thriller-Drama
Official Section

Two of the biggest stars of Korean cinema, Hwang Jung-min and Jung Woo-sun, continue their particular tour de force in this intense thriller that tells a historic moment in the political future of South Korea: on December 12, 1979, two months after the death of dictator Park Chun-hee, different factions of the South Korean army will face each other, either to achieve democracy in the country or to establish a new dictatorial military regime. The director of the cult film Musa the Warrior, Here he signs a distressing and fast-paced historical drama.

Ransomed

To you. Kim Seong-hun | 2023 | 132 min | Thriller-Drama
Official Panorama Section

Ransomed with actor Ha Jung-woo (after doing so in Trapped in the tunnel) to tell a true story that occurred in Lebanon in the 80s, in the midst of a civil conflict: the kidnapping of a South Korean ambassador by militias and his subsequent rescue. Action, plot twists... a spectacle for the viewer, to which another familiar face of the star system Korean actor Ju Ji-hoon (Project Silence).


Japan

Of the countless commercial titles that flood Japanese screens every year, many based on successful mangas or novels, it is worth celebrating that the independent scene is still alive, and these two proposals are an example of this:

My Sunshine

To you. Hiroshi Okuyama | 2024 | 100 min | Drama
Official Panorama Section

Okuyama surprised us all at the 2018 San Sebastian Festival with his first work Jesus. After flirting on TV with the Netflix costumbrista series Makanai: The Maiko Cook, presented in the “Un Certain Regard” section of Cannes 2024 this My Sunshine, which won the Queer Palm at the French Festival. The story of friendship and self-discovery between a pair of ice skaters and their coach as they prepare for the national competition. “As cozy and comforting as a home-cooked meal” These are some of the comments from specialized critics.

Ichiko

To you. Akihiro Todo | 2023 | 125 min | Suspense-Drama
Official Panorama Section

Toda, who had already flirted in her first film, The Name (2018) with suspense, he presented his latest work at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Ichiko. Once again, intrigue takes center stage when the fiancée of Hasegawa, the title character, disappears for no apparent reason. Both her boyfriend and the detective in charge of the case begin to unravel the puzzle of Ichiko's past.


India

From the world's number one film producing country comes the latest gem of what is considered “off-Bollywood” or “Parallel Cinema”:

All We Imagine As Light

To you. Payal Kapadia | 2024 | 110 min. | Drama
Official Section

The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival is a sensitive and poetic look at what has recently been called female “sorority.” In the hands of director Kapadia, who took five years to finish her script, this story of friendship between two women and their respective dreams and loves in bustling Mumbai is an exciting journey into female intimacy.


Iran

Two fiction films and a documentary to whet your appetite from among the various Iranian titles that can be seen at the Festival this year:

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

To you. Mohammad Rasoulof | 2024 | 168min | Drama
Official Panorama Section

With three awards at the last Cannes Film Festival, including the Special Jury Prize, and also competing for the FIPRESCI at San Sebastian, it is clear that Rasoulof is one of the most forceful voices on the Iranian film scene. A judge at the Revolutionary Court of Tehran loses his gun, which will lead him to the paranoia of suspecting even his daughters, and straining family relations to the limit, while riots in the streets of the city become more and more frequent.

Terrestrial Verses

To you. Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami | 2023 | 77 min | Drama
Official Panorama Section

Two well-known directors on the Iranian cultural scene team up to offer a kaleidoscopic view of the reality of life in the country: nine stories, nine snapshots of the daily life of different characters and their minor problems, from applying for a job, graduating from school or getting a driving license. Terrestrial Verses, was presented in the “Un Certain Regard” section at Cannes and has already won a dozen awards at various international festivals.

Celluloid Underground

To you. Ehsan Khoshbakht | 2023 | 80 min | Documentary
Special Section

In 2021, the Filmoteca de Catalunya held a cycle of pre-revolutionary Iranian cinema that it curated together with Ehsan Khoshbakht, director of the film in question and one of the greatest experts on the history of Iranian cinema, as he demonstrated in his previous documentary Filmfarsi (2019). In this new foray, he offers us his particular relationship, both obsessed and passionate, with the history and film industry of his country. A celebration of the power of cinema.


Pakistan

With a timid cinematography regarding its international exposure, we will witness a historic event: the first manually animated film in the country:

The Glassworker

To you. Usman Riaz | 2024 | 98 min | Animation-Drama
Discoveries Section

Riaz's film debut, which was in competition with The Glassworker At Annecy, the world's most important animation film festival, the film will go down in Pakistani cinema history as the first film to be manually animated. The relationship between a father and his son, who run the largest glass workshop in the country, is threatened by an imminent war and the arrival of a colonel and his daughter. A family drama with an anti-war message.


Kyrgyzstan

Central Asia remains an “unknown” territory for Asian cinema lovers, but among the various proposals offered by the AFFBCN, we highlight this title:

Bride Kidnapping

To you. Mirlan Abdykalykov | 2023 | 80 min | Drama
Official Panorama Section

In 2015, Abdykalykov surprised at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival by winning with his film Sutak, an almost anthropological portrait of the inhabitants of the steppe, also released in Spain. Now with Bride Kidnapping puts her finger on the sore spot to denounce a widespread practice in her country: the kidnapping of women in order to marry them to men they do not want. A profound reflection on the precarious and vulnerable situation of women in a patriarchal society such as that of Kyrgyzstan.


Southeast Asia

The so-called Southeast Asia, a territory as vast as it is diverse, is made up of 11 countries with their own film industries, some more powerful than others. Here are some titles to start exploring its particularities:

Sweet Dreams

Indonesia | Ena Sendijarevic | 2023 | 102 min | Drama
Official Section

He has won more than nine awards Sweet Dreams since its presentation last year at the Locarno Festival (where it won the award for Best Actress). The director takes us to the colonial period at the beginning of the 20th century in the East Indies, where the death of the lord of the family plantation causes many problems for his wife and son. Especially when the deceased's will is revealed.

Tomorrow Is a Long Time

Singapore | Zhi Wei Jow | 2023 | 106 min | Drama
Discoveries Section

Directorial debut of the young Zhi We Jow, this Tomorrow Is a Long Time, which caught the attention of critics at international festivals such as Berlin, Vancouver and Hong Kong. Starring one of the great Taiwanese actors Leon Dai, the film takes us into the relationship between a father (a middle-aged widower) and his sensitive son, with an extraordinary ability to foresee... certain things. A family and introspective drama about destiny, life and death and human relationships in today's society.

14 Again: I Love You Two Thousand

Thailand | Nareubadee Wetchakam | 2023 | 114 min | Drama
NETPAC Section

What should we do when our own desires are not aligned with the expectations of others? Which path will we choose? This is something our young protagonist must reflect on. After dropping out of university in Bangkok and returning to her hometown, she must decide what direction she will give her life. A romantic comedy from the expert in the field, such as film and television director Wetchakam.

Song of the South

Vietnam | Quang Dung Nguyen | 2023 | 110 min | Drama
Official Panorama Section

Based on a novel of the same name written by author Doan Gioi, the plot takes us to the French colonial period, when southern Vietnam was called Cochinchina. There, we will follow the adventures of a boy, An, aged 12, who will travel the territory and live different “adventures” with the purpose of finding his lost father.

Press material

12th Asian Film Festival Barcelona | AFFBCN 2024

www.asianfilmfestival.barcelona

Dates: from October 24 to November 3
Venues: Cinemes Girona, Phenomena, Zumzeig, Filmoteca de Catalunya, Institut Francès, Escola de Cinema de Barcelona and online at Filmin and Betevé.
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