In the Frame

From October 17 to 24, View Finder to Asian Film 2014 will showcase cinema from over ten Asian countries, with a diverse set of themes. And there’s more – a newly added feature puts women in focus.

 

This year’s edition of View Finder to Asian Film is showcasing movies from over ten Asian countries, highly charged and with a diversity of themes.

 

Taking things a step further, the 2014 edition will present a newly added feature – Women in Middle East and Beyond – selecting a few representative works from the region and neighbouring territories.

 

Thoroughly displaying their cultural, urban and societal landscapes, these women-focused films will take the audience on an exotic exploration of enigmatic countries.  Some of the titles to be screened at the festival include, Cambodian Rithy Panh’s The Missing Picture, Saudi Arabian–German film Wadjda by Haifaa al Mansour, China’s Berlin International Film Festival winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice and Macau’s very own I’m Here, by Choi Ian Sin.

 

 

 

 

Cambodia

2013 Colour / 95’ 

Director: Rithy Panh

 

This 2013 'Un Certain Regard' winner at Cannes depicts the teenage years of director Rithy Panh, when his family suffered under Pol Pot’s regime. Pictures of that time, however, are “missing”, as the only images that exist are Khmer Rouge propaganda. Panh uses clay figures as stand-ins for himself and other Cambodians who suffered, in this harrowing memoir which was nominated for an Oscar for 'Best Foreign Language Film'.

 

 

 

Saudi Arabia

2012 Colour / 97’ 

Director: Haifaa Al Mansour

 

Wadjda, the first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia, by the nation’s first female director.  Winner of a number of awards, it tells the story of a a girl living in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. After a fight with her friend, a neighbourhood boy she shouldn’t be playing with, Wadjda sees a bicycle for sale which she wants desperately but her mother won’t allow it. Wadjda decides to raise the money herself, determined to continue fighting for her dreams… 

 

 

 

China

2014 Colour / 109’ 

Director: Diao Yinan

 

Ex-cop Zhang Zili, seriously wounded on the job, was forced to retire due to his injuries. Five years later, the killer strikes again, and Zhang is determined to solve the case. He discovers that all of the victims seem to be related to a mysterious woman, Wu Zhizhen. Zhang falls in love with her, but in uncovering the truth finds himself in great danger. The film was awarded the Golden Bear for 'Best Film' and Silver Bear for 'Best Actor' at the Berlin International Film Festival.

 

 

 

Korea 

2013 / Colour / 122’ 

Director: Lee Joon-ik

 

On her way to school, young Hope gets sexually abused by a stranger. She undergoes major surgery, but ends up with wounds that cannot be healed. Hope’s family falls into utter despair. No longer able to be with Hope, her hides behind her favorite cartoon character costume and becomes her guardian angel. At the sight of Hope slowly finding laughter, her family also starts to try to find hope in the midst of despair.

 

 

 

Thailand

2013 / Colour / 125’ 

Director: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit

 

This 2013 'Un Certain Regard' winner at Cannes depicts the story of Mary, a young girl about to graduate and already busy dealing with love and general life problems. Strange and seemingly random events are happening to her, and she must make sense of her increasingly uncontrollable life before it completely derails. Thamrongrattanarit sought a new means of storytelling, and took 410 consecutive Tweets from an anonymous girl’s Twitter stream as his inspiration and adapted them into a fictional film.

 

 

 

Palestine 

2013 / Colour / 98’ 

Director: Hany Abu-Assad

 

The young and handsome Omar is a West Bank resistantce fighter committed to opposing the Israeli military occupation. When he is captured one day and put in jail for the senseless murder of a soldier he committed with two childhood friends and accomplices, a suspicion of treachery among the group soon plunges the freedom fighter into a spiral of physical and emotional torture. 

 

 

 

Macau

2012  Colour / 50’ 

Director: Choi Ian Sin

 

Some people may think that coming out of the closet is the main obstacle for homosexuals, but the truth is that there are different circumstances people have to deal with, especially for those living in a small town. Due to the lack of information about homosexuality, they might even see themselves as heterosexuals and may only see a difference when they explore the world.