For 10 years, Five Flavours Film Festival has been presenting the best cinema from Asia, its meanings and contexts. Initially, the Festival focused solely on Vietnamese films, but it evolved to become a yearly review of the cinema of East and Southeast Asia, the only such event in the country.
The 10th edition is held in Warsaw, on November 16-23 (Muranów and Kinoteka cinemas), and in Wrocław on November 18-24 (New Horizons Cinema).
This year’s edition of Five Flavours is the biggest in history – it presents over 40 productions. The program combines artistic and commercial cinema, allowing the audience to experience the best Asian films have to offer. On the one hand, there are the intimate stories with a social angle, on the other – fresh, innovative blockbusters, filled with the sheer joy of cinematic creation, attracting millions of viewers in their homelands.
This diversity is already visible in the choice of the opening and closing films. The 10th Five Flavours opens with “The Long Excuse,” a wonderful drama by the Japanese champion of psychological cinema, Miwa Nishikawa. The Festival ends with the thrilling “Three” – a new film by the master of Hong Kong gangster cinema, Johnnie To, a stunning display of style and artistry in creating tension – it builds up till the great finale, which has already become a legend.
The rest of the program is as follows:
New Asian Cinema (competition section)
Apocalypse Child (Philippines, 2015)
Director: Mario Cornejo
Cast: Sid Lucero, Annicka Dolonius
A Copy of My Mind (Indonesia, South Korea, 2015)
Director: Joko Anwar
Cast: Tara Basro, Chicco Jerikho
A Yellow Bird (Singapore, France, 2016
Director: K. Rajagopal
Cast: Sivakumar Palakrishnan, Huang Lu
Heart Attack (Thailand, 2015)
Director: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit
Cast: Sunny Suwanmethanon, Davika Hoorne
Interchange (Malaysia, 2016)
Director: Dain Said
Cast: Iedil Putra, Shaheizy Sam
Jagat (Malaysia, 2015)
Director: Shanjhey Kumar Perumal
Cast: Harvin Raj, Jibrail Rajhula
Ordinary People (Philippines, 2016)
Director: Eduardo Roy, Jr.
Cast: Ronwaldo Martin, Hasmine Killip
Ten Years (Hong Kong, 2015)
Directors: Ng Ka-leung, Jevons Au, Chow Kwun-wai, Wong Fei-pang, Kwok Zune
Cast: Peter Chan, Wong Ching
Tharlo (China, 2015)
Director: Pema Tseden
Cast: Shide Nyima, Tso Yangshik
The Road to Mandalay (Taiwan, Myanmar, France, Germany 2016)
Director: Midi Z
Cast: Ko Kai, Wu Ke-xi
Under Construction (Bangladesh, 2015)
Director: Rubaiyat Hossain
Cast: Shahana Goswami, Rahul Bose
North Korean Cinema
Comrade Kim Goes Flying (North Korea, Belgium, United Kingdom, 2012)
Directors: Kim Gwang Hun, Nicholas Bonner, Anja Daelemans
Cast: Han Jong Sim, Pak Chung Guk
Hong Kil-Dong (North Korea, 1986)
Director: Kim Kil-in
Cast: Hui Chang Son, Ri Gwon
Order No 27 (North Korea, 1986)
Directors: Jung Ki-mo, Kim Eung-suk
Cast: Cha Sung-chol, Cho Yong-chol
Small House on the Forefront (North Korea, 2013)
Director: Pak Chol-hak
Cast: Ham Ki-sop, Han Pok-sil
Retrospective: Sion Sono
Antiporno (Japan, 2016)
Cast: Ami Tomite
A Man’s Flower Road (Japan, 1986)
Cast: Sion Sono, Otomi Sono
Guilty of Romance (Japan, 2011)
Cast: Megumi Kagurazaka, Miki Mizuno
I’m Sion Sono (Japan, 1985)
Cast: Sion Sono
Love Exposure (Japan, 2008)
Cast: Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima
The Sion Sono (Japan, 2016)
Director: Arata Oshima
Cast: Ellie, Megumi Kagurazaka
The Whispering Star (Japan 2015)
Cast: Megumi Kagurazaka, Kenji Endo
Fukushima Five Years Later
Jellyfish Eyes (Japan, 2013)
Director: Takashi Murakami
Cast: Takuto Sueoka, Himeka Asami
My Technicolor Girl (Japan, 2015)
Director: Rei Sakamoto
Cast: Kazuhiro Sano, Kiyomi Ito
The Whispering Star (Japan 2015)
Director: Sion Sono
Cast: Megumi Kagurazaka, Kenji Endo
Rediscovered Classics
Daughter of the Nile (Taiwan, 1987)
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Cast: Jack Kao, Li Tian-lu
Our Sister Hedy (Hong Kong, 1957)
Director: Ching Doe
Cast: Mu Hong, Julie Yeh Feng
Salaam Bombay! (India, 1988)
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Shafiq Syed, Hansa Vithal
Santi-Vina (Thailand, 1954)
Director: Marut (Thavi Na Bangchang)
Cast: Poonpan Rangkhavorn, Rayvadi Sriwilai
Special Screenings
City of Jade (Taiwan, Burma 2016)
Director: Midi Z
Cast: Zhao De-chin, U Aung Kyaw
Monk of The Sea (Poland, 2016)
Director: Rafał Skalski
Nguyen Trinh Thi: film essays
Yourself and Yours (South Korea, 2016)
Director: Hong Sang-soo
Cast: Kim Joo-hyuck, Lee You-young
Eleven Men (2016)
Letter From Panduranga (2015)
Fresh Wave 2015 (Hong Kong, 2015)
Ali and Me
Hong Kong 2015, 25′
director: Lam Ting-hin
A Long Ride
Hong Kong 2015, 25′
director: Ng Chun
Conditioned
Hong Kong 2015, 24′
director: Chan Kam-hei
ASIAN HALLOWEEN
Sadako vs Kayako (Japan, 2016)
Director: Koji Shiraishi
Cast: Mizuki Yamamoto, Tina Tamashiro
The Piper (South Korea, 2015)
Director: Kim Kwang-tae
Cast: Ryu Seung-ryong, Lee Sung-min
The Silenced (South Korea, 2015)
Director: Lee Hae-young
Cast: Park Bo-young, Uhm Ji-won
The Wailing (South Korea, 2016)
Director: Na Hong-jin
Cast: Kwak Do-won, Jun Kunimura
Fighters
100 Yen Love (Japan, 2014)
Director: Masaharu Take
Cast: Sakura Ando, Hirofumi Arai
The Final Master (China, 2015)
Director: Xu Haofeng
Cast: Liao Fan, Song Jia
Corponight
Train to Busan (South Korea, 2016)
director: Yeon Sang-ho
cast: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok
For more information visit the official Five Flavours site.
