The seventh edition of the Helsinki Cine Aasia is set to take place 14th and 17th March, 2019 and the festival has today announced its Opening Film as well as Guest of Honour.
The Finnish festival will open this year with Shuichi Okita‘s warm-hearted drama “Mori, The Artist’s Habitat”. One of the late, great Kiki Kirin’s last films, “Mori, The Artist’s Habitat” is a depiction of one day in the life of the 94-year-old Morikazu Kumagai, played in the film by Tsutomu Yamazaki. The off-beat artist has not left his home in decades and spends his time in fascinated observation of flora and fauna in his small garden. Day after day the world comes for a visit in the form of various visitors, each more peculiar than the one before.
The festival also announced that the film’s director Shuichi Okita will be the Guest of Honour this year. Helsinki Cine Aasia have a history of showcasing Okita’s works, with “The Chef of South Polar”, “A Story of Yonosuke”, “Ecotherapy Getaway Holiday” and “The Mohican Comes Home” all having been previously seen at past editions of Helsinki Cine Aasia.
While the full programme will be released on 26th February, 2019, other films that have already been confirmed to screen at the festival are Shinichiro Ueda’s sleeper hit “One Cut of the Dead” and “Long Day’s Journey into Night“, director Bi Gan’s follow-up to his breakout debut “Kaili Blues”.
Tickets for the festival will go on sale on 28th February, 2019, with screenings taking place in Korjaamo Kino, Cinema Orion and Kino Regina.