Day for Night is delighted to announce the programme for the 2019 edition of its Aperture: Asia & Pacific Film Festival. Aperture will run in London from 4-13 June with a line-up of 13 features, both new titles and classics, including 6 UK Premieres and 1 London Premiere, as well as 17 shorts. Highlights for the festival include the UK premiere of critically acclaimed Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov's “The Gentle Indifference of the World” (Opening Film), the London premiere of Aboozar Amini's mesmeric debut feature-length documentary “Kabul, City in the Wind” and a screening of 2K restoration of Peter Weir's classic drama “Picnic at Hanging Rock”.
Aperture seeks to bridge the gap within the UK festival landscape as the only UK film festival to cover the whole of the Asian region and also to explore Oceania and is presented by UK based independent film organisation Day for Night in partnership with the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM), University of Westminster.
Following its launch last year, Aperture returns for its second edition with a continued commitment to presenting some of the boldest, most daring and striking films from the Asian and Pacific regions to wide and diverse audiences across the UK. As such, other key Aperture highlights include a programme of recently re-discovered Taiwanese avant-garde shorts from the 1960s and the UK premiere of Sergey Dvortsevoy's 2018 Palme d'Or competition title Ayka for which the lead actress, Samal Yeslyamova, won the prestigious Award for Best Actress. The full festival programme is available on the official website.
Aperture is a collaborative initiative, seeking to forge strong partnerships with other like-minded festivals and organisations both in the UK and overseas and is, therefore, delighted to be partnering with Essay Film Festival, London Korean Film Festival, MUBI and NANG for this second edition. Aperture is also thrilled to be working on a joint programming initiative with Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) in northern India. Aperture will be screening three outstanding South Asian films that featured in DIFF's last edition and looks forward to seeing Aperture titles reaching audiences in the Himalayas later this year.
Following its June London run, Aperture will tour various venues across the UK between July and October, before returning to London in September for a Southeast Asian documentary focus.
Aperture Founder and Artistic Director Sonali Joshi commented:
“Through this year's programme, we continue our commitment to offering audiences a broader choice of films from some lesser-seen corners of the globe, while highlighting emerging talent alongside historical works that call for (re)discovery and (re)evaluation.
My hope was always for Aperture to become a festival of discovery, opening a window onto the contemporary cinemas of Asia and the Pacific, and drawing attention to the rich histories of the film industries of Asia, celebrating under-represented and under-acknowledged voices, and offering glimpses into rarely seen corners of Asia and the Pacific.”
Tue 4 June: Rio Cinema
Opening film:
THE GENTLE INDIFFERENCE OF THE WORLD
Adilkhan Yerzhanov, Kazakhstan 2018, Kazakh/Russian, 100 mins, UK Premiere
Wed 5 June: Close-Up Cinema
POETIC VOICES: A TRIP THROUGH THE TAIWANESE AVANT-GARDE OF THE 1960S
THE MOUNTAIN
Richard Yao-Chi Chen, Taiwan 1966, Mandarin, 20 min, restored from 16m
A MORNING IN TAIPEI
Pai Ching-jui, Taiwan 1964, 20 min, silent, restored from 35mm
MODERN POETRY EXHIBITION/1966
Chang Chao-tang, Taiwan 1966, 12 min, silent, restored from 8mm
LIFE CONTINUED
Chuang Ling, Taiwan 1966, 14 min, silent, restored from 16mm
THE END OF THE TRACK
Mou Tun-fei, Taiwan 1970, Mandarin, 91 mins, restored from 35mm
Thu 6 June: Close-Up Cinema
Aperture x NANG:
KULDESAK
Nan Triveni Achnas, Mira Lesmana, Rizal Mantovani, Riri Riza, Indonesia 1999, Indonesian, 100 mins
RENEWAL: artists' moving image from New Zealand
Fri 7 June: Birkbeck Cinema
THE SWEET REQUIEM
Tenzing Sonam/Ritu Sarin, India 2018, Tibetan, 91 mins
+ short film:
THE OPEN DOOR
Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk, Bhutan 2018, Dzongkha, 15 mins, London Premiere
Sat 8 June: Birkbeck Cinema
ASIA THROUGH THE APERTURE WORKSHOP 2
+ curated shorts programme:
Mud, Drones and Spirits: Artists' Moving Image from Asia
Curated by May Adadol Ingawanij and Julian Ross
Aperture x Essay Film Festival:
NAKORN SAWAN
Puangsoi Aksornsawang, Thailand 2018, Thai, 77 mins, UK Premiere
Sat 8 June: Close-Up Cinema
THE GOLD-LADEN SHEEP & THE SACRED MOUNTAIN
Ridham Janve, India 2018, Gaddi, 97 mins, UK Premiere
Sun 9 June: Lexi Cinema
A TOUCH OF ZEN
King Hu, Taiwan 1969, Mandarin, 179 mins, cert 12A
Sun 9 June: Regent Street Cinema
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK
Peter Weir, Australia 1975, English, 115 mins, cert PG, restored in 2K.
Aperture x MUBI:
NERVOUS TRANSLATION
Shireen Seno, Philippines 2018, Tagalog/English, 90 mins, cert PG
Tue 11 June: Rio Cinema
AYKA
Sergey Dvortsevoy, Russia/Germany/Poland/Kazakhstan/China 2018, Russian/Kyrgyz, 100 mins, UK Premiere
Tue 11 June: Lexi Cinema
Aperture x London Korean Film Festival:
AUTUMN, AUTUMN
Jang Woo-jin, South Korea 2016, Korean, 78 mins, UK Premiere
Wed 12 June: Rio Cinema
KABUL, CITY IN THE WIND
Aboozar Amini, Afghanistan/Netherlands/Japan/Germany 2018, Farsi, 88 mins, London Premiere
Thu 13 June: Rio Cinema
Closing film:
BNK48: GIRLS DON'T CRY
Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Thailand 2018, Thai, 110 mins, UK Premiere
