This year, the 15th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival will be held in a hybrid form on November 17-29. Audiences from all across the country is invited to join in the online platform and the viewers from Warsaw – after a year's break – to the cinemas! The biggest surprise that will be prepared is the retrospective of Wong Kar Wai's films, shown from copies restored under the careful supervision of the master himself. What other sections will be included in the program? The faces of contemporary Burma, Taiwanese queer cinema, and the emotions of sport rivalry.
New Asian Cinema
The competition section, this year judged by an international People's Jury. Films representing a wide spectrum of new productions and fresh voices of contemporary East and Southeast Asian cinemas, titles using surprising forms and commenting on current events – including film made during the pandemic.
The 12 Day Tale of the Monster That Died in 8
dir. Shunji Iwai, Japan 2020
How does Japan deal with disasters? That's an easy question for any pop culture fan – it brings to life a great monster which ensures the humanity's survival. A young actor, stuck at home during the lockdown, decides to grow one of such monsters from a capsule sold online, and share the result of his project with his friends online, day by day. This genuine, lyrical, humorously melancholic diary of the beginning of the pandemic, made DIY-style, is a micro-portrait of several people sharing their everyday lives in the uncertain time(lessness) of waiting for the normal life to resume. But what did normal actually mean?
Number One
dir. Ong Kuo Sin, Singapore 2021
Chee Beng has a beautiful house, a family, a mortgage and a vocal talent revealed only during family get-togethers. But it all comes under threat when he loses his job. He is not a young man anymore, and his high qualifications do not make getting a new job any easier. His salvation comes in the form of a new position – he becomes a manager of a music club. A drag music club. The world of drag queens, filled with glitter and the flutter of fake eyelashes, will open completely new possibilities before Chee. Not only financial ones.
Once Upon A Time In Calcutta
dir. Aditya Vikram Sengupta, India 2021
An enchanting, meditative poem for the great metropolis, pulsing to the rhythm of the city and its inhabitants – people with their best years already behind them, yet still hoping for a better tomorrow. The unique, oneiric atmosphere of this quiet, yet epic film, made by one of the most intriguing Indian filmmakers in his home city, rhymes perfectly with Wong Kar Wai's “In the Mood for Love.”
The Story of Southern Islet
dir. Chong Keat Aun, Malaysia 2020
A mysterious illness keeps Yan's husband in bed. Is it because a couple of days earlier he was trying to catch a snake on a fenced field? This is the sort of a matter that the villagers from a small Malaysian community on the border with Thailand usually talk about to the shaman, not to the doctor, but the woman wants to do everything she can to help her husband. Meanwhile, the life of the village goes on as usual, unshaken by the supernatural phenomena and extraordinary transformations of its inhabitants.
Other films of the section, along with the full program of the Festival, will be revealed on October 26!
Retrospective: Wong Kar Wai
A retrospective of one of the greatest masters of world cinema. Fresh, grasping, stylistically elaborate and deeply emotional films that even now, after many years, are still enchanting the audiences with their form and substance.
The retrospective includes seven of the director's extraordinary works: from his grasping debut, flirting with the aesthetic of the best action cinema (“As Tears Go By”), through the tender portrayals of the inhabitants of the labyrinth city, pulsating with music video lights (“Chungking Express” and “Fallen Angels”), to refined, sensual masterpieces about the impossible love (“In the Mood for Love,” “2046”).
The screenings will be a completely new experience – the radiant beauty of the films has been restored using cutting-edge digital techniques, under the director's supervision.
The program of the retrospective includes:
- As Tears Go By (Hong Kong 1988)
- Days of Being Wild (Hong Kong 1990)
- Chungking Express (Hong Kong 1994)
- Fallen Angels (Hong Kong 1995)
- Happy Together (Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea 1997)
- In the Mood for Love (Hong Kong, China 2000)
- 2046 (Hong Kong, China, France, Italy, Germany 2004)
Olympic section
The 15th Five Flavours is scheduled for the time in-between two Olympic spectacles: the summer Olympics in Tokyo and the winter Olympic in Beijing. In our sports cinema section, we look at the genre which has a particularly pronounced presence in Asia. Thrilling stories about struggles with your own body, about mental strength shaped during physical training, about team rivalry and the emotions caused by successes big and small. This is the kind of cinema that shows sports competition with lots surprising of plot twists and unique protagonists whose lives have been changed by sport.
The 15th Five Flavours Olympic Section – full program:
- We Are Champions / Xia ban chang, dir. Chang Jung-chi, Taiwan 2019
- We Are Moluccans / Cahaya dari Timur: Beta Maluku, dir. Angga Dwimas Sasongko, Indonesia 2014
- The Foul King / Banchikwang, Kim Jee-woon, South Korea 2000
- Blue / Buru, dir. Keisuke Yoshida, Japan 2021
- Weeds on Fire / Dian wu bu, dir. Steve Chan Chi-fat, Hong Kong 2016
- The Empty Hands / Hung sau dou, dir. Chapman To, Hong Kong 2017
- Fighter / Payiteo, dir. Jero Yun, South Korea 2020
Taiwanese Queer Cinema
In 2019, Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriages. The Taiwanese see themselves as an open, tolerant society, even though the road to where the country stands today has not been easy or clear-cut. The films presented in the section show different faces of the LGBTQI cinema – from realistic dramas to colorful, subversive spectacles, surprising with the diversity of the stories they portray and bringing attention to biographies that do not fit into the boring plot cliches.
Asian Cinerama
Renown authors, powerful stories, amazing roles. The Asian Cinerama section presents films nominated for this year's Asian Film Awards! The section is created in cooperation with Asian Film Awards Academy – the institution that sets out to promote Asian cinema and create a counterbalance for Western film awards. The section includes six titles – films by renown masters and stories that touched Asian audiences, taking up important, topical issues causing national debates.
The Way We Keep Dancing
dir. Adam Wong, Hong Kong 2020
nominated for: Best Music (Day Tai)
A continuation of the hit music film “The Way We Dance,” which introduced the world to the Hong Kong hip hop and street dance scenes. An energetic group of young, talented protagonists who were fighting for their dreams and ideals in part one, in now faced with the reality of their adult lives, where creative passion is counted in dollars, and street culture is only acceptable as a showy ornament in a developer's commercial. Wong's bitter-sweet story is a unique insight into the world of the music underground and a touching portrait of a young generation whose freedom of speech and autonomy are slowly but surely being eliminated by political transformations.
Wife of a Spy
dir. Kyoshi Kurosawa, Japan 2020
nominated for: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Yu Aoi), Best Production Design (Ataka Norifumi), Best Costume Design (Valerian Spring Tee)
Japan, 1940s. Satoko is a beautiful wife of a businessman dealing in exports. They lead a comfortable, cosmopolitan life, but the dark shadows of war are looming on the horizon. The husband's work trip to Manchuria becomes a turning point for the young woman, shaking her out of her carelessness and political unawareness. This stylish, meticulously composed drama brought Kurosawa the Best Director award at the festival in Venice.
A Balance
dir. Yujiro Harumoto, Japan 2020
nominated for: Best New Director
A young documentary filmmaker is making a movie about a teacher accused of having an affair with his student. Aware of the consequences that both sides of the case, which gained a lot of media attention, have already suffered and will suffer in the future, she is trying to rebuild their trust, launching a thorough investigation into all aspects of the situation. At the same time, at the school she is teaching in, she is observing Mei, a girl clearly having problems at home. Do truth and justice have the same meaning when it comes to borderline dilemmas about strangers and our loved ones? This searching, insightful film by one of the most interesting Japanese directors of the young generation, is a story hitting many sensitive notes, exploring the relationship between the law and the public, but also between ethical duties and the need to protect yourself and the people you love.
Silent Forest
dir. Ko Chien-nien, Taiwan 2020
nominated for: Best Supporting Actor (Kim Hyun-bin), Best Newcomer (Buffy Chen)
Chang Cheng is a deaf teenager, apprehensive about starting a new school. But the first impression turns out to be very positive, and the boy's attention is snatched by a fellow student, Beibei. But it soon turns out that the school is ruled by a complex system of violence, which the adults have been ignoring for years. The film, based on a true story, has caused a national debate in Taiwan and received eight nominations for the local Golden Horse Awards.
Other films of the section will be revealed on October 26, along with the full program of the Festival!
Burma today
Burma, which in the past decade has been undergoing the processes of democratization and development of the country, is still struggling with the aftermath of the military coup carried out by the junta in February 2021. The protests, initiated mostly by the youngest generation (inspired by similar actions of their peers in Hong Kong and Thailand), were brutally quenched by the army.
The program includes a film showcasing the growth of the Burmese cinema in the recent years, and a set of shorts produced by the Yangon Film School, headed by a Pole, Aleksandra Minkiewicz.
Special screenings
Crazy Japanese teenagers, the cruel Yakuza, and a mystical journey through Kathmandu. This year, some of the audience's favorite filmmakers return to the festival lineup! The program includes new films by Sion Sono, Kazuia Shiraishi and Khyentse Norbu.
Kazuya Shiraishi and the return of the Yakuza
Among this year's Special Screenings is the new film by Kazuya Shiraishi, the author of films such as “z” “One Night,” “Dawn of the Felines,” and “The Blood of Wolves.” One of the most interesting Japanese voices of the middle generation, Shiraishi often uses stylish generic conventions and confronts his protagonists with dramatic choices, creating a cinema combining great entertainment with a powerful psychological experience. He returns with a sequel to one of the most intriguing Japanese gangster films of the last decade – “Last of the Wolves” is a stylish, grasping story from the world of yakuza, combining swift action and spectacular confrontations between the gangs and the police with a contemplation of honor and morality. The film is set in 1990s Japan, taking us on a doubly nostalgic journey – to the extravagant aesthetic of the period and to the best era of Japanese gangster cinema.
Crazy cinephilia in the new Sion Sono film
The Five Flavours program wouldn't be complete without a film by a subversive master of Japanese cinema – Sion Sono, the subject of a retrospective at the 10th edition of the festival and a spring program at the Five Flavours At Home VOD platform. In his latest film, “Red Post on Escher Street,” the author of “Love Exposure” and “Himizu” returns to his avant-garde, punk roots and the cinema made with unfettered joy and a lot of craziness. It is an autothematic film on making a film – an homage to everyone who loves cinema, but also to those without whom the film worlds wouldn't be complete, even though their names often don't even make it to the end credits. A satire on the cult of great directors, the sweetest Japanese pop culture, and a big pinch of the subversive girl power!
Khyentse Norbu and the power of the dakini
Five Flavours keeps exploring even the smallest national cinemas. This year's special event at the festival is the premiere of the latest film by Khyentse Norbu, a Bhutanese director and lama, whose films “The Cup,” “Travelers and Magicians,” or “Hema Hema” brought him international fame. In his films, the master of Himalayan cinema explores the mythology of Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet, without losing sight of the modern challenges faced by the people in the region. At the festival, he will present “Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache,” a unique journey of the protagonist, a young businessman, whose pragmatism and rational outlook of the world are put to a test in confrontation with the sacrum. This time, Khyentse Norbu points our attention to the dakinis, enlightened women, and their energy, the energy of transformation.
Festival dates and locations
- November 17-24 – Warsaw: Kino Muranów, Kinoteka cinemas
- November 17-29 – online, throughout Poland
