Ripples of Life 永安镇故事集 (2021, dir. Wei Shujun 魏书钧 | China): Wei Shujun’s sophomore feature is a sharp look into the filmmaking process and the pursuit of realism
Fukuoka (2019, dir. Zhang Lu, South Korea/Japan): Ghosts, literature, mind travels in time and space…
Interchange (2016, dir. Dain Said, Malaysia/Indonesia): Dain Said moves from rural kampong village to modern Southeast Asian city, a take on Malaysian film noir
Gundala (2019, dir. Joko Anwar, Indonesia): Twisted eugenics and apocalyptic immorality…
Boluomi (2019, dir. Lau Kek-huat & Vera Chen, Taiwan/Malaysia): Basic necessities of life in a deeply divided world…
A Yellow Bird (2016, dir. K Rajagopal, Singapore/France): Does Singapore’s diversity have an opportunity to sing its own song?
Snakeskin (2014, dir. Daniel Hui, Singapore/Portugal): History and myths, ghosts of alternative pasts and futures undone…
Lost Daughter (2016, dir. Chen Yu-jie, Taiwan): The Crossing back again, second families and split identities
School in the Crosshairs (1981, dir. Nobuhiko Ôbayashi, Japan): Teenage superpowers against institutions and demons from Venus, all the not-so discreet charm of 80’s teenage fantasy horror films
Made in Hong Kong (1997, dir. Fruit Chan, Hong Kong): Revisiting the Handover 20 years on, through Fruit Chan’s debut
52 Hz, I Love You (2017, dir. Wei Te-sheng, Taiwan): Taipei in Technicolor
Duckweed (2017, dir. Han Han, China): Progress and nostalgia, China’s own Back to the Future
Tokyo Idols (2017, dir. Kyoko Miyake, Japan/UK/Canada): When music documentary meets social phenomenon
Haruneko (2017, dir. Sora Hokimoto, Japan): Deep woods, death wish and the traps of modernism
Goodbye Taipei (1969, dir. Xu Fengzhong, Taiwan): Taiwanese identities and Japanese farewells in an extraordinary piece of film history
The Lost Kingdom (1999, dir. Li Xiangxiu, Taiwan): Tale of old theatres, forgotten kingdoms and native culture
Have a Nice Day (2017, dir. Liu Jian, China): Tales from Southern China: small small heist
Youth ( 2017, dir. Feng Xiaogang, China): Sweet-smelling Chinese teen spirit
White Rabbit (2018, dir. Daryl Wein, USA): Millenials and the inadequacy of “Asian American” label
Satan’s Slaves (2017, dir. Joko Anwar, Indonesia): Tales from the Muslim graveyard
Metal Politics Taiwan (2018, dir. Marco Wilms, Germany/Taiwan): The intricacies of Taiwan soft power
The Tailor (2017, dir. Tran Buu Loc, Vietnam): Ao dai designs and multiple modernities
Dukun (2008/2018, dir, Dain Said, Malaysia): The investigation into supernatural and other postcolonial clashes
Sad Beauty (2018, dir. Bongkod Bencharongkul, Thailand): The beauty and the drama
Respeto (2017, dir. Alberto Monteras, Philippines): Boyz n the Slums… of the Philippines
Dahufa (2018, dir. Busifan, China): Once Upon a Time in Peanut Town
A Land Imagined (2018, dir. Yeo Siew Hua, Singapore / France / Netherlands): Total immersion, fish tanks and the mystery of what Singapore is made of
Meili (2018, dir. Zhou Zhou, China): Return to the rough realism and character’s doomed fate, pity the alternative way to survive seems to be out of the question
The Taste of Betel Nut (2017, dir. Hu Jia, China/Hong Kong): Bringing back to life the ghosts of Chinese pop culture past
As You Were (2014, dir. Liao Jiekai, Singapore): Deliberate imprisonment in memories and negotiating identity in relation to institutions
Whole (2019, dir. Bilal Kawazoe, Japan): Escape from overtheorizing hybrid identity, turn towards a personal take on duality and feeling of incompleteness
A First Farewell (2019, dir. Wang Lina, China): Between Chinese institutions and Uyghur private lives
Your Face (2018, dir. Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan): Reading faces carved by time and life experience or 13 portraits of Taipei People
Reside (2018, dir. Wisit Sasanatieng, Thailand): Thailand’s own Mystery Inc. possessed by spirits and haunted by the past
The Return (2019, dir. Qin Hailu, China): Ultimate homecoming and Cold War cultural heritage…
Send Me to the Clouds (2019, dir. Teng Congcong, China): Dreams of spirituality within an utterly materialistic world…
Love Boat: Taiwan (2019, dir. Valerie Soe, Taiwan/USA/Canada): Shifting identities, extreme infatuations and clueless authorities…