Discover Movies

By Chaiyapol Korkiartcajon

Sunk in chronic lethargy, "I" follow my mother on a walk along Namdaecheon stream and recall an old elementary school assignment: catch a planarian. I never found one back then; I just played on the trampoline ("bang-bang") nearby. An unsolved mystery remained: do planarians really live in Namdaecheon? This film is the story of a middle-aged woman with a new ADHD diagnosis who, in trying to find the answer, tumbles down a rabbit hole of planarian obsession.​

Follows the election campaign of Muneo Suzuki, a politician who was at the center of a corruption scandal but is now extremely popular in his home Hokkaido for his character, and examines the state of postwar democracy through his election campaign.

A fascinating documentary, shot in the mountainous north of Burma. No filmmaker is welcome there, because, against the background of a civil war, the jade miners enter the deserted mines illegally. With the aid of filming locals, however, Midi Z was able to compile this portrait. Getting rich quick turns out to be hard and risky work Jade has always been a valuable commodity in Asia. In the mountains in the north of Burma there are valuable deposits of jade. The area forms part of Kachin State, inhabited by many ethnic groups which found themselves embroiled in the Civil War in 2010 with the Burmese government. Jade mining was halted because of the conflict. Thousands of workers, however, went to the war zone in order to dig for illegal jade. It turned the region into a no-go area and the filmmaker Midi Z, who had so far made feature films in Burma, saw no opportunity to go and film there. It was far too dangerous. © iffr.com

In this short filmed during Chung Mong-hong's study in the United States, a giant cross hovers above, as floating images of the city segue into the vast expanse on the beach where an exorcism is underway, with people holding crosses and self-flagellating, contrasting with the skyline on the other side of the city, the nostalgia and alienation of the sojourner. During the exorcism, a voice-over relates the varied reactions of the bystanders. What is ‘exorcism’, and how do symbols, sounds and imagery relate to each other? In this highly experimental work, Chung compares the director’s montage with the process of exorcism, offering an alternative interpretation and reconstruction of the film’s structure and narrative.

Literature and tales of the military dependents' villages leave a unique and precious character in Taiwanese history since the Great Retreat in 1949. The people have gradually formed a culture within the villages. To dive into the richness of military dependents' villages, the film interviews many prominent Taiwanese writers who grew up in the first and second generation of military dependents' villages and quotes extensively from literary passages, creating the reappearance of the unforgettable lives in the villages and of the cultures of Waishengren.

Since the death of her husband, Kok, Nia has inexplicably developed Alzheimer's disease. She had the opportunity to return to her old house, where she had lived with her husband for many years, to visit her closest friend Saw, whose house was next door. They spent a long time seated at the dining table in Saw's home, talking about their health and the life they have lived and lost.

In One Fine Spring Day, a Korean melodrama, it wasn't the handsome main characters' love that remained most vividly in my memory, but the scene in which the main male character was recording Jeongsun Arirang, sung by an old couple in a mountainous village. At that time whilst seeing the movie, I asked myself why this sound, not the romance, makes me shudder. I was in my 30s. And, as coincidences become inevitability, I came to know the strange village.

Franco Mella is a devoted figure whose life bridges Catholicism and Communism. He has journeyed through Asia, lived simply, and fought for social justice, notably within Hong Kong's protest history as depicted in "Ordinary Heroes" (1999). Mella's path weaves through religious and revolutionary movements, from church beginnings to Communist activism and the Handover, always driven by his missionary spirit and communist ideals. For four decades, he has steadfastly championed the oppressed, undeterred by shifting politics, expressing solidarity through music and protest, and remaining a symbol of wisdom and resilience for the people of Hong Kong.

A collection of gorgeous footage of Balinese landscapes shot with reckless abandon, set to a gamelan soundtrack.

A documentary on stop motion animator Tomoyasu Murata and his work.

Documentary about the politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Entering the political fray of environmentalism versus tradition raging a round the issue of dolphin hunting in Taiji, Japan since the 2009 release of The Cove, Megumi Sasaki’s documentary is the finely balanced film essay the frayed topic has been waiting for. Instead of propping up images of animal slaughter or beleaguered fishermen, A Whale of a Tale focuses on points of contact and communication between the two sides, foreign activists devoting years to the cause and agricultural workers who have developed a first-name familiarity. Sasaki (Herb & Dorothy) collaborates with journalist Jay Alabaster to examine the historical and material conditions that contributed to local whaling practice and the pressures of globalism and localism that keeps this issue in ideological deadlock—at least for now. -JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film

Dream and deficiency, a letter without recipient.

Follow-up to 'The People of Sunagawa'

Two men diligently unload equipment and materials from a truck, put pipes together, and build a stage for a puppet theater. No matter how few people are in the audience, the show starts and ends as it always has. Convincingly, as if to impress it on our minds, the camera registers from a corner the dust-covered projector and film lying idle in a warehouse, and the presence of the men steadily going about their business. Quietly criss-crossing people and places with the camera onboard, giving way to cars on the farm road, the traveling puppet theater carries with it the ambience of a bygone era in Taiwan.

Director Yau Ching has been conducting media production workshops in juvenile reform and welfare institutes in Hong Kong, Macau and Sapporo, Japan for seven years. With simple video recording techniques, the teenagers make this video letter to talk about love, dream, idols and ups and downs in their lives. Are you sick of those pretending high school dramas? Try to take a look at this sincere documentation of youthhood. To get your taken-for-granted values reflected, to be touched by their truthful reveals without any sensational gimmick, and most importantly, to recall what we went through when we were young, and the ways we could be alive…

An interviews that share the life of 3 different era and style of Thailand's Sex Worker, The changing perspective of the society on the profession, and the question of legalizing it.

Hara's new film 「焼け跡クロニクル」 is a documentary film about Hara's attempt to rebuild his life from scratch after his house burned down in 2018 and he lost all his household goods and film equipment. Co-produced with Maori Hara, his partner in both public and private life, the film combines 8mm film salvaged from the ruins of the fire with digital footage shot on an iPhone to tell the story of his recovery from the fire.

After quitting filmmaking about the tidal flat that underwent Saemangeum Seawall Project a few years ago, she moved to Gunsan-si, a city of Saemangeum, as she seemed destined to. Sura: A Love Song delivers the course of rediscovering the beauty of the tidal flat working together with the Citizens’ Survey Group on Saemangeum that has continued its research for nearly twenty years.

Matsubara Hidetoshi, one of Japan's last traditional falconers, resides in rural Tohoku with only the company of his birds. A high school student requests to become the apprentice of falconer Matsubara, who resolves to pass on his knowledge in recognition of her enthusiasm. Matsubara and his apprentice train on Mt. Gassan, a site of religious pilgrimages that over centuries has been the hunting grounds for many falconers and their birds. The two struggle to control a hawk that never misses them. A sudden request by a young city-dweller may be key to retaining his legacy. It depicts the forgotten lives in modern times that are deeply connected to the nature around us.

In the 1990s, Incheon experienced a period of economic, cultural, and educational growth centered on the area known as Dongincheon. This area became a hub for heavy metal and rock bands, music listening rooms, and concert halls. Over time, these facilities moved to the basements of Gwangyo-dong, where numerous Korean heavy metal and rock bands gathered and flourished.

TOBE artists Ken Miyake, Hiromitsu Kitayama, Number_i, IMP., and Ritsuki Ohigashi come together for their first ever Tokyo Dome performance: to HEROes TOBE 1st Super Live.

Designed as a meditative, nature-immersive “virtual travel” experience, the video showcases Japan's iconic cherry blossom (sakura) landscapes, aimed at delivering a zen-inspired experience with 5.1-channel surround sound and high-quality visuals .

In this short documentary, actress Hsu Feng discusses her iconic role as Yang Hui-zhen in King Hu's A Touch of Zen.

Naoshima is a small Japanese island in the Seto inland sea hosting a fascinating contemporary art sponsoring project since the 90s. Urged by a businessman, museums and outdoor installations have grown in number on Naoshima, which was until then only populated by fishermen, farmers and workers, and affected by the post-industrial exodus, a decline in population and its local economy. NAOSHIMA (DREAM ON THE TONGUE) is the exploration of this island, as a place for unexpected exchange between contemporary art, traditions, and everyday life.

During Luo Bing's second return to his village, Ren Dingqi finally accepts to showhim his memoirs.

This film documents the lives of two Indian women migrants who moved to Japan more than a decade ago, as a case study of the ‘trailing spouses’ concept in migration. Jyoti, 41 and Mandeep, 39, grew up in the state of Punjab, northern India, in middle-class households. They received a good education and had promising careers in India. Then, in their early 20s, they each agreed to marry men living in Japan by arrangement. The women were excited to move to a foreign country and to be with their husbands but they had no prior knowledge of Japan. Having witnessed at a distance the lives of their relatives settled in the US, UK and Canada, they had similar expectations for their own future lives in Japan. But the reality was to prove different from the expectation.

[The name "Hong Yi" not only represents a local "art" style that has attracted much attention in Taiwan in recent years, but also allows us to witness from a life course that belongs to the "anomalous" features of contemporary society. ]

During the pre-democracy era when publications were under oppression, some people dreamed of a city for books and some architects came along to dream together. Then, they created an one-and-only ecological city for books in an abandoned swamp in the military border of Paju. This is the story of book and culture that dreams of peaceful unification, and its building process over 30 years.

As with everything in life, the same goes for East Lake, a threatened lake near the expanding mega city of Wuhan. You can get worked up about it and get involved - or you can think, it won’t affect me. Fortunately there’s the intriguing new film by Li Luo, which brings to an end these doubts. East Lake (Dong Hu) is a scenic area in the city of Wuhan, threatened by new amusement parks, high-rises and even an airport. ‘East Lake is getting smaller and smaller, but it's bigger and bigger in my memory,’ wrote a friend to the Canada-based Chinese filmmaker Li Luo as a result of the development. In a lucid way, the film investigates how the lake is linked to the people, leading to reflection on identity and survival in today’s China. The form is varied and free. Li uses documentary as well as fictional style elements, and often an ironic mixture of both. © iffr.com

The late 1960s saw Japan in a fever pitch of political agitation where student protests were a frequent occurrence. A somewhat timely insight into radical protest and mass meetings from almost half a century ago, the film reveals the aftermath of protests and shares extremely rare footage of mass meetings that were held at universities.

The last piece of Naomi Kawase's Grandmother Trilogy, following Katatsumori (1994) and See Heaven (1995), filming her grandma and herself. Her gazes and insights are cast on the lovable beings in front of her eyes.

The 1999 game "Elancia" marks its 21st anniversary this year. Due to lack of management, various macros programs and cheats are rampant, but few users are still left in the game. Why can't they leave Elancia? "My Sister Jeon Ji-hyun," a user of Elancia for 16 years, stepped out of a stuffy room with a camera to answer questions about why others are still playing the game.

An interview with cinematographer Junichiro Hayashi speaking about his work with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa

The film records the daily life of James, a 19-year-old autistic patient, and his mother. During the day-to-day study and work, we see that music brings a different power to his mother. Music also makes us look forward to the future.

After the electricity went off, many eyes grew from the playground.

Nan-Fang-Ao, a village in northeast Taiwan, once thrived on its big-net fishing industry. Now migrant workers from the Philippines and China vigorously live and work with the locals on one of the few remaining fishing boats. As we observe their life at sea, where the air is abuzz with different languages and gestures, thoughts of home drift among those who have come to provide for their families. There is the captain who talks about the old days, the woman who sent her husband off to sea and runs a shop in the village, and the laborers from foreign countries who buy gifts for their families at the market. With a fresh look, the film depicts people living on the unchanging stage of the ocean’s vast wilderness.

At the beginning of 2020, the new corona virus epidemic broke out. On January 23, Wuhan city went into a lockdown. 9 million people in Wuhan, together with front-line personnel from medical systems and other industries across the country, started the fight against the corona virus in Wuhan! The content of "Wuhan Day and Night" comes from the thousands of hours of material that more than 30 local photographers in Wuhan have been shooting for several months on the front line of the fight against the epidemic since the beginning of the epidemic. The film takes the medical staff and patients in the intensive care unit of the hospital as the main line, and the volunteers who transport pregnant women late at night as the auxiliary line, showing the touching stories of fighting against the epidemic.

The Ainu are the indigenous people of Japan. Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan, was previously called Ainumosir, or land of the Ainu. Ainu traditions are facing a critical situation; the latest survey revealed that the Ainu population is less than 20,000 people in Hokkaido, and UNESCO has recognized the language as ‘critically endangered.’ This documentary was filmed in Biratori town in Hokkaido, where many people with Ainu roots still live. It is also known as the hometown of the late Shigeru Kayano, who contributed greatly to the field of research on Ainu culture.

An energetic and phenomenal presentation charting the life and career of DJ icon, music producer, and global trip-hop mogul James Lavelle.

A documentary about French illustrator Georges Bigot, who lived in Japan for 17 years and left behind many drawings depicting life and social conditions in the Meiji period.

I and other person, we exercise the daily movements by moving each other's body.

In deep Hengduan Mountain Range, western Yunnan of China, there hides a special village which is not known by people outside. All the villagers inhabited here are children between 6 and 14. They live in the village all year round to complete their six-year study in a primary school. Quite a few documentaries focus on this area, but "A student Village" is particularly touching because it portrays the optimism of the poor and shows respect toward them. Upon finishing the film, Director Wei Xing brought it back and showed it in the village. Villagers from miles away walked to the screening and shared in the festival-like atmosphere. The documentary received great feedback after it was broadcast on television.

Every weekend, the gay male choir G-Voice rehearses in Seoul. The choir, being a kind of antidote to homophobic Korean society, makes the everyday lives of gay men its theme in an intelligent and humorous way. For their tenth anniversary, the members are planning to give their first big concert with ambitious arrangements, creative choreographies and many new pieces. Besides preparing for their big day, G-Voice are also politically active, singing for equality and against discrimination.

The story of two communities in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, both fighting for the right to manage their forest. The first community, in the village of Semanki, are fighting against the constraints imposed by the establishment of a national park. The second, in Labbo, are making the most of their 'extraordinary opportunity' to set up one of Indonesia's first 'village forests', and exercise that promises to make not just their livelihoods, but also the future of their forest much more secure.

Soo-jung and Yun-jung are sisters in their 20s and 30s, both physically challenged since birth. Like other women, romance, sex, marriage, and having children are concerns in their lives. The filmmaker records their social life with a close but unpatronizing gaze, as they fall in love, break up, study porn videos, and dream about having their own children. Conventional Korean values die hard, as we see from the voices of the people around them, while the sisters themselves never cease to smile, to sing, and to try to enjoy life despite the odds.

As a bird that briefly perches is a cinematic diary that weaves together the filmmaker’s sentiments about homeland with reference to the geology of Hong Kong; an analogy between human nature and greenhouse gardening; and her reflections on the choice of living abroad as she studies the everyday life of migrant farmers and their adaptation on foreign soil, reinterpreting agricultural processes and the migration of species. The work explores the implications of rooting, re-rooting and growing as the artist contemplates on the evolving dynamics between land and human.

The photographer is taking a picture of her and her mother’s nudity. The traces of those days with her mum are left in the eternal frame; as clouds, as waves, as sand.

When it was decided that the 88 Olympics would be held in Seoul, the residents of Sanggye-dong were forced from their homes and they struggled against the government to at least guarantee them new residences.

Amidst the profound social change and political turmoil of post-war Japan, a bold generation of avant-garde artists and photographers emerged in the 1960s, forever transforming the global art landscape.