We continue our list of films that you should not miss at the London East Asia Film Festival which will take place from October 24th until November 3rd, in London, United Kingdom.

About the festival:
LEAFF aims to champion the growing collaboration in East Asian filmmaking with a philosophy that marks a shift in the cinematic landscape of East Asia, and moves away from cultural and cinematic borders. Our vision is to bring a much wider, eclectic, and diverse programme of films from over 13 countries to show the richness and diversity of the region and its people. We want to draw people in with the familiar, and offer opportunities to see something new.

Selected Films:

Still Human by Oliver Chan – Hong Kong | 2019 – 111 minutes

A paralyzed and hopeless Hong Kong man meets his new Filipino domestic worker who has put her dream on hold and came to the city to earn a living. These two strangers live under the same roof through different seasons, and as they learn more about each other, they also learn more about themselves. Together, they learn about how to face the different seasons of life.

Screening:
October 26th (Saturday) | The Soho Hotel | 7:00 pm

Trailer:

The Crossing by Bai Xue – China | 2019 – 99 minutes

Studying in Hong Kong but living in Shenzhen (the port city of Mainland China), Peipei has spent 16 years in her life travelling between these two cities. To realize the dream of seeing snow in Japan with her bestie, Peipei joins a smuggling gang and uses her student identity to smuggle iPhones from Hong Kong to Mainland. Her family life and friendships begin to fall apart. The daily life of Peipei starts to get out of control.

Screening:
October 31st (Thursday) | ODEON Covent Garden | 18:00 pm

Trailer:

The Culprit by Goh Jung-wook – Korea | 2019 – 100 minutes

Young-Hoon’s (Song Sae-byeok) wife is murdered in cold blood. A hair sample found at the crime scene links his friend Joon-Sung (Oh Min-suk) to the murder and Joon-Sung is soon arrested for the murder. Meanwhile, Joon-Sung’s wife Da-Yeon (Yoo-sun) insists on her husband’s innocence. Young-Hoon also wants to know the truth behind his wife’s murder. To free her husband from prison, Da-Yeon needs Young-Hoon to testify in support of her husband. Young-Hoon suggests to Da-Yeon that they work together to uncover the truth and in return he will testify on her husband’s behalf.

Screening:
October 30th (Wednesday) | London Film School | 19:00 pm

Trailer:

The House of Hummingbird by Kim Bo-ra – Korea | 2019 – 138 minutes

Set against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding Seoul in 1994, a lonely 14-year-old Eun-hee(Park Ji-hu) moves through life like a hummingbird searching for a taste of sweetness wherever she may find it. Deprived of attention from her family, she roams the neighborhood with her best friend, attempts romantic relationships with both girls and boys alike and is sent to the hospital with an unclear diagnosis. When Young-ji(Kim Sae-byoek), a new teacher, arrives, she becomes the first adult Eun-hee feels really understands her.

Screening:
October 26th (Saturday) | ODEON Covent Garden | 13:45 pm (With Q&A)

Trailer:

The House of Us by Yoon Ga-eun – Korea | 2019 – 92 minutes

It’s the summer holidays in the city and young Hana (Kim Na-yeon) is trying to get her warring parents to reunite. But she’s distracted from her quest one day by a couple of younger girls, nine-year-old Yoomi(Kim Si-ah) and seven-year-old Yoojin(Joo Ye-rim). As she swiftly becomes an older-sister figure to the pair, the trio’s recess becomes one of imagination and adventure – from playing tricks on the landlady to going on a seaside reconnaissance – that leads to the bittersweet glimmerings of maturity.

Screening:
October 27th (Sunday) | ODEON Covent Garden | 9:30 am

Trailer:

The Pool by Ping Lumphapleng – Thailand | 2018 – 91 minutes

Day, an insecure art director of a commercial production company is left alone to clear up a 6-meter deep deserted pool after the shooting. He falls asleep on an inflatable raft due to an unbearable fatigue. When he wakes up again the water level has sunk so low that he cannot climb out of the pool on his own. He screams for help but the only thing that hears him is some creature from a nearby crocodile farm.

Screening:
October 27th (Sunday) | ODEON Covent Garden | 21:45 pm

Trailer:

The Wild Goose Lake by Diao Yinan – China | 2019 – 113 minutes

The Wild Goose Lake (which apparently is the name of a remote fictional town or its train station; the original Chinese title is A Rendezvous at a Station in the South) takes to exactly the same noir-ish shady-lady territory. Zhou Zenong (Hu Ge) is a cop-killer on the run from both the cops and his fellow mobsters.

Screening:
October 27th (Sunday) | ODEON Covent Garden | 7:30 pm

Trailer:

Three Husbands by Fruit Chan – Hong Kong | 2019 – 101 minutes

In her boldest performance yet, Zeng Meihuizi stars as a woman who lives on the sea with her three husbands. With an overactive libido, she heartily devotes herself to her work as a prostitute. As in the trilogy’s two previous films, Chan uses the world’s oldest profession to satirise the state of contemporary Hong Kong.

Screening:
October 31st (Thursday) | ODEON Covent Garden | 14:00 pm

Trailer:

To The Ends of the Earth by Kiyoshi Kurosawa – Japan | 2019 – 120 minutes

In this co-production between Japan and Uzbekistan on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Yoko a travelling reporter for a Japanese TV variety program who visits the central Asian country of Uzbekistan. She becomes self-aware and worldly through her journey and interactions with the locals. She records her experiences.

Screening:
November 2nd (Saturday) | ODEON Covent Garden | 16:00 pm

Trailer:

Wet Season by Anthony Chen – Singapore | 2019 – 103 minutes

Wet Season follows the plight of Ling, a Chinese language teacher whose marriage and school life are fraying apart because she is unable to bear a child. But an unlikely friendship with a student helps her reaffirm her identity as a woman.

Screening:
November 1st (Friday) | ODEON Covent Garden | 18:30 pm

Trailer:

To see the first part of this article please go here: PART 1

For more information about the programme please visit the official website of the festival: London East Asia Film Festival