6 Films you shouldn’t miss at the Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival 2020

By Asian Film Festival on September 17, 2020 • ( Leave a comment )

These are six films you shouldn’t miss at the Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival which will take place from September 20th – 24th (2020) in Fukuoka, Japan.

About the festival:
The Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival was launched in 1991 as a major undertaking of “Asian Month” (renamed “Asian Party” in 2013), which began in 1990 to further deepen the circle of cultural exchange with Asia fostered through the “Asian Pacific Exposition”, held in 1989 to commemorate the centennial of the founding of the City of Fukuoka.

Selected Films:

**A Witness Out of the Blue** by Fung Chih Chiang – Hong Kong | 2019 – 104 minutes

A new sensation of a crime thriller. 3 months after a jewelry heist, a member of a group of criminals behind the robbery is killed. The only witness is a parrot. Police Commanding Officer Yip goes after Sean Wong, who he believes to be the suspect. Meanwhile, Sean Wong starts his own search of the true murderer, while in hiding. Detective Lam tries to get the parrot to disclose who the murderer is, but…

Trailer:
https://youtu.be/bsKAYwhwthk

**Jallikattu** by Lijo Jose Pellissery – India | 2019 – 91 minutes

In a countryside town in the south of India, a buffalo escapes from a slaughterhouse. Thereafter, the entire town starts to chase after the buffalo. “Jallikattu” is a bull chasing festival practiced in the State of Tamil Nadu in the south of India. The crowd in the film, baring their human instincts as they get carried away cornering a large wild animal, appear prehistoric in nature. Gradually even the boundary setting “humans” apart from “animals” becomes vague and ambiguous.

Trailer:
https://youtu.be/ZPbCCIquBfM

**Krabi, 2562** by Anocha Suwichakornporg – Thailand, UK | 2019 – 93 minutes

This is a film co-directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong from Thailand and an artist from the U.K. The film depicts a woman visiting a film site in Krabi, well known as a resort town. Through this setting, Krabi’s natural environment, the daily lives of its people and the town, itself, are cut out for the audience to see. Space and memory are depicted by freely coming and going, using fictional and non-fictional frames. The film provides a unique floating sensation, which is very comforting.

Screening Dates:
September 20th, 2020 (Sunday) | United Cinema Canal City 13 | 12:30 pm
September 22nd, 2020 (Tuesday) | United Cinema Canal City 13 | 14:45 pm

Trailer:
https://youtu.be/-RcYHN_ORI4

**Last Night I Saw You Smiling** by Neang Kavich – Cambodia, France | 2019 – 78 minutes

The “White Building”, Phnom Penh’s symbolic public housing complex with 493 families in residence, was built in 1963. While enduring through turbulent times, the building remained a hub for human life for over half a century. However, in 2017 it was torn down. The past was dismantled and the future is being reconstructed. The film director, born and raised in this “White Building”, captures footage of the residents in their last days in the housing complex.

Trailer:
https://youtu.be/4XgxleqUzLE

**Syndromes and a Century** by Apichatpong Weerasethakul – Thailand, France, Austria | 2006 – 105 minutes

This is a film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, winner of the “Arts and Culture Prize” of the Fukuoka Prize in 2013. The film consists of a first half set in a regional hospital with much greenery and a second half set in a modern urban hospital. However, the characters in both sections overlap and episodes are repeated. Using “memory” and “future” as motifs, the film provides a unique world view experience.

Screening Dates:
September 21st, 2020 (Monday) | United Cinema Canal City 13 | 18:30 pm

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnIXg6-8lic

**The Tree House** by Truong Minh Quý – Vietnam, Singapore | 2019 – 84 minutes

2045, a filmmaker lands on Mars. Trying to make a film about his new life, he records the sound of his surroundings. What he hears reminds him of the sound of wind that passes through the roofs of homes back on earth, far away, At the same time his memory vividly comes back to life, of when he met a man living in a house on a tree in the forest and a woman, born and raised in a cave. The filmmaker tries to clarify what a “house” or “home” is.

Trailer:
https://youtu.be/CTKe5FaQcGM

For more information about the festival and the programme please visit the official website here: http://www.focus-on-asia.com