Five directors to fly to Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival
Unforgiven directed by Sang-il Lee, starring Ken Watanabe, will be screened at the Opening Night of the Asia House Pan Asia Film Festival 2014
Five directors to fly to Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival
18 February 2014
The sixth Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival will not only feature seven UK premieres but many directors are flying over to speak at the screenings of their films.
Korean director Lee Sang-il, who made Unforgiven (2013), the remake of the 1992 Clint Eastwood classic, is flying over to be at the Festival Opening Night Gala on 26 February. He will give a short introduction to the film at 20.30 before the films starts at 20.40. Set in 1880s Hokkaido in Japan and starring Ken Watanabe (famed for his samurai roles), the movie is being distributed by Warner Brothers and will be released in the UK two days after Asia House premieres it in the UK. The film was released in Japan last year.
Everyone who buys a ticket for the Opening Night Gala at the ICA on 26 February will automatically get access to the Festival red carpet VIP drinks reception. Doors for that open at 18.30.
Ravi Kumar, the Indian director of Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain, which dramatises the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the biggest industrial disaster in the world, will be flying in for the Closing Night Gala at which his film will be see its UK premiere on 9 March. He will give opening remarks before the movie opens at 18.00 and he will participate in a question and answer session after the movie. There will also be a free VIP drinks reception for anyone who purchases a ticket to that.
Tetsuichiro Tsuta, the Japanese director of The Tale of Iya, a drama about the destruction of nature by man, is flying over for the UK Premiere of his film on 7 March at the ICA. He will take part in a Q&A session after the film.
The Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival will also see Thai director Nawapol Thamrongattanarit fly over to discuss his two movies, 36 and Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy – both being shown at the ICA. These two screenings are supported by dayfornight.
The director of Honour Shan Khan and some members of his cast will be present at the screening of their British Asian film about honour killings. This is being shown at the Genesis Cinema in London on 8 March.
Meanwhile a panel of experts will be present to discuss The Missing Picture after it is screened at Asia House on 5 March. They include Nick Bradshaw, Web Editor for Sight & Sound, who has previously written about The Missing Picture and has also interviewed its director; Dr Leshu Torchin, an expert in how film and media bear witness to human rights abuses and specifically genocide and the author of Creating the Witness: Documenting Genocide on Film, Video, and the Internet; and Andrew Johnston, who is a PhD candidate at SOAS who has conducted about 100 interviews with perpetrators and victims of the regime.
Panel discussions and question and answer sessions are included in the price of all tickets.
The seven UK Premieres being screened at this year’s Festival are Kami’s Party, Dangerous Liaisons, The Shape of the Night, Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy, A Prayer For Rain, Unforgiven (2013) and The Tale of Iya.
An award will be presented for the Best Film at the Festival again this year. Last year the Best Film Award went to Iranian film 111 Girls. The jury panel this year includes Joey Leung, Managing Director of the Terracotta Entertainment Group, which distributes and promotes Far Eastern films in the UK; Satwant Gill, Promoter of the London Indian Film festival; and Philip Dodd, chairman of Made in China, which aims to bring Chinese culture closer to Europe. The Award will be announced after the Festival, which is being supported by Prudential plc for the fourth year running.
The Festival has partnered up with the Glasgow Film Festival and Leeds Hyde Park Picture House this year so people living in these cities can also enjoy the explosion of Asian cinema the Festival is bringing to the big screen.
For more information on the Pan-Asia Film Festival line-up click here.
