Bringing the Best of Asian Cinema to Manila
Asia Society Philippines and Security Bank, together with Ayala Malls Cinemas and the Film Development Council of the Philippines, invite you to experience the biggest event for Asian cinema in Manila. Now on its 3rd year, Asia on Screen Film Festival celebrates excellence in filmmaking through the presentation of award-winning and culturally relevant films. The festival will run from September 15 – 18, 2016 at the Greenbelt 3 cinemas in Makati City.
The festival brings the best of a broad selection of Asia Pacific cinema in order to draw greater recognition to the region’s wealth of talented actors and filmmakers. Moviegoers will be transported around the region through stories of forbidden love, to coming of age teenage dramas, to incredible stories of survival and epic historical tales.
It will showcase a vibrant line-up which includes Tanna (Australia), A Tale of Three Cities (China), Airlift (India), In the Absence of the Sun (Indonesia), Miss Hokusai (Japan), Frontline (Korea), The Journey (Malaysia), Above the Clouds (Philippines), Taklub (Philippines), 7 Letters (Singapore), Teacher’s Diary (Thailand), Heart Attack (Thailand), and On the Peaceful Peak (Vietnam).
Asia on Screen Film Festival will kick off with a Directors’ Dialogue with Philippine director, Pepe Diokno (Above the Clouds) and Thai director, Nithiwat Tharatorn (Teacher’s Diary). The dialogue will focus on the opportunities and challenges in Southeast Asian film markets, specifically in the Philippines and Thailand, and will delve into the directors’ personal journeys. This free forum will be on September 15, 10AM-12NN at the Asian Institute of Management.
This year, the film fest opens with Above the Clouds. Capturing the breath-taking highlands of the Ifugao region, the film is an emotional journey towards transformation and deliverance.
Other entries explore socio-political topics through significant human experiences. Taklub, a Brillante Mendoza film, documents a family’s struggles from the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda that ripped through the city of Tacloban. Australia’s multi-award winning film, Tanna, is based on a true story on tribal ssues, performed by the people of Yakel in Vanuatu. Korean film, Front Line, narrates the relationship between the North and the South through prisoners of war.
According to Asia Society Philippines Executive Director, Suyin Liu Lee, “Asia Society Philippines presents Asia on Screen as a creative and visceral form of fulfilling its mission of fostering relationships among peoples and countries. To quote famed Asian Director, Ang Lee. “I see a movie as a way of learning about the world, about myself, and learning about my relationship with people and art.”
Asia on Screen is sponsored by Philam Life, and supported by Bubba Gump, Freyo, i-Remit, Japan Foundation, Royal Thai Embassy and The Travel Club, with special thanks to San Miguel Brewery.
The festival is also supported by the embassies of India, Singapore and Vietnam, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, Korean Cultural Council, Filipino Indian Friendship and Cultural Society and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Media partners are ANC, Business Mirror, BusinessWorld, CNN Philippines, Expat Magazine, Manila Bulletin, Manila Times, Mellow 94.7, Primer Magazine, The Philippine STAR, The Standard, and Travelife.
Tickets will be available on-site at the Greenbelt 3 Cinemas at PHP 100 per screening.
Screening Schedule
About the Films
Tale of Three Cities
China
Drama
Yuerong is a young widow who is forced to peddle opium in order to support her two little daughters. Daolong is a handsome officer at a river checkpoint. When Daolong becomes the target of both the Nationalists and the Communists, the couple is forced to escape across a country devastated by famine and war.
Nominated: Hong Kong Film Award
Best Actress: Wei Tang
Best Supporting Actress: Hailu Qin
Best Cinematography: Yu Wang
Best Art Direction: Tim Yip and Ying-Wah Cheung
Best Costume & Make Up Design: Tim Yip and William Fung
Miss Hokusai
Japan
Animation, Biography, Drama /PG
It’s 1814 and the city of Edo is one of the most populated homes of peasants, samurai, townsmen, merchants, nobles, artists, courtesans, and maybe even supernatural beings. Two residents are the highly accomplished artist Tetsuzo and his talented 23-year-old daughter O-Ei. Tetsuo gains worldwide acclaim as Katsushika Hokusai, but few would know “Miss Hokusai,” the daughter who assisted him uncredited
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2015
Won: Asia Pacific Screen Award
Best Animated Feature Film: Keiko Matsushita and Asako Nishikawa
Awards of the Japanese Academy 2016
Fantasia Film Festival 2015
Won: Audience Award
Best Animated Feature: Keiichi Hara (director)
Won: Prix Publique / Audience Award
Best Animated Feature: Keiichi Hara
Won: Satoshi Kon Award
Best Animated Feature: Keiichi Hara (director)
Won:Séquences Award: Keiichi Hara (director)
Tanna
Australia
Drama, Romance
In a traditional tribal society in the South Pacific, a young girl, Wawa, falls in love with her chief’s grandson, Dain. When an inter tribal war escalates, Wawa is unknowingly betrothed as part of a peace deal. The young lovers run away, refusing her arranged fate. They must choose between their hearts and the future of the tribe.
Australian Directors Guild Awards 2016
Won: ADG Award
Best Direction in a Feature Film: Bentley Dean, Martin Butler and Contact Films
Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards 2016
Won: FCCA Award
Best Music: Antony PartosVenice Film Festival 2015 Best DOP [director of photography] and best feature film of International film critics’ week
Won: Fedeora Award
Best Cinematography (International Film Critics Week): Bentley Dean
Won: International Critics’ Week Award: Bentley Dean and Martin Butler
Above the Clouds
Philippines
Drama, Family
After losing his parents in a flood, 15-year-old Andy is forced to live in the Mountain Province with his estranged grandfather. Feeling they’ve lost everything, the two embark on a journey up a mountain and start to come to terms with their grief.
Received the Arte Prize at the Berlin Int’l Film Festival in Germany in 2012, as well as a development grant from the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea.
Taklub
Philippines
Drama
After the Supertyphoon Haiyan, which changed the city of Tacloban in the Philippines into its horrendous state, the lives of Bebeth, Larry and Erwin intertwine. The survivors are left to search for the dead, while keeping their sanity intact, and protecting what little faith there may be left.
Cannes Film Festival 2015
Won: Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Special Mention: Brillante MendozaGawad
Urian Award 2016
Won: Best Picture (Pinakamahusay na Pelikula)
Teacher’s Diary
Thailand
Comedy, Romance
Song, a former professional wrestler, finds a new job as a teacher at a primary school located on a floating community surrounded by mountains. He discovers a former teacher’s diary and falls in love with the unacquainted writer. Will these two teachers finally meet?
Thailand National Film Association Awards 2015
Won: National Film Association Award
Best Editing: Thammarat Sumetsupachok and Pongsakorn Charnchalermchal
Best Score: Hualampong Riddim
Best Art Direction: Arkadech Keawkotr
Best Original Song: For the song “”Mai Tang Kan”” performed by 25 Hours
Best Cinematography: Naruphol Chokanapitak
Heart Attack
Thailand
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Yoon is the busiest 30-year-old freelance graphic designer in Thailand. After staying up working for 5 days straight, strange rashes appears all over his body. He meets Doctor Imm at a public hospital and falls in love with her. Will Doctor Imm be able to diagnose Yoon’s syndrome before his heart condition gets worse?
Osaka Asian Film Festival 2016
Won: ABC Award — Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit
Thailand National Film Association Awards 2016
Won: National Film Association Award
Best Picture
Best Actor: Sunny Suwanmethanon
Best Actress: Davika Hoorne
Best Supporting Actress: Violette Wautier
Best Director: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit
Best Screenplay: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit
Best Score: Hualampong Riddim
Front Line
Korea
Drama, History
Early in the Korean War in 1950 as the North is rolling through South Korea, South Korean privates Eun-pyo and Soo-hyeok are captured during a battle and brought to North Korean captain Jung-yoon. Afterwards he lets the prisoners go free, so that they can help reconstruct the nation after the war.
Blue Dragon Awards 2011
Won: Blue Dragon Award
Best Cinematography: Woo-hyung Kim
Best Art Direction: Seong-hie Ryu
Best Film
Best Director: Hun Jang
Best Actor: Soo Go
Best Supporting Actor: Chang-Seok Ko
Grand Bell Awards, South Korea 2011
Won: Grand Bell Award
Best Lighting: Min Jae Kim
Best Film
Best Cinematography: Woo-hyung Kim
Udine Far East Film Festival 2012
3rd place
Audience Award Hun Jang
The Journey
Malaysia
Comedy, Drama, Family / PG
Bee comes home to Malaysia after graduating abroad and brings back her foreign fiance Benji. Her father, Uncle Chuan, vigorously opposed the marriage due to Ben’s frivolous behavior but he failed to change his daughter’s mind. In the end, Uncle Chuan agrees to the marriage with the condition that the wedding adheres to Chinese tradition
Malaysian Film Festival 2015
Best Actor: Sai Peng Lee
Best Cinematography: Eric Yeong
7 Letters
Singapore
Drama / PG
7 Letters represents seven heartfelt ‘love letters’ to Singapore, capturing each of the directors’ personal and poignant connection with the place they call home. The seven stories tell of our heartland and its people through tales of lost love, identity, inter-generational familial bonds and tensions, unlikely neighbors, and even references to traditional folklore
The film was selected as the Singaporean entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.
On the Peaceful Peak
Vietnam
Drama
The film tells story of a traditional ceramic village in Ninh Thuan province. The people of the Cham minority have experienced many ups and downs and realize that they cannot live in poverty forever. But as changes develop, they must also respect and conserve the cultural heritage of their village.
Screened in the 9th World Premieres Film Festival of Philippines.
Ghayal Once Again
India
Action
When a video of his mentor’s murder surfaces, an investigative journalist takes action to find those responsible.
In the Absence of the Sun
Indonesia
Drama
A tender, melancholic night is experienced through the eyes of three women as they struggle to find themselves in the ever-changing concrete jungle of Jakarta.
Hong Kong Asian Film Festival 2014
Nominated:
New Talent Award: Lucky Kuswandi
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About Asia Society:
Asia Society Philippines aims to strengthen relationships, deepen understanding and bridge differences across the Philippines, Asia and the West. We develop cross-sector programs that bring together individuals, companies, policymakers and other non-profits to promote collaboration and understanding of Asia across the fields of arts & culture, policy, business, and leadership.
Website: http://asiasociety.org/philippines
Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: @AsiaSocietyPH
