FESTIVALS: The Name to close Osaka Asian Film Festival

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This year’s Osaka Asian Film Festival (March 9-18) will close with the world premiere of Japanese filmmaker Toda Akihiro’s The Name.

Adapted from a story by prize-winning author Michio Shusuke, the film stars Tsuda Kanji as a divorced and penniless middle-aged man who strikes up a friendship with a high school girl. Toda is a film and theatre director, scriptwriter and producer, who is best known for 2014 drama Nekonimikan.

Korean director Lee Joon-ik’s Anarchist From Colony, about the independence activist Park Yeol, will open the festival.

A total of 15 films have been selected for the competition section, including the world premiere of Hong Kong director Derek Chiu’s No. 1 Chung Ying Street and the international premieres of two films from the Philippines – Giancarlo Abrahan’s PAKI (Please, Care) and Sigrid Andrea P. Bernado’s Mr. And Mrs. Cruz (see full line-up below).

In addition to the opening and closing films, the Special Screenings section includes Ding Sheng’s A Better Tomorrow 4, Kim Hyung Hyup’s Daddy You, Daughter Me, Amit Masurkar’s Newton, Lim Kah-wai’s No Where, Now Here, Akio Fujimoto’s Passage Of Life and Baek Jae-ho’s Woozoo Be Alright?

The Indie Forum will present 14 films, including seven shorts, from innovative new talents, while the ‘New Action! Southeast Asia’ sidebar will screen Southeast Asian films that combine action with an arthouse sensibility.

Special Focus on Hong Kong 2018 will screen six films, including the three Hong Kong films in competition, the digitally remastered version of Fruit Chan’s Made In Hong Kong, Pang Ho-cheung’s Love Off The Cuff and Cheung King Wai’s Somewhere Beyond The Mist.

The line-up also includes a section dedicated to recent Taiwanese cinema and a celebration of 100 years of Philippine cinema.

OSAKA ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2018

COMPETITION LINE-UP:

Bad Poetry Tomorrow – Director: Anshul CHAUHAN (Japan) [AP]

The Bold, The Corrupt and the Beautiful – Director: YANG Ya-Che (Taiwan)

Columbus – Director: Kogonada (US)

Die Tomorrow – Director: Nawapol THAMRONGRATTANARIT (Thailand)

A Dog’s Life – Director: CHANG Yi (Taiwan)

The Empty Hands – Director: Chapman TO (Hong Kong)

In Your Dreams – Director: TAM Wai Ching (Hong Kong)

Mr. And Mrs. Cruz – Director: Sigrid Andrea P. BERNARDO (Philippines) [IP]

NEOMANILA – Director: Mikhail RED (Philippines)

No. 1 Chung Ying Street – Director: Derek Sung-kee CHIU (Hong Kong) [WP]

PAKI (Please, Care) – Director: Giancarlo ABRAHAN (Philippines) [IP]

Posesif – Director: Edwin (Indonesia)

The Tailor – Director: TRAN BuuLoc, NGUYEN Kay (Vietnam)

Take Me To the Moon – Director: HSIEH Chun-Yi (Taiwan)

Underpants Thief – Director: Somaratne DISSANAYAKE (Sri Lanka)