The eighth Helsinki Cine Aasia ended on Sunday March 15th. Eighteen films from East and Southeast Asia were screened during the four-day festival.
The most popular films at this year’s festival were the warm Tibetan family drama Balloon (Qi qiu, 2019), which opened the festival, and the ambitious Chinese arthouse drama Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (Chun jiang shui nuan, 2019).
When she was working on the screenplay, the director of Mrs. Noisy, Amano Chihiro (b. 1982), was inspired in particular by the French film Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) by the director Olivier Assayas.
Read moreAn Interview with Director of Mrs. Noisy, Amano Chihiro, and Actor Nagao Takuma
The Finnish government has today 12th March given instructions to cancel public events of over 500 attendees in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The capacity of any of the Helsinki Cine Aasia festival film screenings does not surpass this threshold*. As such and in light of the current government instructions, Helsinki Cine Aasia will go ahead as planned from 12th March until Sunday 15th March.
*** Update, 13th March: The City of Helsinki has recommended limiting public events to a maximum of 100 visitors. In line with the instructions Helsinki Cine Aasia will also limit the maximum capacity of single screenings to maximum 100 people. ***
Helsinki Cine Aasia’s guest of honour this year is the Japanese director Amano Chihiro. She will present her film Mrs. Noisy (Misesu Noijii, 2019). The comedy-drama, which premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival last October, tells a story common to our age: how the lives of regular people turn into internet memes and social media sensation.
Actor Nagao Takuma will also be a guest at Helsinki Cine Aasia. He will participate in the screenings of Mrs. Noisy along with director Amano on Saturday March 14th and Sunday March 15th.
Too many interesting films and not enough time? Can’t choose which films to watch? Here are the Helsinki Cine Aasia organising team’s favourite and most anticipated films from this year’s programme. You don’t want to miss these!
Eija, programming director
“Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains mixes today and tradition, and includes an incredible long take – naturally there needs to be one at our festival each year.”
Screening times: Sat 14.3. at 16:15 Kino Regina and Sun 15.3. at 13:30 Korjaamo Elokuvasali + discussion: Landscape in Chinese Art
“ON-GAKU: Our Sound is a nifty indie anime that combines Japanese school life, creating music and Kaurismäki-style humour.”
Screening times: Fri 13.3. at 16:45 Orion and Sat 14.3. at 22:00 Korjaamo Kulmasali
Films are inseparably connected to both the surrounding world and the tradition of filmmaking. The festival programme at Korjaamo includes themed discussions that deepen the understanding of, or open new viewpoints to, the festival’s films. Open to all!
Tourism in Thailand – Local Views: Thailand is one of the most popular destinations for Finnish tourists. How do the Thai view this phenomenon? The topic will be discussed with Vanitsri Tirkkonen from The Finnish Thai Association ry and Timo Kuronen from The Siemenpuu Foundation. In English.
Sat 14.3. 15:40 Korjaamo lobby. Following the screening of Krabi, 2562.
Read morePerspectives: Discussions with experts deepen the themes and questions raised by the films
Helsinki Cine Aasia’s programme is out!
This year the festival hosts the Finnish premiere of 18 films from eight East and Southeast Asian countries. In addition, a series of classic films based on traditional East Asian theater is screened at Kino Regina. Helsinki Cine Aasia takes place at Korjaamo, Kino Regina and Cinema Orion from Thursday March 12 to Sunday March 15, 2020.
The tickets to the Helsinki Cine Aasia screenings can be purchased from Thursday February 27 onward from the festival webpage. Ticket prices are 10 euros for a single ticket, 45 euros for a screening voucher (including 5 single tickets) and 8 euros for the parent and baby screening. During the festival tickets are also sold at the festival venues Korjaamo, Cinema Orion and Kino Regina.
Read moreHelsinki Cine Aasia 2020 celebrates versatile Asian cinema
In addition to new Asian cinema, the Helsinki Cine Aasia festival weekend between March 13 and 15 provides an opportunity to see seminal works from Asian film history. The National Audiovisual Institute and Helsinki Cine Aasia are screening three classics that are inspired by or built around traditional Asian theater.
The screenings take place in Kino Regina. The films presented are Kurosawa Akira‘s early work The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (虎の尾を踏む男達, 1945), Ichikawa Kon‘s kabuki marvel An Actor’s Revenge (雪之丞変化, 1963), and Chen Kaige‘s Farewell My Concubine (霸王別姬, 1993), set in the world of Peking opera.
Read moreKino Regina and Helsinki Cine Aasia present: Theater in East Asian Cinema
Helsinki Cine Aasia’s opening film is Balloon (Qi qiu, 2019), the latest work from one of Tibet’s best-known filmmakers, Pema Tseden. Balloon has garnered praise at international festivals as well as several accolades. The film is about the difficulties of combining the traditional with the modern.
The story is set in the 1980’s, during the one-child policy. A couple raising a herd of sheep and three children is forced to navigate between human nature, spirituality, politics and free will. No more children should be born, but how will they take care of contraception when the children turn their parents’ last condoms into balloons?
Read moreHelsinki Cine Aasia 2020 opens with Tibetan film Balloon
March 12 to 15 the eighth Helsinki Cine Aasia is once again showcasing great new films from East and Southeast Asia. Every year the festival has had a bunch of invaluable volunteers helping on making the event happen. This year’s volunteer applications are wanted now! Volunteers’ tasks range from distributing the festival posters and catalogues to customer service during the festival weekend. Note that some of the work takes place in February before the festival.
Whether you’re a festival veteran or considering volunteer work for the first time, go ahead and apply to join Finland’s only Asian film festival. Please be sure to fill in the application form by Wednesday February 12 so we’ll have time to consider it when forming the volunteer team.
In March Helsinki Cine Aasia, the only festival of contemporary Asian cinema in Finland, once again brightens Helsinki’s spring with a first-rate selection of the most interesting new films from East and Southeast Asia. The diverse cross-section of popular, praised and topical cinema includes films from Japan, South Korea and China, as well as several smaller film countries. In addition to film screenings, the festival also hosts various discussions related to Asian cultures.
The high-quality selection of films has been carefully chosen for Helsinki Cine Aasia from the most important Asian film festivals and through direct contacts in Asia.
Read moreHelsinki Cine Aasia is celebrating its eighth edition between March 12 and 15!
Bat-Amgalan Lkhagvajav and Ian Allardyce‘s charmingly sincere film They Sing Up On The Hill is included in the official programme of Helsinki Cine Aasia 2019. We spoke to Lkhagvajav about his sources of inspiration, his influences, and asked him for recommendations from the Helsinki Cine Aasia programme.
What inspired you to make the film They Sing Up On The Hill?
I have to mention first my friend, an English guy Ian Allardyce who is now based in the UK. Me and him, we have been friends for a long time and since 2003, and we have been making films together. Already then, we had the idea for this film but we did not know, how exactly we would make it so it got put on the shelf for all these years.
The one remaining screening of Mori, The Artist’s Habitat at Helsinki Cine Aasia 2019 is on Saturday 16th March at 3.45pm. Following the screening there is a Q&A with the director.
Kamila Andini’s enchanting film The Seen and Unseen opened Helsinki Cine Aasia on Thursday 15th March. We spoke to the director about her sources of inspiration, influences and future plans, and asked her for recommendations from the Helsinki Cine Aasia programme. Andini is currently visiting the festival and will be attending the second screening of her film at Helsinki Cine Aasia on Saturday 17th March. After the screening, she will discuss film and film-making with Ulla Heikkilä from Women in Film and Television Finland.
What inspired you to make The Seen and Unseen?
I started working on The Seen and Unseen right after I had finished working on my first feature, The Mirror Never Lies. In my second film, I wanted to explore who I am as an Indonesian and how we are connected to each other and to the universe.