Dragons & Tigers: The Cinema of East Asia

VIFF's Dragons & Tigers program continues to be a leader in introducing the most exciting new cinematic talents from East Asia to the world. The distinguished jury for the 2011 Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema includes Ann Hui, Simon Field and Yang Ikjune (bios below).

As of this update, 45 features and 16 shorts will be presented, many of them significant premieres. Here is a list of award nominees and other highlights. Read our Galas & Special Presentations e-blast for previously announced Dragons and Tigers Special Presentations.

North American Premiere;
Guest in attendance

THE SUN-BEATEN PATH

(Dbus Lam Gyi Nyi Ma/Taiyang zong zai Zuobian)

China (Tibet) | Dir: Sonthar Gyal

[SUBEA] | Wed. Oct 5, 7:00pm, Vancity Theatre
Thu. Oct 6, 1:30pm, Vancity Theatre

The "New Tibetan Cinema" takes another stride forward with Sonthar Gyal's striking road movie. A disturbed young man burdened with grief and guilt travels from Lhasa back to his rural home, mostly on foot... but can he learn a life-lesson on the way?

OUR FUTURE

(Boku-ra no Mirai)

Japan | Dir: Iizuka Kashou

[OUFUT] | Mon. Oct 3, 9:30pm, Vancity Theatre
Tue. Oct 4, 4:00pm, Vancity Theatre

Japan's sexual minorities find their champion in Iizuka Kashou's tough-and-tender debut feature. Set in a summer cram school , it centres on the experiences of Yu, a teenager who feels (and dresses) more like a boy than a girl, has gay and transgender friends and needs to find a way to fend off bullies.

International Premiere; Guest in attendance

International Premiere; Guest in attendance

RECREATION

Japan | Dir: Nagano Yoshihiro

[RECRE] | Wed. Oct 5, 9:30pm, Vancity Theatre
Thu. Oct 6, 4:15pm, Vancity Theatre

School's out for summer vacation, and the kids in a city in Kyushu are getting bored. Akira and Kazu and their twin-sister friends An and Rin decide to draw someone else into their games... but maybe they pick on the wrong guy. Nagano Yoshihiro's shocking debut feature pinpoints the moment when adult terrors kick in.

BABY FACTORY

(Bahay Bata)

Philippines | Dir: Eduardo Roy Jr

[BABYF] | Tue. Oct 4, 6:45pm, Vancity Theatre
Wed. Oct 5, 1:15pm, Vancity Theatre

Eduardo Roy Jr's vivid debut feature is set entirely in and around a very busy hospital maternity ward in the run-up to Christmas. It's the fiction equivalent of a Frederick Wiseman institutional documentary, although the problems faced by one overstretched, underpaid nurse (Diana Zubiri) provide a central thread.

North American Premiere;
Guest in attendance

SEÑORITA

Philippines | Dir: Vincent Sandoval | View Trailer

[SENOR] | Sun. Oct 2, 9:30pm, Vancity Theatre
Mon. Oct 3, 4:00pm, Vancity Theatre

Vincent Sandoval's fine short, shown here last year, has blossomed into an excellent debut feature. The basic situation is unchanged: Sofia (played by Sandoval himself) is babysitting a teenage boy in Talisay but moonlights once a month as an expensive hooker in Manila. Now, though, Sofia's past comes back to haunt her in a violent struggle for the political future of her rural community.

WOMAN IN A SEPTIC TANK

(Babae sa Septic Tank)

Philippines | Dir: Marlon N. Rivera

[WOMAN] | Mon. Oct 3, 7:00pm, Vancity Theatre
Tue. Oct 4, 1:15pm, Vancity Theatre

Films about filmmaking are usually a bust, but Marlon Rivera's lacerating satire is a real exception. A hotshot young writer-director is setting up his "realist" masterpiece about a slum-dwelling woman who sells her young daughter into prostitution; he's already dreaming of all the festival prizes which will roll in. But there are issues about the casting, the financing, and ultimately the story itself...

International Premiere; Guest in attendance

Guest in attendance

FATIGUE

(Piro)

South Korea | Dir: Kim Dongmyung

[FATIQ] | Sun. Oct 2, 6:30pm, Vancity Theatre
Mon. Oct 3, 1:15pm, Vancity Theatre

Kim Dongmyung cites Claire Denis, Michael Haneke and Miike Takashi as the inspirations behind her superb indie feature, which anatomizes a marriage in crisis. The wife stays at home with the baby until she takes a job in a laundry; the husband works on one of President Lee Myungbak's absurd landscaping projects. The symptoms of imminent disaster become acute...

INVASION OF ALIEN BIKINI

South Korea | Dir: Oh Youngdoo

[INVAS] | Tue. Oct 4, 9:30pm, Vancity Theatre
Wed. Oct 5, 4:00pm, Vancity Theatre
Sat. Oct 8, 11:30pm, Granville #4

He's a self-appointed "city protector" (and litter collector) who rescues a woman he sees being attacked by three men. She's a predatory alien in a stolen body, which needs human sperm to survive. But he has sworn a vow of chastity... Oh Youngdoo's gleeful satire of schlock sci-fi is a total blast.

Canadian Premiere; Guest in attendance

BUDDHA MOUNTAIN

(Guanyin shan)

China | Dir: Li Yu

[BUDDH] | Sun. Oct 9, 11:40am, Granville #3
Mon. Oct 10, 9:00pm, Granville #3

Nan Feng (Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing) and two friends rent a room in the apartment of elegantly aging Beijing opera singer Yueqin (Sylvia Chang, superb). The rambunctious young renters soon discover their landlady's secret sorrows, as comedy becomes metaphysical journey. Director Li Yu combines powerful images with great performances, producing physical poetry with a Buddhist flavour.

Guest in attendance

THE SWORD IDENTITY

(Wokou zongji)

China | Dir: Xu Haofeng

[SWORD] | Tue. Oct 4, 6:45pm, Granville #7
Thu. Oct 6, 1:30pm, Granville #7

In the Ming dynasty, sword masters posing as Japanese pirates sneak into a town dominated by four wushu sects. But nothing is as it seems in Xu Haofeng's "anti-martial arts film." Swordplay is fast, brilliant and decisive in this intellectual comedy-homage, where woman dancers beat wushu adepts and non-action defeats action.

World Premiere; Guest in attendance

BIG BLUE LAKE

(Da lan hu)

Hong Kong | Dir: Jessey Tsang Tsui-shan

[BIGBL] | Tue. Oct 4, 9:15pm, Granville #4
Fri. Oct 7, 1:00pm, Cinémathèque
Fri. Oct 14, 1:30pm, Cinémathèque

Indie fiction films from HK are rare these days: a film as polished and moving as Jessey Tsang's portrait of her home village is precious indeed. When Lai Yee returns home to her ailing mother, she uncovers family secrets, remembered loves, and buried yearnings. A meditation on disappearing history that's graceful, melancholic and inspiring.

Guest in attendance

A SIMPLE LIFE

(Tao Jie)

Hong Kong | Dir: Ann Hui

[SIMPL] | Sun. Oct 2, 6:15pm, Granville #7
Mon. Oct 3, 3:30pm, Granville #7

A masterpiece of gently understated beauty, Ann Hui's drama of a retired maid (Deannie Yip) and her employer (Andy Lau) is as subtle, as realistic, and as profound as life itself. Career best performances from Yip and Lau grace as fine a statement on aging, compassion and grace as you're likely to see on screen.

North American Premiere

BELKIBOLANG

Indonesia | Dir: Agung Sentausa, Ifa Isfansyah, Tumpal Tampubolon, Rico Marpaung, Anggun Priambodo, Azhar Lubis, Wisnu Surya Pratama, Edwin, Sidi Saleh

[BELKI] | Sun. Oct 2, 12:15pm, Granville #5
Thu. Oct 6, 6:45pm, Cinémathèque

Nine smart young directors (one of them is Edwin, director of Blind Pig Wants to Fly) contribute episodes to Titien Wattimena's script about the night of New Year's eve in Jakarta. You couldn't better it as a spot-sample of life in Indonesia now: fresh and often funny, its vignettes range from unlikely friendships and eruptions of emotion to a looming divorce.

International Premiere

DENDERA

Japan | Dir: Tengan Daisuke

[DENDE] | Fri. Sep 30, 6:45pm, Granville #2
Tue. Oct 4, 4:00pm, Granville #7
Wed. Oct 12, 6:20pm, Granville #3

A blockbusting sequel to The Ballad of Narayama by Imamura's son Tengan Daisuke. The old women sent up the mountain to die instead form their own community (called Dendera)... and plan a revenge attack on the village below. But a huge marauding bear gets in their way. Great spectacle and suspense!

Canadian Premiere

I WISH

(Kiseki)

Japan | Dir: Kore-eda Hirokazu

[IWISH] | Sun. Oct 2, 3:30pm, Granville #7
Wed. Oct 5, 9:00pm, Granville #1

Two young brothers at opposite ends of Kyushu devise a magical plan to reunite their separated parents in Kore-eda Hirokazu's benign and superbly acted picture of family life. The opening of the new western extension of the bullet-train network provides an unexpected trigger for the plot. With guest appearances by Abe Hiroshi, Odagiri Joe and the late Harada Yoshio.

YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER

(Wu zhi xia nian)

Malaysia | Dir: Tan Chui Mui

[YEARW] | Sat. Oct 1, 12:30pm, Granville #6
Sat. Oct 8, 8:00pm, Granville #6
Sat. Oct 8, 8:00pm, Granville #6

Indie Malaysian director Tan Chui Mui's moonlit meditation on childhood memories is as beguiling as it is mysterious. When a singer returns to his rural seaside home to visit with his childhood friends, their reunion becomes an occasion for song, disappearance, sorrow and a wondrous magic mermaid.

International Premiere

North American Premiere

TRESPASSERS

(Bisperas)

Philippines | Dir: Jeffrey Jeturian

[TRESP] | Wed. Oct 5, 6:30pm, Cinémathèque
Thu. Oct 6, 3:45pm, Cinémathèque

Jeffrey Jeturian's first movie since The Bet Collector is a so-different social satire. A middle-class family in Manila is burgled while everyone is out attending a Nativity play and midnight mass on Christmas Eve. As the police investigate, family secrets and lies come tumbling out of the closet... Stars Tirso Cruz III, Raquel Villavicencio and Jennifer Sevilla.

THE DAY HE ARRIVES

(Bookchon Banghyang)

South Korea | Dir: Hong Sangsoo | View Trailer

[DAYHE] | Fri. Sep 30, 4:00pm, Cinémathèque
Tue. Oct 4, 7:00pm, Cinémathèque
Thu. Oct 6, 10:45am, Cinémathèque

No surprise that Hong Sangsoo's latest centres on drinking, social embarrassments, seductions and rejections, but Hong's wry accounts of male self-delusion and female resentments aren't always this sharp or funny. Seongjun (Yu Junsang) visits Seoul to see an old friend and runs into both his ex girlfriend and a potential new one. But is this his version of Groundhog Day?

North American Premiere
Guest in attendance

A TIME TO LOVE

(Aejeong Mansae)

South Korea | Dir: Boo Jiyoung, Yang Ikjune

[ATIME] | Sat. Oct 1, 9:00pm, Granville #4
Mon. Oct 3, 11:30am, Granville #4
Mon. Oct 10, 1:30pm, Cinémathèque

A pairing of two gripping mid-length dramas. Moonwalk by woman director Boo Jiyoung gets under the skin of a tragic, delusional mother. Immature by Yang Ikjune (his first since Breathless) shows a guy going through hell after he drunkenly beds a schoolgirl.

HONEY PUPU

(Xiaoshi dakan)

Taiwan | Dir: Chen Hung-I

[HONEY] | Sun. Oct 2, 9:00pm, Granville #3
Mon. Oct 3, 11:40am, Granville #3

Chen Hung-i's dazzling romantic-poetic-cybernetic ode to the past is set in a futuristic present-day Taipei. The film's tale of high-school friends in love and lust and loss whizzes by in an ecstatic rush of images and a flurry of eye-popping digital wizardry, but its heart, deeply felt, mourns the sacrifices that growing up demands. Winner, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Taipei 2011.

HEADSHOT

(Fon Tok Kuen Fah)

Thailand/France | Dir: Pen-ek Ratanaruang

[HEADS] | Sun. Oct 2, 9:30pm, Granville #7
Fri. Oct 7, 12:45pm, Granville #7

Pen-ek Ratanaruang's neo-noir thriller has a Buddhist spin. Ex-cop Tul becomes a hitman after being framed and jailed for refusing bribes, but the corrupt politicians and businessmen he targets want revenge. Can he attain enlightenment in a temple while evading their bullets? Smart, original and very, very stylish.

LOST IN PARADISE

(To Roi Hotboy Mat)

Vietnam | Dir: Vu Ngoc Dang

[LOSTI] | Thu. Sep 29, 9:15pm, Cinémathèque
Sun. Oct 2, 4:15pm, Cinémathèque

Vietnam's first gay feature is unsophisticated by international standards (too many ugly duckling metaphors!), but director Vu Ngoc Dang understands how being gay in a repressive society breeds crime and prostitution, and he catches the Saigon rent-boy scene quite accurately. He also knows how to make the most of his good-looking cast.

From 1996 until 2004 Simon Field was Director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. He is currently a director, along with Keith Griffiths, of the London production company Illuminations Films, the executive producers of the “New Crowned Hope” film series, which included films by Bahman Ghobadi, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Garin Nugroho, Tsai Ming-Liang and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. They are also the co-producers of Uncle Bonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2010. He is also a consultant to the Dubai International Film Festival.

Born in 1947 in Anshan, Manchuria, Ms Ann Hui earned a Masters degree in Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong and studied filmmaking at the London Film School. Upon her return to Hong Kong, she worked in television for four years before turning to features in 1979.  After her debut The Secret, she went on to make 16 features, including The Story of Wooviet (1981), Boat People (1982), Song of the Exile (1990), Summer Snow (1995), and Ordinary Heroes (1999). She was also involved in the production of several films including Yim Ho’s The Day the Sun Turned Cold (1995). She is the director of the award-dinning A Simple Life, screening in this year's VIFF.

Born in 1975 in South Korea, Yang Ikjune graduated from the Department of Entertainment & Acting at the Kongju Communication Arts College. As an actor, he has appeared in various films such as Maundy Thursday (2006, Song Haesung), Les formidables (2006, Cho Minho), and No Manners (2002, Cho Keunsik). He began his directing career with his short film Always Behind You (2005) and his first feature Breathless (2008) has received many awards from international film festivals. He is still both acting and directing.

Plenty of seats available

Seats still available, but get there early

Rush tickets at the door just before show time; advance tickets sold out