Source: Terracotta Distribution Official Site: terracottafestival.com Special Thanks to Claire Marty For the first time in its four year history, Terracotta Festival is expanding its successful London residency of current Asian cinema showcase to selected venues in the UK.
The touring festival will kick off at the Cornerhouse cinema in Manchester on September 19th, followed by the Watershed in Bristol and will continue through October at the Genesis in London as well as dates in Brighton and Nottingham. More cities will be announced on the festival website. Organisers are bringing a shortened programme of five contemporary films offering a taster of the best in current cinema in the Far East. There will be two Japanese films, including ISN`T ANYONE ALIVE? which marks the return of Sogo Ishii to filmmaking after a 10 year absence, and crowd-pleasing comedy THE WOODSMAN AND THE RAIN. Also in the line-up, two Korean films of different genres: pan-Asian WW2 blockbuster MY WAY and dark animation THE KING OF PIGS. And the docu-drama RETURN TO BURMA which gives the audience a rare insider perspective into ordinary life in this fascinating and topical country. Continuing its support of films and emerging film-makers from across the Far East, Terracotta Festival has been curating and exhibiting a selection of films from Asia for four years. With a selection of hand-picked films from the best of each year’s vintage, organisers bring quality and entertaining Far East cinema to the UK. Also discovering less known regions and cultures through films has been a goal for the organisers and widening the audience to a larger scale seemed a natural development. MY WAY (????, Mai Wei) Director: Kang Je-kyu / starring Jang Dong-gun, Joe Odagiri, Fan Bingbing / War Epic / Korea / 2011 / 137 mins / Korean, Japanese, Russian with English subtitles / cert 18
The most ambitious and expensive film coming from South Korea directed by box office champion Kang Je-Kyu (Brotherhood: Taegukgi, Shiri), MY WAY is an explosive epic war drama spanning Japan, Korea, China, Russian gulags and the beaches of Normandy, packed with high octane action and heart-breaking emotion that tells, for the first time, the story of the Second World War from a Korean point of view. Official selection Berlin Film Festival 2012/ Opening film Terracotta Far East Film Festival KING OF PIGS (??? ?, Dae Gi Eui Wang) Director: Yeun Sang-ho / starring Yang Ik-june, Oh Jung-sae, Kim hye-na, Kim Kkobbi / Animated Drama / South Korea /2011 / 97 mins / Korean with English subtitles After his business goes bankrupt, a man kills his wife impulsively. Hiding his anger, he seeks out his former middle school classmate. For the first time in 15 years they meet and hiding, their own current situations, talk about their school days. At school, they were classified by their wealth and grades. Both at the bottom of the pile, they were known as the “pigs” and were bullied by a ruling class of “dogs”. This bullying led to a harrowing incident at the school, and they return to the site where the most shocking truth of what happened there is finally revealed. Official selection Edinburgh Film Festival 2012 ISN’T ANYONE ALIVE? (????????????, Ikiteru Mono Inai Noka) Director: Sogo Ishii / starring Shota Somentani, Murakami Jun, Mai Takahashi / Black Comedy / Japan / 2011 / 113 mins / Japanese with English subtitles / cert 15
Gakuryu Ishii (aka Sogo Ishii) has been amusing us with his talent of totally overstepping genre boundaries with striking images and music. In his latest feature film he has adapted the Shiro Maeda play Isn’t Anyone Alive, an avant-garde story of 18 young students dying one after another. Official selection Edinburgh Film Festival 2012/ Fantasia Film Festival 2012 RETURN TO BURMA (????, Gui Lai De Ren) Director: Midi Z / starring Wang Shin-Hong, Lu Jiun / Documentary Drama / Taiwan, Burma / 2011/ 84 mins / Mandarin and Burmese with English subtitles / cert 12 After decades of military rule, Burma has finally held its first presidential election. Many Burmese living abroad believe that peace and prosperity will soon follow. Wang Xing-Hong, who is living as an immigrant labourer in Taiwan, comes back. He feels like a stranger in a foreign land with the bleak employment and social situation there. This docu-drama shows scenes of every day life in an insular country which, this year, finds itself in the international spotlight. Official selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2012/ Los Angeles Film Festival 2012 THE WOODSMAN AND THE RAIN (??????, Kitsutsuki to Ame) Director: Shuichi Okita / starring Koji Yakusho (13 Assassins)., Shun Oguri(Gaku, Crows Zero) / Comedy / Japan /2011 / 100 mins / Japanese with English subtitles
Katsu, a 60 year-old lumberjack, lives in a small, tranquil village in the mountains. When a film crew suddenly arrives to shoot a zombie movie, he finds himself unwittingly roped into assisting the production. However, an improbable friendship soon develops between Katsu and the young director Koichi, as he comes to see joy in the filmmaking process, and gradually helps Koichi to recover his sense of self. Soon, their bond inspires an unusual collaboration between the villagers and the film crew. Venues and dates confirmed, more tbc: Cornerhouse: 70 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 5NH 19th September: Return to Burma 22nd September: My Way 25th September: Isn’t anyone alive 27th September: The King of Pigs Watershed: 1 Canon`s Road, Harbourside, Bristol, BS1 5TX 24th September: My Way 25th September: Isn’t anyone alive 27th September: The King of Pigs 26th September: Return to Burma Genesis Cinema: 93-95 Mile End Road, London E1 4UJ Tuesday 02 October: My Way Tuesday 09 October: The King of Pigs Tuesday 16 October: The Woodsman and the Rain Tuesday 23 October: Return to Burma Tuesday 30 October: Isn’t anyone alive
About Terracotta Festival
Committed to bringing quality and entertaining Far East films to the UK, the Terracotta Far East Film Festival is an annual event aiming to widen the audience for Far Eastern film in the UK and to further promote this genre to existing film fans. With a stunning line-up of films hand-picked from the best of the region, encompassing diverse genres from comedy to drama to horror and everything in between, exclusive cast and crew Q&As, intro’s, masterclasses and parties.
About Terracotta Distribution
Terracotta Distribution is committed to bringing quality and entertaining Far East films to the UK. Releases by Terracotta Distribution include the multi-award winning BREATHLESS directed by Yang Ik-june, Johnnie To’s SPARROW and most recently ARIRANG by Kim Ki-duk. A new imprint label TERROR-COTTA devoted to Asian horror and thrillers was recently launched with DEATH BELL.