As it is
The logo of this year’s edition of Five Flavours Festival is a monkey’s face. That’s because, according to the Chinese zodiac, 2016 is the year of the Red Fire Monkey. This little detail shows how the organisers see their event – it’s supposed to be more than just a simple showcase of motion pictures, it’s to be an occasion to take in the culture of the Far East. And for the past nine editions, it has indeed been just that. Jakub Królikowski, the festival’s co-founder and director, says he wants to show ‘Asia as it is’ and avoid assuming ‘the perspective of a souvenir shop’. You can bet your money this won’t change this time around. This 10th edition of the festival will remain faithful to its format of presenting choice pictures rarely screened in Europe, ones that often don’t go into regular distribution, ones that show the Far East in an non-clichéd way. As always there’ll be plenty of additional events like meetings with filmmakers, Asian cuisine workshops and concerts by Asian musicians. The festival runs from 16th to 23rd November in Warsaw.
The Final Master, dir. Xu Haofeng, China, 2015, 109, photo: promo materials
A virus of the mind
Before we get into the details of the film programme, one thing needs to be said: every movie screened at the festival has English (and also Polish) subtitles. So no, you don’t have to be a polyglot to enjoy the dozens of films from several countries shown at Five Flavours. The diverse movie program is divided into seven sections. The main one, called New Asian Cinema, is a competition featuring contemporary indie pictures. The eleven productions involved are competing for a money prize granted by the Polish Film Institute.
Among them is Ten Years, a 2015 Hong Kong film made up of five novellas by different directors, presenting a dystopian vision of life in Hong Kong of the near future. Dubbed a ‘virus of the mind’ by the Chinese authorities, the fully independent film encountered serious censorship problems. Another competition picture is the Malaysian Interchange by Dain Said, a 2016 film noir set in Kuala Lumpur, in which an ex-policeman tries to unravel the mystery of a series of ritual murders linked to local legends. A Copy of My Mind, an Indonesian-South Korean co-production directed by Joko Anwar, is also on the competition roster. This 2015 political thriller tells the story of a romancing Jakarta couple caught up in an affair that disturbs a very unpleasant structure of power.
A Copy of My Mind, dir. Joko Anwar, Indonesia, South Korea, 2015, 116', photo: promo materials
Secrets from North Korea
A special mention should be made of the North Korean Cinema section. It includes 4 films from what is possibly the most secretive country on Earth. According to the organisers, one of them, The Small House on the Forefront, has never been screened outside of North Korea as of yet. This 2016 film by Pak Chol-hak is about an army doctor who serves his country with unparalleled dedication. The section also includes the 1986 Hong Kil-Dong by Kim Kil-in, a story about a 16th century swashbuckler with super powers who fights against the aristocratic system of his times. The screenplay is based on a classic tale of old, which some describe as a Korean equivalent of the Robin Hood story. The North Korean Cinema part of Five Flavours gives a unique, or better said very unique, opportunity to get in touch with films from that heavily isolated place.
Among the remaining sections are Sion Sono: A Portrait, a set of old and new films by the independent Japanese creator Sion Sono who’s primarily interested in the dark areas of his fellow citizens’ minds, as well as Fukushima, Five Years Later, a section of non-documentary films (e.g. a sci-fi one) addressing the issue of the recent nuclear catastrophe. The festival programme also includes genre movies like horrors and martial arts pictures. All screenings take place in two Warsaw cinemas, Muranów and Kinoteka.