Films from Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam will all be shown online as part of this year’s East Asia Film Festival. Now in its 5th year, this celebration of international cinema is well-embedded in the calendar in the fair city of film, but as with many festivals in our current climate, this year it will be made more widely available as it moves all online. The 2021 East Asia Film Festival will be available later this month on the IFI@Home player.
Taking place from March 25 – 28, the East Asia Film Festival Ireland 2021 aims to offer innovative, independent and inspiring cinema from East Asia. The festival presents films often otherwise unavailable from both emerging and established filmmakers. Fittingly, the film selected for 2021 are set to include themes of resilience, renewal and intimacy, echoing a sense and importance of belonging and identity in times of disruption, through personal choices, challenges and perspectives.
Guests including Tsai Ming-liang will be in attendance to participate in online Q&As throughout the festival. In addition to the new fare, a rare screening of the restored version of Edward Yang’s classic Taipei Story (1985) will be presented with a special interview with renowned sound editor/engineer/mixer Tu Duu-chih.
The films will be available to purchase throughout the festival on IFI@Home. The films have been divided thematically into price-saving bundles, ranging from Belonging and Identity, F-Rated, Taste of Taiwan, Family, Travel, and Experimental film. Rentals cost €7.50 individually.
Check out the full list of films on offer at the 2021 East Asia Film Festival below.
Thursday, 25th March
6pm ARISTOCRATS (Yukiko Sode, 2020)
(Opening Film, plus a Q&A with director, Yukiko Sode)
8.30pm MY VIETNAM (Tim Ellrich & Thi Hien Mai, 2020)
Friday, 26th March
6pm THE CLOUD IN HER ROOM (Zheng Lu Xinyuan, 2020)
plus Q&A with director Zheng Lu Xinyuan + Irish director Vanessa Gildea
8.30pm MOVING ON (Yoon Dan-bi, 2020)
With an introduction by director Yoon Dan-Bi
Saturday, 27th March
2pm HAPPY HOUR (Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI, 2015)
4pm TAIPEI STORY (Edward Yang, 1985)
plus Q&A with renowned sound editor/engineer/mixer TU Duu-chih and Professor Chris Berry.
6.30pm THE WITCHES OF THE ORIENT (Julien Faraut, 2021)
+ Q&A with the director, Julien Faraut and Tara Brady, The Irish Times
8.30pm JINPA (Pema Tseden)
Sunday, 28th March
2pm RAINING IN THE MOUNTAIN (King Hu, 1979)
4.30pm COME HERE (Anocha Suwichakornpong, 2021)
Screened with an introduction from Alice Butler & Daniel Fitzpatrick, co-directors of aemi, an Arts Council-funded organisation that supports and regularly exhibits moving image works by artists and experimental filmmakers.
6pm TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2020)
8.30pm DAYS (Tsai Ming-Liang, 2020)
(Closing film, + Q&A with Director, Tsai Ming-Liang and Professor Chris Berry)