Irish Film Institute -SIXTH EAST ASIA FILM FESTIVAL IRELAND RETURNS IN-CINEMA, ONLINE AND ON TOUR

SIXTH EAST ASIA FILM FESTIVAL IRELAND RETURNS IN-CINEMA, ONLINE AND ON TOUR

March 4th 2022: The sixth edition of the East Asia Film Festival Ireland (EAFFI) returns in-cinema and online this year, bringing innovative and inspiring East Asian cinema to IFI screens; online nationwide on IFI@Home; and on tour in venues in Galway, Cork and Limerick. Drama, documentary, Japanese New Wave cinema, and self-reflexive video essay are on offer, with great value multi-film bundles available. Tickets are now on sale from www.ifi.ie and www.ifihome.ie.

Commenting on this year’s in-cinema and online programme, the festival’s Artistic and Programming Director Marie-Pierre Richard said, ‘Another year of the festival, and another year of wonderful support from the Arts Council and the Irish Film Institute. This year, we are thrilled to have had the opportunity to invite Chris Berry, Department of Film Studies at King’s College London, and film producer in Taipei, Chuti Chang, both who have been invaluable advisers to the festival, to curate two new features for the programme. Despite all the madness in the world, it’s wonderful to see the vitality and diversity of East Asian cinema with so many insightful and universal stories of human endeavour and strength and this year, we are also thrilled to be able to tour films from the programme in venues in Galway, Cork and Limerick. Enjoy!’

The festival opens with Hong Sangsoo’s witty In Front of Your Face, in which protagonist Sangok, played by Lee Hye-young, adjusts to life back in Seoul after living in the US. This pared-back character study of a middle-aged former actress is full of light and simplicity, alongside the gravity of everyday conversation. Screening on Friday 1st, Longman Leung’s new biopic Anita follows Hong Kong Cantopop icon Anita Mui, from her early rise to stardom to her death from cervical cancer at aged 40; Anita was the closing film at the Busan International Film Festival 2021 and has been a Box Office hit in Hong Kong across 2021.

In classics, Pale Flower screens on Saturday 2nd in stunning 4K, freshly restored from the original 35mm negative by the Shochiku Company, in cooperation with the Japan Foundation. Masahiro Shinoda’s classic film noir forms part of the Japanese New Wave cinema of the 1960s, and takes inspiration from yakuza gangster thrillers. Shot on immaculate black and white CinemaScope, and with a jazz score by composer Toru Takemitsu, this 1964 gem is visually and narratively thrilling.

Also screening on Saturday 2nd are White Building, Cambodian director Kavich Neang’s film draws on his personal history to talk about the capital city of Phnom Penh, addressing intergenerational, spiritual, local and global tensions, and Ripples of Life, Wei Shujun’s second feature which follows a film crew on location in the remote town of Yong’an in southern China, showing us three chapters of filmmaking, satire, and the thrill of a local restaurant owner standing in as the movie star. Dear Tenant follows piano teacher and gay man Jian-Yi Lian (Best Actor, Taipei Golden Horse Awards, 2020), who is the tenant of a rooftop apartment owned by elderly Mrs Chou, who is suffering from late-stage diabetes. Both White Building and Dear Tenant are available to rent online on IFI@Home for the duration of the festival.

Screening on Sunday 3rd and online throughout the festival are I Was A Simple Man, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and tells the story of Masao (Steve Iwamoto), an elderly man of Japanese descent who lives alone in Hawaii, and closing film The Real Thing, Kōji Fukada’s (A Girl Missing, EAFFI Selection 2020) 232-minute drama about a chance encounter between a young businessman and a woman in distress. Jet Lag, the new film from Zheng Lu Xinyuan (The Cloud In Her Room, EAFFI selection 2021) also screens in-cinema on the 3rd. Shot in the middle of lockdown, Xinyuan captures family stories with imagery of travel and displacement in a black and white video essay.

The festival will also feature a number of directors’ Q&As available to watch on eaffi.ie and IFI@Home as bonus content.

EAFFI 2022 films are now available to pre-order from www.ifi.ie/eaffi-2022. Individual films cost €11.50 for IFI Members; €13 for non-Members. In-cinema festival bundles are available, offering all 9 films for €80, and 4 for €40 – available only from the IFI Box Office or over the phone on (01) 679 3477. Online rentals cost €7.50, with an IFI@Home bundle available.

EAST ASIA FILM FESTIVAL IRELAND 2022 SCHEDULE:
IFI IN-CINEMA
THURSDAY MARCH 31st
18.30 – In Front of your Face 

FRIDAY APRIL 1st
20.20 – Anita

SATURDAY APRIL 2nd
13.50 – Pale Flower
16.00 – White Building*
18.00 – Ripples of Life
20.30 – Dear Tenant*

SUNDAY APRIL 3rd
13.50 – I Was A Simple Man*
16.00 – Jet Lag
18.30 – The Real Thing*

IFI@HOME NATIONWIDE*
THURSDAY MARCH 31st – SUNDAY APRIL 3rd
White Building
Dear Tenant
I Was A Simple Man
The Real Thing

ON TOUR IN-CINEMA
Pálás | Galway – April 3rd & 5th – https://palas.ie/
Belltable | Limerick – April 5th – https://limetreetheatre.ie/
Triskel | Cork – April 9th – https://triskelartscentre.ie/cinema/

For more information and images contact Casey Hynes at the IFI Press Office at chynes@irishfilm.ie, and Marie-Pierre Richard at EAFFI at mprichard@eaffi.ie.

The East Asia Film Festival Ireland would like to thank the Arts Council, RTÉ Supporting the Arts, Screen Ireland, the Irish Film Institute, and all its sponsors and partners for their invaluable support.

The IFI acknowledges the support of the Arts Council.

IFI CINEMAS TODAY


The IFI is supported
by The Arts Council

Arts Council of Ireland