Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival 2015

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過去のアジアフォーカス

1991 (1st)

1991Click on image to open festival catalogue pdf file.
HELD : 6th – 13th September, 1991
VENUES : Taiyo, Toei Palace, Solaria Cinema 2
EXHIBITION OF : 23 films from 10 nations and regions
ATTENDANCE: 10,724
OPENING FILM: Song of the Exile(1990/Hong Kong/Taiwan)

 This was the first year for the Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival, a film festival that features only Asian films. The first year of our film festival featured 8 films from the late Indian film director, G. Aravindan who passed away in March, 1991. Of the 8 films, one was specially made to appeal to children. The retrospective exhibition was joined by its distinguished guests including the son of the late G. Aravindan, and Shaji N. Karun, a director of photography. A unique feature of holding Q&A sessions after film screenings, began with our first festival.
As the opening film, Song of the Exile, an autobiographical film by Ann Hui, was shot in Yufuin, Kyushu, a number of the production staff involved in the shooting were also invited up on stage to be greeted. At the Q&A session of The Last Princess of Manchuria(Kawashima Yoshiko), a member of the audience recalled meeting the real Yoshiko Kawashima in the past. Such events turned out to once again prove the long and close relationship between Asia and Kyushu.

 The 13 films shown in the “Excellent Films of Asia” section of the festival, unintentionally turned out to be a collection of motion pictures dealing with the separation of family and the loss of one`s hometown. Problems facing Asia today were explicitly depicted in such films as Gilsodom, Banana Paradise, The Immigrants and The Cyclist. At the same time, these films demonstrated what cinema could do for our society. From the Democratic People°s Republic of Korea came an academic film, The Land of the Equestrian People, Vol.3:Kogury. The director of the film and Im Kwon-Taek, a film director from the Republic of Korea, hugged each other at a party sponsored by the film festival. Such was the type of exchange witnessed between people in the film industry at our festival. 3 films were introduced in the “Films for Children” section of our festival. Among them was My Sky, My Home which later was screened at the Iwanami Hall in Tokyo. These films did not have Japanese subtitles. Instead, actors and actresses from a local theatrical company recited the dialog in Japanese to the audience.

 The festival held a symposium entitled “Do People in the Asian Film Industry Really Understand Asian Films?” At the symposium, film directors, film critics and others in the film industry from 10 Asian countries and regions, held a heated discussion covering such subjects as the role of cinema in Asian culture, difficulties encountered in filmmaking, and trends making the viewing of films from neighboring countries difficult. At a talk session held under the theme of “Asian Culture Depicted in Film”, a Indian film director Sai Paranjpye proposed that Fukuoka establish a library of Asian films, a suggestion that led to the future establishment of the Fukuoka City Public Library Film Archive.

PROGRAM FOR 1991

Preserved
and part of the Fukuoka City Public Library Film Archive Collection
ARAVINDANUfS RETROSPECTIVE
Golden Sita Dir. G.Aravindan 1977/India/Color/87min.
The Circus Tent Dir. G.Aravindan 1978/India/B & W/129min.
The Bogey-Man Dir. G.Aravindan 1979/India/Color/88min.
Stephen Dir. G.Aravindan 1979/80/India/Color/93min.
Twilight Dir. G.Aravindan 1981/India/Color/108min.
Chidambaram Dir. G.Aravindan 1985/India/Color/103min.
The Dispossessed Dir. G.Aravindan 1990/India/Color/102min.
EXCELLENT FILMS OF
ASIA
The Cyclist Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf 1989/Iran/Color/83min.
The Immigrants Dir. Sai Paranjpye 1990/India/Color/135min.
Roro Mendut Dir. Ami Priyono 1982/Indonesia/Color/107min.
How I Long for October Dir. Dang Nhat Minh 1984/Vietnam/B & W/86min.
Li Lian-Ying, The Imperial Eunuch Dir. Tian Zhuang-Zhuang 1990/China/Hong Kong/Color/106min.
Song of the Exile Dir. Ann Hui 1990/Hong Kong/Taiwan/Color/100min.
Kawashima Yoshiko Dir. Eddie Fong 1990/Hong Kong/Color/97min.
Banana Paradise Dir. Wang Tong 1989/Taiwan/Color/145min.
The Land of Eouestrian People, Koguryo Dir. Pak Kil-Su
Dir. Song Chi-Guk
1990/Korea DPR/Japan/Color/70min.
Gilsodom Dir. Im Kwon-Taek 1985/Korea/Color/101min.
Yumeji Dir. Seijun Suzuki 1991/Japan/Color/128min.
World Apartment Horror Dir. Katsuhiro Otomo 1991/Japan/Color/97min.
Romance of the Three Kingdom Dir. Tomoharu Katsumata 1991/Japan/Color/137min.
FILMS FOR CHILDREN
The Catch
– Naming Ceremony
Dir. G.Aravindan 1984ª85/India/Color/29min.
Dir. N.Madhavan Pillai 1991/India/Color/9min.
My Sky, My Home Dir. Slamet Rahardjo Djarot 1989/Indonesia/Color/105min.
Oseam Dir. Park Chul-Soo 1990/Korea/Color/115min.

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