Asian cinema is about more than just kung fu and meditation. Its other, wilder, livelier, more passionate and more accessible sides will be featured yet again in this year’s Eastern Promises section, an inseparable part of the Art Film Fest programme. From June 21 to 26 in Trenčín and Trenčianske Teplice, film fans will be treated to another round of outstanding pictures that can’t be seen at mainstream Slovak cinemas.
Films from Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong – from comedies, romances, thrillers and gangster movies to action-packed brawlers – have long found a home among Art Film Fest’s audiences. “Viewers welcome the opportunity to see films with a different style and poetics that distinguishes them from familiar European and American cinema,” said the section’s programmers Adrián Žiška and Kristína Aschenbrennerová.
“The first year we described the section as ‘Asian cinematic cuisine’. To extend that metaphor, one could say that we’re not just talking snake’s blood and rice porridge, but rather a wide range of flavours that simply must be tasted,” they added.
For audiences well-versed in Asian cinema, Eastern Promises offers the opportunity to see the best the continent has to offer, and newcomers will get a singular look into an exotic world of film.
One of the section’s most anticipated films is the South Korean gangster flick New World, telling the story of an undercover cop who infiltrates the ranks of a powerful gang. Naturally this includes large-scale battles, but as is typical of the genre, they aren’t just going through the motions – the fights are thrillingly choreographed spectacles.
The intense atmosphere will be followed by romance with the Taiwanese comedy When a Wolf Falls in Love with a Sheep. The film’s two main characters are unquestionably weird, and their atypical stance attitude towards life, and especially towards work, lead to numerous enchanting situations. Unable to get over his ex-girlfriend, our young protagonist moves near the school where she studies, hoping to find someone else – and he does: a girl who draws little sheep and counts airplanes. But the rising flames of their love and the first kiss that seals it play second fiddle to the rest of the story…
Proof that dreams can be fulfilled at any age is offered by the Chinese film Full Circle. A cheerful crew of old-age pensioners are training hard for their upcoming appearance in a televised competition, while also planning an escape from their retirement home. This extraordinary road movie is a journey full of ups and downs, a story about friendship and most of all about how when one retires, life by no means ends.
Motion pictures from the most prestigious international festivals, the latest films from the studios of major directors, hot new Slovak releases and extraordinary works of cinema from faraway lands. The best and most remarkable films of world and Slovak cinema will be featured at the upcoming 21st edition of Art Film Fest, held from 21 to 26 June 2013 in Trenčianske Teplice and Trenčín. The six-week movie marathon will treat audiences to exclusive premiere screenings of films never before seen in Slovakia. For more information, visit artfilmfest.sk.
Organizers: ART FILM, n.o., FORZA, a.s.
Co-organizers: The Town of Trenčianske Teplice, the City of Trenčín, Kúpele Trenčianske Teplice
Financial support: Audiovisual Fund
Main sponsors: FORSONO HOLDING LIMITED, SYNOT TIP, TEMPEST, SLOVNAFT
Logistics sponsor: DHL
Student cinepasses for only €5 provided by: Prvá stavebná sporiteľňa
Sponsors: PPC Power, Slovak Telekom, Barzzuz
Official suppliers: Moët, ad one
Main media sponsors: Slovak Radio and Television, Pravda, Rádio FM
Media sponsors: TA 3, Film Europe Channel, Central Europe Television, Rádio Europa 2, zoznam.sk, rozhovory.sk, Eurotelevízia, Pardon, OK!, Kinečko, Kam do mesta, Slovak Lines, GONG SK, SITA News Agency
Sponsors: the European Commission Representation in Slovakia, CzechTourism
