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Pramana Asian Film Festival 2022

PRAMANA ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

EDITION 2022

THE REPORT

The first edition of Pramana Asian Film Festival was held in Cine Teatro Metropolitano of Reggio Calabria from the 13th to the 15th of April 2022: a wonderful adventure that allowed us to screen 23 films from 17 different countries of the Asian continent for our community.

The hundred seats made available by the hall were filled by a heterogeneous and always renewed audience, including many young people, a sign that our city is hungry for novelty and cultural programming alternative to the mainstream circuit.

It was very important for us to start a dialogue with the local organizations who are committed in the territory and share our social and cultural battle: representatives from ArciGay Reggio Calabria, music club Interzone, Circolo del Cinema Zavattini and La Guarimba International Film Festival came to visit us. 

We met a lot of new people, with whom we discussed the films seen together and how we could improve in the future.

We planted a first seed with the hope of being able to grow and improve, edition after edition, and become a solid and sustainable reality in the Calabrian cultural scene.

THE PROGRAM

23 films produced in 17 different Asian countries were screened, selected from the 303 titles from 40 countries that participated in the selection.

Among the works chosen, 9 were Italian premieres and 8 European premieres.

Among the 17 countries represented, nations with little representation in international production circuits were also included, such as Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Taiwan and Syria.

The programming team viewed the films and composed a program capable of showing an authentic Asia, told directly by those who live it, to arouse an interest in learning more about the stories and traditions of those countries.

The films were chosen on the basis of their quality, their originality and their ability to tell a relevant aspect of their culture. We tried to diversify the selection, including animation, documentary, musical, contemporary stories and tales of a distant past.

We have chosen to include strong and necessary themes for the contemporary world, both Eastern and Western, such as the political repression by the police, racism and cultural integration, the conflict between progress and traditions, homosexuality, the disruptive power of capitalism.  

A recurring theme in many films has been the generational conflict and social pressure that young people in many Asian countries – like Europe – are forced to endure, and their reactions to the authorities.

The first evening ended with the European preview of the Korean musical film Daughter of the Wind, set at the end of the Japanese-Korean conflict and full of symbolism and references to the cultures of the two countries.

The festival closed with another European premiere screening: 4 SUM, an Indian feature film set in the suburbs of New Delhi, characterized by raw realism and a powerful visual language that impressed the audience.

OFFICIAL SELECTION 2022

A STRANGE SEASON
Bir Garip Mevsim

Director: Burak Oguz Saguner
Turkey | 2021 | 10′ 
Language: Turkish

A marriage that spans over half a century cracks when the husband gets plagued by paranoia.

AN ORDINARY DAY

يوم عادي جداً

Director: Anas Zawahri
Syria/Palestine | 2020 | 18′
Language: Arabic 

A taxi driver scams his way through his customers to earn extra pennies.

BEYOND
Us Par

Director: Awais Gohar
Pakistan | 2020 | 8′ 
Language: Urdu

Waiting for his death sentence, a prisoner receives a surprising gift before his execution.

CA$H

一万八

Director: Tan Wei Ting
Singapore | 2018 | 12′ 
Language: Mandarin Chinese 

Four cashiers stage a revolt in protest at the prospect of losing their jobs to a cashless system. 

DAUGHTER OF THE WIND

바람의 아이

Director: Dongmyeong Kim
Republic of Korea | 2021 | 75′
Language: Korean 

A Japanese and a Korean girl, affected by the war beetween their countries, develop a friendship.

FLEE
 

Director: Xinyi Hong
UK/China | 2021 | 22′ 
Language: Mandarin Chinese

An eight-year-old girl lives with her grandma after the divorce of her parents. One night, she decides to flee.

I DON’T FEEL AT HOME 
ANYWHERE ANYMORE

Director: Viv Li
Belgium/China | 2021 | 15′ 
Language: Mandarin Chinese 

A Chinese girl returns home after studying abroad, only to realize how uprooted she has become.

LEILA

 

Director: Hady Bitar
Lebanon | 2020 | 9′
Language: Lebanese 

A teenager is abandoned by her family after being raped. While working at a cabaret, she seeks her avenge.

LIFELINE: THE BROTHERS WHO HOLD THE SAME BREATH

Director: Abdullah Şahin
Turkey | 2021 | 20′ 
Language: Turkish

A story of Abel Cain set in modern times.

MANGO MEETS MEAT

三層仔

Director: Yang Meng-Huan
Taiwan | 2020 | 25′ 
Language: Mandarin and Taiwanese

A man tracks down his missing father, looking for the ancient memory of a lost dish.

MERGEN

Мерген

Director: Raiymbek Alzhanov
Kazhakistan| 2021| 26′
Language: Kazhak

A young boy must defend his family in the place of his absent father. He will do so with courage, thanks to a mystical gift from his grandmother.

NANTONG NIGHTS

丑夜

Directors: Emma Qian Xu, Léopold Dewolf
France/China | 2021 | 12′ 
Language: Mandarin and Nantong dialect

An e-drive, drives drunk customers to their homes every night. A mysterious passenger asks him to be taken to the police station.

PERM

Director: Shekh Al Mamun
Republic of Korea | 2021 | 30′ 
Language: Korean

A Bangladesh woman married to a Korean farmer has to face the traditional values in a conservative household.

PUZZLED PATH

迷途

Director: Kenneth Ma
US/Hong Kong | 2021| 22′
Language: Cantonese 

A retired-cop father and a reporter son are not in good terms. On a day of an extreme protest, the two finds their way back to each other.

SUNDAY

 

Director: Arun Fulara
India | 2020 | 10′ 
Language: Hindi 

As a man makes his regular visit to a nearby barber shop, he can’t wait to be touched by the new barber-boy he has a crush on.

SUSAM

Director: Sami Morhayim
Turkey | 2021 | 18′ 
Language: Turkish

A Turkish-Jewish family faces a series of dilemmas on the morning of Susam’s Bar-mitzvah ceremony.

THE CAPTURED

 

Director: Rongqi Huang
China | 2021| 22′
Lingua: Mandarin Chinese 

Two blacksheeps return home for an arranged marriage by their families. As they reveal their dark secrets, the two finds love in their struggling life.

THE EXPOSURE TIME

露光時間

Director: Yosuke Sumi
Japan | 2021 | 15′ 
Language: Japanese 

A young woman is depressed after her sister passes away. One day, she starts to see her and tries to take picture of the vision.

THE LAST FERRY FROM GRASS ISLAND

Director: Linhan Zhang
Hong Kong | 2020 | 14′ 
Language: Cantonese and Mandarin 

A retired hitman lives on the peaceful Grass Island. One day, his Chinese apprentice shows up, tasked to kill him.

THE MINIATURIST OF JUNAGADH

Director: Kaushal Oza
India | 2021| 29′
Language: Hindi, Urdu 

An old Indian painter has to flee to Pakistan. The fate of his miniature collection is unknown because of a stone-hearted business man.

THE WINTER PARADE

Director: Zhen Li
China/US | 2021 | 6′ 
Language: silent 

It’s the year end. Lifeless beings on a train ride come to rejoice in a funeral parade while a trespasser leaves something behind.

TO THE BEACH

去海边

Director: Kaihan Huang
China | 2021 | 34′ 
Language: Mandarin Chinese

A family is forced to be together during the pandemic. The son hoped it would be nice to see each other every day.

4 SUM

 

Director: Neeraj Gwal
India | 2021| 97′
Language: Hindi 

Drugs and alcohol lead a normal day in the lives of college students to unexpected turns. Will there be tomorrow?

CREDITS

FESTIVAL DIRECTION: Simone Colistra

PROGRAMMING TEAM: Federica Buccheri, Simone Colistra, Margherita Monti, Haejee Park

GRAPHIC DESIGN: Giada Puccinelli

OFFICIAL POSTER: Valeria Weerasinghe

TRANSLATION AND SUBTITLES: Simone Colistra, Stefano Colistra

SOCIAL MEDIA: Ruggero Anastasio

FRONT OFFICE: Sara De Giorgi

SCREENING AND LIGHTS: Giorgia Megliola

PHOTOS: GianCarlo Pedà

The first edition of Pramana Asian Film Festival received the Patronage of Comune di Reggio Calabria, Città Metropolitana di Reggio Calabria, Università degli Studi Mediterranea, and Cral dell’Università Mediterranea. 

PARTNERS: La Guarimba International Film Festival (Calabria), ShortCuts (France).