The idea behind the program was born from the our passion for Eastern cinema and culture, together with the awareness that, in Southern Italy, Asia is often object of misunderstandings, stereotypes and prejudices that don’t do justice to its richness.

The differences between the many Asian countries are deep and complex. However, they are too often observed through Western critical perspectives. We want to offer a film program able to narrate Asia from the point of view of those who directly experience it, to stimulate the interest to explore the stories and the traditions from these countries.

For the second edition, we selected 15 films, from China, Korea, Japan, India, Lebanon, Singapore, and Thailand.

The programming team chose the films based on their originality, quality, and ability to show and tell a relevant aspect of their culture.

In the selection we tried to represent different genres, including animation, documentary, dramatic stories and comedies.

The themes that emerged were diverse and varied, although a recurring theme was that of marginalization: social, economic, climate. Almost all the protagonists of the films we chose live on the margins of their context, observing a changing world that often proves merciless toward them.

We have selected three feature films from India to close each day of the festival, with three independent works from three different languages, regions and film industries: Malayalam, Bengali and Hindi.

Each title represents a different genre (documentary, sci-fi mockumentary and fiction) allowing us to show the quality of Indian cinema outside of Bollywood. With different languages and styles, the three films Delhi Dream, Gaganachari, and The Man and the Cloud chronicle the conditions in India and two of its most important cities (Delhi and Kolkata), social and climatic changes, struggles to fight gentrification, and the will to not just survive, but to really live.