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SeaShorts Film Festival is set to debut in Malacca this 25th to 29th September. Now in its third edition, the annual affair will host as usual a fresh line-up of works from emerging and established directorial talents in Southeast Asia and beyond for a celebration of short film.

An initiative of Next New Wave, visitors can expect a weeklong series of film screenings, forums, masterclasses, and other activities associated with movie production. SeaShorts’ diversity is evident in SExpress, a presentation of guest programmes specially curated to showcase the many local filmmaking scenes of the region. Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia are the ten countries in the spotlight.

The Festival will also once again see directors vying for glory in two competition categories. Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner, Lav Diaz of the Philippines, heads the jury for the SeaShorts Award, which recognises Southeast Asian short films.

Little did Ng Ka-leung knew back in 2015 when he was producing the omnibus “Ten Years”, of the impact his film would have, both as a separate entity and, as of now, as a project that has Thailand, Japan and Taiwan producing their own editions of the movie, following in the steps of the original Hong Kong one. This time, we will deal with the Thai one, which is comprised of four segments that implement an approach much more surrealistic than the original one.

“Ten Years Thailand” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

Aditya Assarat’s “Sunset” deals with censorship, in a world where the concept has been fully accepted by the public, and is actually implemented by a kind of a thought police.

Assarat shows the ridiculousness of the concept, by having the people in charge forcing a gallery owner to take some photos down for a truly mundane reason.

Little did Ng Ka-leung knew back in 2015 when he was producing the omnibus “Ten Years”, of the impact his film would have, both as a separate entity and, as of now, as a project that has Thailand, Japan and Taiwan producing their own editions of the movie, following in the steps of the original Hong Kong one. This time, we will deal with the Thai one, which is comprised of four segments that implement an approach much more surrealistic than the original one.

“Ten Years Thailand” is screening at Five Flavours Festival

Aditya Assarat’s “Sunset” deals with censorship, in a world where the concept has been fully accepted by the public, and is actually implemented by a kind of a thought police.

Assarat shows the ridiculousness of the concept, by having the people in charge forcing the gallery owner to take some photos down for a truly mundane reason.

Japanese multihyphenate Kiko Sugino (“Snow Woman”) will produce an omnibus film directed by seven women from Asian countries, the project’s executive producer Kousuke Ono (“Kinki”) revealed at the Platform Busan forum on Sunday. Ono was participating in a discussion on Asian omnibus films moderated by Busan International Film Festival Asian cinema programmer Kim Young-woo. Another omnibus film, “21st Century Girl,” produced by U-ki Yamato (“Drowning Love”), is a collection of 14 eight-minute shorts by women directors, including one by Yamato herself. The film will have its world premiere at the Tokyo Film Festival in November.

At the discussions, producers and directors of omnibus films spoke about the challenges of making and distributing what is effectively a niche sub-genre in Asia. The current trend of producing omnibus films in Asia was kicked off by 2015’s “Ten Years,” a deeply political collection of five shorts that envisaged Hong Kong 10 years in the...

Little did Ng Ka-leung knew back in 2015 when he was producing the omnibus “Ten Years”, of the impact his film would have, both as a separate entity and, as of now, as a project that has Thailand, Japan and Taiwan producing their own editions of the movie, following in the steps of the original Hong Kong one. This time, we will deal with the Thai one, which is comprised of four segments that implement an approach much more surrealistic than the original one.

Aditya Assarat’s “Sunset” deals with censorship, in a world where the concept has been fully accepted by the public, and is actually implemented by a kind of a thought police.

Assarat shows the ridiculousness of the concept, by having the people in charge forcing the gallery owner to take some photos down for a truly mundane reason. The mistrust towards foreigners is also presented, although the...

The eyes of the whole world keep turning towards Asia, whose political and cultural significance rapidly increases year by year. Once again, Five Flavours invites you to discover Asian reality from the inside. The Festival is a perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in gripping pop culture, take part in heated debates about the crucial social changes, and to see the works of renown masters of cinema.

Year of the dog

Following the tradition of the previous years, the visual identification of the Festival is inspired by the lunar calendar. 2018 is the year of the Dog, which symbolizes honesty, loyalty, openness to dialog, and a joyful, friendly nature.

Asian Cinerama

Since 2007, Five Flavours teams up with Asian Film Awards Academy, the institution supporting the promotion of high quality commercial cinema from Asia. The result of this collaboration is a section made up of stunning genre cinema, and the newest hits by renown filmmakers,...

“Ten Years Thailand” an anthology of shorts by Thai directors Aditya Assarat, Wisit Sasanatieng, Chulayarnnon Siriphol and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, imagines what happens to their country, ruled by a military junta since 2014, a decade from now. Opening with George Orwell’s famous line in “1984”: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past,” a common theme in the anthology is mind control for the purpose of producing homogeneity. Drolly absurdist, but only average in inventiveness, and lacking the truly pungent satirical wit of a similar dystopian omnibus like “Tales From the Golden Age,” these vignettes will nonetheless make the rounds at plenty of festivals thanks to the cache of 2010 Palme d’Or winner Weerasethakul.

The Thai, Hong Kong and Japanese co-production is spearheaded by the producers and sales agents of Hong Kong omnibus “Ten Years,” whose dystopian vision of post-handover Hong Kong was banned in...

Thailand has announced the first foreign movies to have successfully accessed the country’s new filming financial incentive scheme: comedic drama “Changeland,” directed by and starring Seth Green, and multinational action film “Triple Threat,” directed by Jesse Johnson. The two productions tapped into the new scheme and received payment after shooting in locations and studios in Thailand.

The incentive system was announced in Cannes in 2016 after years of lobbying at different levels of the Thai and international industry. The incentive for qualifying productions starts at 15% of Thai production spend and can rise to 20% under certain conditions.

The first two successful films were announced at an event in Cannes by Thailand’s deputy prime minister Wissanu Kreangam.

“Coordinating with other government departments and ministries before launching the incentive measures, we took a great deal of time to ensure that our incentives are rock-solid. We are delighted that the process went smoothly for the first two productions,...

In the 2015 omnibus film Ten Years, five Hong Kong filmmakers offered visions of what their country might look like in 2025. Dystopian and fiercely critical of China’s interference in Hong Kong politics, it proved a massive public hit despite the Chinese government’s efforts to suppress its distribution. In light of that success, the Ten Years International Project was born with the intention to export the concept and give voice to filmmakers from other Asian nations. The first of these to be completed is Ten Years Thailand – two more from Japan and Taiwan are in the works – featuring contributions by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Wisit Sasanatieng, Aditya Assarat, and Chulayarnnon Siriphol.

Aditya’s opening short could easily take place in the present. Shot in black-and-white, it is set in a small art gallery that is hosting a photography exhibition. A group of soldiers arrive and order the pictures to be taken down...

The Cannes Film Festival, cinema’s most esteemed yearly event, begins in just a few days. While we’ll soon be on the ground providing coverage, today brings a preview of what we’re most looking forward to among the eclectic line-up, ranging from films in competition to select titles on the various sidebars. Check out our most-anticipated features below and follow our complete coverage here throughout the month. Make sure to also follow our contributors on Twitter: Giovanni Marchini Camia and Rory O’Connor.

20. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (Terry Gilliam)

Hopefully a genuinely worthwhile film rather than a curio as it relates to its long-plagued production history, it’s still not precisely confirmed that Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote will actually be legally approved to premiere at the festival. Let’s hope those issues get ironed out in the next few days,...

Exclusive: Portmanteau concept extending to three new territories.

Hong Kong omnibus film Ten Years is being adapted into Thai, Taiwanese and Japanese versions, with a range of up-and-coming filmmakers and established talents, including Aditya Assarat and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Ten Years Studio, which produced the original film, has been working with production companies including Assarat’s Pop Pictures (Thailand), James Liu’s Joint Entertainment (Taiwan) and Miyuki Takamatsu’s Free Stone Productions (Japan) to extend the concept to these three territories.

“When Ten Years [pictured above] was screened at festivals around the world, audience members responded with much emotion and introspection; their enthusiasm sparked the team’s interest in producing international versions,” said Ten Years executive producer Andrew Choi.

“Although Ten Years was a film about Hong Kong, the questions it raised on political autonomy, social tensions and human values, were universal,” said Ng Ka Leung, who directed the last short in the Hong Kong version, and will executive...

Exclusive: Portmanteau concept extending to three new territories.

Hong Kong omnibus film Ten Years is being adapted into Thai, Taiwanese and Japanese versions, with a range of up-and-coming filmmakers and established talents, including Aditya Assarat and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Ten Years Studio, which produced the original film, has been working with production companies including Assarat’s Pop Pictures (Thailand), James Liu’s Joint Entertainment (Taiwan) and Miyuki Takamatsu’s Free Stone Productions (Japan) to extend the concept to these three territories.

“When Ten Years [pictured above] was screened at festivals around the world, audience members responded with much emotion and introspection; their enthusiasm sparked the team’s interest in producing international versions,” said Ten Years executive producer Andrew Choi.

“Although Ten Years was a film about Hong Kong, the questions it raised on political autonomy, social tensions and human values, were universal,” said Ng Ka Leung, who directed the last short in the Hong Kong version, and will executive...

Guests include John Woo, Zhang Ziyi, Juliette Binoche, Cheng Pei Pei, Tong Dawei, Chen Bolin and Nastassja Kinski.

At the 25th Singapore International Film Festival, Indian justice system drama Court won Best Film and Best Director for Chaitanya Tamhane at the Silver Screen Awards yesterday (Dec 13).

Earlier this year at the Venice Film Festival, the film also picked up Best Film in the Orrizonti section and the Lion of the Future - Luigi de Laurentiis award for a debut film.

The Silver Screen Awards jury, headed by Wang Xiaoshuai, stated: “This glittering gem dazzles with its simplicity, elegance and breathtaking naturalism. Every facet of this film shines, from the humanity of its screenplay, to the originality of its structure, to the assuredness of its direction. A brilliant achievement.”

The Silver Screen Awards this year has two categories - the Asian Feature Film Competition and the inaugural Southeast Asian Short Film Competition. (See below for...