Southeast Asian Film Series
Now in its fourth year, the Center's popular Southeast Asian Film Series continues to build a loyal following of regular film attendees from both the university and local communities. The series has showcased, often for the first time in Hawaii, more than seventy-five subtitled films which span the diverse and dynamic landscape of cinema in Southeast Asia.
Film screenings are scheduled on Wednesdays during the Spring and Fall semesters. All screenings are on the campus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the Center for Korean Studies Auditorium (map).
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Spring 2008 Series
May 7, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
Love Story
Singapore, 2006, 96 minutes
Mandarin, English with English Subtitles
A theatre usher looks everywhere for love only to find it in a library book. A cop chases a killer only to wind up at the end of her own gun…And a pulp-romance writer confuses fact with fiction and learns that true love comes only after a great loss. The stories that flow from the desire to find true love lead us to various stories that come across time, space and consequences, demonstrating with warmth and honesty that the lines between fact and fiction often are blurred. Whether cynic or romantic, Love Story will touch everyone with its insightful charm.
Love Story is a film from the FOCUS: First Cuts Project involving new and upcoming directors from across China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
The project featured 6 features films - including The Shoe Fairy (Robin Lee), I’ll Call You (Lam Tze Chung), Rain Dogs (Ho Yuhang), Crazy Stone (Ning Hao) and My Mother is a Belly Dancer (Lee Kung Lok and Wong Ching Po) - all of which are flourishing in both festivals and Asian markets.
| official website | trailer |
April 30, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
Magdalena: The Unholy Saint
Philippines, 2005, 108 minutes
Tagalog with English Subtitles
This more melodramatic Filipino coming-of-ager concerns the budding sexuality of a young girl in a devoutly Catholic culture. We follow young Manila hottie Malen (Angelica Panganiban), who after consorting with the equally hot neighborhood rogue Mike (Jericho Rosales) and worrying her prayer-woman mother literally to death glumly takes over the family business as a "fake saint." The practice of paying for prayers is nicely contrasted with Mike's gigolo job, and if periodic daydreams of white light and angel choirs are schmaltzy, other touches transcend, like shots of the city's thronging Black Nazarene procession, and the ominous reveal of Mike's full-back cobra tattoo as he slithers onto Malen.
| official website | trailer |
April 23, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
The Owl and the Sparrow
Vietnam/USA, 2007, 98 minutes
Vietnamese with English Subtitles
A beautiful flight attendant looking for love. A lonely zookeeper hiding within his animal kingdom from a changing society. A little orphan girl selling roses on the streets who relies on the kindness of strangers to survive. It's modern-day Saigon, where eight million people are just trying to keep up with the pace. In four days, the young runaway will play matchmaker to these lonely hearts in hopes of forming a surrogate family. The only things that might stop her are city authorities and an overbearing uncle tracking her down in the big city. Nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards
| official website | trailer | interview with the director |
April 16, 7:00 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
After This Our Exile
Hong Kong/Malaysia, 2006, 120 minutes
Cantonese with English Subtitles
One of the leading filmmakers of the Hong Kong new wave of the early ’80s, Patrick Tam returns after a 15-year absence with his characteristic compassion and inventiveness intact. Set in 1990s Malaysia, Tam’s family drama dissects the troubled relationship between a loser father (Hong Kong superstar Aaron Kwok), who cooks in a cheap restaurant, and his son, who has the instincts of survival that his father has lost. Deserted by their wife and mother, the men drift across the thin line that divides survival from collapse. Fleeing from loan sharks, they move to a small town where the father encourages his son to rob houses, a scheme with predictably disastrous results. In contrast, the mother is now remarried and living a comfortable middle-class life. Some years later, the grown-up son returns to the place where he lost his innocence and where his future was intertwined, for better or worse, with his father’s fate. Like many filmmakers of his generation, Tam is shadowed by patriarchal complexities both on a personal level and in connotations of Hong Kong’s pre-’97 relationship with China. Tam masterly navigates the points of view of father and son to deliver a profound reflection on the split between the wisdom of maturity and the ambitions of youth.
April 9, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
Nagabonar Turns 2
Nagabonar Jadi Dua
Indonesia, 2007, 90 minutes
Indonesian with English Subtitles
Nagabonar, a rapscallion pickpocket from Batak and a (self-proclaimed) general during Indonesia's War of Independence, raised his son, Bonaga, alone, after his wife died in childbirth. But when Bonaga visits his dad on the family palm oil plantation in Medan with a big new business scheme, everything changes: the son wants to turn the plantation (where his mom is buried) into a resort and sell it to Japanese investors! A hilarious and surprisingly touching comedy directed by Deddy Mizwar, who also stars in the title role.
April 2, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
Directed by Ming Jin WooMalaysia, 2005, 87 minutes
Malay with English Subtitles
This screening is rescheduled from March 19!
The scene is an unnamed Southeast Asian country, one week after a deadly night club bombing. On Monday morning, the local police chief forces the terrorists he’s captured to “reenact” the events leading up to the attack for his anxious bosses and eager journalists...but the truth is not easy to discern. The film is an indictment not only of the terrorists but also the corruption of the authorities who pursue them. A crisply lensed picture, shot in vertie style by noted cameraman James Lee, is aptly naturalistic, provocative and free from overt editorializing.
A Big, Big Weekend of Southeast Asian Exploitation Cinema
Sex, Violence, Horror and Midget Assassins!
Friday, March 14, 6:30 p.m.
Korean Studies Auditorium
Virgins from Hell
Perawan Disarang Sindikat
Indonesia, 1987, Indonesian w/E.S., 90 minutes
Directed by Ackyl Anwari
followed by a documentary on Indonesian genre cinema!
Friday, March 14, 8:30 p.m.
Korean Studies Auditorium
Lady Terminator
Pembalasan Ratu Pantai Selata
Indonesia, 1989, Indonesian w/E.S., 82 minutes
Directed by Jalil Jackson
Saturday, March 15, 6:30 p.m.
Korean Studies Auditorium
For Your Height Only
Philippines, 1980, Tagalog w/E.S., 88 minutes
Directed by Eddie Nicart and Bruce Le
followed by a documentary on Filipino genre cinema!
Saturday, March 15, 8:30 p.m.
Korean Studies Auditorium
Silip, the Daughters of Eve
Philippines, 1986, Tagalog w/E.S., 125 minutes
Directed by Elwood Perez
March 12, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
Directed by Robin MoranIndonesia, 2006, 118 minutes
Indonesian with English Subtitles
Robin Moran's comedy proudly takes its template from Hollywood, celebrating its old-fashioned sensibility. A klutzy engineering student, Dennis (Ariyo Wahab), is the heir to a successful soy sauce factory started by his grandfather. Everyone believes that the company's success is owed to its magical mascot, a rooster. When the fowl dies, Dennis must find another. Of course, the movie comes complete with a sneaky villain (Butet Kartaredjasa), a pretty girl (Uli Auliani) and a jealous rival (Epy Kusnandar). A favorite at the Bangkok and Cinequest International Film Festivals!
March 5, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
Directed by Yasmin AhmadMalaysia, 2006, 90 minutes
Malay with English Subtitles
Ten-year-old Orked is the kind of kid who confronts bullies she sees harassing smaller children, but hides under her bed when the neighborhood girls try to recruit her to join in their game of "wedding." Her amorous, nonconformist parents, Pak Atan and Mak Inom, are fodder for local gossip. "Malays who have forgotten their roots," sniffs the woman next door while watching Orked and her mother dancing outside in the rain. It’s little wonder that twelve-year-old Mukhsin, whose mother has fled from his abusive father, and whose older brother has taken refuge in drunken hostility, comes to love Orked and her easygoing family. Gentler and in some ways more focused than Ahmad’s previous films about Orked and her parents, RABUN, SEPET (SFIFF 2005) and GUBRA (SFIFF 2006), Mukhsin portrays without melodrama the tender awkwardness of childhood friendship growing into first love. She also offers an affectionate, funny, occasionally critical portrait of Malay life and marriage, from a coach who seems to communicate only with gestures and blasts of a whistle, to an unhappily married neighborhood woman who sends her little girl over to relay spiteful comments to Orked. Adibah Noor reprises her role as Yam, the hefty, no-nonsense housekeeper in a household of free spirits, Mohd. Syafie bin Naswip gives an affecting, sometimes wistful performance as Mukhsin, and Sharifah Aryana Syed Zainal Rashid is a sharp and likeable Orked. Ahmad notes that Mukhsin was inspired by the poem "First Love" by Wislawa Szymborska: "In it, she wrote how the first love may not be as tempestuous or as passionate as later ones, but for some reason it's the one that stays with you until the very end."
courtesy of San Francisco International Film Festival
February 20, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
Directed by Jeffrey JeturianPhilippines, 2003, 105 minutes
Tagalog and English with English Subtitles
Before Jeffrey Jeturian made his art house favorite KUBRADOR, he filmed BIKINI OPEN, a mockumentary poking fun at reality television, morality and the nature of fame in the modern Philippines. A television reporter, portrayed by the ever luminous Cherry Pie Picahce, is desperate for ratings. Her new show goes behind-the-scenes at one of the Philippines’ many bikini fashion contests to expose the hypocrisy, competition and the shallowness of all involved. Scantily-clad bodies, Filipino in-jokes and subtle, witty humor make this satire both biting and entertaining!
Jeffrey Jeturian holds a communication arts degree from the University of the Philippines. He started as a production assistant for Marilou Diaz Abaya’s ALYAS BABY TSINA (1984) before embarking on a career as a script supervisor, production designer, television director and finally, as film director. His first two films, SANA PAG-IBIG NA (1998) and PILA BALDE (1999) are both critically acclaimed. PILA BALDE, with the international title FETCH A PAIL OF WATER, in addition bagged a round of overseas honors—Gold Prize, 2000 Houston-Worldfest (Texas, USA) International Film Festival; NETPAC Jury Prize, 1999 Cinemanila International Film Festival; exhibition in Lincoln Center in the United States as well as in other countries such as Sweden, Germany, France, Bangladesh, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombia, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Italy. Variety, the United States’ entertainment bible, carried in its recent issue a feature on Jeffrey. His seventh film, KUBRADOR, is the current toast of critics and film buffs.
February 13, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
Directed by Tran Dac and Amar LaskriAlgeria/Vietnam, 1998, 105 minutes
Vietnamese, Arabic and French with English Subtitles
In the 1950s, the French Army sent thousands of indigènes, soldiers conscripted from colonies in North Africa, to fight in the so-called "Dirty War" in Indochina. Set against the growing Vietnamese struggle for independence is a love story involving Ali, portrayed by Algerian actor El-Mellouhi Niddal, and Lien (Nguyen An Chinh), a beautiful Viet Minh guerrilla. As the war progresses and Ali witnesses the growing abuse of the Vietnamese people, he questions the horrible war he and his fellow soldiers have been fighting on behalf of the French. Lien (whose name means "lotus") inspires Ali and his Algerian comrades to abandon their French officers and join the Viet Minh at the famous battle of Dien Bien Phu.
BONG SEN is a remarkable co-production between Algeria and Vietnam. The film won Third Prize at the Seventh Festival of African Cinema in Morocco. The film also marks the first collaboration between the luminous Vietnamese actresses Nguyen An Chinh and Le Khanh, both of whom later appeared together in the 2000 film festival favorite, VERTICAL RAY OF THE SUN. BONG SEN was helmed by Tran Dac (director of AUGUST STAR, winner of the Golden Lotus Prize) and Belgrade-trained Algerian filmmaker Amar Laskri (PATROL IN THE EAST).
This rarely seen film - one of the last films made by Algeria before all film production ended during that nation's tumultuous "invisible war" in the 1990s - has been translated and subtitled by students at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawaii, and is presented for the first time with English subtitles!
February 6, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
The Legend of Lady Hill
Pan Dandayi
A Yee Myint ProductionMyanmar, 2005, 133 minutes
Burmese and English with English Subtitles
THE LEGEND OF LADY HILL is a Burmese supernatural melodrama. When young rich city boy, Tun, visits the town Lady Hill and impetuously flirts with the pretty village girl, Thuzar, he unknowingly disrupts a village spirit ceremony. When Thuzar’s husband dies in an accident that evening, she and the rest of the village believe it is the vengeful punishment of, Ma Ma U, the protective spirit who guards the village. Thuzar and angry villagers blame the recalcitrant Tun and chase him from the village.
Twenty years later the repercussions of this sad event are still being felt. When Tun’s son, La Min, visits the same village and meets the beautiful Pha-yaung Ban, all sorts of trouble befalls them. Have the spirits cursed this couple? Or are more terrestrial forces working to keep them apart?
THE LEGEND OF LADY HILL is a soap opera love story transfused with Buddhist ethics and Myanmar’s rich religious culture. Scenes rich with traditional music and religious ceremony should please those with an interest in Burmese culture. This film was subtitled as part of the University of Hawaii’s Southeast Asian Film Translation Project and is the first subtitled Burmese language film available for public viewing in the United States.
January 30, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
One More Chance
San Ge Hao Ren
Directed by Jack NeoSingapore, 2005, 110 min
Hokkien and English with English Subtitles
Huang (Mark Lee), Hui (Henry Thai) and Guang (Marcus Chin) are doing hard time in Singapore's notorious Changgi Prison. But despite their different backgrounds, the con man, the petty thief and the gambler become fast friends. After their release, the trio encounters severe family pressure as well as societal discrimination, despite their will to turn over a new leaf. Will society give them the "one more chance" they need to prove themselves again?
Interview with Director Jack Neo
Detailed Film Review
January 23, 6:30 p.m. - Korean Studies Auditorium
Long Road to Heaven
Makna Dibalik Tragedi
Directed by Enison SinaroIndonesia, 2007, 120 min
Indonesian and English with English Subtitles
Inspired by the terrorist bombing which killed over 200 people in Bali in December 2002, LONG ROAD TO HEAVEN weaves together the stories of three characters who live through the planning, execution and aftermath of the attacks. Banned by Balinese officials from being filmed or even screened in Bali, the movie, written by Singaporeans Andy Logam Tan and Wong Wai Leng, calls militant jihad into question while trying to provide some insight into how the planners viewed their efforts to lash out at the West...and how victims had to deal with their own prejudices and blind hatred of Islam following the attacks.
As Indonesian poet and film critic Nuruddin Asyhadie noted about the film, "Long Road to Heaven can be seen as a message to viewers that we need more than understanding to stop terrorism or violence. We must first reconcile with ourselves and step away from our own egos. Only then we can go meet 'the other' without any preconditions."
Please join us for light refreshments following the film!