First Ho Chi Minh City film festival welcomes Anne Fontaine, Hirokazu Kore-eda

nhanhh 2024/03/23 20:22

The inaugural Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (HIFF) in Vietnam has unveiled its line-up of about 100 films, including 12 each for the Southeast Asia competition and for the first or second film competition, with directors Anne Fontaine and Hirokazu Kore-eda among its guests.

Scroll down for line-up

The Asian premiere of French biopic Bolero will open the festival on April 6. Director Fontaine and leading actor Raphaël Personnaz will be present for the film’s Asian premiere, which will take place at the city’s historic Opera House.

Further notable festival guests include acclaimed Japanese director Kore-eda who will receive a tribute through the Directorial Symphony section, which will screen six of his films such as Shoplifters and Air Doll. The majority of the competition filmmakers will also be on hand to present their films.

The Southeast Asia competition is a showcase of emerging talent from the region, including Le Binh Giang’s Rock-A-Bye Baby from Vietnam, Nelson Yeo’s Locarno winning Dreaming & Dying as well as several fresh titles from Rotterdam such as Blue Imagine by Urara Matsubayashi, Fire On The Water by Sun-J Perumal and Tenement by Inrasothythep Neth and Sokyou Chea.

The first or second film competition is dedicated to rising filmmakers outside Southeast Asia. The selection includes Autumn by António Sequeira, Carefree Days by Liang Ming, Frau by Lyubov Mulmenko and Linh Tran’s Slamdance winning Waiting For The Light To Change.

HIFF will feature several world premieres, including Gavin Yap’s Dead Boys’ Club from Malaysia, documentary Doku by Kohei Kawabata, and B4S: Before Sex by three rising Vietnamese directors Tung Leo, Michael Thai and Huynh Anh Duy. The latter is due to open in local cinemas on April 12.

The festival will run from April 6-13, with Wim Wenders’ Oscar-nominated Perfect Days as the closing film. A series of industry events have also been lined up, including workshops, a project market and a script lab.

The festival has Anderson Le as head of programming, Tran Thi Bich Ngoc as head of film projects and Phan Gia Nhat Linh as head of script lab. On the executive board are executive director Pham Minh Toan, deputy executive director Do Hoa, artistic director Nguyen Vinh Son and deputy artistic director Aaron Toronto.

Southeast Asia competition

13 Bombs
Dir. Angga Dwimas Sasongko

Blue Imagine
Dir. Urara Matsubayashi

Dreaming & Dying
Dir. Nelson Yeo

Fire On The Water
Dir. Sun-J Perumal

Last Shadow At First Light
Dir. Nicole Midori Woodford

Oasis Of Now
Dir. Chia Chee Sum

Rock-A-Bye Baby
Dir. Le Binh Giang

Solids By The Seashore
Dir. Patiparn Boontarig

Tenement
Dirs. Inrasothythep Neth, Sokyou Chea

The Cursed Land
Dir. Panu Aree

The Gospel Of The Beast
Dir. Sheron Dayoc