Taking Flight: The Arrival of East Asian Cinema

Overview

Catch some of the most influential Asian films of the past three decades at a free biweekly screening series at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Showing in conjunction with the gallery’s current Go East exhibition of contemporary Asian art, Taking Flight: The Arrival of East Asian Cinema features iconic titles from Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, Hong Kong and China, in genre flavours to suit every cinematic taste.

The season begins on Wednesday, June 17, with Juzo Itami’s Tokyo noodle-shop comedy Tampopo. Other highlights in the series include Tran Anh Hung’s gorgeous low-key drama – and the first Vietnamese film to be nominated for an Oscar – The Scent of Green Papaya and Eric Khoo’s Be with Me, a wistful romantic anthology film containing less than three minutes of spoken dialogue.

Fans of Asian genre cinema will also be happy to see Park Chan-wook's quintessential South Korean revenge thriller Oldboy in the mix, along with Johnnie To's Hong Kong mob drama Election.

The Taking Flight screenings are scheduled for Wednesday and Sunday afternoons as well as select Wednesday evenings. For the full program, go to the Art Gallery of NSW website.

Image: Election