Prestigious Dragons & Tigers Series Returns With 25 Feature Films

VANCOUVER – The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) unveiled its full lineup of films for the acclaimed Dragons & Tigers film series. Part of VIFF's Gateway programming stream, which invites festival-goers to journey into the compelling cinematic worlds envisioned by some of East Asia's most adventurous artists, Dragons & Tigers represents one of the world's largest collections of East Asian films exhibited outside of Asia.

The full lineup of 25 features and one mid-length/animated shorts package includes:

After the Storm

(dir. Kore-eda Hirokazu, Japan)

Japanese master Kore-eda Hirokazu (Like Father, Like Son) returns with this bittersweet take on life's rewards and disappointments. A failed writer and full-fledged gambling addict (Hiroshi Abe) may lose partial custody of his beloved son due to unpaid child support. As this fractured family tries to find peace, the film proves smart, funny, beautiful and profoundly moving—nothing less than what we'd expect from Kore-eda. "[An] achingly beautiful ode to the quiet complexities of family life." — Telegraph

Alone

(dir. Park Hongmin, South Korea)

After witnessing and photographing the murder of a woman by masked men, Soomin wakes naked and amnesiac in a night alley near his studio. What has happened to him, to the dead woman and to the killers? Park's follow-up to A Fish is a gripping mystery thriller in the vein of Christopher Nolan's Memento: a man apparently trapped in a nightmare struggles to find the exit from the maze.

Bacchus Lady

(dir. E J-yong, South Korea)

The lady of this film's title (played by veteran Youn Yuhjung) is an elderly prostitute who plies her trade in a city park. Don't be too shocked: this is a real phenomenon in South Korea and this film treats its subject with compassion, empathy and a dose of bawdy humour. "A tour de force from the grand dame of Korean cinema… The Bacchus Lady is certainly audacious, and a powerful reminder of how lives could or would be lived once the youthful vigor is gone." — Hollywood Reporter

Beautiful 2016

(dir. Jia Zhangke/Stanley Kwan/Nakata Hideo/Alec Su, Hong Kong/China)

The Hong Kong IFF's annual project to commission shorts from leading Asian directors yields its richest harvest yet. Nakata Hideo has an old lady reliving a lost love, Stanley Kwan (with the late Anita Mui in mind) looks at a diva in trouble, and Jia Zhangke delivers the show-stopper with a funny/sad tale of out-of-work miners looking for jobs in the gangster and showbiz industries.

By the Time It Gets Dark

(dir. Anocha Suwichakornpong, Thailand)

Bangkok's 1976 Thammasat University massacre is the starting point for Anocha Suwichakornpong’s ethereal collage, which amalgamates multiple shifts in genre, tone and visual style while jumping between the lives of a filmmaker, an underemployed woman constantly switching jobs and a pop star. "Moving from country roads to expressways, and through photographs, films, and dreams, its many narratives converge into an Odyssean reflection on the effects of a single moment on the lives of many…" — Film Comment

A Copy of My Mind

(dir. Joko Anwar, Indonesia/South Korea)

Before it turns into a noir-ish thriller with a strong political edge, Joko Anwar's devastating new movie looks like a low-life love story: a subtitler of pirated DVDs meets a young beautician and they find plenty of ways to amuse themselves in his room. But then the girl impulsively steals an unlabelled data-disc and all hell starts to break loose. Sharper (and sexier!) than a tabloid headline.

Crosscurrent

(dir. Yang Chao, China)

Poetic, enigmatic, sublime and achingly beautiful: Yang Chao's long-awaited masterpiece sets a new standard for Chinese cinema. Signed up for a mysterious boat journey up the Yangtze River, a sailor finds a book of poetry, inspiring visions of a beautiful woman (or is it several women?) in each of the riverside ports he traverses. As their intimacy intensifies, their passion permeates through the film's poetic texts and classical landscapes. Sensuality made visible: a triumph of cinema art.

Godspeed

(dir. Chung Mong-hong, Taiwan)

The sensational, long-awaited return to the silver screen of iconic Hong Kong comedy legend Michael Hui marks this film as a major cinematic event. This is a road movie, a buddy movie, a gangster adventure and a black comedy rolled into one: Hui plays a charismatically garrulous and profane cab driver who picks up a stranger with a mysterious package. Over the course of 24 hours, they become embroiled in a series of frequently hilarious, sometimes bizarre, sometimes terrifying adventures…

Harmonium

(Kôji Fukada, Japan/France)

You've never seen a domestic drama like this. Toshio (Kanji Furutachi) and his family are living a dull, happy existence when a man from the past arrives at their doorstep. Yasaka (Tadanobu Asano) is an ex-con, but that doesn't stop the family from welcoming him into their lives. Big mistake. "[Kôji Fukada’s] slow-burning, quietly told thriller commands attention from start to finish… The film's insights… don't merely hit their targets; they smash them with a sledgehammer." — Screen