East Asia Film Festival Ireland Returns to the IFI
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eturning for its fourth edition, the East Asia Film Festival Ireland (EAFFI) once again celebrates the artistry and variety of filmmaking from East Asia over four days from March 26 – 29. Following the historic success of Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite at this year’s Oscars, interest in cinema from the region has never been stronger. This year’s programme includes new films from prominent filmmakers Wang Xiaoshuai, Kôji Fukada and Hong Khaou and a 35mm screening of Bong’s 2006 blockbuster The Host. Eight theatrical Irish premieres will screen throughout the festival, which opens with Fukada’s latest A Girl Missing. It tells the story of a care-worker who becomes embroiled in the case of a missing girl. Part of the programme is touching drama Heavy Craving from director Hsieh Pei-Ju. It centres on the burgeoning friendship between an overweight school cook, a young deliveryman and a crossdressing primary school student. Another film to be screened is crime
drama The Wild Goose Lake. Set on the outskirts of Wuhan, it follows a smalltime gang leader who must flee when he accidentally kills a police officer. Hong Khaou’s English-Vietnamese Monsoon, starring Henry Golding of Crazy Rich Asians fame, sees a man return to Ho Chi Minh City for the first time since he was six. There, romance sparks when he meets an American fashion designer whose father fought in the Vietnam War. Finishing out the festival will be Pema Tseden’s acclaimed tale of a truck driver and a vengeful hitchhiker, Jinpa, produced by Wong Kar-Wai, and Liang Ming’s Wisdom Tooth, a complex drama centred on a brother and sister whose livelihoods are upended by an environmental disaster. Tickets for the East Asia Film Festival Ireland are available now at www.ifi.ie/ eaffi-2020, where you can see the full programme, or by calling the IFI Box Office on 01-6793477. A multi-film pass, 5 films for €50, is also available directly from the IFI Box Office. More information can also be found from www.eaffi.ie. MARCH 2020 - TRAVEL IRELAND MAGAZINE
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