Author Archives: Justin

Starburst: Icons of Chinese Cinema (Art Gallery of NSW)

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Justin

The Art Gallery of NSW has just announced a series of ten (free!) screenings here in Sydney focusing on the careers of four of Chinese cinema’s leading actresses, from the 1930s to today: Ruan Lingyu, Anna May Wong, Maggie Cheung and Zhao Tao. Films screen every week from 20 June to 26 August.

From their blurb on the website:

In 1930s China, the term mingxing (bright star, 明星) captured the allure of a new public figure: the screen diva. … (read more)

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Korean Film Festival (KOFFIA) 2017

Posted on August 13, 2017 by Justin

Festival season is upon us once again, and the fine folks at the Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) are putting on another great show for us starting this Thursday 17 August. This year the festival is popping up in eight Australian cities, starting with Sydney and ending in Hobart & Darwin in late September:

Sydney: 17-26 August
Adelaide: 1-3 September
Perth: 1-3 September
Melbourne: 7-14 September
Brisbane: 8-10 September
Canberra: 15-17 September
Darwin… (read more)

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Melbourne: Koreeda films screening at Cinémathèque

Posted on July 2, 2017 by Justin

Melbourne fans of Japanese cinema, listen up: the Cinémathèque program at ACMI on Wednesday nights is starting a program of films by popular Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda films this week, entitled Dreams of Everyday Life: The Quixotic Cinema of Hirokazu Kore-eda. It runs from July 5 to July 19, and includes the following films:

JULY 5
7:00pm – Maborosi (1995)
9:00pm – I Wish (2011)

JULY 12
7:00pm – After Life (1998)
9:10pm – Still Walking (2008)

JULY 19… (read more)

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This week in cinemas: ‘A Silent Voice’ (Japan, anime)

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Justin

This week (actually, it opened last week on April 6th) in Australian cinemas we a have a Japanese anime film, A Silent Voice.

The film tells the story of Shoya and Shoko, both of whom are elementary school students. When Shoko, who is severely deaf, joins the class as the new girl, she is bullied by mischief-maker Shoya for her disability. Later in life, Shoya seeks Shoko out to atone for his sins.

Directed by Naoko Yamada (K-On!, … (read more)

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Melbourne: “Headshot” screening, Fri March 3

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Justin

Melbourne martial arts film fans take note: distributor Vendetta Films have announced that they are running a one-off screening of brand-new Indonesian film Headshot, starring Iko Uwais (of The Raid, The Raid 2, and later SPL II). It’s on this Friday March 3 at Cinema Nova in Carlton as a once-off.

Not to be confused with the Thai film of the same name from 2012, this film stars Uwais as a seriously injured amnesiac nursed back … (read more)

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This week in cinemas: ‘Shin Godzilla’ (Japan)

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Justin

Stomping into Aussie cinemas today Oct 13 is venerable Japanese studio Toho’s answer to Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Hollywood Godzilla flick: Shin Godzilla, their 29th film featuring everyone’s favourite scaly nuclear metaphor, and their third go-round at rebooting the origin story.

The talent on board includes co-directors Hideaki Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cutie Honey) and Shinji Higuchi (the Attack on Titan live-action films) and stars Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi and Satomi Ishihara. The big green guy this time … (read more)

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OzAsia Festival 2016 now on in Adelaide!

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Justin

It’s already started, and I’m sorry I didn’t see it earlier and post it, but we’re not too late!

There’s a great program of films showing as part of the OzAsia Festival currently running in Adelaide (17 Sep – 2 Oct), including an event this weekend that will probably be of great interest to HK film buffs: a short program of Johnnie To films and a masterclass with the director himself.

The films on show are listed here and include … (read more)

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The Japanese Film Festival 2016 is coming

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Justin


It’s the time of year when the Japanese Film Festival in Australia rolls around again, this year for the twentieth time!

The hardworking JFF crew have released their festival dates for all six cities, plus their initial slate of films, with more info to come as we get closer to the dates. The schedule looks like this:

  • Canberra: 14-23 Oct
  • Adelaide: 21-30 Oct
  • Brisbane: 26-30 Oct
  • Perth: 2-6 Nov
  • Sydney: 17-27 Nov
  • Melbourne: 24 Nov-4 Dec

The initial crop of … (read more)

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