140 min. , 2024

破·地獄
Drama
Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese
Subtitles: English and Czech
Directing: Anselm Chan
Starring: Dayo Wong, Michael Hui, Michelle Wai, Chu Pak Hong
Distributor: Emperor Motion Pictures

Opening ceremony of the 21st FILMASIA festival in the theme of TWISTS AND RETURNS.

The pandemic lockdown has affected the lives of millions of Hong Kong residents. Among them is Dominic (Dayo Wong), an ambitious businessman who takes over as a director of a funeral home. However, his modern approach to a dignified farewell is met with resistance from Man, a conservative Taoist monk (Michael Hui). Their disagreement gives rise to a story about a profound conflict between tradition and the present, searching for understanding between diverse value systems and generations.

Comedy director and screenwriter Anselm Chan, known for his sense of humor and natural dialogue, subtly brings his signature style to this intimate and emotionally intense drama. Without a moment’s hesitation, he guides the audience through a complex clash between two men whose dispute impacts themselves, as well as all those around them. The director is not the only one stepping out of his usual genre comfort zone. Dayo Wong, master of Hong Kong humor and spiritual successor to Stephen Chow, delivers one of the most powerful dramatic performances of his career. Equally convincing is Michael Hui, a legend of crazy comedies, who once again proves his extraordinary acting range.

The Last Dance demonstrates the extraordinary flexibility of Hong Kong cinema and its actors. Three comedy legends join forces to create a nuanced and emotionally layered story that draws with respect on the traditions of social drama and, on top of that, is breaking box office records.

Daughter’s Daughter

126 min. , 2024

女兒的女兒
Drama
Taiwan
Language: Mandarin
Subtitles: English and Czech
Directing: Huang Xi
Starring: Sylvia Chang, Karena Lam, Eugenie Liu
Distributor: Andrews Film

TRAILER

Sixty-year-old Jin (Sylvia Chang) learns of the tragic death of her daughter Zuer (Eugenie Liu). Zuer was undergoing fertility treatment in New York, and Jin must now decide the fate of her daughter’s embryo. She travels to the United States, where she reunites with and is confronted by her oldest daughter, Emma, whom she gave up for adoption at the age of seventeen. A feeling of guilt from the past is conflicted with expectations of new future.

This brilliant family drama explores the deep roots of intergenerational misunderstanding and deals with the complex personalities of its characters in a nuanced way. The questions that director Huang Xi asks are universal to generations of women, surpass borders of different continents, and goes across various social norms. Jin is played by the unrivalled Sylvia Chang, whose measured acting documents her irreplaceable role (not only) in Taiwan cinema. She also co-produced the film with legendary New Wave auteur Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Daughter’s Daughter is reminiscent of his portraits of human lives, which are distinct for stylistic coherence and an intimate understanding of characters. Huang Xi also collaborated with Hou Hsiao-Hsien on Assassin and Goodbye, South, Goodbye. And you can rest assured that thanks to her Taiwan cinema is in good hands.

Battle Royale

113 min. , 2000

バトル・ロワイアル
Action, Drama
Japan
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English and Czech
Directing: Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarō Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama
Distributor: Toei Company

TRAILER

If you want to see the predecessor of such global phenomena as The Hunger Games and Squid Game, you should revisit the twenty-five-year-old Japanese genre classic Battle Royale. Few Japanese films have left such a deep mark on global pop culture as this explosive combo of dystopia, high school melodrama, and brutal action thriller about hunting people. In the West, it quickly gained a reputation as an uncompromising spectacle full of cynical and cruel irony and explicit violence. Set in a totalitarian Japan in the near future, where society sends random high school classes to a remote island where students must fight to the death until the last one survives, the story had been known in Japan for some time before the making of the film. It is, in fact, an adaptation of Kōshun Takami’s bestselling book. With teenage relationship melodramas being a popular Japanese genre, the original work focuses primarily on the intense dramas of love and friendship among classmates. The film version, directed by renowned genre veteran Kinji Fukasaku (especially known as the creator of disillusionment-riddled yakuza films), concentrates on the participants and their tragic fates within the satirically grotesque mechanism of the deadly game. The absurd rules and meaning of its existence are never explained, only implied, coming across as a self-serving, bluntly cruel joke, exactly in the spirit of comedian, actor, and director Takeshi Kitano who portrays one of the Battle Royale game organizers. The principle of narration mixing elements of popular genres with the then-emerging reality show format, became an important paradigm not only for the global hits mentioned above, but also for a number of Japanese manga featuring dangerous and bizarre competitive games where life is at stake.

Center Stage

154 min. , 1991

阮玲玉
Drama
Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese, Mandarin, English
Subtitles: English and Czech
Directing: Stanley Kwan
Starring: Maggie Cheung, Chin Han, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Lawrence Ng
Distributor: Fortune Star Media

TRAILER

Ruan Lingyu was an icon of Chinese cinema in the 1930‘s. Her unmatched charisma and expressive acting style made her one of the first true stars of Chinese cinema. And her life story is the focus of Stanley Kwan’s award-winning film Center Stage. But do not expect a conventional biopic. Instead of a linear narrative, the film brings an original, conscious, and extremely sensitive dialogue with her legacy – brought on several levels.

Director Stanley Kwan combines archival footage, recollections of witnesses, and re-created scenes to make a vivid portrait of a woman whose life gradually began to resemble the melodramas in which she once starred. Purposeful narrative shifts break with the conventions of biographies, constantly surprise viewers and provide new context. Maggie Cheung holds an acting dialogue with Ruan Lingyu, her extraordinary performance going beyond simply imitating. She does not aim to capture the appearance or mannerisms of her predecessor but instead revives her presence through subtle gestures and magnetic charisma. At the same time, she implicitly comments on the acting career of Maggie Cheung herself, one of the biggest stars of Hong Kong cinema.

The combination of styles, colours, formats, and genres creates a masterpiece that goes far beyond what we normally associate with the term ‘biopic’. Stanley Kwan’s creative team, led by Maggie Cheung, has filmed a thorough polemic with the star image of the first Chinese film icon, but at the same time, an empathetic portrait of Ruan Lingyu, the woman who was hiding behind all that sparkle.

Someone Like Me

105 min. , 2025

像我這樣的愛情
Drama
Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese, Mandarin, English
Subtitles: English and Czech
Directing: Tam Wai Ching
Starring: Fish Liew, Carlos Chan, Justin Chu, Kate Yeung
Distributor: Emperor Motion Pictures

TRAILER

In recent years, we have been increasingly featuring independent Hong Kong filmmakers who have the courage to tackle sensitive and socially important topics. One of them is director Tam Wai Ching, whose latest film tells a deeply personal story about a desire for love, intimacy, and freedom.

The main character – Mui (Fish Liew) – is a young woman suffering from cerebral palsy since birth who struggles every day with physical limitations and a lack of understanding from those around her. When her mother decides that Mui should undergo a medical procedure that would permanently end her period – and symbolically take away her feminine identity – she decides to put up a fight. With the help of a friend, she turns to an organization that provides intimate services to people with disabilities where she meets Ken (Carlos Chan).

Their encounter gradually evolves into a gentle, but intense relationship between two vulnerable souls. Mui and Ken try to find their own path to love despite physical and social obstacles. With unprecedented empathy and sensitivity, Tam Wai Ching’s film opens up the issue of sexuality among the handicapped and shows that the desire for closeness and acceptance is universally human.

Alone Together

18 min. , 2024

Samota jim nevadí
Drama
Czech Republic
Language: Czech, English, Mandarin
Subtitles: English
Directing: Chihyu Lin
Starring: Ran Jiao, Zuzana Bydžovská
Producer: Barbora Podškubková

A short film by Taiwanese director Chihyu Lin, starring Ran Jiao and Zuzana Bydžovská.

The film was screened in the official selection of the World Culture Film Festival and goEast Film Festival, and received the FAMUFEST Award for Best Direction and Realized Screenplay, as well as the Jury and Audience Awards at the Festival pod Nebesy, among others.

Shu-Yu travels alone across Europe. Her solitude is interrupted by an encounter with an older Czech woman, Margita, who lives in a small village near the mountains. Margita’s sharp and straightforward nature quickly bridges the language barrier between them, forming a strong bond between the two women. Together, they find solace and forgiveness buried deep within themselves.

The short film Alone Together will be screened after Someone Like Me. Admission to Alone Together is free.

My Daughter is a Zombie

113 min. , 2025

좀비딸
Comedy, Horror
South Korea
Language: Korean
Subtitles: English and Czech
Directing: Pil Gam-seong
Starring: Jo Jung-suk, Lee Jung-eun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Yoon Kyung-ho
Distributor: Next Entertainment World

TRAILER

This new film by South Korean director Pil Gam-Seong, based on the eponymous webtoon, reminds us of the importance of human relationships amid an absurd world and irrational hysteria.

A virus pandemic breaks out in present-day Korea, turning people into aggressive zombies who lose all humanity and are driven by simple instincts. Government agencies search for the undead, ruthlessly eliminating them, and the general public is financially rewarded for reporting their whereabouts. In this inhospitable apocalyptic world, cruelty clashes with absurd situations as well as comedic moments. The main focus is on a heartwarming family story about a fight with fate. Young Soo-a (Choi Yoo-ri) accidentally becomes infected, and her father is on a mission to protect her, instead of abandoning her. Lee Jung-hwan (Jo Jung-suk) is a former zoo employee and an expert in taming wild animals. He decides, perhaps naively, to turn the zombie Soo-a back into a human being.

Together they move from bustling Seoul to the seaside village of his childhood. In the idyllic countryside, Jung-hwan joins forces with his mother and best friend to train the undead Soo-a. Occasionally, she shows signs of human behaviour and understanding, which gives the protagonists hope. Nonetheless, the life Jung-hwan left behind starts to catch up with him. Family problems and suppressed emotions begin to surface under the pressure of the surrounding pandemic. Jung-hwan has no choice but to face everything, in the desperate hope that he will be able to take care of his daughter even if it means standing up to the system.

A Useful Ghost

130 min. , 2025

ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ
Fantasy, Drama, Comedy
Thailand, France, Singapore
Language: Thai, English
Subtitles: English and Czech
Directing: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Starring: Davika Hoorne, Witsarut Himmarat, Apasiri Nitibhon
Distributor: Best Friend Forever

TRAILER

Nat (Davika Hoorne) dies after suffering ill health due to dust pollution. But this is not the last farewell for her and her grieving husband (Wisarut Himmarat). The woman’s ghost is reincarnated as the family vacuum cleaner and forms an unexpectedly intimate relationship with the widower. Except, the emotional bond between the man and the vacuum cleaner is not taken well by those around him. Ghosts, unlike vacuum cleaners, do not have the best reputation. And so, Nat decides to convince others just how useful she might be and “vacuum up” all unnecessary ghosts.

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke makes his directorial debut with this distinctly original film that combines touching melodrama with deadpan comedy in keeping with the slow cinema tradition. A Useful Ghost is loosely based on Thai folklore, reinterpreting the story of Mae Nak, a woman who continued to live with her husband after she had died. Boonbunchachoke sets the legendary tale in the present day and captivates the audience with a slow-paced narrative, at times disrupted by absurd comic moments and surreal dream-like scenes that leave you uncertain about who is actually hallucinating – the characters or you.

This brilliant debut impressively combines a melancholic story of love that defies death with environmental and social criticism. It makes a scathing commentary on Thai society’s approach to environmental protection and working conditions in factories. Boonbunchachoke is unmatched in tonal and semantic shifts, and the feverish dream about vacuum cleaners definitely ranks him among the most interesting Thai authors of today.

No Other Choice

139 min. , 2025

어쩔수가없다
Comedy, Drama, Thriller
South Korea
Language: Korean
Subtitles: English and Czech
Directing: Park Chan-wook
Starring: Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min
Distributor: Aerofilms

TRAILER

Park Chan-wook, the iconic director of Old Boy and The Handmaiden, brings his new highly-stylised vision with sardonic humour, this time starring Lee Byung-hun of Squid Game fame.

Devoted family man and veteran paper mill manager You Man-su spirals after being laid off and discarded by a ruthless job market. Humiliated by failed interviews and mocked by corporate gatekeepers, he resolves to claw back dignity by any means necessary — a decision that sends him down a path of violence where there’s no turning back.

Oldboy

120 min. , 2003

올드보이
Drama, Thriller
South Korea
Language: Korean
Subtitles: English and Czech
Directing: Park Chan-wook
Starring: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung
Distributor: ADS Service

TRAILER

15 years of being held in prison and only 5 days to take revenge. Will Oh Dae-su manage to catch the culprit who caused his decade and a half of isolation? His personal vendetta will cost him more than he ever expected.

The cult classic Oldboy is the second instalment of the loose “The Vengeance Trilogy” by Park Chan-wook, one of the most famous Korean directors of modern cinema. The main character, Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), disappears from the streets of Seoul after being framed for the murder of his own wife. He becomes the victim of a planned kidnapping, resulting in 15 years of imprisonment in an apartment with only a TV set to keep him company. However, one day he is set free. He wastes no time and sets out to catch his captor. This bold Korean film captivates all senses with uncompromisingly accelerating pace, imaginative action scenes, subversive black humor, and impressive music by composer Jo Yeong-wook. But above all, it provokes debate about how far we are willing to go in pursuit of revenge. And what it actually brings us.