Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival Launches Full 2015 Program

To the thunderous, percussive sounds of local traditional Japanese drumming duo Tokoton Taiko, the second annual Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival (BAPFF) launched its program in the city's Queen Street Mall this morning, announcing a colossal 2015 event consisting of 102 films from 42 countries over a jam-packed 11 days.

In the wake of mid-Octobers program teaser, stylishly dressed BAPFF Film Director Maxine Williamson and Head Programmer Kiki Fung — both resplendent in traditional assassin garb in honour of Taiwanese flick The Assassin, which will see its Queensland premiere during the festival — welcomed Lord Mayor Graham Quirk to the stage to officially launch this year's epic spread of features.

The suited-up Lord Mayor expressed lament that "nobody told me it was dress-ups!" before going on to laud the nascent BAPFF as "Brisbane's signature film festival" and a highly prestigious event, a swiftly growing force with which to be reckoned amid the city's already vibrant cultural landscape.

The Lord Mayor's was a sentiment echoed by BAPFF chairman Michael Hawkins: "This is a world-class program. We're screening films straight from their premieres at Locarno, Venice and Toronto Film Festivals to Brisbane audiences next month."

"This year has been an incredible year for Asia Pacific film, particularly Australian cinema, and this is an opportunity for Brisbane to see the diversity of film on offer from our region," he said.

Among the 102 films this year — 83 of which are feature films, nine of which are shorts — are titles such as 1984's Shanghai Blues and The Taking Of Tiger Mountain, as part of the Coming To Terms With Change theme, co-presented by BAPFF and Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office. Meanwhile, Carte Blanche For Films From The Pacific will showcase 11 films from the islands of Oceania, including French Polynesian films My Adopted Family and Tatau and New Zealand films There Once Was An Island and Made In Taiwan.

As Hawkins explained, this year's BAPFF will see more than 50 premiere screenings — both national and state — among its stacked deck, with the extra-exciting reveal that there will be 10 virtual-reality titles, including short film Beach Road, VR game Darkfield, virtual musuem Explore ForeVR and VR interactive film The Perfect Hyde: Deadly Yacht, to help take the festival offerings to a whole new level of immersion.

Film screenings are divided into themes such as The Ties That Bind, with Australian films such as The Daughter and Early Winter, The Journey Is The Thing, Hybrid Story Worlds: Imagining Our Future, Shorts and more.

Opening Night on Thursday 19 November will screen The Idol, directed by Hany Abu-Assad, while Closing Night on Sunday 29 November will screen director Tsui Hark's The Taking Of Tiger Mountain 3D. 

Tickets for the second annual Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival are on sale now ($15 adults, $12.50 concession); head to the event's website for more information.

Check out the full program below.

A MATTER OF FORM

Tehran Taxi (Islamic Republic of Iran) Dir: Jafar Panahi
Atomic Heart (Islamic Republic of Iran) Dir: Ali Ahmadzadeh
The Assassin (Taiwan) Dir: Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Under Electric Clouds (Russian Federation, Ukraine, Poland) Dir: Alexey German Jr
Thanatos, Drunk (Taiwan) Dir: Chang Tso-Chi
Cemetery of Splendour (Thailand, Malaysia, France, Germany, United Kingdom) Dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Hong Kong Trilogy: Preschooled Preoccupied Preposterous (Hong Kong, PRC) Dir: Christopher Doyle
Our Little Sister (Japan) Dir: Hirokazu Koreeda
Right Now, Wrong Then (Republic of Korea) Dir: Hong Sang-soo
The Family (People’s Republic of China, Australia) Dir: Liu Shumin
Mountains May Depart (People’s Republic of China, Japan, France) Dir: Jia Zhangke

DOCUMENTARIES

Sherpa (Australia) Dir: Jennifer Peedom
A Young Patriot (People’s Republic of China) Dir: Du Haibin
Another Country (Australia) Dir: Molly Reynolds
My Love, Don’t Cross That River (Republic of Korea) Dir: Jin Mo-young
The Look Of Silence (Indonesia, Denmark, Finland, Norway, United Kingdom) Dir: Joshua Oppenheimer
Among the Believers (Pakistan, United States of America) Dir: Mohammed Ali Naqvi, Hemal Trivedi
The Chinese Mayor (People’s Republic of China) Dir: Zhou Hao

THE COLOURS OF ASIA PACIFIC

Taklub (Philippines) Dir: Brillante Ma. Mendoza
Tikkun (Israel) Dir: Avishai Sivan
An (Japan, France, Germany) Dir: Naomi Kawase
Black Horse Memories (Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey) Dir: Shahram Alidi
A Minor Leap Down (Islamic Republic of Iran, France) Dir: Hamed Rajabi
The Coffin in the Mountain (People’s Republic of China) Dir: Xin Yukun
Interrogation (India) Dir: Vetri Maaran
Very Big Shot (Lebanon, Qatar) Dir: Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya
The Gate of Departure (Egypt) Dir: Karim Hanafy
The Road Called Life (Republic of Korea) Dir: Ahn Jae-hun, Han Hye-jin
Sunrise (India, France) Dir: Partho Sen-Gupta
Dark in the White Light (Sri Lanka, France) Dir: Vimukthi Jayasundara
Downriver (Australia) Dir: Grant Scicluna
Alive (Republic of Korea) Dir: Park Jungbum
The Gulls (Russian Federation) Dir: Ella Manzheeva
Tent (Kazakhstan) Dir: Kenzhebek Shaikakov

THE JOURNEY IS THE THING

The Find (Russian Federation, Finland) Dir: Victor Dement
Journey to the Shore (Japan, France) Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
The President (Georgia, France, Germany, United Kingdom) Dir: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
A Corner of Heaven (People’s Republic of China, France) Dir: Miaoyan Zhang
River (People’s Republic of China) Dir: Sonthar Gyal
Heavenly Nomadic (Kyrgyzstan) Dir: Mirlan Abdykalykov
Tharlo (People’s Republic of China) Dir: Pema Tseden
Spear (Australia) Dir: Stephen Page
Stranger (Kazakhstan) Dir: Yermek Tursunov

THE TIES THAT BIND

Early Winter (Australia, Canada) Dir: Michael Rowe
The Daughter (Australia) Dir: Simon Stone
End of Winter (Republic of Korea) Dir: Kim Dae-hwan
Lorna (Philippines) Dir: Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo
Set Me Free (Republic of Korea) Dir: Kim Tae-yong
Mina Walking (Afghanistan, Canada) Dir: Yosef Baraki
Our Little Sister (Japan) Dir: Hirokazu Koreeda
Motherland (Turkey, Greece) Dir: Senem Tüzen
The Family (People’s Republic of China, Australia) Dir: Liu Shumin
Mountains May Depart (People’s Republic of China, Japan, France) Dir: Jia Zhangke

SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Bad Boy Bubby (Australia) Dir: Rolf de Heer

MASTERPIECES REVISITED

Floating Clouds (Japan) Dir: Mikio Naruse
A City of Sadness (Taiwan) Dir: Hou Hsiao-hsien
A Touch of Zen (Taiwan) Dir: King Hu

COMING TO TERMS WITH CHANGE: MUST-SEE HONG KONG FILMS
co-presented by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office

Curated by Sam Ho

China Behind (Hong Kong, PRC) Dir: Shu-Shen (aka Cecille Tong Shu-Shuen)
It was a Cold Winter Night (Hong Kong, PRC) Dir: Lee Sun-fung
Shanghai Blues (Hong Kong, PRC) Dir: Tsui Hark
The Spooky Bunch (Hong Kong, PRC) Dir: Ann Hui
The Story of a Discharged Prisoner (Hong Kong, PRC) Dir: Patrick Lung Kong

COUNTRY OF FOCUS: TURKISH WAVES
presented by Asia Pacific Screen Academy, Turkish Government’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Curated by Zeynep Özbatur Atakan

Mustang (Turkey, Qatar, France, Germany) Dir: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
Until I Lose My Breath (Turkey, Germany) Dir: Emine Emel Balcı
The Bride (Turkey) Dir: Ömer Lütfi Akad
Hope (Turkey) Dir: Yilmaz Güney
Frenzy (Turkey, Qatar, France) Dir: Emin Alper
The Lamb (Turkey, Germany) Dir: Kutlug Ataman
Motherland (Turkey, Greece) Dir: Senem Tüzen
The Small Town (Turkey) Dir: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Ivy (Turkey) Dir: Tolga Karaçelik

VOICES FROM MALAYSIA

Curated by U-Wei Bin HajiSaari

Nova (Malaysia) Dir: Nik Amir Mustapha
Songlap (Malaysia) Dir: Effendee Mazlan, Fariza Azlina Isahak
One Note One Fragment (Malaysia) Dir: U-Wei Bin HajiSaari

CARTE BLANCHE FOR FILMS FROM THE PACIFIC
co-presented by Griffith Film School

Curated by Herman Van Eyken (Head of Griffith Film School) and Khadidja Benouataf (FIFO)

Canning Paradise (Australia) Dir: Olivier Pollet
Kumu Hina (United States of America) Dir: Dean Hamer
Les Horizons Chimériques (France) Dir: Gilles Dagneau
Made in Taiwan (New Zealand) Dir: Dan Salmon
Murundak – Songs of Freedom (Australia) Dir: Rhys Graham, Natasha Gadd
My Adopted Family (French Polynesia) Dir: Eliane Koller
Naissance D’une Nation (New Caledonia) Dir: Ben Salama, Thomas Marie
Rapanui, The Secret Story of Easter Island (France) Dir: Emmanuel Mauro, Stéphane Delorme
There Once Was an Island (New Zealand) Dir: Briar March
This Way of Life (New Zealand) Dir: Thomas Burstyn
Tatau (French Polynesia) Dir: Jean Philippe Joaquim

HYBRID STORY WORLDS: IMAGINING OUR FUTURE
co-presented by Queensland University of Technology (QUT)

Curated by Deb Polson, Senior Lecturer, School of Design, QUT

Sunday 22 November from 11am to 5pm

Driving Sim (Australia) Developer: Ashley Davis Nighttime
Terror (Australia) Dir: Mark Schramm
Darkfield (Australia) Dir: Mark Schramm
Virtual Meanjin (Australia) Dir: Brett Leavy
Montas (Australia) Developers: Garth Robertson, Alex Stevens
The Thing in the Wall (Australia) Dir: Tyronne Curtis
Extinction Point: Gold Run (Australia) Dir: Gordon Moyes
The Perfect Hyde: Deadly Yacht (Hong Kong, PRC) Dir: Kevin Tse
Explore ForeVR (Australia) Developers: Thomas Macnamara, Michael McClenaghan and Johan Becconsall
Beach Road (Singapore) Dir: Ender Jiang
Hybrid Labs: The Monster Zoo
Hybrid Masters: The Asia Pacific Virtual Reality Network
Hybrid Masters: Writing and Designing Hybrid Worlds
Hybrid Masters: The Gurus of Games
Hybrid Masters: The Labs of the Future

SHORTS

The Phoenix (Australia) Dir: Nora Niasari
The Meek (Australia) Dir: Joe Brumm
Under The Sun (People’s Republic of China, Australia) Dir: Qiu Yang
Crazy Little Thing (Japan) Dir: Onohana
Nulla Nulla (Australia) Dir: Dylan River
Waves '98 (Lebanon, Qatar) Dir: Ely Dagher
Ernie Biscuit (Australia) Dir: Adam Elliot
Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose (Australia) Dir: Del Kathryn Barton, Brendan Fletcher

PANELS & SEMINARS

Photography vs Film: Who Tells a Better Story?
When Art Film Meets Martial Arts
Doing Business in Asia: Japan - Introducing the Business Essentials

FREE FAMILY SCREENING at The Courier-Mail Piazza, South Bank

Saturday 28 November from 5.30pm

Oddball (Australia) Dir: Stuart McDonald