These are four films you shouldn’t miss at the 1st Red Lotus Asian Film Festival Vienna which will take place from May 12 – 15, 2022 in Vienna, Austria

May 12, 2022 | Thursday | Stadtkino | 22:00 pm

Leonor Reyes was once a major player in the Filipino film industry after creating a string of successful action films, but now her household struggles to pay the bills. When she reads an advertisement looking for screenplays, Leonor begins tinkering with an unfinished script about the quest of young, noble Ronwaldo, forced to avenge his brother’s murder at the hand of thugs. While her imagination provides some escape from reality, she goes all-in after an accident involving a television knocks her out, sends her into a coma, and transports her inside the incomplete movie. Now Leonor can play out her wildest dreams firsthand and discover the perfect ending to her story. (Red Lotus 2022)

Trailer:

May 13, 2022 | Friday | Stadkino | 19:30 pm

Saiful is an impoverished ambulance driver, who finds himself in an impossible situation, as he has migrated to Dhaka to earn the livelihood of his and his family. His lust has led him into a marriage with a woman he slept with, who now asks him for money also. Furthermore, her brother, who has taken a loan to open a failing barbershop, is on his heels, and is not reluctant to use violence. Back in his hometown in the Jonma River basis, his family, including his wife and young daughter, are facing their own problems, as the water has flooded everything. They need Saiful to get back, but he cannot do so. As time passes, the situation deteriorates even more. (Red Lotus 2022)

Trailer:

May 14, 2022 | Saturday | Stadtkino | 22:00 pm

Longman LEUNG’S biopic follows legendary Hong Kong pop music and movie diva Anita MUI from her child performer days to her death from cervical cancer in 2003, aged only 40. Like Anita herself, the film is brash and bold, but also surprisingly subtle and moving. Newcomer Louise WONG excels as the woman sometimes said to be Hong Kong’s Madonna, but it is the moments of documentary footage that hit home emotionally. In production for several years, Anita went straight to the top of the Hong Kong box office on its release at the end of 2021. It was also a surprise hit in the Mainland. Focusing on her charitable works as well as her entertainment career, the film emphasises that Anita is Hong Kong, and that Anita died too young. (Chris Berry) (Red Lotus 2022)

Trailer:

May 15, 2022 | Sunday | Stadtkino | 22:00 pm

Due to his incurable disease, Nam-sik desperately needs medicine he can’t possibly afford. Just to stay alive, he chooses to move around from hospital to hospital stealing medicine after work. Meanwhile, 203, a man in prison for embezzlement who is suffering from severe headache and seizures visits the hospital for a medical checkup. After being told that he has less than two weeks to live, 203 escapes and Nam-sik tags along in an unexpected and adventurous journey. The two of them are chased by the police and by a pair of unscrupulous gangsters. IM Sang-soo’s turbulent and at the same time very touching road movie / comedy is pure cinematic delight. (Red Lotus 2022)

Trailer:

For more information, please visit: https://red-lotus.org/en

Still photos source:
Leonor Will Never Die © Cercamon
No Ground Beneath the Feet © Golpo Rajjo Films
Anita © Edko Films
Heaven: To the Land of Happiness © Finecut