62nd Kraków Film Festival – Asian Presence 2022

By Asian Film Festival on May 22, 2022 • ( Leave a comment )

These are the Asian films that will be screened during the Kraków Film Festival which will take place in cinemas from May 29 until June 5, and online throughout Poland on 3–12 June 2022.

Documentary Competition

**Adamiani** by Hirotoshi Takeoka – Japan, Netherlands | 2021 – 120 minutes

The Kists are Georgian Chechens who live in the Pankisi Gorge. The local men are known for their bravery but also infamous for being ‘terrorists’. Leila has lost two sons in the war in Syria. Her cousin Abo has a soul of a fighter but now he runs a trekking company together with his Polish partner Barbara. The protagonists hope that their beautiful mountainous region will no longer scare tourists away. A multi-threaded story with many chapters, the film shows inhabitants of a little known place in the Caucasus. Today, mostly women nurture its normality. (KFF 2022)

**All That Breathes** by Shaunak Sen – India, UK, US | 2022 – 97 minutes

In New Delhi nowadays, the fate of people and animals may be the same. Shrouded in deadly smog, the city is also the setting of xenophobic persecution aimed primarily at Muslims. That is why brothers Nadeem and Saud do not feel safe here. But they keep on doing their thing – for two decades they have been running a bird clinic at home. They were taught to respect all living creatures, and they devote almost all their time to save the black kite. Observations of their everyday struggles create a fresco, imbued with meaning and emotions, in which ecology and politics intertwine with profound humanism. (KFF 2022)

Short Film Competition

**Live** by Baggio Jiang – China | 2021 – 22 minutes

On a warm evening, a young girl gets into an Uber where the driver informs her that he will be live-streaming during the ride. She does not mind as long as she is not in the range of his phone’s camera. Will the driver treat his female passenger fairly? This is a story full of surprising and not-so-obvious twists and turns that raises questions about the limits of safety and morality resulting from ubiquitous cameras. Do CCTV or lenses in private phones guarantee a quicker response in emergency situations or are they an excuse for more voyeurism? (KFF 2022)

**To the Sea** by Lin Po-yu – Taiwan | 2021 – 25 minutes

Piercing, empathetic cinema with a social slant. Minimalist and sincere, this is a realistic story about a single mother who passes the hardest test of love every day. Taking care of a disabled son is a challenge for her heart and her head, but most of all for her body, which is getting weaker every year. It is a daily confrontation with pain, lack of sleep, suffering and the drudgery of everyday life. When the boy becomes a strong man and the woman grows old, they both need to face the most painful decision of their journey together. The sea will become their only witness, enemy and friend. (KFF 2022)

Ootsiders

**Mirror** by Siddhant Sarin, Debankon Solanky – India, Lithuania, South Korea | 2021 – 73 minutes

‘If you don’t love me, I will destroy your face’. Such comments can be found by young Indian women on their social media. It is not uncommon that actions follows threats. The protagonists of the documentary who were mutilated with acid know it very well. Although it might seem that after such drastic experiences the women should give up and withdraw from life, they show themselves to the world exposing permanent scars on their faces and their deformed bodies on television, the Internet or on catwalks, and even get married. (KFF 2022)

Trailer:

Fighters

**Rain in 2020** by Lee Yong Chao – Taiwan, Myanmar | 2021 – 79 minutes

He was born in Myanmar. He shoots films in Taiwan and in Myanmar. His films have been screened both at international and domestic film festivals, including the Warsaw Film Festival, the Busan Film Festival, the Taipei Film Festival and the Kaohsiung Film Festival. He directed Jade Man (2014) and, four years earlier, Huasin Street. His latest film Hpakant Jade Life will celebrate its Polish premiere at the 56th Krakow Film Festival. (KFF 2022)

Trailer: