These are ten Asian film you shouldn’t miss at the mBank New Horizons International Film Festival which will take place from July 20 – 30, 2023 in Warsaw (Poland), and online from July 20 – August 6, 2023.

Note: the list may include movies directed by filmmakers with Asian ancestry.

Shot in the Marathi language, Ambush is a gripping political-psychological thriller that attempts to portray the contemporary civil war in India from three different perspectives. On the outskirts of a remote jungle in Maharashtra, a bloody Maoist uprising has been raging for half a century, involving the Maoist guerrillas known as Naxalites, the corrupt police, and the local population who suffer the most from this conflict. Falgun is a secret informant for the Maoists, his brother Raghunath is a disillusioned guerrilla leader, and Nagpure is a burnt-out local police commissioner. They are divided by everything, but united by the weariness of an endless war. Debut filmmaker Chhatrapal Ninawe deftly maneuvers between these three worlds, much like Scorsese did in The Departed, creating a fascinating social allegory amidst the heart of a communist rebellion. The proximity of death is palpable, and pervasive violence becomes a daily means of survival.

Park Chan-wook supposedly decided to become a director after seeing Alfred Hitchcock’s  Vertigo. If that’s true, he’s now paying off his debt to the master in an incredible way. In his film, which already received the award for best director in Cannes, images from the illustrious British director’s thrillers mix with emotions straight from the cinema of Douglas Sirk, and a devastating obsession turns into love – maybe love is becoming an obsession after all. A married policeman meets a young widow whose husband just died in an accident. He has a good life, but soon starts sleeping under her window. He watches tenderly as the woman eats ice cream out of the box alone again instead of preparing dinner. The South Korean director, who in years past showed how much can be accomplished with the desire for revenge and a hammer, calms down. A feeling that makes no sense turns out to be the strongest this time, and a merely fleeting touch causes a tremor. Decision to Leave is perhaps the most beautiful romantic film of the year, about a love that no one noticed and that perhaps wasn’t there at all. But if it wasn’t there, why does it hurt so much? – Marta Bałaga

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Winner of the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival, Monster is the latest film from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, featuring a farewell soundtrack by Ryūichi Sakamoto. The director of Shoplifters remains a sensitive and attentive observer of unconventional human friendships and familial bonds. This time, he weaves his story, much like Kurosawa in Rashomon, from three different points of view. A single mother notices her son’s strange behavior, suspects his teacher of abuse, while the school authorities turn a blind eye. Monster is more than a portrait of childhood or a critique of the heartless Japanese education system. It is a film about how quickly we pass judgment without knowing the context, unwilling to listen to the arguments of the other side. Kore-eda cleverly confuses the trails, manipulates our emotions, patiently attacks and redeems his characters, leading his film towards a touching story about the search for acceptance and freedom. It is wise and incredibly empathetic cinema. – Marcin Pieńkowski

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Past Lives would seem implausible if it hadn’t actually happened. To tell her own story in her debut film, Celine Song had to learn the art of filmmaking and then convince studio A24 to produce it. The result is a beautiful and subtle, yet universal love story that wowed audiences and critics at Sundance and Berlinale and is now catching fire worldwide. Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) grew up in South Korea and were inseparable in their childhood. Separated by providence, they reunite two decades later when they are different people. She is pursuing her playwriting career in New York and is married to Artur (John Magaro), while he still resides in Seoul and has just broken up with his girlfriend. However, they still find traces of their former selves and the emotional bond they once shared. During a week spent together, they ponder “what if” scenarios. Would they still be the same individuals if they had made different choices? In Past Lives, one can feel the spirit of Richard Linklater’s trilogy, the best New York film storytelling, as well as the penetrating Asian perspective on what is unchanging and most essential in life. Set in an emotional “here and now,” Celine Song’s characters embark on a journey to explore alternative paths in their own lives. Is there such a thing as coincidence? Are people destined for each other? Are those closest to us the ones we knew in a previous life? – Gutek Film

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Lynn, a young girl who is training to be a flight attendant, discovers she is pregnant. She decides to have the baby in the hope of giving it up for adoption. She hides her “condition” from her loved ones, looking for odd jobs, while awaiting delivery. In Stonewalling, Ji Huang and Ryûji Otsuka return to a character from their previous film The Foolish Bird. Then, Lynn (also played by the fantastic Honggui Yao) was still a student whose first sexual experiences brought pain and disappointment. Now, as an adult, she resolves to decide for herself in a world where, despite loosening of the restrictive “one-child policy,” childbirth is often seen as extravagant. When our daughter was five years old, she often asked us a question: Mommy and Daddy, why did you give birth to me? recalled Ji Huang. And although Stonewalling is not an autobiographical film, it was the experience of parenting that allowed the directorial couple to ask questions about why women in China so rarely choose to have children, why they have become indifferent to maternity issues, and why the system is still unable to support those who need help the most. – Jakub Demiańczuk

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In The Quiet Migration, Malene Choi explores themes present in her feature debut, The Return (18th NH), such as what it means to be a stranger and the power of bonds between adopted children and their foster parents. After completing boarding school, Carl returns to his parents’ farm. Although born in South Korea, he spent almost his entire life in Denmark, where he nonetheless still feels out of place. Carl’s parents want him to take over the farm, but he gets along better with a young Polish man who has come for a summer internship. Above all, Carl dreams of finally going to his homeland in search of his roots, especially since racial issues still provoke aggression in Denmark’s seemingly tolerant society, and he occasionally hears racist comments even from family friends. The director tempers the inevitable bitterness of the story with tenderness and humor. In the beginning, his parents were supposed to be crueler. But we just couldn’t do it to Carl! There was some humanity and warmth that just tapped into the film in a way that neither me, nor the producers, could ever anticipate, said Malene Choi after the film’s premiere at the Berlinale. – Jakub Demiańczuk

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Tatsunari Ota, in his second full-length film, delicately sketches the portrait of two profoundly lonely people. She comes from Tokyo to a small provincial town. Is she searching for someone? Running away from something? Or did she come here for work, as she casually tells an elderly man she meets by chance? He keeps a journal, documenting the experiences of each day, capturing the tiniest, most mundane fragments of life. They accidentally meet by the riverside, in a paradise of those skipping stones on the water and those who send stone letters. After finding a unique stone, they decide to embark on a journey together. Tatsunari Ota maintains a sensitivity in portraying his characters reminiscent of his Bundesliga debut, but this time elevating the entire film to an almost experimental level. The deserted streets of Yamakita resonate with the inner lives of the characters. Their meditative journey, interrupted by a limited number of words, leads each of them to a different place. There is a Stone is one of those films that reflect upon its viewers like a mirror. – Sławomir Wasiński

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Amanda Nell Eu, director of Tiger Stripes, which received an award at Cannes, lists body horror and feminism among her obsessions. Her passion for portraying strong female characters and monsters also finds expression in her debut film. Its protagonist is 12-year-old Zaffan, living in a small Malaysian village. The girl enters adolescence much earlier than her schoolmates. Besides facing rejection, Zaffan experiences unexpected changes in her body. And although she initially tries to conceal them, the pressure from her surroundings eventually becomes too strong. Nell Eu’s story is clear and bold, as the director does not resort to half-measures but remains true to her artistic vision until the very end, which is far from obvious. The rebellious spirit, so vivid in the works of Marjane Satrapi and Ana Lily Amirpour, whom she admires, also finds its place here. Zaffan’s frequent defiance against the patterns imposed by family and environment serves not only to showcase the girl’s distinct identity but also as a way of coping with the tumultuous transformation because in Tiger Stripes, rebellion and the disintegration of the body are inseparable companions on her painful journey. – Sławomir Wasiński

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In his latest work, Lav Diaz, well-known to the New Horizons audience and a prominent figure in Philippine cinema, departs from magical realism and mythology in favor of brutal reality and changing the historical backdrop in favor of the contemporary Philippines. However, he continues to tell the story of the entire nation through the experiences of individuals. The protagonist is Hermes Papauran, a police officer and eyewitness to operations aimed at eliminating drug dealers throughout the country. The awareness that his friends from his own unit are behind the murders triggers numerous dilemmas and a condition that manifests externally as a progressive skin disease. As Hermes travels to his family to seek treatment, Supremo Macabantay is released from prison and seeks him out to settle scores. The policy of the former president, Duterte, characterized by anti-drug purges, has instilled widespread fear. The anatomy of fear appears to be the main theme of Diaz’s film, and it is fear that divides Filipino society. However, there is little choice – one can either be a witness or a victim. The fear is even greater because in the blink of an eye, one can transition from the former to the latter. – Sławomir Wasiński

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In Youth, Wang Bing once again ventures with his camera into the lives of Chinese textile industry workers, much like in Bitter Money and 15 Hours. This time, he observes the daily routines of young people who come from rural regions of China to the city of Zhili, where textile production flourishes (including artisanal production that remains partially beyond state control), attracting three hundred thousand hired workers each year. The film’s protagonists are in their twenties, ready to toil beyond their limits, hoping that the money they earn will allow them to start families, raise children, and begin their own businesses. Work consumes their entire lives, yet despite the grueling conditions and long shifts, the young individuals form new relationships, bonds, and friendships. Wang Bing worked on Youth for nearly a decade, taking the first shots back in 2014, and the director decided to travel with his characters to their hometowns as well. The film took years to make not just because I shot so much, but also because I needed time to understand the spirit and lifestyles of a region that was foreign to me, the documentarian stated before the film’s premiere in Cannes. This time invested resulted in a work that is atypical in Wang Bing’s body of work: alongside realistic depictions of monotonous, exhausting labor, there are also light, humorous, and joy-filled scenes that capture the essence of life. – Jakub Demiańczuk

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