10 Asian films you shouldn’t miss at the Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival

By Asian Film Festival on July 18, 2023 • ( Leave a comment )

These are ten Asian films you shouldn’t miss at the Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival which will take place from July 19 until September 10, 2023 across New Zealand.

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

**Arnold Is a Model Student** by Sorayos Prapapan – Thailand | 2022 – 84 minutes

A star student faces a stark choice of whether to succeed in a corrupt and hypocritical schooling system or to join in a real-life student movement that is re-shaping contemporary Thai society. (NZIFF 2023)

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**Autobiography** by Makbul Mubarak – Indonesia | 2022 – 115 minutes

Authoritarian dictates masquerade as democratic reality in this slow burn Indo-thriller, and a young man must decide if it is worth discarding his values and losing his peace of mind for an affluent life.

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**Gaga** by Laha Mebow – Taiwan | 2022 – 112 minutes

After the death of their patriarch, a multigenerational Indigenous Taiwanese family must come together to retain their connection to their ancient culture against encroaching challenges in this moving award-winner.

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**If Only I Could Hibernate** by Zoljargal Purevdash – Mongolia | 2023 – 99 minutes

In this first Mongolian Official Selection at Cannes, a teenage boy dreams of winning a scholarship in a national physics competition but his hopes are jeopardized when his mother leaves him to care for his siblings alone.

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**Monster** by Kore-eda Hirokazu – Japan | 2023 – 127 minutes

Straight from Cannes where its intricately composed script was deservedly awarded, Kore-eda Hirokazu’s latest is a deeply affecting and morally complex drama told from multiple perspectives.

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**Past Lives** by Celine Song – USA | 2023 – 106 minutes

Celine Song’s gorgeous, intensely bittersweet romance ruminates on the lives and loves of two childhood friends fleetingly reunited after decades apart – a remarkable debut feature that was the talk of Sundance.

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**Phantom** by Lee Hae-young – Korea | 2023 – 133 minutes

Set in Japanese-occupied Korea in 1933, five people are held captive by a security chief determined to find the spy “Phantom” in this stylish, highly entertaining thriller.

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**Plan 75** by Hayakawa Chie – Japan | 2022 – 112 minutes

This quietly devastating debut depicts a dystopian near-future Japan where the government implements a programme of voluntary euthanasia for those over 75 as the solution for a rapidly aging population.

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**Tiger Stripes** by Amanda Nell Eu – Malaysia | 2023 – 95 minutes

Winner of the Grand Prize of Critics’ Week at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, a 12-year-old girl watches her body undergo a terrifying transformation in this irreverent art-horror debut from Malaysia.

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**When the Waves Are Gone** by Lav Diaz – Philippines | 2022 – 187 minutes

In this haunting, grotesquely comedic thriller from Filipino art cinema hero Lav Diaz, violence, political unrest, and the dire state of a nation are the grand themes behind a tale of rival cops with a mutual death wish.

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