These are fifteen Asian films you shouldn’t miss at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival which will take place from October 5 – 15, 2023 in Sitges, Spain.

Best Wishes to All by Yûta Shimotsu – Japan | 2023 – 89 minutes
A young nursing school student visits her grandparents in the countryside. The family reunion gets off to a pleasant start, but the re-encounter gradually turns into a strange and awkward experience. The reason? There’s something in her grandparents’ house. After discovering this secret, her happy life becomes a living hell. Yûta Shimotsu’s debut, with traces of suburban folk horror, revisits the best of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s genre filmmaking. (Sitges 2023)

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Cobweb by Jee-woon Kim – Korea | 2023 – 125 minutes
Set in the seventies, this zany choral comedy with meta-cinematic undertones tells the story of Kim, a filmmaker who is anxious to reshoot the ending of his recently completed film. In order to do this, he will have to regain control of his chaotic ensemble of actors and producers, while at the same time fighting against interference from censors. (Sitges 2023)

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Concrete Utopia by Um Tae-Hwa – Korea | 2023 – 130 minutes
A devastating earthquake reduces Seoul to rubble, with the exception of only one single skyscraper, which presides over the center of the city. Before long, the adverse living conditions there lure the survivors into the building, only to discover that its residents have barricaded themselves inside, and have no intention of letting them in. A spectacular thriller halfway between a disaster movie and a dystopian film. (Sitges 2023)

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Immersion by Takashi Shimizu – Japan | 2023 – 109 minutes
Takashi Shimizu, the man behind J-horror classics like Ju-On: The Grudge and cult rarities like Marebito (2004), is back at it again with a horror story set in the world of new technologies. A succession of unexplained deaths begins to take place involving a team of scientists specializing in virtual reality. Before long, the real world and the virtual world become intertwined forever.

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In My Mother’s Skin by Kenneth Dagatan – Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan | 2023 – 98 minutes
World War II is nearing its end. The Philippines is under the yoke of the Japanese army, although the soldiers are beginning to lose control of the islands. In the midst of the chaos, the father of a family flees, and his young daughter is forced to take care of her mother, whose health is rapidly deteriorating. To do so, she enlists the help of a fairy with a voracious appetite. This co-production between the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan was screened at the past edition of Sundance, where it garnered good reviews.

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Killing Romance by Wonsuk LEE – Korea | 2023 – 106 minutes
Hwang Yeo Rae is a popular actress, but is often mocked because of her poor acting skills. To unwind, she travels to an island in the South Pacific. There she falls in love with millionaire Johnathan Na and marries him. Retired from the world of entertainment, she will soon be pursued by a young fan who worships her. A bizarre and surreal musical comedy that functions as the Korean version of the most coloristic Takashi Miike.

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Kubi by Takeshi Kitano – Japan | 2023 – 131 minutes
Lord Oda Nobunaga plans to take control of Japan, a troubled country where rival warlords are battling each other in a conflict that involves several different clans. Araki Murashige, one of Lord Oda’s vassals, stages a rebellion, but promptly disappears after planning it. Takeshi Kitano returns to the samurai genre with a film where all of his obsessions as a filmmaker are present.

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Mad Cats by Reiki Tsuno – Japan | 2023 – 88 minutes
Taka, a young slacker, sets out on a quest to track down his brother Mune. Teaming up with a quirky new friend and a mysterious young woman he meets along the way, Taka will have to take on a pack of ferocious, monstrous, human-like cats who have joined forces to end the lives of pet store owners who mistreat animals.

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Mad Fate by Soi Cheang – Hong Kong | 2023 – 109 minutes
Can anyone ever stray from the path previously determined by fate? When a deranged fortune teller crosses paths with a psychopath who will soon commit murder, the first will use every feng shui trick in the book and metaphysics to change the future. But what is the price to pay for defying the forces of fate? The director of Kill Zone 2 and Limbo returns to Sitges with a new explosive thriller.

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Project Silence by Tae-gon Kim – Korea | 2023 – 101 minutes
Jeong-Won and his daughter are on their way to the airport when a thick fog causes a series of pile-up accidents on the bridge where they are. Father and daughter are trapped in the midst of the chaos along with other survivors. The situation takes a turn for the worse when mutant dogs break out of their cages and start attacking humans, leaving people trapped in a terrifying life-or-death situation.

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River by Junta Yamaguchi – Japan | 2023 – 87 minutes
At a centuries-old inn located in Kyoto, a worker finishes her lunch break on the banks of a nearby river and then heads back to work… only to find herself, once again, standing beside the same river. Could it be possible that both she and the inn are trapped in a time loop? The auteur behind the movie Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, one of the Festival’s biggest revelations in 2021, returns with a spiritual sequel that continues turning time upside down.

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Sleep by Jason Yu – Korea | 2023 – 95 minutes
A pregnant woman becomes concerned about her husband’s sleeping habits. What starts out as light sleepwalking soon escalates into surprisingly threatening and grotesque behavior. After consulting a sleep clinic but to no avail, the couple desperately seeks the help of a shaman. Claustrophobic and domestic horror in one of the big sensations at the past Cannes Critics’ Week.

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Smugglers by Ryoo Seung-wan – Korea | 2023 – 129 minutes
In the 1970s, in Guncheon (a small town near the sea), there were Haenyeos: female divers who can dive without equipment. Two of them, Chun-ja and Jin-sook, would catch shellfish for a living, but everything changed when pollution put an end to their fishing. Now devoted body and soul to smuggling, the village where they live has become a nest of hustlers and criminals. Sitges welcomes the latest Korean box-office phenomenon.

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The Boy and the Heron by Hayao Miyazaki – Japan | 2023 – 124 minutes
During World War II, young Mahito Maki suffers a heartbreaking family tragedy and moves to the countryside. Isolated, Mahito begins to explore the mysterious landscapes and encounters a gray heron. The boy also stumbles upon an abandoned tower… and decides to enter it. The master of Japanese animation returns to the silver screen a decade later with a beautiful and touching story with autobiographical overtones.

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Tiger Stripes by Amanda Nell Eu – Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, Netherlands, Indonesia, Qatar | 2023 – 95 minutes
Zaffan, 12, lives in a small rural community in Malaysia, and is the first to reach puberty among her group of friends. Hormonal changes cause her body to transform, something that leads to her being rejected by her schoolmates. Like a tiger that has been stalked and displaced from its habitat, Zaffan decides to reveal her true nature, her fury, her rage and her beauty. A wild coming of age story reminiscent of Julia Ducournau’s filmmaking.

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More information: https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/