These are fifteen films you shouldn’t miss at the London East Asia Film Festival which will take place from October 18 – 29, 2023 in London, UK.

Amiko by Morii Yusuke – Japan | 2022 – 104 minutes
Amiko isn’t like other children. Her endless energy makes her an outcast at school and gets her in trouble at home. When a painful family loss disrupts her seemingly idyllic seaside life, her sense of isolation intensifies, yet it doesn’t stop Amiko from inviting people into her world. (LEAFF 2023)

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Coo-Coo 043 by Chan Ching-Lin – Taiwan | 2022 – 135 minutes
In Taiwanese filmmaker Ching-lin Chan’s bracing feature debut, a pigeon returns after seven years, reopening a family’s old wounds and festering resentments in a town enmeshed in the illegal pigeon racing circuit. (LEAFF 2023)

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Day Off by Fu Tien-yu – Taiwan | 2023 – 106 minutes
For forty years A-Rui has been running a barbershop, a small place where she has seen happiness and sorrow, ebb and flow. Faced with all the troubles in her life, A-Rui fully commits to her work and defeat is never an option for her, but her children never appreciate it and treat her profession with disdain. One day, A-Rui receives a phone call from the family of an old regular client who moved far away a long time ago. The family asks A-Rui if she would be willing to travel to cut the hair for the bedridden old man. (LEAFF 2023)

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Gaga by Laha Mebow – Taiwan | 2022 – 112 minutes
The Hayung family inhabit the highlands of Taiwan along with other indigenous Atayal people. Held in high esteem by the community, they make a steady living from agriculture and tourism, while the men sometimes have too much to drink. Even when their days are met by ruptures like an elder’s death or land surveys, their faiths—a syncretic mix of their Gaga belief system and Christianity—appear to prevail. (LEAFF 2023)

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Green Night by Shuai Han – Hong Kong | 2023 – 92 minutes
In Han Shuai’s film, Chinese immigrant Jin Xia and a green-haired woman, initially contrasting, unite for a lucrative venture in Seoul’s underworld. As they navigate dangerous situations, their complex relationship evolves, weaving a fragile yet inevitable bond. Together, they challenge those seeking to dominate them, striving for independence in the city’s nocturnal landscape.

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Her Hobby by Ha Myung Mi – Korea | 2023 – 118 minutes
Jeong-in, who recently divorced a violent husband, moves back to her hometown. While suffering from nosy villagers, she is soon drawn to Hye-jung, a newcomer to the town. Two young women soon get closer and Hye-jung’s freewheeling and confident character inspires Jeong-in to break free of her wretched life. One day, Hye-jung suggests Jeong-in share a ‘hobby’ with her, and now their bloody hobby is about to begin. (LEAFF 2023)

Home Sweet Home by Takumi Saitoh – Japan | 2023 – 113 minutes
In the harsh winter located Nagano, Kenji Kiyosawa, a sports instructor, is fascinated by a model house touted as a “magical house.” Kenji decides to build a house for his wife and daughter, who are sensitive to the cold, with a single air conditioner that can warm every corner of the house. With the new house completed and a second daughter joining the family, the family is at its peak of happiness. However, as soon as they move into the house, strange things begin to happen. A terrifying shadow in a baby’s eyes, Something who caught the girl in the basement… The wear things surrounding the “house” is not limited to only the family, but it begins to spread to those involved, and accelerates towards the ending of the shock that exceeds expectations. (LEAFF 2023)

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In Broad Daylight by Lawrence Kan – Hong Kong | 2023 – 106 minuters
Based on true events, In Broad Daylight reveals a little-known truth about residential care homes for the disabled that hides beneath the headlines. A news organization’s investigative journalism unit receives a tip about the abuse of residents in Rainbow Bridge Care Home. To expose the home’s wrongdoings, reporter Kay goes undercover to expose the inhumanity inside, searching for the cruel truth under broad daylight. (LEAFF 2023)

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In our Day by Hong Sang-Soo – Korea | 2023 – 83 minutes
A woman in her early 40s, is temporarily living at the home of a friend, who is raising a cat. Another person, a man in his 70s living alone, had his cat die of old age. Today each of them had a visitor — a woman in her 20s for the woman, and a man in his 30s for the old man. Both visitors came with serious questions to ask. The woman answered them rather briefly while standing up, while the old man ended up giving longer answers in an extended conversation. Both of them had ramyun for lunch in front of their guests, and coincidentally enough, they both added hot pepper paste to their ramyun. It’s not a very common thing to add hot pepper paste to ramyun… (LEAFF 2023)

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Monster by Hirokazu Kore-eda – Japan | 2023 – 126 minutes
When her young son Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what’s going on. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher and child, the truth gradually emerges. (LEAFF 2023)

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Lonely Eighteen by Tracy Hsu – Hong Kong | 2023 – 91 minutes
This is a story about how family can impact the growth of a young woman. It follows Elaine, who grew up in poverty in the 1980’s, and her best friend Ying as they enter the Hong Kong entertainment industry to change their fate. In the golden era of Hong Kong cinema, Ying becomes a popular erotic star while Elaine struggles between her identity and her job as an actor. When Hong Kong cinema’s glory fades a decade later, the two women end up on diverging paths due to their life choices. (LEAFF 2023)

Perfect Days by Wim Wenders – Japan | 2023 – 123 minutes
Hirayama works as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. He seems content with his simple life. He follows a structured everyday life and dedicates his free time to his passion for music and books. Hirayama also has a fondness for trees and photographs them. More of his past is gradually revealed through a series of unexpected encounters. (LEAFF 2023)

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Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden – Tibet | 2023 – 109 minutes
This is a story about how people and animals finally get along. A snow leopard breaks into the sheep pen of a nomad and kills nine rams. Father and son then argue: the son insists on killing the snow leopard, but the father insists on releasing it. (LEAFF 2023)

Sura: A Love Song by Hwang Yun – Korea | 2022 – 102 minutes
After quitting filmmaking about the tidal flat that underwent Saemangeum Seawall Project a few years ago, she moved to Gunsan-si, a city of Saemangeum, as she seemed destined to. Sura: A Love Song delivers the course of rediscovering the beauty of the tidal flat working together with the Citizens’ Survey Group on Saemangeum that has continued its research for nearly twenty years. (LEAFF 2023)

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The Breaking Ice by Anthony Chen – Singapore | 2022 – 97 minutes
In cold wintry Yanji, a city on China’s northern border, young urbanite Haofeng, visiting from Shanghai, feels lost and adrift. By chance, he goes on a tour led by Nana, a charming tour guide who instantly fascinates him. She introduces him to Xiao, a personable but frustrated restaurant worker. The three bond quickly over a drunken weekend. Confronting their individual traumas, their frozen desires slowly thaw as they seek to liberate themselves from an icy world. (LEAFF 2023)

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For more information, please visit: https://www.leaff.org.uk/