These are ten Asian films you shouldn’t miss at the AFI Fest Film Festival which will take place from October 25 – 29, 2023 in Los Angeles, USA.

– Feature Films –

City of Wind by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir – France, Mongolia | 2023 – 103 minutes
A remarkably assured feature debut from award-winning Mongolian short filmmaker Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, CITY OF WIND follows Ze, a studious 17-year-old village shaman, who is diverted from the straight and narrow when he meets a city girl, wide-eyed rebel Maralaa. Called to perform a pre-heart-surgery protection ritual on her, despite her reluctant participation, Ze’s unmasking provokes a verbal lashing and, with it, a torrent of exciting new feelings. Instantly smitten, Ze becomes determined to win Maralaa over and promptly learns that she had been longing for a connection too. In between wandering around Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital city, the two curious and adorable teens explore their differences, bleach their hair and dance with wild abandon. As they begin to envision their alternate futures, momentarily ignoring the unlikelihood that they might align, impending decisions become overwhelming. –Malin Kan

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Evil Does Not Exist by Ryusuke Hamaguchi – Japan | 2023 – 106 minutes
Following up on his widely acclaimed, Oscar®-winning film DRIVE MY CAR (AFI FEST 2021), Ryusuke Hamaguchi reins in a pensive, enigmatic eco-drama contemplating the tug and pull between humans, nature and the nature of humans in EVIL DOES NOT EXIST, winner of the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival. In the idyllic rural Mizubiki Village near Tokyo, Takumi and his eight-year-old daughter, Hana, live their moderate, simple lives. They take walks in the forest identifying trees, collect water from the natural springs and spend their evenings with the local udon shop owner. This peaceful routine is disrupted when an urban corporation arrives with plans to build a glamping tourist site, threatening the quality of life for the quiet community. Developed from a concept originally planned as a silent film accompanying a live music performance, composer Eiko Ishibashi’s capricious score carries a significant part, bolstering the film’s uniquely hypnotic and languid cadence. Yet, past its wistfully cozy scenery of Japanese rural life and Hamaguchian digressing conversations, the seemingly clear-cut case study of corporate gentrification slowly reveals a surprising, ambiguous threat of disquieting menaces. –Anna Li

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Perfect Days by Wim Wenders – Japan | 2023 – 123 minutes
Kōji Yakusho won the Best Actor award at this year’s Cannes film festival for his portrayal of Hirayama, a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo who performs his job like a dedicated master craftsman, in Wim Wenders’ sweetly meditative drama PERFECT DAYS. Rising early each day, Hirayama executes his duties with exquisite professionalism and pride in a job well done, despite the less committed effort of colleagues like his trainee, Takashi (Tokio Emoto). With the workday done, Hirayama begins his equally regimented leisure routine: pop a favorite cassette into his van’s tape deck (his taste includes songs by Otis Redding, Nina Simone, The Kinks, the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith and – naturally – Lou Reed’s 1972 classic “Perfect Day”), visit a favorite eatery for dinner, and enjoy reading a novel before bedtime. Hirayama may seem like a model of work-life balance, and his apparent anti-materialism commendable, but a visit from his niece and later his estranged sister suggests a pain from his past he may be working hard to contain. Yakusho gives a quietly commanding performance. Best known for his many collaborations with Kiyoshi Kurosawa, from 1997’s CURE to 2008’s TOKYO SONATA, as well as Juzo Itami’s TAMPOPO, the beloved ballroom dancing romance SHALL WE DANCE? and Shohei Imamura’s Palme d’Or-winning THE EEL, the actor here adds another masterfully played role to his stellar body of work. –Todd Hitchcock

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Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus by Neo Sora – Japan | 2023 – 103 minutes
In the years preceding his March 2023 passing, legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto had not been able to hold live performances. This filmed solo concert, Sakamoto’s final performance, directed by his son Neo Sora (THE CHICKEN, AFI FEST 2020) – an extraordinary artist in his own right – leaves behind an intimate, heartrending and personal rendition of 20 of Sakamoto’s hand-chosen and ordered scores. The performance includes some of his most well-known pieces, such as his pop Yellow Magic Orchestra period, his Bertolucci film scores and music from his meditative final album, 12 – that, stitched together, represent a wide-ranging, nearly-50-year-spanning career. More than a recorded concert, RYUICHI SAKAMOTO | OPUS is a sonically dazzling production. With only Sakamoto and his piano, keys are struck with alternating delicacy and intensity, playful compositions ease into mournful ones, and, with tremendous grace, the late maestro reveals a vulnerability that is sure to surprise. –Malin Kan

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Tiger Stripes by Amanda Nell Eu – France, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Qatar, Singapore, Taiwan | 2023 – 95 minutes
The first Malaysian film to win the Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize, Amanda Nell Eu’s debut feature reimagines a classic tale with an endearing DIY spirit and irreverent playfulness. Precocious and quick-witted 12-year-old Zaffan (vibrantly embodied by newcomer Zafreen Zairizal) spends her days rebelling against the strict Islamic religious school and swimming in the lake with her best friends. That is until she gets her first period before anyone else in her class. Soon, other parts of her body begin to transform in terrifyingly grotesque ways. Ostracized by her peers and the village community, with a rumored creature lurking in the forest, Zaffan must decide to submit to society’s pressure to conform, or embrace her monstrous self, warts and all. Taking cues from 1950s Southeast Asian monster cinema and Gen-Z internet culture, TIGER STRIPES bursts onto the scene as an electrifying addition to the Monstrous-Feminine coming-of-age canon. –Anna Li

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– Short Films –

A Roadside Banquet by Peiqi Peng – USA | 2023 – 16 minutes
Eleven-year-old Chinese girl Mai attends her baby brother’s first birthday party, where she gradually realizes everyone only has eyes for her new brother. (AFIFF 2023)

Basri & Salma in a Never-Ending Comedy by Khozy Rizal – Indonesia | 2023 – 15 minutes
A husband and wife own an Odong-Odong at the carnival together, spending their days entertaining and taking care of other people’s children without any of their own. Between meddling relatives, self-doubt and an explosive confrontation, they uncover why they have not been blessed with a child. (AFIFF 2023)

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Closing Dynasty by Lloyd Lee Choi – USA | 2022 – 17 minutes
On a school day, a seven-year-old hustles strangers for money on the streets of New York City. (AFIFF 2023)

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Grandma & Grandma by Sean Wang – USA | 2022 – 17 minutes
Nǎi Nai is my grandma. Wài Pó is also my grandma. Together, they are a grandma super team that dances, stretches and farts their sorrows away. (AFIFF 2023)

Primetime Mother by Sonny Calvento – Philippines | 2023 – 15 minutes
The willpower of a mother is tested as she endures the tedious and degrading audition process of a popular Philippine game show. (AFIFF 2023)

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For more information, please visit: https://fest.afi.com/