These are our ten recommended Asian films from the New Horizons International Film Festival which is taking place in cinemas from July 18 – 28, 2024 (Wroclaw, Poland) and online from July 18 until August 4, 2024.

A Traveler’s Needs by Hong Sang-soo – Korea | 2024 – 90 minutes

Drinking makgeolli (Korean rice wine) to comfort herself, a French woman, who finds herself without money or means to support herself, becomes a French teacher for two Korean women. (Mubi)

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All the Long Nights by Sho Miyake – Japan | 2024 – 119 minutes

Two work colleagues: he suffers from panic attacks, she has extreme PMS. Their company distributes toy planetariums. What may not sound like Ozu Yasujirō is actually precisely that: people are attentive and do each other good, without even realising.

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All We Imagine as Light by Payal Kapadia – France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy | 2024 – 110 minutes

In Mumbai, Nurse Prabha’s routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend. A trip to a beach town allows them to find a space for their desires to manifest. (Mubi)

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Caught by the Tides by Jia Zhangke – China | 2024 – 111 minutes

The film is set across the first two decades of the 21st century and tells the story of how a Chinese woman lives to herself in silence, celebrating the prosperous Belle Epoque with songs and dance. Some 22 years in the making, the film’s first elements were shot as far back as 2001. (Mubi)

Cu Li Never Cries by Pham Ngoc Lan – Vietnam, Singapore, France, Philippines, Norway | 2024 – 92 minutes

Upon returning to Vietnam from Germany with the ashes of her husband, Lady M. finds that her pregnant niece Vân is rushing into marriage and fears that she will make the same life mistakes as she did. Lady M. proceeds to embark upon a journey retracing her memories, evoking Vietnam’s storied past. (Mubi)

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Rei by Tanaka Toshihiko – Japan | 2024 – 189 minutes

Hikari lives and works in Tokyo. Unhappy in the big city, she can’t find meaning in her existence until she meets Masato, a photographer from far off Hokkaido. This connection leads to an adventure, loneliness, dependency and a destructive love affair. (Mubi)

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The Boy and the Heron by Hayao Miyazaki – Japan | 2023 – 124 minutes

A young boy named Mahito, yearning for his mother, ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. (Mubi)

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The Cats of Gokogu Shrine by Kazuhiro Soda – Japan | 2024 – 119 minutes

An ample community of cats has set up home around the Shinto shrine in Ushimado. Some local residents take care of them, others are disturbed by their mess. Kazuhiro Soda observes their co-existence with kindness, precision and occasional involvement. (Mubi)

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The Monk and the Gun by Pawo Choyning Dorji – Bhutan, Taiwan, France, USA, Hong Kong | 2023 – 107 minutes

The Kingdom of Bhutan is to become a democracy and holds a mock election as a training exercise. In the town of Ura, an old lama orders a monk to get a gun to face the imminent change in the kingdom. Meanwhile, an American collector is in search of a valuable gun that falls in the lama’s hands. (Mubi)

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Viet and Nam by Minh Quy Truong – Vietnam, Philippines, Switzerland, Singapore, France, Netherlands, Italy, Germany | 2024 – 129 minutes

Nam and Việt are coal miners. Nam wants a different future and hires someone to smuggle him to the western world. Before leaving, Nam goes on a journey with Việt and his mother, who claims that Nam’s father, a northern Vietnamese soldier, calls out in her dreams to find his missing body. (Mubi)

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