We present the Asian films that will be screened at the Locarno Film Festival, which is taking place from August 7 – 17, 2024 in Locarno, Switzerland.

Concorso Internazionale

By The Stream (Suyoocheon) by Hong Sangsoo – Korea | 2024 – 111 minutes

A lecturer named Jeonim asks her uncle to direct a theatrical skit put on by her school department. Each day, Jeonim goes to a nearby stream to sketch and try to grasp its patterns. Her uncle decides to direct the skit because of his memories directing one at this same university, 40 years earlier. A scandalous incident arises among the students, and Jeonim and her uncle end up getting involved. (Locarno 2024)

Youth (Hard Times) (Qing chun (Ku)) by Wang Bing – France, Luxembourg, Netherlands | 2024 – 227 minutes

Individual and collective stories unfold in Zhili’s textile workshops, becoming more dramatic as the seasons go by. From atop a passageway, workers watch their boss beat up a supplier. In another workshop, the boss has taken off with all the money. The workers are alone, robbed of the fruits of their labor. After bitter negotiations, the workers return home to celebrate the New Year. (Locarno 2024)

Piazza Grande

Shambhala by Min Bahadur Bham – Nepal, France, Norway, Turkey, Hong Kong, USA, Qatar | 2024 – 150 minutes

In a Himalayan polyandrous village in Nepal, newly married and pregnant Pema tries to make the best of her new life. But soon, her first husband Tashi vanishes on the trade route to Lhasa. Accompanied by her de facto husband, the monk Karma, she embarks on a journey into the unforgiving wilderness to find him, which evolves into a quest of self-discovery and liberation. (Locarno 2024)

Histoire(s) Du Cinéma

Devdas by Sanjay Leela Bhansali – India | 2002 – 185 minutes

One of two film adaptations of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s eponymous novel that were released in 2002, Devdas is a quintessential Shah Rukh Khan star vehicle. Set in the early 1900s, it follows Devdas (Khan), who returns to India after 10 years in London. After he is kept by his family from marrying his childhood friend, he is distraught and seeks comfort with a kindly courtesan. (Locarno 2024)

Locarno Kids Screenings

The Colors Within (Kiminoiro) by Naoko Yamada – Japan | 2024 – 111 minutes

Totsuko can see others as colors because of synesthesia. Kimi is an honor student who drops out of school. Rui wants to compose music on analog synthesizers. They meet at a bookstore and decide to form a band. (Locarno 2024)

Pardi di Domani – Concorso Corti D’autore

Like What Would Sorrow Look (Chou He Zhuang) by Hao Zhou – Canada, Japan, Germany | 2024 – 18 minutes

An auditor, a propagandist, and a foreign teacher untangle their lives in the confines of a faculty dormitory. (Locarno 2024)

The Masked Monster (Gwe-in esi Jeongche) by Syeyoung Park – South Korea | 2024 – 15 minutes

Overcome with hunger, a girl trades her brother for a bag of rice. When her hunger is sated, she comes to her senses. But it is too late. (Locarno 2024)

Pardi di Domani – Concorso Internazionale

The Nature of Dogs by Pom Bunsermvicha – Thailand, USA, Singapore, Hong Kong | 2024 – 27 minutes

A family of four and their dog arrive at a seaside hotel. What seems to be an ordinary vacation turns into a series of interactions that betray an unspoken tension in their relationships. The next day, complexities unfold in a cave housing Buddha statues. (Locarno 2024)

WAShhh by Mickey Lai – Malaysia, Ireland | 2024 – 23 minutes

Set in a Malaysia National Service camp, a Chinese trainee is ordered by the teacher to lead her multiracial female comrades in washing the stained sanitary pads in the middle of the night. (Locarno 2024)

More information: https://www.locarnofestival.ch/home.html

Note: The area of coverage by AFF is from Bhutan to the South and from India to the east. Productions from other Asian countries were not cover by this article.