Even though each film has been made within a different genre convention, they are tied together by the way they reflect on families and the relationships between men and women. "Funan" and "Grandma and Her Ghosts" show families in crisis, facing a devastating civil war or the parents' economic migration. A husband and wife working together, while also dealing with deep feelings of mutual resentment, create a nuanced picture of the dynamics of a relationship in both "Funan" and "Belladonna of Sadness." Two Korean animations, "Senior Class" and "Seoul Station," include a bitter critique of misogyny and the inexplicable aggression of men towards women in South Korea. Their desire to control the girls' image and body is met with a firm resistance. Animation, a form more abstract than a live-action film, allows to dig deep under the mechanisms that rule societies, creating a clear-cut depiction of the phenomena controlling them.

See the first titles of thE section

Other titles featured in the animations section of the 12th Five Flavours:

Funan, dir. Denis Do, Cambodia, France, Luxembourg, Belgium 2018

Crystal for a Feature Film – Annecy International Animation Film Festival

Cambodia, the Red Khmer era. A young mother, Chou, is looking for her four-year old son, who was taken away by the regime. Her will to live will be put to a test, and remaining human in the inhumane conditions means making many impossible choices. Just like in "Walz with Bashir," the animated image of the war seems to be portraying the unimaginable.

Grandma and Her Ghosts, dir. Wang Shaudi, Taiwan 1998

Taiwanese folklore and starved, yet friendly ghosts. The five-year old Dou Dou is sent to live in the country with his grandmother when his parents start working abroad. The boy slowly realizes there are strange things happening in his new home, and grandma's cat seems more and more devilish. The contrast between the city and the countryside, the official Mandarin language and the Taiwanese dialect, and the cutting-edge technology and folk beliefs, turns "Grandma and Her Ghosts" into a colorful portrait of the every-day life in Taiwan.

Seoul Station, dir. Yeon Sang-ho, South Korea 2016

The epidemic is spreading quietly. An old man is lying in the hall of a Seoul train station. Despite the multiple wounds, nobody pays any attention to him. The animated prologue to "Train to Busan" widens its context, but it is still truly a horror in its own right. Zombie macabre takes over the animated world.

The Senior Class, dir. Hong Deok-pyo, South Korea 2016

A critique of South Korean misogyny. A shy art school student is secretly fascinated with a girl from his class. She is beautiful and talented, yet inaccessible and withdrawn from the school life. When he discovers her secret, they make a pact, setting off a game ripe with tension and insinuations, with the boy's feelings and the dreams and ambitions of the girl at stake.

Belladonna of Sadness, dir. Eiichi Yamamoto, Japan 1973

Jean and Jeanne are a young couple living in the medieval France. Their happiness ends as the local baron takes advantage of the right of the first night and rapes Jeanne, causing her to experience visions and a series of encounters with the Devil himself. The experimental animation from the mad 60s, the age of the sexual revolution, was a perfect project for the father of Japanese manga and anime, Osamu Tezuka.

Festival Passes are still available. They come in two types: Five Flavours Passes, and Master Passes, which are valid for all screenings at the 12th Five Flavours, as well as all Radio Asia concerts (December 6-9, Warsaw).

12th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival – Warsaw, November 14-21.
The full program will be announced on October 22.