Lectures

Lectures: Once upon a time in Asia. A tour through East and Southeast Asian Cinema

Sixteen fascinating international meetings devoted to various aspects of Asian cinemas are a real treat for film art enthusiasts. They invite you to dive into the nuances of Asian films and discover their sociocultural contexts, aesthetic traditions, relations between films, daily lives, and the current events taking place in Asia.

The lecturers combine a real interest in pop culture with a wide knowledge about its social contexts, links to traditions, and its relationship with the trends present in modern culture.

The specialists associated with Five Flavours Asian Film Festival, Udine Far East Film Festival, CAMERA JAPAN Festival, and Helsinki Cine Aasia talk about Japanese horror films and science fiction, the success of the Chinese film industry, the auteur cinema of Bhutan, the fascinating aspects of anime, and the contemporary cinema of India. All our experts are recognised lecturers and authors, people actively involved in promoting Asian cinema around the world, as well as true film enthusiasts, tireless in tracking down intriguing connections and surprising contexts.

Watch Asian Cinema Education lectures
Speakers and topics

Among the speakers are the biggest names in film studies. The history of Korean cinema will be presented by Darcy Paquet, the author of a popular title "New Korean Cinema: Breaking the Waves" (2010), the correspondent of Screen International and Variety, and lecturer at the Busan Asian Film School. Kiki Fung, the author of numerous essays on Hong Kong cinema speaks about how the Chinese aesthetics, narrative traditions, and philosophies might have influenced the manner of expression of the beguiling films from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Tom Mes, film critic, author of the script for the musical “Underwater Love” and books about Takashi Miike shares his thoughts in anime and Japanese gangster cinema of the 1980s and 90s. The Five Flavours lectures were prepared by the programmers of the festival – Jagoda Murczyńska, Marcin Krasnowolski, and Łukasz Mańkowski Other speakers also include renown lecturers and people actively involved in promoting Asian cinema worldwide: Luk van Haute, Roger Garcia, Eija Niskanen, Leena Eerolainen, and Anna Thunberg.

The lecturers combine a real interest in pop culture with a wide knowledge about its social contexts, links to traditions, and its relationship with the trends present in modern culture. The fascination with selected tropes or authors opens the door to an in-depth understanding of Asian cinemas and their role in the context of world film. During the course you will learn about the characteristic aspects of the directorial style of Park Chan-wook and the portrayals of women in Korean films of the 1950s, but also find out how Chinese cinema changed Hollywood and how "Jurassic Park" influenced the politics of film subsidies in South Korea.

Course schedule
  • Key Moments in Korean Film History - Darcy Paquet 
  • Our Time Has Come: Women Directors of Contemporary Asian Cinema - Jagoda Murczyńska 
  • Chūshingura: The 47 Ronin From Puppet Play to Hollywood and All the Way to AKB48 (Or Not Quite?) - Luk van Haute 
  • New Korean Cinema- Darcy Paquet 
  • V-Cinema: The Video Revolution in Japan - Tom Mes
  • The Poetics of Chinese-Language Cinema - Kiki Fung 
  • The Success of the Chinese Film Industry in the 21st century and its Impact on Mainstream Cinema - Marcin Krasnowolski 
  • Production History of Japanese Cinema - Eija Niskanen 
  • How Japanese is Anime? - Tom Mes
  • Japanese Horror and Science Fiction Cinema - Leena Eerolainen 
  • The Horror and the Glory: Writing and Rewriting History in Japanese Cinema - Luk van Haute 
  • Theatre and Dance in Asian Cinema - Anna Thuring 
  • Contemporary Thai Cinema - Łukasz Mańkowski 
  • Cinema of the Philippines - Roger Garcia
  • Contemporary Indian Cinema as a Reflection of a Changing Society - Marcin Krasnowolski 
  • Chinese Film Industry: From the Fifth-Generation to Blockbuster Cinema - Eija Niskanen
How to watch?

The lectures are available with Polish, English, Dutch, Italian, and Finnish subtitles.

The quizzes accompanying each lecture are a chance to have some fun and check your newly gained knowledge.

The lectures are open to everyone, you don’t need to register to participate.

Watch the Asian Cinema Education lectures

Be up to date!

project leader

project partners

© Fundacja Sztuki Arteria
Our website uses cookies, i.e. small text files that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you browse the site. Click here to change your cookie settings.