Focus: Migrations
A cinematic journey focused on the experience of relocation – voluntary and forced, individual and collective. Migration shapes contemporary societies in East and Southeast Asia, bringing multiculturalism and rich identities, but also various tensions. It is no longer possible to define social structures within simple national frameworks. The selected films therefore tell stories of searching for roots, of people standing at the crossroads of cultures and languages, trying to find closeness despite the burden of exclusion and a sense of not belonging.
An intense day in the life of a Chinese food delivery driver in New York, a young man from North Korea trying to find his place in Seoul's LGBTQ+ community, and a girl searching for her roots and identity after her father emigrated from South Korea to Latin America years ago... The Focus: Migration section offers an examination of the causes and consequences of migration, both within Asia and beyond the continent. That is why you will also find films here that may come as a surprise at Five Flavours, because they were made outside Asia.
People have always wandered the world. They change their country of residence in search of better living conditions and a fresh start. They flee armed conflicts, persecution, or simply personal problems. The clash of characters and customs gives rise to new cultural, culinary, and linguistic identities, and the experience of migration permanently transforms both newcomers and hosts. Although politicians are eager to exploit this issue, fueling fears of foreigners, job losses, and rising crime, migration is a natural and constant process taking place across all latitudes, often in directions not immediately apparent from our perspective.
The Focus: Migration section is a multi-voiced story of individuals who dared to change their lives by leaving their homeland. The filmmakers behind the works we have selected seek answers to the question of how much this experience shapes their lives, but also to what price is paid for being a newcomer in a foreign country, what adapting to new conditions entails, and what becomes of subsequent generations of immigrants.
At the same time, this section helps us define contemporary national cinema. For the first time, we are presenting films made outside the continent - in the United States and Argentina - by artists of Asian descent. We believe that without the perspective of people whose lives have been shaped by the experience of migration, this section would be incomplete.
