The ASIAN WOMEN’S FILM FESTIVAL changed its name to ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL BERLIN in order to broaden the spectrum of films presented. We aim at showing images that raise questions and incite discussions on the many facets of identity formation. The film selection focuses on works from East Asia (Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan) and South East Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam). Films from the Asian Diaspora constitute a further integral part of the festival program. The festival is held bi-annually.

Globalization entails social transformation and the shifting of idea(l)s of nationality, kinship and gender roles. The impact of recent economic developments on family life has become very tangible both in Asia and in Europe. Paradigms for identification are changing, and individuals find themselves often unable or unwilling to stick to formerly assigned places, relations, functions, and desires within society and family. Addressing not only the movement of particular bodies across national borders, but also the migration of identity concepts as they are negotiated in current film images from Asia, the festival aims to highlight the precariousness of everyday life in the era of globalization.
How do hegemonic structures persist in conditioning and determining the individual subject while simultaneously allowing for the invention of new forms of living? For this year’s edition the focus is set on IMAGINE(D) KINSHIPS.

Our opening film “Bi Dung So!” (Vietnam) tells a family history that bears the traces of migration, love affairs and the meaning of daily meals from the perspective of three generations. It is followed by “Musan Ilgi” (Korea), a filmic take on the (separated) nation as one imagined family. “Pinoy Sunday” (Taiwan/Philippines) follows the Kafkaesque search of two migrant workers for family and home in Taipeh. “Baby Arabia” (Thailand) documents the space of belonging, that a band and the Malay-Arabic music that it plays are able to create for both its members and audiences. “Saigon Electric” (Vietnam) features street dance as well as the notion of community and friendship as kinship. “Holy Island” (Japan) documents the resistance of a fishing community against the construction of a nuclear power station and the family structures the elderly inhabitants have invented after the young generation has left. “Book of Miri” (Denmark/Korea) and “In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee” (USA/Korea) both address transnational Korean adoption from an autobiographical perspective. “When Love Comes” (Taiwan) evolves around a pregnant teenager who slowly learns about the complicated past of her family. “All About Love” (Hong Kong) is an intricate comedy about desire, responsibility, and the negotiation of social convention. “We Are Alive” (Hong Kong) records media workshops at juvenile reform institutions in Hong Kong, Macao and Sapporo. “USB” (Japan) involves a medical student who participates in nuclear radiation experiments to pay for his study fees. When his girlfriend becomes pregnant, he takes a dramatic step. The closing film “Banga Banga” (Korea) is a humorous approach to the stories of South East Asian migrant workers in South Korea's factory regime.

Two “Selections of Short Films”  focus on “Imagine(d) Kinships” and “Food”, including works from the Asian Diaspora, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan. Our BLACK BOX Program presents another selection of shorts with the same thematic focus as installations on MONITORS in the foyer of the House of the Cultures of the World and the Korean Culture Center.

The AFFB provides a platform for filmmakers, producers, scholars and festival- and community organizers from Asia and the Asian Diaspora to share visions, projects and transnational networks.
This year a film lecture and discussion on “Gender and Kinship in Hong Kong Independent Cinema,” held in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Hong Kong and the China Studies Institute, FU Berlin, will further link film, theory and politics.

Performance:  Nabi Nara will stage her interactive performance “Forest” in the Korean Culture Center at the closing reception.

And last but not least - join our Festival Party (29.10.) with DJ Hunee, DJ Daniel Wang and DJ Zhao at legendary HBC Club Berlin!

We are very honoured to have the following international guests:

HANABUSA  Aya (Director “Holy Island”, Japan)
PHAN Dang Di (Director “Bi Dung So!”, Vietnam)
Kong RHITDEE (Director “Baby Arabia”, Thailand)
Mai Anocha SUWICHAKORNPONG (Director “Lunch”, Thailand)
Denise Tse-Shang TANG (Film scholar and sociologist, Hong Kong)
Nattapong TIENDEE, Janya WONGSURAWAT, John WONGSURAWAT (Media Activists, Jor Kaw Teun! / Thailand)
Jessey TSANG Tsui-Shan (Director “The Life and Times of Ho Chung Village”, Hong Kong)
YAU Ching (Director and film scholar, “We Are Alive”, Hong Kong)

We wish to thank everybody who generously supported us and made this festival possible.

We wish you a delightful festival!