Volume 8, Issue 7 / July 2004

Asian Focus

This month Offscreen offers a decidedly Asian flavour, as each of the five pieces has an Asian connection. To start, this month presents a two-part report on the FanTasia International Film Festival, which entertained Montreal from July 8 to August 1. The science-fiction neo-noir One Point 0 (2004) had its Canadian premiere at the FanTasia Festival, and Offscreen is proud to have (the first Canadian?) an in-depth interview with its co-directors Marteinn Thorsson and Jeff Renfroe, and second unit director Giovanni Sampogna. Up next is an interview with Singapore-born director Unsu Lee, as he discusses the in’s and out’s of getting his first narrative feature film made and screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. Rounding out the issue is a report on the Hong Kong International Film Festival which looks back at the 26th edition from 2002 and at the recent 28th edition.
This issue also happily coincides with the publication of a book to which myself and Offscreen regular Peter Rist have contributed, The Cinema of Japan and Korea. The book is part of the 24 Frames series from Wallflower Press. Each multi-author volume provides an in-depth analysis of 24 important films from the respective Nation(s). In this volume, edited by Justin Bowyer and prefaced by Jinhee Choi, there are 13 Japanese films and 11 Korean films under the magnifying glass. Peter Rist and I have written two pieces each for this volume. For more information on the book and the 24 Frames series you can visit the Wallflower Press website. (ed. Donato Totaro)