Thrillers, chilling horrors feature in East Winds Film Festival
LONDON: Thrillers and chilling horrors feature in the sixth edition of the East Winds Film Festival, the only major film festival of East Asian cinema in the Midlands.
Featuring productions from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, it is being hosted at Coventry University’s state-of-the-art Square One 3D Cinema.
Warming up audiences with a windy comedy more dangerous than typhoons on Jeju Island, the festival starts off with the European Premiere of Lee Byeong-heon’s film What A Man Wants, where four people are on a quest to find adventure and the true love.
Acclaimed Vietnamese genre filmmaking returns to full throttle action at the Opening Gala with the World Festival Premiere of Victor Vu’s Loi Bao. A spin on the superhero genre with a distinct Vietnamese twist, the film delivers some of the most impressive action set pieces to come out of the country’s cinema, all lensed with Vu’s trademark visual flair.
At Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, named one of the ‘seven freakiest places on the planet’ by CNN and one of Korea’s most haunted locations, tortured souls lurk in the shadows. At least, that’s according to script of the blood-curdling Haunted Asylum.
South Korean directors are Gonjiam: somewhat obsessed with spooky tales in the mould of Train to Busan.
The festival is also the European premiere for Colours of Wind, a charming and touching love story that transcends identities, illusion and magic from one of the most representative directors of the Asian film industry – Kwak JaeYong, best known for My Sassy Girl and Cyborg She.
In a first for East Winds, the festival will also showcase world exclusive screenings of two episodes from the ‘3am: Bangkok Ghost Stories’ TV show, a spinoff from the 3am horror movie franchise.
Also to have its European premiere is Sunny / 32, a thriller is created by the duo responsible for the hit motion picture The Devil’s Path – director Kazuya Shiraishi, a leading force in Japanese cinema, and screenwriter Izumi Takashi. Together, they have constructed an original, unpredictable and suspenseful movie.
Chinese thriller The Liquidator, starring the top most bankable male actor in the country – Deng Chao, kick-starts the final day of the 2018 edition. Based on the last volume in the popular Criminal Minds series written by criminal psychologist and forensic expert Lei Mei, the film sees rookie detective Nam and profiler Mu in a race against time to catch a vigilante killer.
This year’s Closing Night will see Benny Lau’s romantic film When Sun Meets Moon come to life on the silver screen, telling the heart-warming story of two young astrologists who must overcome obstacles to be together.
Commented Festival Director Spencer Murphy: “We are delighted to return to Coventry for our sixth edition, with a festival record for World and European Premiere titles. I’m especially pleased to be showcasing three fantastic films by Vietnamese director Victor Vu, whom we are honoured to be hosting.
“We really think we have a film for everyone at this year’s festival, but as always we do tend to favour the darkside – and we have some really outstanding horrors and dark thrillers.”