Fans of Asian cinema will have something to look forward to starting this month.
The Singapore Film Society and Filmgarde Cineplexes have launched a new monthly film programme called the Contemporary Asian Cinema series (CAC).
With the increasing presence of Asian cinema on the international film landscape, CAC aims to celebrate the diversity and richness of Asian cinema, which includes films from South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Japan, even Tibet.
CAC also aims to champion critically acclaimed works from new directors as well as established filmmakers.
The series will kick off with the Korean film Clean Up, the debut of director Kwon Man-ki.
Clean Up won the New Currents award at the Busan International Film Festival last year and has been acclaimed by festivals and critics all over the world.
Variety called the film an "impressive graduation project of Korean Academy of Film Arts student Kwon Man-ki, slow-burn psychological drama “Clean Up” potently examines feelings of grief, guilt, and redemption."
Audiences will also be treated to a post-show Skype Q&A with the director.
Tickets for Clean Up can be purchased here:
https://fgcineplex.com.sg/movies/details/2000001195
Another debut film that CAC is spotlighting is Korean director Jeong Hee-jae's A Haunting Hitchhike.
A tender and sincere drama, the film follows 16-year-old Jung-Ae who sets out on a journey to find her mother after her father has been diagnosed with cancer.
A Haunting Hitchhike screened at Busan International Film Festival in 2017 and won Special Jury Prize at the Eurasia International Film Festival in 2018.
A Haunting Hitchhike will be screened in November.
Spicing up the programme is Fruit Chan's sex comedy, Three Husbands.
A stalwart of Hong Kong cinema, Chan’s films often reflect and satirizes the social and political realities of Hong Kong.
In Three Husbands, the final instalment of Chan’s Prostitution Trilogy, Golden Horse actress Chloe Maayan plays a high-libido prostitute who plies her trade while living on a boat in Hong Kong with her three pimping husbands.
Fruit Chan and Chloe Maayan both respectively won Best Director and Best Actress at the 25th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award this year.
Three Husbands will screen in late August.
Audiences can also look forward to Tibetan director Pema Tsden's Jinpa, which won Best Screenplay at the Venice International Film Festival, and Chinese director Zhang Ming's The Pluto Moment.
Tickets for Clean Up can be purchased here:
https://fgcineplex.com.sg/movies/details/2000001195