The Terracotta Film Festival 2013 - A Presentation

The Berlin File

With the pleasant taste combinations of delightful dumplings from Dumpling's Legend Restaurant in Chinatown, a group of film journalists and bloggers, including myself, was recently given a presentation of 2013's Terracotta Far East Film Festival. As pointed out the 'Far East' are the driving adjectives for the Terracotta Festival as it is the myriad of film talent coming from Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and China that is being highlighted and not, for example, India's Bollywood. 


This year 26 handpicked films will be divided up within four categories: In Memory Of: Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui, Current Asian Cinema, Terror Cotta Horror All-Nighter and Spotlight On: Indonesia. There will be a return of all the regular features such as Q&As and masterclasses that always offer up the surprise and chance to become educated in Asian film by the actors and film makers masterfully working today. The organisers would not nor could not confirm who their special guests are for the 2013 Masterclasses. However, the not knowing is a satisfying, memorable aspect of previous Terracotta Festivals.


The dates and times for all of the films are all live on the Terracotta Film Festival site www.terracottafestival.com. With film titles such as When a Wolf Falls in Love with a Sheep (dir. Hou Chi-Jan, Current Asian Cinema) and What They Don't Talk about when they Talk about Love (dir. Mouly Surya, Spotlight On: Indonesia), this festival deserves any cinephiles attention for word play alone. As ever, there is a pleasing mixture of the gritty, the romantic and the horror filled at the festival. An example of the gritty is A Bullet Vanishes (dir. Law Chi Leung, Current Asian Cinema); the romantic in A Werewolf Boy (dir. Jo Sung-hee, Current Asian Cinema) and the full night of horror films that are part of the Terror Cotta Horror All-Nighter. It does exactly what it says on the pack, a night of Horror films to keep you awake and watching.

The festival ill be retaining it's traditional home of the comfortable surrounds of the Prince Charles Cinema just off Leicester Square but will this year also include the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) on The Mall as it's second venue. From experience, FilmLandEmpire will be looking forward to this years line-up as the Terracotta Film Festival has proven to be a well run, entertaining, educational and worthwhile film investment for any film fan. The festival will run between today until the 15th of June. See the website for full booking details.