Asia Pacific
Dive into sweeping , splendid and spirit-lifting tales from across the Asia Pacific region, including the latest from festival faves Tsai Ming-liang and Hong Sang-soo; stories from New Zealand, Vietnam and Japan; and award-winners from the Berlinale and Cannes.
Abiding Nowhere
Tsai Ming-liang continues his meditative, monastic Walking series with another hypnotic shrine to seeking transcendence in a chaotic world.
All Shall Be Well
This Teddy Award winner is a study of family bonds fraying in the aftermath of tragedy and of the found families that put us back together again.
Black Dog
A taciturn loner and a stray dog bond in this beautiful tale of cross-species kindred spirits set against widescreen images of the Gobi Desert.
Brief History of a Family
This taut, visually inventive Chinese thriller has drawn comparisons to buzzy social-class parables Saltburn and Parasite.
Ghost Cat Anzu
This unconventional and delightfully wacky anime conjures a rotoscoped dream world as a grief-stricken girl befriends a giant bipedal cat spirit.
Head South
A charming autobiographical valentine to coming of age in New Zealand during the height of punk, which was Rotterdam’s 2024 opening-night film.
House of the Seasons
This hearty, accomplished debut feature follows the highs and lows of a multi-generational family running a tofu factory in Daegu.
Mongrel
An undocumented Thai caregiver grapples with exploitation in this evocative portrait that received the Caméra d’Or Special Mention at Cannes.
My Sunshine
A coach trains two young figure skaters in this endearing, snow-blanketed portrait of youthful yearning and adult melancholy.
Santosh
Premiering in Cannes Un Certain Regard, this scathing, subversively feminist take on the police procedural puts modern-day India under scrutiny.
Shambhala
The first Nepalese film to screen in competition at Berlin follows the physical and spiritual Himalayan journey of a woman on a truth-seeking mission.
Some Rain Must Fall
This Berlinale award-winning domestic noir is the arresting first feature from Melbourne-trained Short Film Palme d’Or winner Qiu Yang.
A Traveler’s Needs
MIFF favourite Hong Sang-soo reunites with Isabelle Huppert in this mysteriously tricksy comedy that won the Berlinale’s Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.
An Unfinished Film
When an unfinished film, reborn, is stuck in stasis again, its creators meditate on how their lives have been transformed by the pandemic.
Viet and Nam
Two coal miners in love face their country’s buried trauma and reckon with their risky futures in this hypnotic Vietnamese queer romance.
We Were Dangerous
Executive-produced by Taika Waititi, this fiercely feminist Māori-led debut is an emotive subversion of the ‘coming-of-age delinquent’ narrative.