May 2026
The Asian Cinema Digest in May takes a nostalgic look back, from the Asian Film Archive’s Reel Singapore to Film at Lincoln Center’s Korean Cinema’s Celluloid Fever: The 1970s. Dive into a range of enriching symposiums on audiovisual archiving and film programming, alongside essays revisiting classics like Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Hausu (1977) and Bobby A. Suarez’s They Call Her… Cleopatra Wong (1978).
To See
Image still from Eating Air (1999, Kelvin Tong, Jasmine Ng)Asian Film Archive: Reel Singapore
Curated by independent film programmer Aishah Abu Bakar and film scholar Sophia Siddique, Reel Singapore celebrates filmmakers who have shaped the country’s cultural memory. Not merely a time capsule, the programme speaks to Raphaël Millet’s new book, Singapore: A Cinematic Portrait which launches on 21 May. From features to shorts, this programme delves into the multicultural and multifaceted island nation through five themes: History-Memory, Sonic Nation, Rebel Energies, Horrific Fabulations, and Speculative Futures.
Running till 30 May 2026, don’t miss the opportunity to catch some of Singapore’s classics on the big screen such as Kelvin Tong and Jasmine Ng’s Eating Air (1999), Ramon A. Estella’s Anak Pontianak (1958) and Kuo Jian Hong’s Cyber Wars (2004). Find out more about the programme here.
Image still from My Father After Dinner (2014, Gladys Ng)ArtScience Museum: Contours of Being
Curated in response to its current exhibition Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy, ArtScience Cinema presents Contours of Being, a selection of films tracing the transience of bodies and the persistence of everyday gestures.
Spanning the works of women filmmakers — from auteurs such as Naomi Kawase and Agnès Varda, to experimental voices like Kimi Takesue and intimate storytellers such as Gladys Ng — the programme pays attention to the shifting textures of the body, tracing change through aging, memory and the quieter rhythms of lived experience. Contours of Being runs from 16 May to 28 June.
Image still from A Girl Who Looks Like the Sun (1974, Lee Man-hee)Film at Lincoln Center: Korean Cinema’s Celluloid Fever: The 1970s
Co-presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) and Subway Cinema, Korean Cinema’s Celluloid Fever: The 1970s, explores one of the most eruptive and inventive eras in Korean film history. This expansive programme includes newly restored classics and cult favourites, such as veteran filmmaker Kim Ki-young’s Woman of Fire (1970) and Lee Doo-young’s The Last Witness (1980).
Running from 15 to 26 May, the programme spotlights a generation of filmmakers known for their striking visual styles and covert, yet subversive, social critique, which laid the groundwork for the global prominence of contemporary Korean cinema.
To Attend
30th SEAPAVAA Conference
Bringing together organisations and individuals dedicated to the development of audiovisual archiving across Southeast Asia and the Pacific, the Southeast Asia-Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA) works to preserve and provide access to the region’s rich audiovisual heritage.
Under the theme “Redefining Audiovisual in Archives – Relevancy, Technology and Unity”, the SEAPAVAA Conference returns for its 30th edition putting together an exciting lineup of presentations, workshops on archiving practices, film screenings, and cultural excursions, alongside opportunities to connect with fellow practitioners in the field. Hosted by the National Archives of Malaysia, this conference will take place in Ipoh, Malaysia, from 6 to 11 June. You can register your interest here by 22 May 2026.
3rd Global Audiovisual Archiving (GAVA) Conference
The Global Audiovisual Archiving (GAVA) Conference is a biennial travelling platform for dialogue and collaboration in the field of audiovisual archiving. Bridging cultural, institutional, and economic divides across the global archival landscape, this third gathering is hosted at the Thai Film Archive and continues to serve as a platform for vital conversations and lasting connections across borders.
Beyond individual presentations, the conference features roundtable discussions, performance lectures, and screening programmes, offering multiple points of engagement across interdisciplinary research and practice. The conference takes place from 15 to 17 June, with a cultural excursion on 18 June, including a visit to Nang Loeng Cinema — a 108-year-old wooden theatre and a rare architectural survivor of Thailand’s cinema history. You can register your interest here by 29 May 2026.
Association for Curators and Programmers of Asian Cinemas (ACPAC) Annual Conference 2026: Exploring the Decoloniality of Film Curation and Programming
The Association for Curators and Programmers of Asian Cinemas (ACPAC) is a global platform dedicated to supporting film curators and programmers of Asian cinemas at all career stages. Through networking, collaboration, and professional development opportunities, ACPAC has continued to build an innovative curatorial community showcasing the diversity and depth of Asian cinemas.
Hosted by the Thai Film Archive, this second edition centres on the theme “Exploring the Decoloniality of Film Curation and Programming”, bringing together practitioners to reflect on and reimagine curatorial frameworks. The programme includes a screening of Iranian short films curated by Amirali Ghasemi and a tour at the Thai Film Archive Museum. The conference takes place from 19 to 21 June 2026, and you can register your interest here by 10 June 2026.
To Listen
Image still from Silent Friend (2025, Ildikó Enyedi)Deep Cut: A Film Podcast: 130. HKIFF50 Dispatch (The Drama, Blue Heron, Silent Friend, We’re Nothing at All, and MORE!)
On this episode of Deep Cut: A Film Podcast, hosts Wilson Lai, Benjamin Yap, and Eli Sands dive into the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival. Reporting from Hong Kong, Wilson recaps a packed edition of the festival, including a rare encounter and interview with Tony Leung for Ildikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend (2025). The episode spotlights exciting upcoming releases, including Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers, Ang Geck Geck’s Ah Girl, and Hong Sang-soo’s The Day She Returns.
Image still from Yi Yi (2000, Edward Yang)The Rad Revival House: Season 3, Episode 20, YI YI — The Taiwanese Epic of Normal Life
Class is in session with The Rad Revival House, as “Professor” Cesare Augusto and “Special Guest Lecturer” Sam Levy turn their attention to Edward Yang’s Yi Yi (2000). Together, they unpack Edward Yang’s delicate and deeply observant portrait of middle-class family life, reflecting on the film’s quiet navigation of universal themes and struggles of remorse, lost love, and generational distance. The discussion highlights Yang’s careful attention to everyday gestures, and how Yi Yi crafts an intimate, emotionally resonant portrait of an ordinary Asian family — one that has resisted the reductive stereotypes commonly seen in America and has opened up space for more reflective understandings of everyday life.
To Read
Image still from Hausu (1977, Nobuhiko Obayashi)Yokogao Magazine: HAUSU – Japanese Cult Cinema’s Enduring Appeal
First released in 1977, Hausu has stood the test of time as one of the most surreal and inventive works in horror cinema. Writer Conor Hodges traces director Nobuhiko Obayashi’s beginnings in commercials, where his flair for bold, compressed storytelling first took shape and influenced his filmmaking’s enigmatic visual style.
Hodges explores the film’s embrace of artifice, where its refusal of realism through playful, collage-like visuals and breakneck editing, creates a world in which absurdity and horror coexist. However, beneath this chaos lies a more enduring resonance — Hausu becomes a meditation shaped by Obayashi’s wartime experiences and the afterlives of trauma, where the violence of one generation quietly seeps into the next.
Image still from They Call Her… Cleopatra Wong (1978, Bobby A. Suarez)Little White Lies: Rediscovering Singapore’s first action heroine
Writer Suyin Haynes takes a look back at the film starring Singapore’s first action heroine, They Call Her… Cleopatra Wong (1978). Blending Western spy thriller conventions with Asian martial arts action and exploitation cinema, the film stands out for its transnational production and for positioning actress Doris Young as a rare early Asian female action lead.
Decades after its initial release, Haynes traces the film’s preservation journey and the restoration work by the Asian Film Archive — from sourcing prints internationally to reconstructing the film — allowing audiences today to rediscover this refreshing Southeast Asian film and its strong, defiant leading lady.
Image still from Three Thieves (1966, Hassan El Imam, Kamal El Sheikh, Fatin Abdel Wahab)Mt7rk: The Golden Age of the Opening Title Sequence in Egyptian Cinema
Multidisciplinary creator Omar Al Fil revisits the Golden Age of opening title sequences in Egyptian Cinema, spanning the 1960s to the mid-1970s, a period shaped by the rapid growth of the country’s animation industry.
Through a rich, multidisciplinary approach — combining frame-by-frame animation, abstract collage, and expressive typography — these sequences became works of art in their own right. This video essay foregrounds the often-overlooked contributions of designers and animators, including Antoun Selim and the Moheeb Brothers, whose work helped define the visual language of Egyptian cinema.
To Submit
Filmmaker and Media Artist Residency: The Weight of Mountains (TWOM)
The Weight of Mountains (TWOM) is an international filmmaker residency and collective, focusing on the intersection of humanity and environment through site-specific filmmaking. In collaboration with Rare Sea Saigon and RMIT University Vietnam, their upcoming residency will be held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 2 December 2026 to 28 February 2027. The culmination of the residency will be a screening of film works held in collaboration with Rare Sea Arts Space. The application guidelines can be found here, and the submission deadline is 31 May 2026.
Call for Submissions: Emami Art Experimental Film Festival
The fifth edition of the Emami Art Experimental Film Festival (EAEFF) in Kolkata, India, invites submissions from Indian and international artists and filmmakers working in experimental film, video, and moving images. The festival includes opportunities for networking and collaboration with a global community of filmmakers, artists, scholars and curators who work with alternative practices in moving image making. The application guidelines can be found here, and the submission deadline is 31 May 2026.
Call for Submissions: Purin Film Activities Fund
Bangkok-based Purin Film Fund has championed independent filmmaking across Southeast Asia since 2017. Its Film Activities Fund provides up to USD 5,000 to support projects that spotlight Southeast Asian cinema and strengthen local and regional film communities through screenings, distribution efforts, and educational initiatives. The application guidelines can be found here, and the submission deadline is 1 June 2026.
Call for Submissions: 31st Busan International Film Festival
The Busan International Film Festival, slated to be held from 6 to 15 October 2026, is calling for submissions for short and feature films. The application guidelines can be found here, and the submission deadline is 2 June 2026 for short films and 8 July 2026 for feature films.
Call for Submissions: 37th Singapore International Film Festival
The Singapore International Film Festival will return for its 37th edition from 21 October to 1 November 2026. Filmmakers from Asia and Southeast Asia are invited to submit works for the Official Selection and Competition sections. Eligible films must be at least Singapore premieres and have not been previously broadcast, released online, or publicly screened in Singapore prior to the Festival. The application guidelines can be found here, and the submission deadline is 9 June 2026.
This edition of the Asian Cinema Digest was compiled by Phyllis Chan. The Asian Cinema Digest is a monthly compilation of content taking place internationally involving Asian cinema and the moving image. Featured programmes are not representative of AFA’s views and are unaffiliated to the AFA unless otherwise stated.
