The 15th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival closed in the Polish capital of Warsaw this month with a strong focus on family dynamics, Covid-19 and queer films placed in local contexts.

More than 7,000 people attended physical screenings at the hybrid event, which showed 43 feature films and 10 short films from across Asia. The films attracted a further 20,000 views online.

"Chungking Express", part of a Wong Kar Wai retrospective, was the festival’s most-watched film, followed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s "Wife of a Spy".

28 filmmakers talked about the state of indie cinema in, among other Asian countries, India, Japan, and Myanmar.

Indian filmmaker, Aditya Vikram Sengupta, said he would like to expand his indie footprint with a focus on artistic cinema in Calcutta, and that international co-productions were not necessarily an essential model for him in the future. 

Sengupta wrote and directed "Once Upon a Time in Calcutta", a co-production between India, France and Norway. The film, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in Sept, follows a bereaved mother trying to find a new identity, love and independence.

Sengupta highlighted widespread confusion created by Covid-19, online platforms and theatrical shutdowns. 

“Everyone is trying to find ground and understand what is going on. The financial models are all over the place, whether a film will screen at all in theatres, or going direct to digital. They have their own set of guidelines and they want films of a certain kind... I think it needs some time to settle down, after which we will all find our own corners in this industry,” he said. 

Festival highlights included queer cinema from Taiwan, with films such as Chen Hung-I and Wei Muni’s all-female "As We Like It". 

Singapore added to the LGBTQ+ conversation with director Ong Kuo Sin’s comedy-drama, "Number One', about a middle-aged man who accidentally becomes a drag queen.    

This year’s festival also cast a spotlight on Burmese cinema. Filmmaker Maung Sun, in Warsaw for the event, spoke about the potential of Myanmar cinema against a backdrop of political upheaval, and his first feature, released in 2020, about a young director trying to fulfil his vision in challenging circumstances.   

Participants in the festival’s talks included Edwin, director of Indonesian hit, "Vengeance Is Mine", "All Others Pay Cash", which was the festival’s closing film, and Shunji Iwai, who filmed The "12 Day Tale of the Monster that Died" in 8 during the Covid-19 pandemic, mostly over Zoom.

The International People’s Jury Grand Prix went to Chinese filmmaker Yang Lina’s "Springtide", about three generations of women living together. The film was praised for its portrayal of intergenerational trauma from a female perspective. 

A special mention was given to Thai director Jakrawal Nilthamrong’s "Anatomy of Time", which captures themes of time, memories and the cycle of life and death. – Jenni Leppihuhta