10 films you shouldn’t miss at QCinema International Film Festival 2023

The unusual plot secured the Golden Lion award for Best Film at this year’s Venice Film Festival and Best Music at the Ghent International Film Festival, among other nominations.

The director, Lanthimos, is also no stranger to QCinema. His film Killing of a Sacred Deer had its Asian premiere in 2018.

Read also: Tatler Review: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

If Poor Things marks the start of the festival, then closing it is The Breaking Ice by Anthony Chen—Singapore’s entry to the 2024 Academy Awards.

The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the recent Cannes Film Festival, highlighting emerging art-house directors and daring films, and its plot follows the relationships of three tourists over a snowy city.

Chen had also been part of the festival with his 2018 film, The Wet Season, as QCinema’s closing film that year.

Saltburn revolves around the story of Oliver Quick, a student enrolled at Oxford University. He becomes involved in the captivating world of fellow student Felix Catton, who eventually invites him to his eccentric family’s estate for a summer never to be forgotten.

Emerald Fennell was recognised for his directing prowess by the Mill Valley Film Festival, winning the Filmmaker of the Year award. For QCinema, it is one of the quality films under the Special Screenings, one of the festival’s many exhibition sections.

Other films under the Special Screenings include Irreversible: Straight Cut by Gaspar Noé, Karaoke by Moshe Rosenthal, Only the River Flows by Wei Shujun, Raging Grace by Paris Zarcilla, and Strange Way of Life and The Human Voice by Pedro Almodóvar.

The Sam Freeman and Ng Choon Ping movie follows the story of Jules, who is targeted in a horrific homophobic attack. It destroyed his life and career. Sometime after that event, he encounters Preston, one of his attackers, in a gay sauna. He then embodies a vengeful persona. 

Fantasia Film Festival honours Freeman and Ping with the Best Director award this year with Femme. QCinema also recognises its quality, having been placed in the roster of films under its Before Midnight section. Hungry Ghost Diner by We Jun Cho, River by Junta Yamaguchi, and Red Rooms by Pascal Plante complete this section’s lineup. 

Lav Diaz returns to QCinema with his film Essential Truths of The Lake. 

Furious with how Philippine President Duterte mishandled the war on drugs, Lieutenant Hermes Papauran, arguably described as the “greatest Filipino investigator ever,” is working to solve a 15-year-old case centred around a volcanic ash-laden landscape and an impenetrable lake.

The film will be played with its contemporaries under the Special Screenings section, including Saltburn by Emerald Fennell and Irreversible: Straight Cut by Gaspar Noé.

In case you missed it: Lav Diaz Asks: Can Cinema Truly Portray The Filipino Narrative?

A woman named Mila struggles in modern-day Philippines, remaining unpaid and overworked. She finds comfort in a love interest through his constant phone calls.

Cross My Heart And Hope To Die by Sam Manacsa is a short under QCSEA, QCinema’s fresh section—the international counterpart of its long-running QCShorts Competition and the launching pad for Southeast Asia’s most promising filmmakers.

Related: ‘Cross my Heart and Hope to Die’: Sole Southeast Asian short film at the Venice Film Festival 2023

The Manacsa film will compete with Basri And Salma In A Never-Ending Comedy by Khozy Rizal, Buoyant by Toan Thanh Doan and Hoang-Phuc Nguyen-Le, Dominion by Bea Mariano, Hito by Stephen Lopez, I Look Into The Mirror And Repeat Myself by Giselle Lin, Kung nga-a Conscious ang mga Alien sang ila Skincare (The Thing About Aliens And Their Skin Care) by Seth Andrew Blanca and Niño Maldecir, The Altar by Moe Myat May Zarchi, and When You Left Me On That Boulevard by Kayla Abuda Galang.

More from Tatler: QCinema 2023: 10 short films you shouldn’t miss

Christian Petzold’s Afire is about a group of friends in a holiday home by the Baltic Sea. Emotions soon run high as the parched forest around them catches fire.

The film received the Berlin Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize award at the Berlin Film Festival 2023. For QCinema, it stands proud among the other entries of the Screen International exhibition section. 

This section also has the Venice Grand Jury Prize and International Federation of Film Critics Award winner Evil Does not Exist by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Cannes Jury Prize winner Fallen Leaves by Aki Kaurismäki, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Perfect Days by Wim Wenders, Best Director winner The Taste of Things by Trần Anh.

All of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh and Sweet Dreams by Ena Sendijarević are completing the lineup.

One of QCinema’s main competition sections, the Asian Next Wave, has directorial debuts from Asian filmmakers—including Gitling by Jopy Arnaldo, Cinemalya’s Best Screenplay winner this year.

It tells the story of Jamie and Makoto. Jamie recently called off her engagement, and the latter sought refuge in the Philippines following a distressing betrayal by his spouse two years earlier. Their paths cross in Bacolod, where they work together and create Ilonggo subtitles for Makoto’s film.

Vying for the Pylon Award, it will compete with Abang Adik by Jin Ong, Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell by Thien An Pham, Last Shadow At First Light by Nicole Midori Woodford, Love Is A Gun by Lee Hong-chi, Mimang by Kim Tae-yang, Solids By The Seashore by Patiparn Boontarig, and Tiger Stripes by Amanda Nell Eu.

Read more: Here are other Asian films to look forward to in this year’s QCinema

Written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki, Fallen Leaves is a Finnish-German comedy-drama about Ansa, a supermarket shelf-stocker on a zero-hour contract, later a recyclable plastic sorter, and Holappa, a sandblaster, an alcoholic, and eventually a reformed alcoholic. Their paths accidentally crossed despite adversity and misunderstandings.

It received the Jury Prize award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Now, cinephiles can see it via the Screen International exhibition section. 

The film fest’s RainbowQC, one of the most distinctive sections on this side of Southeast Asia, has four show-stoppers. And one of them is Mutt by Vuk Lungulov-Klotz. Its plot revolves around a transgender man who goes through an emotional roller-coaster over 24 hours in New York City.

Lío Mehiel, who plays the protagonist Feña, won the Special Jury Award for Best Acting at Sundance this year. 

RainbowQC also has Passages by Ira Sachs, Peter Von Kant by François Ozon, and Woman Of… by Michał Englert and Małgorzata Szumowska. 

This year's QCinema will also feature Restored Classics, a regular QCinema crowd-drawer. It has Wong Kar-wai classics Chungking Express and Fallen Angels. Also included are Enter the Dragon by Robert Clouse and A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick.

More information about the festival is available on its social media accounts with the handle @qcinemaph.

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