Hieu Chau started Filmed in Ether in late 2014 when he felt that there wasn’t enough discussion about Asian film within the Australian space. “There are other sites like Heroic Cinema, but I wanted to put my hat into the arena to see how it goes. Ideally one day Filmed in Ether could be a hub for Asian cinema in Australia. My idea is to generate further discussion and to give a lot of writers a chance to talk about it.”
The name for his website comes from Shunji Iwai’s teenage drama, All About Lily Chou-Chou, “The followers of the Japanese film’s otherworldly title singer claim her music is made from the fabric of the universe: the ether. I thought it was an interesting idea and I fashioned it across the entire Asian film genre”.
Chau grew up surrounded by Asian film in his youth and was on a steady diet of Hong Kong action movies, with his father being a big influence. Later on he discovered what Asian films and films, in general, were capable of.
Hieu Chau’s anticipated films:
I am based in Melbourne so I am waiting for the MIFF Asian programme to be announced which is usually quite solid. One film I am looking forward to is Hirokazu Koreeda’s latest film Our Little Sister which debuted at Cannes and also screened earlier this month at the Sydney Film Festival.
I have been a big fan of the Japanese director Shion Sono (Love Exposure, Tokyo Tribe). His films are weird and eclectic and he has about six new films coming out. Sono has taken up that mantle of someone like Takashi Miike, who is prolific in his own right. I am hoping to catch some of them at the Japanese Film Festival.
The Assassin looks like it could be an interesting film. I’ve only seen one Hou Hsiao-hsien film, Millennium Mambo, so I’m not too familiar with his work personally but the response that the film has been receiving has certainly raised my interest in it.
Ruined Heart is another film I’m keen to see. It’s a Filipino film that stars Japan’s Tadanobu Asano and features the cinematography of Christopher Doyle who is best known for his collaboration with Wong Kar-wai. Looks like a weird, manic film but I’m all for that!
I also really hope SPL 2 makes it to Australian cinemas in some way too. While action star Donnie Yen won’t be returning for this they’ve gotten Thailand’s Tony Jaa involved as the lead instead. I loved the first film and hope this delivers too.
I am also looking forward to The Boy and the Beast an animated film directed by Mamoru Hosoda which is due to be released out sometime this year.
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