Wednesday, September 25
6:30 p.m. – Korean Studies Auditorium

It’s at Bendonowongso Hill, before the seven-step temple…” Whispered words on a tape recording–from a woman who dies in a traffic accident soon after she speaks them – are the key to a supernatural mystery in Joko Anwar’s immoderately absorbing thriller. The period and setting are not specified, but the film noir atmosphere and styles of clothing and transport strongly suggest the police-state Indonesia of Suharto’s heyday; this is that rarest of genre movies, a ghost story with a political subtext–complete with police brutality, vigilante mobs, bureaucratic stonewalling, governmental corruption and an increasingly cowed and repressed general public, not to mention a series of gruesome deaths.

Actually, the film traverses genres as confidently and unpredictably as Hong Kong movies once did, here evoking Costa-Gavras, there evoking Highlander. One of its two protagonists is a relatively clean-cut, uncomplicated hero (he’s an honest cop who lives up to his name: Eros) but the other is as unconventional as they come: a harried journalist named Janus, who succumbs to narcolepsy whenever he’s stressed or frightened. Janus has just been divorced by his wife and is about to lose his job at the newspaper; just as his life is falling apart, people around him start dying strange deaths. This is Joko Anwar’s second movie as director (he previous directed a hit rom-com and co-scripted the pioneering gay comedy Arisan!), and it suggests a talent at the top of his game. Dead Time is seriously entertaining. – VIFF

Directed by Joko Anwar, the boy genius of Indonesian cinema and scriptwriter for Nia Dinata’s ARISAN and Riri Riza’s JANJI JONI.

| Interview | Production Blog | Director’s Blog |

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September 19, 12:00 p.m., Tokioka Room
Presented by Beth Tillinghast, Margie Bodemer, Yati Paseng, Claire Chen

The Library at the University of Hawaii is championing ScholarSpace, an on-line service for storing all sorts of information (e.g., articles, dissertations, publications, slide shows, images, digital collections and audio and video clips) on a long term basis! It’s an easy-to-use web-based system that gives users a permanent home for their data without technical worries. The discussants will describe how to set up a ScholarSpace institutional repository here at the University of Hawaii, the technical ins-and-outs of workflow and meta-data and the Open Access movement behind free, immediate, permanent, full-text, online access to academic material. The discussants will use as a case study setting up a ScholarSpace digital collection for Explorations, a UH graduate student journal on Southeast Asian Studies.

Beth Tillinghast, ScholarSpace Project Manager – Margaret Barnhill Bodemer, Co-Editor of Explorations and Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology, University of Hawaii – Rohayati Paseng, Southeast Asia Specialist Librarian, University of Hawaii Library System – Clare Chan, Assistant, Asia Collection, Hamilton Library

Wednesday, September 18
6:30 p.m. – Korean Studies Auditorium

Tomboyish student Tao tries to support her studies (she’s writing a thesis on romance fiction) by writing articles for the racy magazine Sayew (“Tickle”) published by her uncle Hia Kung Fu. But the market is changing fast (glossy “adult” photo magazines are arriving) and she faces being fired if she can’t find a way to spice up her pieces… The risk of starving forces her first to construct fantasy scenarios featuring her neighbors, and then (on the advice of the mag’s ancient agony uncle) to start trying for first-hand experiences to draw on. Sex farce is not the easiest genre to get right, but Kongdej and Kiat strike a surprisingly successful balance between caricature and satire in their double-edged tribute to the porn of yesteryear. – Tony Rayns

The films features a surprisingly charming performance from actress/model Pimpaporn Leenutapong, who is heiress to Yontrakit, Thailand’s largest automobile importer and distributor making her, probably, the sexiest multi-million dollar empire heiress in Thailand.

IMDB Website | Variety Review | Interview

Wednesday, September 11
6:30 p.m. – Korean Studies Auditorium

Leo is used to the temporary. Typical of many young Filipinos, he supports his family by hopping from one short-term job to the next – in fast food restaurants to supermarkets to department stories. Leo’s relationships with women are similarly fleeting. But when he meets the spirited dreamer Tanya (portrayed by a luminous Ina Feleo, who evokes the gamine wistfulness of Audrey Hepburn), he is suddenly faced by the promise of a better future…and doesn’t seem equipped to handle it. The film, a gorgeously-lensed romance full of outstanding performances from its charming lead actors, depicts a nation where money, dreams and love are elusive.

END OF CONTRACT won the Best Actress, Best Editing and a Special Jury Prize at the Cinemalaya Film Festival 2007.

IMDB Website | Official Website | Multiply Website

Wednesday, September 4
6:30 p.m. – Korean Studies Auditorium

Fahri, a dedicated Indonesian student of the Koran in Cairo, is busy translating religious books when his family prods him to think of marriage. But Fahri, who’s never been close to a woman outside his family, has his world turned upside-down when he meets four beautiful women: a shy Coptic-Christian woman interested in Islam, the Muslim daughter of a renowned Indonesian cleric, an Egyptian neighbor and a hauntingly beautiful German-Turkish exchange student. The film – a love story set in a religious context, adapted from Habiburrahman El Shirazy’s eponymous novel – was a popular hit in Indonesia, breaking all box office records!

Official Website | IMDB Website