Tokyo's alternative film festival, Tokyo FILMeX, returns for its sophomore year with a lineup of Asian cinema as solid as that shown at its debut. With six special screenings, 10 films in competition and two hefty retrospectives, FILMeX has a lot to offer Asian film buffs, and -- as many readers will no doubt be delighted to learn -- English subtitles as well as Japanese.
A scene from Mohsen Makhmalbaf's "Kandahar"And it gets better: Nearly all of the films being shown will be followed by Q&A sessions with the filmmakers, who are generally candid, given the more relaxed and casual atmosphere of FILMeX. No doubt Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, whose film "Kandahar" deals with the plight of Afghan refugees, will offer a much-needed perspective. Ditto for his compatriot Abolfazl Jalili, whose "Dance of Dust" was the most inventive and profound film to open in Tokyo in 2001; his latest, "Delbaran," concerns a dislocated Afghan boy working at a cafe in Horassan and has already taken a prize at Locarno.