Asian Delights: TIFF Loads up Masters with Zhangke, Ki-duk, Lav Diaz & Sangsoo; Midnight Madness Grabs World Preem to Alex de la Iglesia’s Witching & Bitching

The coveted final spot in the Midnight Madness section, is a world premiere screening that belongs to Alex de la Iglesia’s Witching & Bitching while this year’s Master programme is loaded in recent Cannes and Venice items. The strong Asian film participation includes the latest from Cannes selected four hour epic in Lav Diaz’s Norte, The End Of History, Iran’s Closed Curtain from the Kambozia Partovi and Jafar Panahi pairing and Jia Zhangke’s stellar A Touch Of Sin, while from Venice, selected items include Kim Ki-duk’s already controversial Moebius and Hong Sangsoo’s Our Sunhi. Also from Venice, as we mentioned before, Catherine Breillat Abuse Of Weakness (see pic of Isabelle Huppert above) is joined by the Cannes preemed Bastards from Claire Denis. Here are the added Master selections:

A Touch Of Sin (Tian Zhu Ding) Jia Zhangke (China-Japan) NAP
Abuse Of Weakness (Abus De Faiblesse) Catherine Breillat (France-Belgium-Germany) WP
Bastards (Les Salauds) Claire Denis (France) NAP
Closed Curtain (Parde) Kambozia Partovi and Jafar Panahi (Iran) NAP
Concrete Night Pirjo Honkasalo (Finland-Sweden- Denmark) WP
Home From Home – Chronicle Of A Vision (Die Andere Heimat – Chronik Einer Sehnsucht) Edgar Reitz (Germany/France) NAP
How Strange To Be Named Federico: Scola Narrates Fellini (Che Strano Chiamarsi Federico: Scola Racconta Fellini) Ettore Scola (Italy) IP
Moebius (South Korea) NAP
Norte, The End Of History (Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan) Lav Diaz (Philippines) NAP
Our Sunhi (Uri Sunhi) Hong Sangsoo (South Korea) NAP