*This interview has been produced for CUEAFS and it is published here
Adam Torel is the owner of Third Window Films – one of the largest distributors of contemporary East Asian Cinema, whose main aim is to raise awareness of the Asian film industry in the UK. Adam started the company five years ago after leaving Tartan Films, as he wanted to explore 'a full spectrum of genres' rather than mainstream Asian productions.
This year, Third Window Films with the help of Coventry University East Asian Film Society (CUEAFS) and the Warwick Arts Centre organised the East Winds: A Third Window Film Festival, which was held in the Warwick Arts Centre from February 11 to February 13. The idea for the event came about as Adam wanted to explore the UK outside of London and raise awareness in places where Asian film is not widely seen or talked about.
“I feel that it's better to reach out in such places instead of 'preaching to the converted' in larger areas”, he said.
Adam and CUEAFS's founder Spencer Murphy had talked about the concept of preparing a larger event where the students could have a more active participation.
“We thought about a film festival 'by the students and for the students'”, Adam commented. “In this way I could better reach my goal of trying to spread the word of Asian cinema (as well as my company) to a Midlands student population, and the students could take a real-life experience to accompany their studies.”
Selection of the films for the festival programme was based on 'keeping costs low' as Mr Torel said that “staying within budget is the most important skill when organising a festival”. The films featured came from Third Window Films' catalogue, including the Japanese entry to the Oscars, 'Confessions' by Tetsuya Nakashima and 'The Message' by Qunshu Gao and Kuo-Fu Chen, premiering in the UK.
“I wanted to show a wide spectrum of Asian film from the decade as a sort of 'beginners guide to Asian cinema' which focused on all genres across Asian, and initially wanted to play a few more 'art house' titles such as 'Oasis' or 'Peppermint Candy', but thought it best to keep things a little more simple and 'friendlier' to a lesser experienced (in terms of Asian film watching) crowd.”
Adam had worked closely with Spencer Murphy on organising the pre-festival work in regards to the selection of films and organising guests. In the meantime, CUEAFS handled the majority of marketing and also played a role in the day-to-day activity of the festival, which Adam said he 'wanted them to do'.
“I was really busy with a few other film releases that week so I had hoped that the society would take up the mantle of making sure everything went smoothly throughout the festival and I'm very happy with the work they did”, he added. “I hope in the future they can also take over the role of planning so that they can learn the whole experience from start-to-finish of organising a festival”.
Adam became one of the official sponsors of the Coventry University East Asian Film Society (CUEAFS) last year and donated a few titles to the society, including Momoko Ando's 'Kakera' and Sion Sono's 'Love Exposure'. Due to the collaboration, the society was also invited to the official premiere of 'Kakera' in London, where the members got a chance to participate in a Q&A session with the director, which was part of the official DVD extras.
*Image by Andreea DascaluLabels: cueafs, prof experience |
