IIAS Horror debate - Gruesome Asia

Gruesome Asia

Screening of the Thai horror film Shutter and debate are organised by ASiA of the university of Amsterdam and International Institute for Asian Studies in association with Cinemasia.

Program Sunday April 2 in Rialto

14.30 hours film screening Shutter
16.15 hours intermission
16.30 - 17.30 debate Asian horror

Asian horror is a worldwide hit. In recent years, it has broken through local popularity into Hollywood remakes like Ring and The Grudge. Asian horror has emerged from cult status to become a brandname of its own. How can we explain the local and global attraction of Asian horror? What is the Asian and the horror of Asian horror? Is it the cruel destiny or the destined cruelty? The unleashed or the suppressed? The gory body or the ugly soul? Revenge of nature or revolt of technology? A personal exorcism or a social cleansing?

Shutter -- a blockbuster in Thailand directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom -- tells the story of photographer Tun and his girlfriend Jane who are haunted by tormented ghosts from the past. What do these ghosts signify, and how different are they from the ghosts we know from, for example, Poltergeist ?

At times, ghosts are less horrible than human beings. Takashi Miike's Ichi the Killer is a visual spectacle saturated with rape, violence and torture. But then, is there some truth in the speculation that perhaps, just perhaps, Asians are more cruel? Or is there some trace of orientalism in our fascination for Asian horror, our longing for the alleged East as mysterious, dangerous and gruesome?

Following the screening of Shutter, experts in the field of Asian horror will try to answer these and other haunting questions ... The panel members are: Jeroen vd Kloet (IIAS) - moderator, Luk van Haute, Mark vd Tempel (AFFF), Yiufai Chow, Irene Stengs.

Luk Van Haute wrote his PhD on Kenzaburo Oe and translated two novels by the Nobel Prizewinner ( Seventeen &J ), as well as other Japanese literature. He is the author of the book Revival van de Japanse film (in Dutch) and numerous articles on Japanese culture, and also worked for a Japanese film production company for a number of years.

Jeroen de Kloet did his PhD on contemporary youth cultures in China and is currently affiliated to the International Institute for Asian Studies (www.iias.nl) and is assistant professor Mediastudies at the University of Amsterdam. His writings are on Chinese popular culture, including film, and he is a fan of Asian horror.

Yiufai Chow is radiomaker, lyricist for Chinese popmusic and working on a PhD on Chiense youth in the Netherlands and their uses of popular culture at the University of Amsterdam (Communication sciences). Since the age of five he frequently watches horror movies.

Irene Stengs did her PhD on the cultus around the Thai king Chulalongkorn and I currently affiliated to the Meertens Institute,. Her research focuses on party cultures and rituals in The Netherlands. She is also a fan and specialist of Thai cinema.