Non-western cinema outside the EU/US/Cannes/Criterion circuit?
Hi all, just watched Lav Diaz’s Magellan. It was slow and beautiful and the rustling leaves, lapping waves, tropical rains etc. had me leaving the cinema feeling peaceful and contemplative. But also weird, because why do I feel like this after seeing a movie about the horrors of colonialism?
Which got me thinking- Lav Diaz as an example of how “slow cinema” is a genre with its own assumptions and common traits just like any other genre, but it seems to be seen as more “elevated” within the US/EU circuit (it’s slow, therefore difficult, therefore good) akin to eating your cinematic vegetables. Of course there are lots of non-western “slow” directors (Kiarostami, Weerasethakul, Tsai Ming-Liang, etc) but they always appeal to US/EU audiences (screen at Cannes, are on criterion, etc). As if these films were made always in response to the US/EU gaze, instead of completely separate from it.
(This is why it was so jarring to me, coming out of Diaz’s film. He’s a Filipino director but it just seemed like this slow, European gaze was not the right tone for a movie about settler colonialism. Idk though, it is a bit more nuanced than that)
So my question is, what are examples of good cinema that falls outside of this US/EU circuit? For example, Bollywood, k-drama, Japanese pinku, etc are not really made with these audiences in mind, but their own. Any other good examples, films I should watch, things I should read?