Asia Scope

Asia Scope (officially Asiascope Rotterdam) is an annual overseas Asian film festival held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was first organised in 2003 at the film theatre De Lantaren/Venster under the name JONC Filmforum, initiated by active members of the Jongeren Organisatie Nederlandse Chinezen (JONC), the Dutch Chinese youth organisation. In its first year it screened a single film, the Dutch-language production Jacky (2000) by Chinese-Dutch director Fow Pying Hu. Over the following years it grew into a full multi-day festival presenting productions by Asian directors as well as documentaries about overseas Asians. By 2009 the programme had expanded to 13 films and attracted around 2,500 visitors. The festival's philosophy is rooted in questions of identity and diaspora. Rotterdam was chosen because the Stadsregio Rotterdam is home to one of the largest Asian (Chinese) communities in Europe. In an increasingly diverse society and changing international relations, identity is no longer self-evident; for second- and third-generation Asian youth in the West, life often means navigating between two cultures. The struggle with culture, generational conflict and dual identity has been the recurring thread of the festival. Asia Scope offers Asian directors and audiences a platform to communicate with each other and to affirm or reaffirm their own identity. Because of its contribution to multiculturalism and the integration debate, Asia Scope has been permanently supported by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, VSB Fonds, ErasmusStichting and JONC. Since 2007 the organisation has operated as a foundation (stichting). The festival remains a recurring cultural event in Rotterdam's film calendar, with its official information hosted at asiascope.nl.

Asia Scope is the name of an annual overseas Asian film festival in Rotterdam. Officially the festival is called Asiascope Rotterdam. It was first organised in 2003 at the film theatre De Lantaren/Venster, then under the name JONC Filmforum. In that year the Dutch-language film Jacky (2000) by Chinese-Dutch director Fow Pying Hu was shown. What began with just one film has since grown into a full multi-day festival where productions by Asian directors and documentary makers about overseas Asians are shown. In the early years the film festival was set up by a number of active members of the Jongeren Organisatie Nederlandse Chinezen (JONC). By 2009 the festival programme had expanded to 13 films and around 2,500 visitors. The choice of Rotterdam for an overseas Asian film festival is not strange: the Stadsregio Rotterdam contains one of the largest Asian (Chinese) communities in Europe. In an increasingly diverse society and changing international relations, identity is no longer something self-evident. The pillarisation (verzuiling) is largely unknown to Asians, as is life as a guest worker. Especially for the second and third generation of Asian youth in the West, it is sometimes a matter of navigating between two cultures (Never Perfect, shown at the festival in 2009). The struggle with culture, generational conflict and dual identity has constantly been the recurring thread of the festival. Asiascope offers Asian directors and viewers a platform to communicate with each other and to confirm or reaffirm their own identity. Because of its contribution to multiculturalism and the integration debate, Asiascope is permanently supported by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, VSB Fonds, ErasmusStichting and JONC. Since 2007 Asiascope has operated as a foundation (stichting).

• 2009

  Festival programme expands to 13 films with around 2,500 visitors; Never Perfect is shown.

• 2007

  Asia Scope begins operating as a foundation (stichting).

• 2003

  First edition held at film theatre De Lantaren/Venster under the name JONC Filmforum; the film Jacky (2000) by Fow Pying Hu is screened.

A community-rooted, diaspora-focused Asian film festival in Rotterdam, supported by Dutch cultural funds and the JONC.

• Annual Asiascope Rotterdam film festival

• Screenings of Asian feature films

• Documentaries about overseas Asians

1. 1Asia Scope — Wikidatawikidata.org
2. 2Asia Scope — Dutch Wikipedianl.wikipedia.org
3. 3Asia Scope official websiteasiascope.nl