Cannes, a k a Asia West

At this year's prestigious Cannes Film Festival, it may be easy to forget you're in France, not the Far East. With the plethora of entrancing Asian films being screened, says movie critic A. O. Scott, one could be forgiven for walking out of the Palais des Festivals and thinking the sea outside is the Pacific Ocean, not the Mediterranean. A full six out of 19 films in the competition are from Asian directors and producers. From Hong Kong's Wong Kar-Wai to Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul, audiences at Cannes are eager to sample the latest brilliant work coming out of East Asia. South Korea, in particular, has garnered attention for the sheer volume of films and for their popularity at home – domestic-made films lord it over foreign offerings at the box office in South Korea. Even a non-Asian favorite at the festival, Quentin Tarantino, drew almost completely on Japanese, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese influences for his blockbuster "Kill Bill" films. If current trends continue, Scott predicts, by 2046 – the year featured in Wong Kar-Wai's latest film title – "rather than remarking on the vitality of Asian cinema, people may be wondering if interesting movies are still being made anywhere else." – YaleGlobal