In this jam-packed episode, Ant Gates joins Andrew and James to get all lovey-dovey about Takashi Miike's First Love, but as we look forward to the new rerelease of the One Missed Call trilogy, we wonder if this was the slushy feelings we were thinking of? Continuing the J-Horror theme, Niina Doherty gets very excited about Takashi Shimizu's Howling Village, while we reminisce about The Grudge and the good old days of Asian horror. Maja and Kaj report back on the International Film Festival Rotterdam, featured in full on the previous special report podcast. Meanwhile, Third Window Film's Adam Torel tells us How he got into easternFlicks...

In a special standalone episode, Maja Korbecka and Kaj van Zoelen chat through some highlights from the 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam.

For our second episode, Andrew and James are joined by Tania Hall to discuss Bong Joon-ho's Parasite in detail. Will he get an Oscar? Will the film's phenomenal success thrust Korean cinema into the mainstream? Listen and find out what we think. We also hear from lead star Korean actor Song Kang-ho.

Welcome to the easternKicks podcast, a fortnightly magazine programme about East Asian film led by Andrew Heskins, founder and grandmaster of easternKicks.com, and lead writer James Mudge. Each episode we’ll be taking a look at the latest films, news and festivals, often chatting to filmmakers and stars along the way. But for our first episode, we answer a question we get asked a lot, just what started our passion for Asian film? And then we review Ip Man 4: The Finale, lord help us.