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2002

Afghanistan

5/9 -

Jawed Wassel’s Fire Dancer is released.   Wassel was murdered by the film’s producer, Nathan C. Powell after a screening of the film in October 1981.   Powell hid Wassel’s head in the refrigerator in his apartment and his body parts in two boxes found in his van.   Powell was later sentenced to 25 years.  [MORE] [ADD]

Argentina

3/10 -

Adrián Caetano's Un oso rojo (Red Bear) is released.   Julio Chávez stars as an ex-con who returns home after a seven-year stretch to discover his wife and child are living with another man.   [MORE] [ADD] 

Australia

21/2 -

Phillip Noyce's Rabbit-Proof Fence is released.   Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury and Laura Monaghan play three girls in 30s Australia who trek over 1,500 miles to be reunited with their mothers after being detained at the Moore River Native Settlement because of their mixed-race origins.   Kenneth Branagh also stars.  [MORE] [ADD]

Brazil

30/8 -

Fernando Meirelles' Cidade de Deus (City of God) is released.   Telling a grim, fast-paced story of gang wars in the Brazilian slums, the film stars Phelipe Haagensen, Matheus Nachtergaele and Alexandre Rodrigues.  [MORE] [ADD]

Cambodia

– Following the torching of the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh in response to alleged comments made by a Thai actress that the Angkor Wat really belonged to the Thais, the government places a ban on the screening of Thai films and TV productions.   [MORE] [ADD]

Denmark

6/9 -

Susanne Bier's Dogme film Elsker dig for evigt (Open Hearts) is released.   Mads Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter and Paprika Steen star.  [MORE] [ADD]

Eritrea

- Local filmmaker Filmon Mebrahtu receives a $70,000 award to produce The Survivors, a documentary film about the lives of refugees in Western society.  [MORE] [ADD]

Georgia

– The Georgian Film Centre is created following a law passed by parliament to encourage state financing of film productions.  [MORE] [ADD]

Hong Kong

9/5 -

Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang’s Jian gui (The Eye) is released.   Lee Sin-je stars as a girl who starts seeing terrifying visions after receiving a cornea transplant.  [MORE] [ADD]

19/12 -

Yimou Zhang’s Ying xiong (Hero) is released.   Jet Li, Chen Dao Ming, Donnie Yen, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi star.  [MORE] [ADD]

Japan

26/2 -

Hideo Nakata's slow, atmospheric horror film, Honogurai mizu no soki kara (Dark Water), is released.   Hitomi Kuroki stars as the single mum of a five-year-old girl (Rio Kanno) who moves into a rundown flat with an ominous damp patch on the ceiling.  [MORE] [ADD]

Maldives

– Local film stars Seezan and Niuma are found guilty of adultery.   Seezan is sentenced to 15 lashes and banished for 8 months, while Numia also receives 15 lashes and is placed under house arrest for 8 months.   [MORE] [ADD]

South Korea

21/2 -

Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak’s Wu jian dao (I Want To Be You, aka Infernal Affairs) is released.   Tony Leung Chiu Wai stars as a cop near breaking point after living undercover for years as a Triad gang member, while Andy Lau plays a police officer who is also an anonymous member of the same gang, whose identity is known only to the gang’s boss (Eric Tsang).   Anthony Wong Chau-Sang also stars.  [MORE] [ADD]

Pakistan

– Pakistan’s first multiplex, the Universal in Karachi, opens.   [MORE] [ADD]

Romania

– The National Centre of Cinematography (CNC) publishes the first edition of Cinema magazine and holds its first Romanian Film Prizes ceremony.  [MORE] [ADD]

Slovenia

– Maja Weiss’s thriller Varuh meje, the first fictional Slovenian feature directed by a woman, is released.  [MORE] [ADD]

Spain

11/1 -

Daniela Fejerman and Inés Paris’ A mi madre le gustan las mujeres (My Mother Likes Women), about three women who discover their mother is a lesbian, is released.   Rosa María Sardá stars as the Sapphic mother, with Eliska Sirová as her lover and Leonor Watling, María Pujalte and Silvia Abascal her bewildered daughters.   [MORE] [ADD]

27/9 -

Fernando León de Aranoa's Los Lunes al sol (Mondays In The Sun), which casts an acerbic eye on the plight of the unemployed living in Spain’s poorer regions, is released.   José Ángel Egido, Luis Tosar and Javier Bardem star.  [MORE] [ADD]

Taiwan

27/9 -

Chin-yen Yee's Lanse da men (Blue Gate Crossing) is released.   Basically a teenage ménage-a-trois, the film stars Lun-Mei Guey, Shu-Hui Liang and Bo-Lin Chen.  [MORE] [ADD]

Zambia

– The first Zambia International film Festival is held in Lusaka.  [MORE] [ADD]