AUSTRALIA’S only film showcase dedicated to the cinema of this  region is back in 2012, screening at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s Arc Cinema.

“Regional Intersections: New Southeast Asian Cinema” offers Australian and Canberra premieres of some of the best from the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indochina, with a strong focus this year on the re-emergence of strong films from Indonesia.

Indonesia’s independent cinema, the NFSA says,  is now catching up to the filmmaking new waves that have already drawn international attention to Thai and Filipino cinema and  strikes a balance between social concerns, fine cinema art and current popular and genre cinema.

Regional Intersections opens tomorrow,  Thursday, September 13 at 7pm with the new Philippine comic film, “The Woman in the Septic Tank.”

Of special note are films that tell stories from Jakarta’s modern Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community, such as “Lovely Man” and “Madame X.”

The rise of mass Islamic fundamentalist organisations is seen in  Daniel Rudi Hayanto’s controversial doco  “Prison and Paradise” will gives an Indonesian perspective on the 2002 Bali bombings.

Malaysian new wave pioneer James Lee, formerly surrealist in approach, has a new film, “The Collector,” partially an homage to the heritage of Malay cinema of  the 1950s and 60s.

Davy Chou’s history of the pre-Khmer Rogue pop cinema of Cambodia, “Golden Slumbers,” has been an international film festival hit, that’s led to new attempts to locate and preserve what’s survived from this vanished cinema heritage.

Here’s something of special interest to the NFSA. A new restoration of an Indonesian cinema classic, Usmar Ismail’s 1954 “After the Curfew” will have its Australian premiere at the festival. Restored in collaboration with the Martin Scorsese-backed World Cinema Foundation, After the Curfew has had surprising box office success in Indonesian commercial cinemas.

“Regional Intersections” is presented in association with the ANU’s  College of Asia and the Pacific.

All films are unclassified 18+; those under 18 years of age cannot be admitted under Australian law.

“Regional Intersections”  at the Arc Cinema, National Film and Sound Archive, McCoy Cct Acton.

Tickets : $11 / $9 concession.MaxPass– 10 tickets for $80

Book tickets by calling: 6248 2000, full program at http://www.nfsa.gov.au/calendar/