Films from Japan, Vietnam and Thailand will be shown this weekend as part of the Rice Media Center's Asian Film Festival, starting tonight and lasting through Sunday.

2013 Asian Film Festival
7 p.m., Friday; 6 p.m., Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday
Free
Rice Media Center
6100 Main St
713-348-4853
ricecinema.rice.edu

The festival kicks off at 7 p.m  tonight with The Owl and the Sparrow, the first feature from writer-director Stephane Gauger. The 2007 movie is set in Saigon and is about three lonely strangers - a flight attendant and a zookeeper brought together by a 10-year-old flower-selling runaway - who form a unique family.

A child and family connection also lie at the center of I Wish, one of two movies that screen tomorrow. The 7:25 p.m. Japanese feature is about a 12-year-old boy separated from his brother because of their parents' divorce who wishes for a miracle to happen. The film is written and directed by veteran filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda. I Wish will be preceded by a reception at 6 p.m. and a short film, Pilgrimage, at 7 p.m.

The final film, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Remember His Past Lives, screens Sunday at 5 p.m. The 2010 Thai film is about a man on his death bed who is visited by the ghost of his dead wife and the spirit of his long-lost son and then remembers past lives. The film is written and directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.