This program offers new films from a dream collection of directors-Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Sang-soo and Tsai Ming-liang, four of the most talented cinema artists in Asia-and the world-today. (Apichatpong and Jia were named “Directors of the Decade” in TIFF/Cinematheque's end-of-the-'00s critics' poll.) In A Letter to Uncle Boonmee, Apichatpong examines the phantom history of northeastern Thailand through his uncle, a man who can remember his past lives. Tsai Ming-liang's contribution to the “Twenty Puccini” film project, Madam Butterfly finds the titular heroine in a chaotic Kuala Lumpur bus terminal. Cry Me a River is Jia's condensed version of the classic melodrama Springtime in a Small Town, while Lost in the Mountains, a rare short film by Hong, follows a young writer's visit to Jeonju to visit a friend and former lover, with predictably cringe-worthy results.