New York Asian Film Festival 2014 Gets Into Gear With First Titles

From the bowels of Subway Cinema and their more haughty brethren at The Film Society Of Lincoln comes the first rumblings of the 13th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival, otherwise known as NYAFF. If you're a regular ScreenAnarchy reader then you know how we feel about NYAFF, which is all warm and fuzzy.

Ahead of the full lineup, they've announced that their centerpiece film will be Umin Bayo's baseball epic Kano, which James Marsh gave some great love to in his review last month.

In addition, this year's Korean Actor In Focus is Lee Jung-jae (The Housemaid), and then there's screenings of Miike Takeshi's The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji, Jo Ui-seok and Kim Byung-seo's Cold Eyes. Get a load of the press release below for the full deets, and expect an announcement on the full lineup soon. NYAFF 2014 starts June 27 and runs till July 14 in NYC.

New York, NY, May 9, 2014 - The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema, in association with the Japan Society, announced today that Umin Boya's Kano has been selected as the Centerpiece selection for this year's New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), June 27 - July 14, 2014. Returning for its 13th edition, the New York Asian Film Festival is one of North America's leading festivals of popular Asian Cinema.
 
Umin Boya's Kano, produced and co-written by Taiwan's hitmaker Wei Te-Sheng (Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, Cape No.7), is an epic sports tale, based on a true story from Taiwan's colonial past, about an underdog mixed-race high-school baseball team that beat the odds and earned the right to travel to Japan in 1931 to compete in a national tournament. In order to succeed against their elite competition, the team had to overcome their ethnic differences and find a way to utilize their individual strengths in order to come together as a true team. The screening will mark the film's North American Premiere.
 
NYAFF's Korean Actor in Focus program will welcome Lee Jung-jae to New York City and present some of his most notable films as well as two exciting recent releases: Han Jae-rim's historical comedy-drama The Face Reader, and Park Hoon-jung's epic gangster thriller New World.
 
Early highlights among the first group of titles announced include Philip Yung's explosive female-juvenile-delinquent drama May We Chat; Benny Chan's resurrection of the heroic bloodshed genre The White Storm; Lee Kung-lok's porn-industry comedy 3D Naked Ambition (NYAFF's first 3-D movie!); superstar Andy Lau in Allen Yuen's heart-busting police thriller Firestorm; Juno Mak's hopping-vampire homage Rigor Mortis, along with the classic that inspired it, Ricky Lau's Mr. Vampire; and Chow Yun-fat reuniting with director Wong Jing in the gambling comedy From Vegas to Macau.
 
The legendary Takashi Miike will also be represented at NYAFF once again with his outrageous gangster comedy based on a popular manga, The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji. Korean cops take on a criminal mastermind in Jo Ui-seok and Kim Byung-seo's thriller Cold Eyes; Takashi Yamazaki's Japanese WWII kamikaze pilot drama The Eternal Zero; and Anna Broinowski's Aim High in Creation, a behind-the-scenes look at the North Korean film industry, are also set to screen. 
 

We're deeply grateful for the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York, the Korean Cultural Service New York, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, Kenneth A. Cowin Foundation, and The Celebrity magazine.

We would also like to thank our sponsors: The Kitano Hotel, Anthology Film Archives, Møsefund Farm, Manhattan Portage, Well Go USA, Epic Proportions, Flaskingtree, and Kirin; and our media partners: Screen International, Film Business Asia, and Noonchi.
 
Keep up with the latest festival news at:
www.facebook.com/NYAFF, www.subwaycinema.com, www.filmlinc.com, twitter: @subwaycinema (#NYAFF14)

Tickets will go on sale to Members of the Film Society of Lincoln Center on Tuesday, June 3 and to the General Public on Thursday, June 12. Single screening tickets are $13; $9 for students and seniors (62+); and $8 for Film Society members. A three-film package is $30; $24 for students and seniors (62+); and $21 for Film Society members. Discount prices apply with the purchase of tickets to three films or more.  Visit www.FilmLinc.com for complete film festival information.


Screenings will be held at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater (located at 165 West 65th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway), Japan Society (333 East 47th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues), and Asia Society (725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street).