There's no doubt about it, for those of us at ScreenAnarchy who get to go -- and you lucky New York readers -- the New York Asian Film Festival is always a highlight of our film-going year. And this time out seems to be no exception. Running this June 28 - July 15 at The Film Society Of Lincoln Center, NYAFF 2013's line up is a brilliantly blistering hotbed of every kind of Asian film imaginable. Say you want some horror, but more specifically Hong Kong horror, well, NYAFF is world premiering the omnibus film
Tales From The Dark Part 1. Say you'd like some J-horror?
Nakata Hideo returns to the genre he helped to jump start with The Complex. Now do you need a little action? Jay Chou in North American premiere of
The Rooftop may do it for you. And then there's
I'm Flash, the latest from Japanese wunderkind Toyoda Toshiaki (
Blood of Rebirth) -- that, and most of the Japanese films are being co-presented with the always great Japan Cuts, which overlaps and then chugs on after NYAFF is over. But enough of my jibber jabbering. There's just so much to see at NYAFF, my head is already spinning. And I won't even be there in person! Plus, I didn't even mention the retrospective screenings or this year's special focuses... Take a look at the full line up below and let us know what you're excited to see.
New York, NY, June 3, 2013
- The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema in association
with Japan Society announce the full schedule today for the 2013 New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) which will screen June 28 - July 15.
The popular film festival will showcase over 60 feature films with
filmmakers and celebrity guests travelling from Korea, Hong Kong and
Taiwan to attend the festival. Also announced were special focuses for
this year's edition of NYAFF including a celebration of the career of
Korean star Ryoo Seung-Beom and new works from the Philippines (joining
the previously announced focuses on Hong Kong cinema, Taiwan pulp and a
salute to Well Go USA).
The 2013 New York Asian Film Festival will feature 63 films (59
features, 4 shorts) including 3 World Premieres, 5 International
Premieres, 21 North American premieres, 4 U.S. premieres and 13 more
films making their New York City debuts.
NYAFF's Opening Night Presentation will feature the World Premiere of
the Hong Kong horror omnibus TALES FROM THE DARK PART 1. Based on Lilian
Lee's best-selling novel series, TALES FROM THE DARK PART 1 is
comprised of three segments directed by Fruit Chan, Lee Chi Ngai, and
actor Simon Yam in his directorial debut. One chilly night, veteran
villain hitter Chu (Siu Yam Yam) meets an uncommon client, a pretty
20-ish girl (Dada Chan) who pays her to curse four villains without
knowing their names. Mysteriously, the performance of each cursing
ceremony delivers a gruesome death. The final victim, or villain,
reveals a chilling, unbearable secret.
The Centerpiece Presentation will be Jang Cheol-Soo's SECRETLY
GREATLY. Making its International Premiere, the film is based on the
webtoon series, "Covertness," and stars three of Korea's hottest young
TV stars (Kim Soo-Hyun, Lee Hyun-Woo, Park Ki-Woong) as a trio of elite
North Korean sleeper agents who have lived undercover in South Korea for
so long that they now believe their own cover stories as a stupid
average joe, a wannabe singer and a high school student. Finally they
get their first mission: kill each other. If they don't get the job
done, Pyongyang will send a hit team to take care of things.
Another highlight of this year's edition of NYAFF will be a special
Gala Presentation of the Director's Cut of Yan Yan Mak's THE GREAT WAR.
Making its World Premiere, THE GREAT WAR is a surprisingly personal and
revealing documentary about the concert battle between legendary
Cantopop band Grasshopper and hip hop duo Softhard. Mak (BUTTERFLY,
MERRY-GO-ROUND) doesn't just fill out the running time with interviews
and performance footage, but also shows the concert from the point of
view of several audience members (including a Hong Kong legislative
council member). With this, she takes the show beyond the entertainment
industry bubble to show a broader perspective to convey what these pop
culture events mean to the audience. Mak will attend the screening along
with the members of Grasshopper and Softhard.
Jay Chou's THE ROOFTOP was previously announced as NYAFF's Closing Night Presentation.
NYAFF will honor Tsai Yang-Ming with the 2013 Star Asia Lifetime
Achievement Award. The godfather of Taiwan Black Movies and one of the
trailblazers of Taiwanese genre cinema, Yang-Ming acted in over 200
Taiwanese dialect films in 1960's and 1970's, and directed over 50 films
in Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1972 and 1992.
Kim Go-Eun will be the 2013 Star Asia Rising Star Award honoree.
Following her debut in A MUSE, as a 17-year-old girl involved in a
sexual relationship with a 70-year-old man, Kim Go-Eun went from an
unknown drama student to one of Korea's hottest actresses. Her
performance has earned Go-Eun eight Best New Actress awards (including
the Buil Film, Grand Bell, Busan, KOFRA and the Korean Association of
Film Critics Awards) and launched her career like a rocket.
Another highlight will be a special 40th Anniversary screening of the
Bruce Lee classic, ENTER THE DRAGON, including a panel discussion on the
relationship between Kung Fu and Hip Hop culture featuring Hong Kong's
MC Yan (LMF) and Hip Hop pioneer and fine artist Fab 5 Freddy. Also, at
Film Society of Lincoln Center's Furman Gallery, the North American
debut/opening of a body of work recently exhibited in Hong Kong and
Shanghai, "Kung-Fu Wild Style", featuring Bruce Lee inspired
post-graffiti paintings by the two artists.
The 2013 New York Asian Film Festival's five special focuses:
KOREAN ACTOR IN FOCUS: RYOO SEUNG-BEOM
(Co-presented with the Korean Cultural Service in New York.)
The brother of Korea's action auteur Ryoo Seung-Wan and the star of
his first self-made movie DIE BAD, Ryoo Seung-Beom has matured into one
of the best character actors in Korea. From his early roles in his
brother's short films, to his breakout critical success as the angry
young boxer in CRYING FIST and his "Best Actor" wins for BLOODY TIE
(Grand Bell Awards, Korean Film Awards, Baeksang Arts Awards) he has
basically grown into his career onscreen. New York audiences know him
best as the voice of Aachi in the scatological animated science-fiction
film AACHI & SSIPAK and for virtually stealing the show in THE
BERLIN FILE as a ruthless North Korean "cleaner." This line-up will
include: ARAHAN, THE BERLIN FILE, BLOODY TIE, THE UNJUST.
MANILA CHRONICLES: THE NEW FILIPINO CINEMA
Although overlooked by most film festivals, the movie industry of the
Philippines has exploded like fireworks over Manila in recent years,
lighting up the local cinema scene with some of the sexiest, most
daring, and raw movies on the international stage. This year, we're
spotlighting a handful of the best from the new Filipino cinema,
including works by established hitmaker Erik Matti (RIGODON), horror
auteur Rico Maria Llarde (THE FRIDGE), as well as first time filmmakers
such as Gino M. Santos (THE ANIMALS). This line-up will include: ABERYA,
THE ANIMALS, CATNIP, THE FRIDGE, RIGODON, and VESUVIUS.
HONG KONG CINEMA NOW & BEYOND! - in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York (HKETONY)
The standard-bearer for Hong Kong in New York City, and a longtime
friend and supporter of the New York Asian Film Festival, HKETONY has
helped make it possible for NYAFF to bring film legends and icons like
Sammo Hung, Tsui Hark, Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan and many more to New
York, year after year. Therefore, on the occasion of HKETONY's 30th
anniversary, the festival will present new and exciting Hong Kong
produced titles including: THE BULLET VANISHES, COLD WAR, DRUG WAR, THE
GREAT WAR, HARDCORE COMEDY, IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT, THE LAST TYCOON,
THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN and TALES FROM THE DARK PART 1.
TAIWAN PULP! - TALES OF GANGSTERS, FEMALE AVENGERS, AND NINJAS!
Presented with the support of the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in
New York, this special section takes as its focus Taiwan's Black Movies -
exploitation films that flooded the market from 1979 to 1983. Dealing
with serious social issues for the first time, this geyser of 117 movies
was notable for its sexual explicitness and extreme violence. Largely
forgotten, only a relative handful of these movies survive. NYAFF will
present a line-up including: CHALLENGE OF THE LADY NINJA, THE LADY
AVENGER, A LIFE OF NINJA, ON THE SOCIETY FILE OF SHANGHAI, NEVER TOO
LATE TOO REPENT (aka THE FIRST ERROR STEP), WOMAN REVENGER and the
documentary TAIWAN BLACK MOVIES.
WELL GO USA SPOTLIGHT
Well respected within the industry and by connoisseurs of Asian
movies, Well Go USA transformed itself from a video company specializing
in exercise videos into, arguably, the finest distributor of Asian
cinema in America. Titles from this Texas-based, family-owned company
can be found throughout NYAFF, including the Closing Night selection THE
ROOFTOP, DRUG WAR, IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT and THE LAST TYCOON.
Additional titles from Well Go USA's seemingly never-ending inventory of great and entertaining films include: CONFESSION OF MURDER and AN INACCURATE MEMOIR.
Among the many additional highlights (some previously announced) to be
found in this year's edition of the New York Asian Film Festival are
the North American premieres of Sion Sono's and Tokyo GAGAGA's long
awaited sci-fi gang war epic, BAD FILM, Hideo Nakata's chilling descent
into a much darker family drama with THE COMPLEX, Kim Dae-Seung THE
CONCUBINE, a steamy love triangle in a royal court setting, Nattawat
Poonpiriya's COUNTDOWN, about a deadly New Year's Eve outing, and the
director's cut of Li Yu's DOUBLE XPOSURE, the Asian box-office hit which
reteamed her with Fan Bingbing.
Other highlights include Wang Jing's acclaimed drama FENG SHUI, the
World Premiere of the quirky Hong Kong omnibus HARDCORE COMEDY, Mika
Ninagawa's HELTER SKELTER, a horror film dealing with celebrities and
plastic surgery, making its New York debut, the latest entry in the
popular Ip Man series, IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT, with director Herman Yau
in attendance, Takashi Miike's return to blood and guts with LESSON OF
THE EVIL, the comeback of China's acclaimed arthouse director, Lou Ye,
after a five-year absence with MYSTERY, and Andrew Lau will be on hand
to present the first two films from his YOUNG AND DANGEROUS series.
NYAFF is deeply grateful for the support of the Hong Kong Economic and
Trade Office New York, the Korean Cultural Service New York and the
Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York, as well as the following
sponsors: The Kitano Hotel, Digital Media Rights, YesAsia.com, the
Anthology Film Archives, Manhattan Portage, Well Go USA, Epic
Proportions, Film Business Asia.
Keep up with the latest festival news at: www.facebook.com/NYAFF, www.subwaycinema.com, twitter: @subwaycinema (#NYAFF13)
Tickets for the New York Asian Film Festival will go on sale to Film Society Members on Tuesday, June 4 and to the general public on Thursday, June 13.
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.
Please note: Special $15 ticket price for the screenings of THE GREAT
WAR. 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).
The 2013 New York Asian Film Festival lineup
OPENING NIGHT PRESENTATION
World Premiere
TALES FROM THE DARK PART 1 (2013)
Directors: Fruit Chan, Lee Chi Ngai, Simon Yam
Country: Hong Kong
Based on Lilian Lee's best-selling novel series, TALES FROM THE DARK
PART 1 is comprised of three segments directed by Fruit Chan, Lee Chi
Ngai, and actor Simon Yam in his directorial debut. One chilly night,
veteran villain hitter Chu (Siu Yam Yam) meets an uncommon client, a
pretty 20-ish girl (Dada Chan) who pays her to curse four villains
without knowing their names. Mysteriously, the performance of each
cursing ceremony delivers a gruesome death. The final victim, or
villain, reveals a chilling, unbearable secret.
CENTERPIECE PRESENTATION
International Premiere
SECRETLY GREATLY (2013) 123min
Director: Jang Cheol-Soo
Country: South Korea
Based on the webtoon series, "Covertness," SECRETLY GREATLY stars
three of Korea's hottest young TV stars (Kim Soo-Hyun, Lee Hyun-Woo,
Park Ki-Woong) as a trio of elite North Korean sleeper agents who have
lived undercover in South Korea for so long that they now believe their
own cover stories as an average joe, a wannabe singer and a high school
student. Finally they get their first mission: kill each other. If they
don't get the job done, Pyongyang will send a hit team to take care of
things.
GALA PRESENTATION
World Premiere
THE GREAT WAR (Director's Cut) (2013) 97min
Director: Yan Yan Mak
Country: Hong Kong
A surprisingly personal and revealing documentary about the concert
battle between legendary Cantopop band Grasshopper and hip hop duo
Softhard. Directed by Yan Yan Mak (BUTTERFLY, MERRY-GO-ROUND) doesn't
just fill out the running time with interviews and performance footage,
but also shows the concert from the point of view of several audience
members (including a Hong Kong legislative council member). With this,
Mak takes the show beyond the entertainment industry bubble to show a
broader perspective to convey what these pop culture events mean to the
audience.
Director Yan Yan Man will attend the screening, along with Grasshopper and Softhard!
CLOSING NIGHT PRESENTATION
North American Premiere
THE ROOFTOP (2013)
Director: Jay Chou
Country: Taiwan
Jay Chou (INITIAL D, Michel Gondry's GREEN HORNET) is one of the most
famous pop stars in Asia. THE ROOFTOP, marking Cho's second film as
director, following SECRET (2007), is a romance combining elements of
martial arts and special effects in a musical extravaganza. It stars
Chou alongside Eric Tsang, Wand Xueqi and Alan Ko in a story set in a
fantasy world comprised of two distinctly contrasting communities and
lifestyles. One group lives on rooftops, where they dance and sing every
day, passing their days without a care in the world, while below them
are the people living under the rooftops, who possess more money and
power.
International Premiere
ABERYA (2012) 110min
Director: Christian Linaban
Country: Philippines
A Filipino-American boxer on a pleasure trip, a prostitute on a
mission, a local drug dealer experimenting with time travel, and a
social climber all cross paths in Cebu, the beautiful Philippine
southern island, in this deliriously imagined occult superhero movie.
International Premiere
THE ANIMALS (2012) 80min
Director: Gino M. Santos
Country: Philippines
Set in an ultra-luxe, gated community and marinated in money, this
teen party movie is an indictment of the 1% that has the Philippines in a
death grip. The film chronicles a day in the life of Jake, Trina, and
Alex, who go through the musings that every kid in high school has to
deal with. All Jake wants to do is have a good time, Alex just wants to
fit in, and Trina simply wants more. A vivid picture of high school life
after the final bell rings, as well as the other side of the
Philippines class divide, and what its privileged children are up to.
ARAHAN (2004) 114min
Director: Ryoo Seung-Wan
Country: South Korea
A high-flying martial arts action date movie set in modern day Seoul.
When a thief driving a motorcycle snatches a purse, the clumsy, naive
and honest rookie policeman Sang-hwan runs after him--but martial arts
specialist Eui Jin captures the criminal and Sang-hwan is severely
injured. She brings him to her home, where the six Masters of Tao heal
him and conclude that he has a powerful Qi, the spiritual
energy of the universe, with the potential to become a powerful warrior.
Sang-hwan begins his training to ascend to a Maruchi.
Meanwhile, the evil and ambitious Heuk-woon is accidentally released
from his prison and launches an attack on the masters, searching for a
key that they protect, which would permit him to become an Arahan and dominate the world. When the masters are defeated, Sang-hwan and Eui-jin are mankind's last hope.
Ryoo Seung-Beom will attend the screening.
North American Premiere
BAD FILM (2012) 161min
Director: Sion Sono
Country: Japan
Director Sion Sono (SUICIDE CLUB, COLD FISH) shot this art-house
film in 1995 over the course of a year and starring members of Tokyo
GAGAGA, a performance and activist collective he formed. Shot in Hi-8
format, this massive underground science fiction film focuses on a gang
war in Tokyo that erupts when a Chinese gang threatens to take over
Koenji Station. Sono shot over 150 hours of footage, but the release was
delayed for financial reasons. Now, almost 20 years later, this
legendary production has been re-edited to create a stunning work of
art.
Presented with Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
U.S. Premiere
BEHIND THE CAMERA: WHY MR. E WENT TO HOLLYWOOD (2012) 85min
Director: E J-Yong
Country: South Korea
E J-Yong's meta-movie centers on a group of Korea's best film
technicians and actors who have assembled in order to shoot a 10-minute
smartphone promo, with some of the actors playing themselves and some
playing other actors. Adding another meta-layer, E J-Yong plays himself
directing them remotely via Skype.
Preceded by
JURY (2012) 24min
Director: Kim Dong-Ho
Country: South Korea
Following a screening, a festival jury convenes to discuss the film,
but find themselves at odds as disagreements arise and passions run
high.
Director E J-Yong will attend the screening.
BEIJING BLUES (2012) 115min
Directing: Gao Qunshu
Country: China
Playing an asthmatic, diabetic Beijing street cop dedicated to busting
con artists, journalist-turned-actor Zhang Huiling is the heart of this
run-and-gun style film that follows him through several cases -- from a
family who throw their kids in front of cars to extort money from the
drivers, to a low level husband and wife money laundering scheme -- set
on the mean streets of Beijing.
THE BERLIN FILE (2006) 117min
Director: Ryoo Seung-Wan
Country: South Korea
Korea's action auteur, Ryoo Seung-Wan, injects kinetic kicks into the
old school cold war spy story with THE BERLIN FILE, a slam-bang action
throw down that exchanges American/Soviet tensions for North
Korean/South Korean geopolitical gamesmanship to deliver an espionage
flick in the vein of John Le Carré, only with rather more dead bodies,
broken arms, and sniper showdowns. The second-highest-grossing movie of
the year in Korea, this box-office blockbuster is like a Korean
installment in the Bourne franchise.
BLOODY TIE (2012) 90min
Director: Choi Ho
Country: South Korea
Hard-knuckled crime thriller in which corrupt detective who doesn't
play by the rules teams up with a small time meth dealer who fancies
himself as more businessman than criminal in order to bring down the
local drug kingpin responsible for the death of the cop's former
partner.
Ryoo Seung-Beom will attend the screening.
THE BULLET VANISHES (2012) 108min
Director: Law Chi-leung
Countries: Hong Kong/China
This stylish, action-packed period thriller starring Hong Kong
superstars Nick Tse and Lau Ching-wan pays homage to Sherlock Holmes and
Dr. Watson as a 1930s-era detective duo investigate a series of strange
murders in which "phantom bullets" seemingly vanish. The murders are
committed in a bullet factory ruled by a vicious boss and his henchman,
who force a female worker suspected of stealing to play Russian
roulette, with tragic results. Could the murders be the work of a
vengeful ghost?
North American Premiere
CATNIP (2012) 74min
Director: Kevin Dayrit
Country: Philippines
After it won "Best Short Film" at Sundance, Kevin Dayrit expanded his
pocket-sized flick into a weirdly intimate, hyperactive, blood-soaked
hyperactive friendship flick about two BFFs and the abusive dad who
comes between them. Liv is an introvert at home, due to the overbearing
and abusive obsessive compulsive behavior of her father, but relaxes and
runs free once she is out from under his roof and in the company of
Cieca, a quiet but jaded girl who scrutinizes the world around her, she
is able to relax and free her personality. That is, until her father
intervenes.
THE CHALLENGE OF THE LADY NINJA (1982) 91min
Director: Lee Tso-Nam
Country: Taiwan
This martial arts sexploitation film is about Lovely Lady Ninja Wong
Siu Wai (Elsa Yeung) who has been in Japan training in the art of the
ninjitsu. Able to fly, vanish in the blink of an eye, split into
duplicate selves, and cause explosions of multicolored smoke, Siu-Wai
dazzles her opponents by spinning out of her clothes and fighting in her
pink bikini. Returning to China due to the death of her father, she
discovers that her fiancée Lee Tung (Chen Kuan-Tai) is to blame. She
gathers a gang of sexy female warriors, and puts them through some
rigorous ninjitsu training before leading a rebellion against rock
transvestite samurai warriors in miniskirts and go-go boots.
New York Premiere
COLD WAR (2012) 102min
Directors: Longman Leung, Sunny Luk
Country: Hong Kong
COLD WAR was a 2012 box office hit in Asia and swept the Hong Kong
Film Awards winning Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best
Actor, and Best New Performer. This cop thriller stars Aaron Kwok as a
senior officer and Tony Leung Ka Fai as a deputy police commissioner
whose rivalry leads to a struggle over the running of an operation to
rescue officers who have been taken hostage.
North American Premiere
THE COMPLEX (2013) 106min
Director: Hideo Nakata
Country: Japan
Hideo Nakata (who kicked off modern J-horror with THE RING) breathes
new life into the genre with what starts out as a bright and cheerful
family drama before soon putrefying into something much softer, wetter,
and darker. Starring Japanese megastar Atsuko Maeda (lead singer of the
enormously popular group, AKB48) as a shy high-schooler who moves into a
haunted housing complex with her family and slowly becomes tormented by
apparitions and visions of her own tragic past.
North American Premiere
THE CONCUBINE (2012) 122min
Director: Kim Dae-Seung
Country: South Korea
Set in the Joseon Dynasty, THE CONCUBINE focuses its steamy story on
Hwa-Yeon, a young girl forced to become a concubine to the king who
becomes involved in a love triangle between Kwon-yoo, a man torn between
love and revenge, and King Seong-won, who has his heart set on Hwa-yeon
despite the countless women available to him.
New York Premiere
COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING (2013) 81min
Directors: Kim Gwang-Hun, Nicholas Bonner, Anja Daelemans
Countries: Belgium/U.K./North Korea
Girl power North Korean style! This fun Technicolor tale follows the
exploits of a young female miner who has long held an ambition of
becoming an acrobat. When she travels to Pyongyang to work on a
construction project, a trip to the circus both reawakens her desire and
gives her an opportunity to finally pursue her dream.
North American Premiere
CONFESSION OF MURDER (2012) 119min
Director: Jeong Byeong-Gil
Country: Korea
From the director of the hit NYAFF documentary ACTION BOYS (about the
tough lives of stuntmen in the Korean film biz), comes this thriller
filled with adrenalizing set pieces in the vein of THE CHASER. A
punch-drunk cop has to figure out the truth when a media-ready stud
comes forward with a book claiming he murdered 10 women years ago. The
catch? He can't be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has
expired.
North American Premiere
COUNTDOWN (2012) 91min
Director: Nattawat Poonpiriya
Country: Thailand
An acclaimed Thai horror movie about three Thai hipsters in New York
City who make a big mistake when they call an evil American drug dealer
named Jesus to provide their needs for a New Year's Eve party. Along
with the drugs, Jesus sets up a psychological game involving violence
and torture as the clock counts down to the New Year.
North American Premiere
DOUBLE XPOSURE (Director's Cut) (2012) 105min
Director: Li Yu
Country: China
In their follow up to BUDDHA MOUNTAIN, Li Yu, one of China's only
female directors, and megastar Fan Bingbing team up again with this
psychological thriller that turned into one of China's major
blockbusters of 2012. When Song Qi stumbles upon her boyfriend's affair
with her best friend, the ensuing confrontation between the two women
winds up with her friend killed in an accident. However, when the
investigation following her "confession" to the police reveals that all
is not as it seems, Song Qi is forced to embark on a twisted journey
into her past and the very depths of her own mind.
New York Premiere
DREAMS FOR SALE (2012) 137min
Director: Miwa Nishikawa
Country: Japan
When Satoko and Kanya's restaurant burns to the ground, the couple
decides to start exploiting Satoko's talent for wooing women and begin
promising matrimony to lonely ladies before scamming them out of all
their cash. As they work their way through Japan's lonely-hearts
population events begin to take a toll on their marriage and their
souls.
Presented with Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
New York Premiere
DRUG WAR (2013) 105min
Director: Johnnie To
Countries: China/Hong Kong
Hong Kong's master filmmaker Johnnie To has navigated the perilous
waters of Chinese film censorship to deliver his first Mainland Chinese
crime film. After drug cartel head Ming (Louis Koo) is arrested during a
raid, he's persuaded to take part in an undercover operation to take
down his own gang in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. Setting up
business meetings with his fellow crime bosses in order to intercept
major drug and money transactions and arrest those involved, the
gangster sets about betraying his former accomplices one by one.
ENTER THE DRAGON (1973) 98min
Director: Robert Clouse
Countries: USA/Hong Kong
The legendary martial arts crossover hit that cemented Bruce Lee as an
enduring international cinema icon, Robert Clouse's ENTER THE DRAGON
stars Lee as a martial artist who agrees to attend a kung fu tournament
in order to spy on the tournament's host, a reclusive crime lord with
ambitions to expand his operation. Warner Brothers and the New York
Asian Film Festival are teaming up to present the screening along with a
panel discussion on the relationship between kung fu and hip hop
featuring Hong Kong's MC Yan (LMF) and New York's own Hip Hop ambassador
Fab 5 Freddy, and the North American opening of "Kung Fu Wildstyle", an
art exhibit featuring Bruce Lee-inspired post-graffiti art by MC Yan
the two artists.
Fab 5 Freddy and MC Yan will attend the screening.
ENTER THE DRAGON 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition giftset from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be available June 11 on Blu-ray™
New York Premiere
FENG SHUI (2012) 117min
Director: Wang Jing
Country: China
One of the most acclaimed movies to come out of China last year, FENG
SHUI harnesses the talents of underrated actress Yan Bingyan to deliver
this family drama about a woman desperate to ascend to the middle class
and willing to pay any price. Powerful and emotionally tense this is a
portrait of the hidden side of the great Chinese success story.
North American Premiere
FOREVER LOVE (2013) 124min
Directors: Aozaru Shiao, Kitamura Toyoharu
Country: Taiwan
As light and frothy as a bottle of champagne, FOREVER LOVE is the hit
Taiwanese film about the local film industry in the late 60's when
movies were cheap, stars were gods, and spies, giant monsters, and
flying swordsmen crossed paths every day during lunch. A giddy,
nostalgic, really funny joyride through the history of Taiwanese film.
Director Aozaru Shiao will attend the screening.
North American Premiere
THE FRIDGE (2012) 90min
Director: Rico Maria Ilarde
Country: Philippines
Never before has a haunted appliance had this many tentacles and
craved this much human blood. A successor to the iconic horror short,
PRIDYIDER that launched the Filipino horror anthology film SHAKE, RATTLE
& ROLL (1984), horror director Rico Maria Ilarde offers up a
gleeful, gory, sexy horror movie about an evil refrigerator that
terrorizes a young woman.
North American Premiere
GANGSTER (2012) 102min
Director: Kongkiat Khomsiri
Country: Thailand
Thailand's answer to GOODFELLAS, GANGSTER is a fact-based tale with
documentary segments in which old-timers are interviewed and talk about
the young gangsters of 1950s and '60s Thailand. The film focuses on Jod,
a gangster who has been sent to jail following the military coup, which
brings new order to the streets. In their neighborhood, a uniformed
officer named Neung rules like a dictator and is a frequent thorn in the
side of Jod's gang. When he emerges from prison, Jod is a changed man,
now determined to set things right. But, knowing no other life, he
returns to his old gangster ways with his old crew.
World Premiere
HARDCORE COMEDY (2013) 92min
Directors: Henri Wong, Chong Siu Wing, Alan Lo
Country: Hong Kong
There's something for everyone in this raunchy, over-the-top
post-VULGARIA three-part omnibus. It's the ultimate genre mashup, a
heady and hilarious brew of action-packed superhero exploits, obscene
erotica, psychedelic narcotics, heart warming romance, cross dressing,
mobster vendettas, plus insane car stunts! Turtles! Iced tea! A dance
extravaganza! Coming soon!--you get the idea.
Dada Chan will attend the screening.
New York Premiere
HELTER SKELTER (2012) 127min
Director: Mika Ninagawa
Country: Japan
One of Japan's most popular photographers, Mika Ninagawa, and its most
controversial young star, Erika Sawajiri, team up to deliver a plastic
surgery horror movie that'll make your skin crawl. Lilico (Erika
Sawajiri) is a monstrous Lady Gaga-esque singer and actress obsessed
with her own young body, eating up employees, and existing on a diet of
flashbulbs. Constructed almost entirely of plastic surgery, she requires
occasional "top ups" but they're not working anymore and her face and
body are slowly turning as black and rotten as bruised fruit.
Presented with Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
North American Premiere
HENTAI KAMEN: FORBIDDEN SUPERHERO (2013) 127min
Director: Yuichi Fukada
Country: Japan
Kyosuke is the star of his high school martial arts club, but when he
indulges in his passion for wearing women's underwear he becomes the
panty-masked superhero Hentai Kamen. Based on a wildly popular manga
series, Hentai Kamen may not be the hero we deserve, but he's the hero
we need.
Presented with Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
North American Premiere
HOW TO USE GUYS WITH SECRET TIPS (2013) 114min
Director: Lee Won-suk
Country: South Korea
Half romcom, half satire of the Korean film industry, this wacky and
charming tale follows an overworked woman's attempt to improve her
relationship with men, by relying on a self-help video.
Preceded by
ONE PERFECT DAY (2013) 34min
Director: Kim Jee-woon
Country: South Korea
Fresh off from directing Arnold Schwarzenegger in THE LAST STAND, Kim
Jee-woon tries his hand at romantic comedy in this tale of a hapless
young man who stumbles through a number of terrible blind dates before
finding someone who might be his Mrs. Right.
Director Lee Won-suk will attend the screening.
U.S. Premiere
I'M FLASH (2012) 91min
Director: Toshiaki Toyoda
Country: Japan
Toshiaki Toyoda has been an NYAFF favorite with flicks like his
samurai dream, BLOOD OF REBIRTH, and his Unabomber biopic MONSTER"S
CLUB, but now he returns to his pulp roots to deliver a sunbaked
gangster flick about a cute young cult leader who hides from the press
after a car wreck on an isolated island with only his three bodyguards
for company.
Director Toshiaki Toyoda will attend the screening.
Presented with Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
North American Premiere
AN INACCURATE MEMOIR (2012) 105min
Director: Leon Yang
Country: China
One part Chinese Western, one part black comedy, and one part war
movie, AN INACCURATE MEMOIR is about an anti-Japanese resistance fighter
who infiltrates a gang of bandits to enlist their help in assassinating
a Japanese prince due in town at any minute. But though the bandits, a
mix of horny men and greedy women, may be crack fighters, they'd rather
go whoring and stuff themselves with lavish meals than liberate China.
North American Premiere
IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT (2013) 102MIN
Director: Herman Yau
Country: Hong Kong
Director Herman Yau teams up with his favorite actor, Anthony Wong
(UNTOLD STORY, EBOLA SYNDROME), to deliver a slyly subversive send-up of
the current craze for Ip Man movies. Packed with some of Hong Kong's
best stars of the 80's and 90's including Eric Tsang, Ken Lo (DRUNKEN
MASTER), and Xiong Xin-xin (THE BLADE, ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA 3),
this Ip Man movie is not just an action flick but a love letter to Hong
Kong's volatile history of political protest.
Director Herman Yau and screenwriter Erica Li will attend the screening.
North American Premiere
IT'S ME IT'S ME (2013) 123min
Director: Satoshi Miki
Country: Japan
Somewhere between Magritte, Kafka, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman,
Satoshi Miki's (ADRIFT IN TOKYO) surrealist tale of Hitoshi, a young
electronics store clerk with a case of multiple personality disorder
(played by pop star Kazuya Kamenashi of the band Kat-Tun) boldly goes
where no black comedy has gone before. After picking up a cellphone left
behind by a customer, he undertakes a popular scam: he calls the
person's mother and with the open-sesame magic formula "It's me! It's
me!" poses as her son, easily talking the mom into transferring cash to
his own depleted bank account.
North American Premiere
JUVENILE OFFENDER (2012) 107min
Director: Kang Yi-Kwan
Country: Korea
16-year-old Jang Ji-Gu takes care of his ill grandfather, while he
hangs out with other troubled kids. Abandoned by his parents at an early
age, he is sent to a detention center following a run-in with the
law--where he hears that his estranged mother Hyo-Seung, who gave him up
soon after his birth, has come for him. Can they repair their
relationship?
Preceded by
DAY TRIP (2012) 18min
Directors: Park Chan-Wook, Park Chan-Kyung
Country: South Korea
A master and his student visit a mountain to practice pansori (a genre
of traditional Korean music) following a music competition that left
the student disappointed in his performance.
New York Premiere
THE KIRISHIMA THING (2012) 103min
Director: Daihachi Yoshida
Country: Japan
When high school star athlete and all-around golden boy Kirishima
drops out of the volleyball team and disappears, his fellow students try
to figure out what his motivations and whereabouts could be, not to
mention uncomfortably taking stock of their own place in the school's
social structure. A careful examination of all the
power struggles, class warfare, social angst, and drama of an entire
high school as seen through the lens of Kirishima's absence.
THE LADY AVENGER (1981) 91min
Director: Yang Chia-yun
Country: Taiwan
Yang Chia-yun is one of the only female directors of Taiwan's
notorious Black Movies, and so it makes sense that her best film is this
intense rape-revenge shocker. When a reporter is gang-raped she decides
her only option is an eye for an eye and so, one by one, she kills her
rapists by bear trap, by knife, by blowtorch, and by meat hook.
U.S. Premiere
THE LAST SUPPER (2012) 115min
Director: Lu Chuan
Countries: China/Hong Kong/Taiwan
As the first Han Emperor dies in 300 BC, his life flashes before his
eyes in a splintered kaleidoscope of battle, betrayal, loves sold out,
and romances sold short. Lu Chuan (THE CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH, KEKEXILI)
is one of China's rising star directors and THE LAST SUPPER is his best
yet, telling the story of the Han Dynasty in the form of an epic fever
dream.
North American Premiere
THE LAST TYCOON (2012) 119min
Director: Wong Jing
Countries: Hong Kong/China
Chow Yun-fat stars as real-life criminal Du Yuesheng (whose history
has been officially banned as an object of study by the Chinese
government), a criminal godfather who shot like a meteor through
Shanghai's underworld, and was a major financial backer of the
Kuomintang in their fight against Mao and his Communist rebels.
Producer and cinematographer Andrew Lau will attend the screening.
THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN (2010) 100min
Director: Herman Yau
Country: Hong Kong
Wilson Yip's Ip Man movies starring Donnie Yen were such big hits that
Herman Yau decided it was time to make one of his own, and to do so he
enlisted some of Hong Kong's greatest martial artists. With action
choreography by the mighty Bruce Leung (GALLANTS) and starring Sammo
Hung, his opera-school brother Yuen Biao, the first Ip Man movie's Fan Siu-wong, and Ip Man's actual son, Ip Chun, this movie will leave you bruised, battered, and begging for more.
Herman Yau will attend the screening.
New York Premiere
LESSON OF THE EVIL (2012) 129min
Director: Takashi Miike
Country: Japan
After making films like samurai epics 13 ASSASSINS and HARA KIRI and
the children's film NINJA KIDS!, Takashi Miike returns to familiar
territory with LESSON OF THE EVIL, based on a best-selling horror novel.
Clean-cut pop star Hideaki Ito plays Mr. Hasumi, a young, popular,
good-looking teacher at an elite high school. While he's beloved by his
students and popular with pretty much everyone, Mr. Hasumi has a dark
secret past and homicidal urges that can't be contained.
A LIFE OF NINJA (1983) 88min
Director: Lee Tso-nam
Country: Taiwan
Someone is employing ninjas in an attempt to kill miserly and
womanizing businessman Chan Ming Fu, and there is no shortage of people
with a motive--his wife and sister-in-law both detest him, for starters.
The police recruit Kendo teacher and former ninja Chow to protect Chan,
but easier said than done.
New York Premiere
A MUSE (2012) 129min
Director: Chung Ji-Woo
Country: Korea
A scandalous success based on Park Bum-shin's novel Eun-gyo,
about an aging poet laureate (Park Hae-il) and his assistant and protégé
who become romantically involved in a triangle with an enigmatic
17-year-old girl (Kim Go-Eun). Chung's film earned numerous accolades
including Best Film at the Buil Film Awards, as well as eight Best New
Actress awards (including the Buil Film Awards, Grand Bell, Busan, KOFRA
and the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards) for Kim Go-Eun's
performance.
Director Chung Ji-Woo and Kim Go-Eun will attend the screening.
North American Premiere
MYSTERY (2012) 95min
Director: Lou Ye
Countries: China/France
China's acclaimed art house director Lou Ye makes a welcome comeback
in the Chinese film industry after being banned for almost five years.
All about a middle class marriage that implodes in a collision of sex,
murder, infidelity, and vehicular mayhem, MYSTERY won Best Film at the
Asian Film Awards.
NEVER TOO LATE TO REPENT (aka THE FIRST ERROR STEP) (1979) 96min
Director: Tsai Yang-Ming
Country: Taiwan
A surprise hit at the Taiwanese box office, which was at the time
dominated by period martial arts flicks and sentimental romances, Tsai's
film launched Taiwan's Black Movies trend, which saw innumerable
hard-hitting exploitation movies hitting screens between 1979 and 1983.
This stark, true crime film is the proud parent to them all.
Director Tsai Yang-ming will attend the screening.
North American Premiere
THE PEACH TREE (2012) 106min
Director: Ku Hye-Sun
Country: Korea
Multi-talented actor, artist, writer, director, and musician Ku
Hye-Sun (her Korean nickname is "Ku-onardo DaVinci" due to her
wide-ranging interests) has created a romantic, and bloody fairy tale
about a guy with two heads, trying to find his place in the world.
International Premiere
RIGODON (2012) 91min
Director: Erik Matti
Country: Philippines
Taking its title from a formal Filipino dance, Erik Matti's
realistically-observed, sympathetically acted, and appropriately raunchy
film centers on a love triangle, involving a reality TV star, the girl
he falls in love with, and his wife.
Preceded by
VESUVIUS (2012) 10min
Director: Erik Matti
Country: Philippines
A timid man's mundane life takes a turn when he is visited by a vision of the Virgin Mary.
New York Premiere
RUROUNI KENSHIN (2012) 134min
Director: Keishi Otomo
Country: Japan
Japan's number one box-office hit of 2012, this live-action adaptation
of a manga about a Meiji era assassin who leaves his life behind to
become a protector of the common man has sold 55 million copies as a
manga, and spawned several wildly popular animated adaptations. And it's
one hell of a sword-fighting movie.
Presented with Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
North American Premiere
A STORY OF YONOSUKE (2013) 160min
Director: Shuichi Okita
Country: Japan
Yonosuke arrives at university in the late 80's when Japan was booming
and the economy was raining cash. Hopelessly naive, and hopelessly
self-confident, he comes to the big city and annoys everyone. But slowly
he finds a group of friends and then the movie jumps forward 20 years
and then...to tell any more would ruin the surprise, but this is a
heartfelt movie that sings the song of the seeming loser.
Presented with Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
U.S. Premiere
TAIWAN BLACK MOVIES (2005) 60min
Director: Hou Chi-Jan
Country: Taiwan
A long lost era of filmmaking was rediscovered and preserved by this
documentary, the result of a longtime labor of love that began when the
director found a stack of discarded VHS tapes in the Taiwan Film
Archive.
Director Hou Chi-jan will attend the screening
New York Premiere
THERMAE ROMAE (2012) 108min
Director: Hideki Takeuchi
Country: Japan
"An Epic Bath Extravaganza!" Based on a manga series that's sold 5
million copies and spawned a TV show, it's all about an ancient Roman
bath designer who time travels to contemporary Japan and finds new
inspiration in Japan's modern day public baths. Five million very clean
Japanese people can't be wrong.
Presented with Japan Cuts: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
THE UNJUST (2011) 119min
Director: Ryoo Seung-Wan
Country: South Korea
This sprawling corruption epic is the kind of movie Sidney Lumet would
have made if he had been Korean. After the rape and murder of five
elementary schoolgirls, the police have still failed to apprehend the
serial killer. After a suspect is shot dead--with no conclusive proof of
his guilt--the country's president intervenes and adds to the pressure on
the police to solve the case. Choi Cheol-gi, a brilliant but sidelined
detective, is assigned to the investigation and promised a promotion if
he can get the police force off the hook by closing the case. Choi
enlists the help of crooked businessman Jang Seok-gu to frame another
suspects as the killer. However, they are being secretly monitored by
Joo Yang, a Seoul District public prosecutor in the pocket of a business
rival of Jang's.
Ryoo Seung-Beom will attend the screening.
International Premiere
VERY ORDINARY COUPLE (2013) 112min
Director: Roh Deok
Country: South Korea
A big Korean box-office hit of 2013, marking the debut of Roh Deok,
one of Korea's few female directors, this precision-tooled romantic
comedy focuses on a couple who have tried to keep their relationship a
secret at the bank where they work, but declare all out war on each
other after they break up.
North American Premiere
THE WARPED FOREST (2011) 82min
Director: Shunichiro Miki
Country: Japan
Six years ago, directors Shunichiro Miki, Katsuhito Ishii, and Hajime
Ishimine teamed up to deliver FUNKY FOREST: THE FIRST CONTACT. Now
Shunichiro Miki, flying solo this time, is back with the tale of a giant
shop-girl who can barely fit in her store, a weird green pod in every
bedroom, and terrifying wood nymphs who provide a heartbroken woman with
the anatomically correct fruit everyone seems to covet.
New York Premiere
WHEN A WOLF FALLS IN LOVE WITH A SHEEP (2012) 85min
Director: Hou Chi-jan
Country: Taiwan
Kai Ko, the star of one of last year's audience favorites, YOU ARE THE
APPLE OF MY EYE, stars in this live action romance that feels like an
animated film, trying to find the girl who dumped him in the wild world
of Taiwan's cram school district. Full of animated inserts, bizarre
stylistic flourishes, and a hyperactive camera.
Director Hou Chi-jan will attend the screening.
WOMAN REVENGER (1981) 85min
Director: Tsai Yang-Ming
Country: Taiwan
Another of Taiwan's mondo revenge movies from the early 80's, this
brutal exploitation shocker features a gentle woman who turns into a
bloodthirsty killer, bent on revenge against those who wronged her. A
forgotten grindhouse classic, this dirty, pulpy brawler will have you
ready to clean off the grime by the time the credits roll.
Director Tsai Yang-ming will attend the screening.
YOUNG & DANGEROUS 1 (1996) & 2 (1997) 90min each
Director: Andrew Lau
Country: Hong Kong
YOUNG AND DANGEROUS isn't a movie, it's way of life--a series of 15
films (six movies, four prequels, three spin-offs, and two all-female
versions, as well as a parody movie and a reboot) covering the life and
times of the Hung Hing criminal triad and the bevy of studly young
things who make up its members. The whole thing is the brainchild of
Andrew Lau and Wong Jing and the first two movies are the kind of
shot-on-the-run flicks that captured lightning in a bottle and became
cultural sensations. When the first movie hit it big, director Lau
wrote, shot, and released the second in just eight weeks.
Director Andrew Lau will attend the screening.