Yes, it's that time of the year again! The New York Asian Film Festival is getting the ball rolling with events happening at Lincoln Center and the School of Visual Arts and tickets are on sale now with varying prices and specials for all those attending. Fans who follow Asian cinemalore with a preference toward action might fall in love with the line-up being offered and host to a number of classic and newly-released titles in multiple genres.
Such films as Tsui Hark's The Taking Of Tiger Mountain, Sion Sono's Tokyo Tribe, the late Panna Rittikrai's Vengeance Of An Assassin, Fukusaku Kinji's Battles Without Honor And Humanity and Ringo Lam's City On Fire are worth mentioning, as well as guests and legendary tributes alike, and to accomodate, we now have a trailer! Catch it above along with the line-up and head over to the respective official websites at Film Society at Lincoln Center and Universe to grab your tickets right now.
New York, NY (June 5, 2015) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema announce the lineup today for the 2015 New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), which will take place from June 26 to July 8 at the Film Society and July 9 to 11 at SVA Theatre (333 W. 23rd Street). The Closing Night selection will be announced at a later date. North America’s leading festival of popular Asian cinema will showcase 52 feature films, including 1 World Premiere, 3 International Premieres, 13 North American Premieres, 5 U.S. Premieres, and 14 films making their New York City debuts. The festival will be attended by 18 international filmmakers and celebrity guests traveling from Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S.
NYAFF’s Opening Night presentation will be the North American Premiere of Philip Yung’s Port of Call. The film centers on the brutal murder of a 16-year-old Hunan girl who moves to Hong Kong with her family and falls into prostitution. Winding through time and grounded by Christopher Doyle’s gauzy cinematography, the film follows both the story of the young girl’s descent into sex work and the grizzled detective (Aaron Kwok) who obsessively works to solve the murder. Kwok is astonishing here in a career-best performance, with all the tics and haggard body language of a man beaten down by the violence that threatens to drown him at every turn.
The Centerpiece Presentation will be the North American premiere of Sabu’s Chasuke’s Journey, which was in Competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. According to Variety, the film finds “Sabu in his most fun-loving element, stirring Okinawa’s magical folk art into a Capraesque yarn that flirts with ideas of fate and self-determination, but really just revels in a rich tapestry of human experience. [The film is also] full of whimsical twists and high-octane action.”
The lineup also includes the World Premiere of Fire Lee’s black comedy Robbery; the International Premiere of Anh Sang-hoon’s erotic period actioner Empire of Lust; the North American Premieres of Chen Jiabin’s directorial debut A Fool, Daihachi Yoshida’s fantasy-drama Pale Moon, Lau Ho-leung’s action-comedy Two Thumbs Up, and Nobuhiro Yamashita’s slacker/rock drama La La La at Rock Bottom (previously announced); and the U.S. premiere of Yee Chih-yen’s high-school noir Meeting Dr. Sun. Other exciting highlights include Kulikar Sotho’s gorgeous meditation on Cambodia’s tragic Khmer Rouge past and its impact on the present, The Last Reel; Ryuichi Hiroki’s ensemble love-and-sex drama Kabukicho Love Hotel; Boo Ji-young’s superb labor-rights underdog drama Cart; and Sion Sono’s berserk rap musical Tokyo Tribe.
The 14th edition of the NYAFF will feature five focus programs: “Hong Kong Panorama”; “New Cinema from Japan”; “Taiwan Cinema Now!”; the previously announced “Myung Films: Pioneers and Women Behind the Camera in Korean Film”; and “The Last Men in Japanese Film,” a joint tribute to Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara, both of whom passed away last November.
Though the festival is traditionally rooted in genre film and faithful to popular cinema, NYAFF 2015 continues to feature ambitious pieces of realistic storytelling that delineate themes that unite, rather than isolate, the nations and their cinemas by suggesting what they have in common. The design of this year’s program is to look in both directions: the present and the controversial past, with the inclusion of a number of movies that cast an unblinking eye on the wounds of history (the Khmer Rouge in The Last Reel or the Cultural Revolution in Red Amnesia). In an age when nationalism has taken firm root in many East Asian countries and political control has spread far and wide, denying cinema its freedom and jeopardizing the existence of some of the most established festivals, this year’s lineup also offers emotional morality tales (Little Big Master, Cart, Socialphobia) and films that speak truth to power (The Whistleblower, Solomon’s Perjury Part 1 & 2, A Fool).
Women come to the fore with both a program highlighting directors and producers currently working behind the scenes in the Korean peninsula, and films from Japan that offer superb female portraits: defiant, fierce… free. The festival also celebrates the beauty of Asian masculinity on screen, with a tribute to the two iconic Japanese actors who set the blueprint for Japanese manhood and cool, praised beyond the archipelago’s borders—Ken Takakura’s death was widely lamented on Weibo (China’s most popular social-media site) and even on state-run China Central Television (CCTV).
After eight successful years of partnership with Japan Society’s Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Films, this year’s diverse selection of Japanese films have been fully integrated with the rest of the Festival’s program, and SVA Theatre’s Silas and Beatrice Theatres has been added to the list of venues. With three days of screenings at the SVA Theatre (June 9-11), we are able to bring downtown audiences the biggest and boldest of Asian cinema’s grand spectacles—sensory feasts that deserve to be experienced on the silver screen (such as Brotherhood of Blades, The Royal Tailor, The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D, and Vengeance of an Assassin).
In addition, five bold focus programs highlight East Asia’s crucial role in today’s ever-changing world of film. And at a time when many major film festivals are more Eurocentric and West-dominated than ever, NYAFF continues to show that the life of cinema is out there.
HONG KONG PANORAMA
Hong Kong cinema’s renewed confidence of the past couple of years shows no signs of abating in 2015. While leading Hong Kong filmmakers continue to deliver blockbusters in Mainland China (such as Tsui Hark’s The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D), there’s now even more variety in Hong Kong–focused films, as they continue to look for inspiration in the heydey of 1980s and 1990s local cinema, as evidenced by the crime-thriller Port of Call, the pulpy action-comedy Two Thumbs Up, and the touching contemporary drama Little Big Master. The city of Hong Kong also remains a popular filming location, and is also providing inspiration to Asian-American filmmakers, as can be seen in Emily Ting’s romance It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong. This focus will include Full Strike, Insanity, It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong, Little Big Master, Port of Call, Robbery, The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D, Two Thumbs Up, and retro screenings of City on Fire, Full Alert and Cold War.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
MYUNG FILMS: PIONEERS AND WOMEN BEHIND THE CAMERA IN KOREAN FILM
Korean cinema has been known internationally primarily through the works of a small group of male directors (Hong Sangsoo, Kim Ki-duk, Park Chan-wook, Kim Jee-woon, and others), but one of its key film production companies, Myung Films, is led by a woman: producer Shim Jae-myung. Myung Films has spearheaded the transformation of the Korean film culture and industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s by establishing new genres and discovering new talent. We are proud to showcase a couple of their recent productions (Cart and Revivre), as well as some of their masterworks (The President’s Last Bang, The Isle, and Waikiki Brothers) as part of a greater focus on women who work behind the scenes. Shim Jae-myung will be in attendance and will be joined by top female directors Yim Soon-rye (The Whistleblower) and Boo Ji-young (Cart), who are known for their uncompromising films dealing with issues of social justice. For these women behind the camera, it’s not just about standing up against patriarchy, oppression, or power but about telling stories of real people and real lives—struggling, folding and sometimes collapsing—perhaps showing that the human condition might be best expressed by women.
Presented with the support of the Korean Cultural Service New York.
Co-presented with The Korea Society.
NEW CINEMA FROM JAPAN
Japanese cinema continues to surprise with its consistent range and quality of adult stories and excels in its portrayals of female characters. This is certainly true of the works of award-winning filmmaker Daihachi Yoshida (Funuke, Show Some Love You Losers!, Pale Moon, Permanent Nobara). The imaginative genre exercises are also represented, and resplendently so with Sion Sono delivering the wild fun in spades with the hip-hop musical Tokyo Tribe, and the two-part crime mystery Solomon’s Perjury. This focus will consist of Chasuke’s Journey, Kabukicho Love Hotel, La La La at Rock Bottom, Solomon’s Perjury Part 1: Suspicion, Solomon’s Perjury Part 2: Judgement, Taksu, Tokyo Tribe, and a special spotlight on the award-winning filmmaker Daihachi Yoshida, consisting of Funuke, Show Some Love You Losers!, Pale Moon, and Permanent Nobara.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
TAIWAN CINEMA NOW!
While Taiwan’s domestic film market is relatively small when compared to those of Mainland China, Japan, and South Korea, Taiwan’s creative talent continues to play a vital role in the context of Asian cinema by continuing to deliver smaller quirky local films with distinct Taiwanese flavor and strong appeal to local audiences and the international festival circuit, the latter of which will be highlighted in this focus. The films will include Café. Waiting. Love, Meeting Dr. Sun, Partners in Crime, and Second Chance.
Presented with the support of the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York.
THE LAST MEN IN JAPANESE FILM – A Ken Takakura/Bunta Sugawara Tribute
Japanese film legends Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara, both of whom passed away last November, will be the subject of the first joint tribute outside of Japan, which will feature the brand-new 2K remaster of Kinji Fukasaku’s 1973 classic Battles Without Honor and Humanity, screened for the first time in North America. Other titles will include Abashiri Prison, Cops vs. Thugs, The Man Who Stole the Sun, Nihon Kyokaku-den (Tales of Chivalry in Japan), and Wolves, Pigs and Men—all made with honor and humor by civilized craftsmen, in sharp contrast to prefabricated conveyor-belts products that have conquered Japanese screens.
In the same way that the archetype of American masculinity was defined by the post–World War II generation of tough-guy actors (James Coburn, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood), “Ken-san” and “Bun-chan” have set the blueprint for what it meant to be a man in defeated postwar Japan. Their performances invented Japanese cool, decades before the government figured “cool” was a marketable concept for its soft power ambitions.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
Battles Without Honor and Humanity co-presented with Arrow Video.
The 2015 New York Asian Film Festival Award Honorees
Previously announced NYAFF award recipients include Hong Kong’s legendary director Ringo Lam (Lifetime Achievement Award), Hong Kong superstar actor-singer Aaron Kwok (Star Asia Award), and Japanese actor Shota Sometani (Screen International Rising Star Award).
We’re deeply grateful for the support of our festival partners: the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York, the Korean Cultural Service New York, the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York, The Korea Society, and Japan Foundation New York.
Subway Cinema receives generous year-round support from Kenneth A. Cowin Foundation.
We would also like to thank our sponsors: The Kitano Hotel, Hotel Beacon, Møsefund Farm, Manhattan Portage, Well Go USA Entertainment, Arrow Video, China Lion Film Distribution, Flaskingtree Marketing Group, Epic Proportions, Kirin, and Mizu Shochu; and our media partners: Screen International and Chopsticks NY.
Keep up with the latest festival news at: www.facebook.com/NYAFF and twitter: @subwaycinema (#NYAFF15)
Tickets will go on sale on June 9 for Film Society Members and June 11 for general public, both at the box office and online. Discounts are available for Film Society members. Read more about the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Screenings will be held at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater (165 West 65th Street, between Amsterdam and Broadway), and SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).
Full Line up and Schedule!
OPENING NIGHT FILM
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
PORT OF CALL | 踏血尋梅
PHILIP YUNG, 2015 | CAST: AARON KWOK, MICHAEL NING, JESSIE LI
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 121 MINUTES
A police detective (Aaron Kwok, in a career-defining role) tracks down the murderer of a young prostitute in this brutal thriller directed by Philip Yung and shot by master cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
Director Philip Yung and star Aaron Kwok will attend the screening. Aaron Kwok will be presented with Star Asia Award on June 26.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
CENTERPIECE PRESENTATION
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
CHASUKE’S JOURNEY | 天の茶助
SABU, 2015 | CAST: KENICHI MATSUYAMA, ITO OHNO, REN OHSUGI, YUSUKE ISEYA
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 105 MINUTES
A celestial tea server descends to Okinawa in order to save a young girl, falls in with a gang of losers, enjoys ramen, finds unwarranted celebrity, and fights against predestination written by heavenly hacks who copy Hollywood blockbusters.
Director Sabu will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
To be announced
ABASHIRI PRISON | 網走番外地
TERUO ISHII, 1965 | CAST: KEN TAKAKURA, KOJI NANBARA, TETSURO TAMBA, TORU ABE
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH LIVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 92 MINUTES
The first entry in Toei’s hugely successful Abashiri Prison yakuza film series, directed by Teruo Ishii, established Ken Takakura’s superstar status. If you want to understand Ken’s enormous popularity, this is the film that started it all. In many ways, this is the invention of the Japanese man.
Print courtesy of Toei Co., Ltd.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
BANGLASIA 孟加拉殺手
NAMEWEE, 2015 | CAST: NIRAB HOSSAIN, SAIFUL APEK, NAMEWEE, ATIKAH SUHAIME
MALAYSIA | MALAY, ENGLISH, MANDARIN, AND HOKKIEN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 91 MINUTES
From the director of festival fave foodie flick Nasi Lemak 2.0 comes this wild and crazy Western full of musical numbers and humor so slaphappy it’ll leave your head spinning. It was banned in Malaysia for being too political, so we’re proud to screen it.
Director/actor/singer Namewee will attend the screening.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE OF THE NEW DIGITAL REMASTER
BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY | 仁義なき戦い
KINJI FUKASAKU, 1973 | CAST: BUNTA SUGAWARA, HIROKI MATSUKATA, NOBUO KANEKO, KUNIE TANAKA, GORO IBUKI
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH LIVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES | DCP | 99 MINUTES
Quite possibly the ultimate yakuza movie, Kinji Fukasaku’s dark, gritty classic stars Bunta Sugawara (in the role that made his career) as a former soldier who turns to organized crime and claws his way up the yakuza underworld in postwar Hiroshima.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
Co-presented with Arrow Video.
BROTHERHOOD OF BLADES | 繡春刀
LU YANG, 2014 | CAST: CHANG CHEN, CECILIA LIU, WANG QIANYUAN, ETHAN LI, NIE YUAN
CHINA | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DIGITAL PROJECTION | 106 MINUTES
One of the best Chinese period action films in recent memory, this overlooked blood-red gem is packed with superbly choreographed fight scenes, riveting drama, and performances to match.
Film courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
CAFÉ. WAITING. LOVE | 等一個人咖啡
CHIANG CHIN-LIN, 2014 | CAST: VIVIAN SUNG, BRUCE, MEGAN LAI, MARCUS CHANG
TAIWAN | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 120 MINUTES
Three years after his record-breaking debut, You Are the Apple of My Eye, writer-director Giddens Ko penned this irresistibly zany romantic comedy, based on his book of the same name—but this time with Chiang Chin-lin in the director’s seat.
Presented with the support of the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
CART | 카트
BOO JI-YOUNG, 2014 | CAST: YUM JUNG-AH, MOON JUNG-HEE, KIM YOUNG-AE, DO KYUNG-SOO, KIM KANG-WOO, HWANG JEONG-MIN, CHUN WOO-HEE
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 103 MINUTES
In this pro-union flick, the 99% rise up after a bunch of female employees at a chain retail giant (think Wal-Mart) get laid off via text message. When they decide to go on strike, management calls in the thugs…
Director Boo Ji-young and producer Shim Jae-myung will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of the Korean Cultural Service New York.
Co-presented with The Korea Society.
CITY ON FIRE | 龍虎風雲
RINGO LAM, 1987 | CAST: CHOW YUN-FAT, DANNY LEE, SUEN YUET, ROY CHEUNG
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35mm | 100 MINUTES
Ringo Lam’s classic heist-gone-bad flick is the movie that made Chow Yun-fat (playing an undercover cop) a star and provided Quentin Tarantino with the basis for Reservoir Dogs. The film features heartbreak to spare for the little people trying to eke out a living at the end of a gun.
Director Ringo Lam will attend the screening and will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Print Courtesy of Academy Film Archive.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
COLD WAR | 寒戰
LONGMAN LEUNG, SUNNY LUK, 2012 | CAST: AARON KWOK, TONY LEUNG KAR-FAI, ANDY LAU
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | DCP | 102 MINUTES
Winner of nine Hong Kong Film Awards, including “Best Film,” Best Director,” “Best Screenplay,” “Best Actor,” and “Best New Performer,” COLD WAR was Hong Kong’s 2012 box office sensation. This cop thriller stars Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung Kar-Fai as two high-ranking officers whose rivalry leads to an intense power struggle over an explosive rescue operation.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
COPS VS. THUGS | 県警対組織暴力
KINJI FUKASAKU, 1975 | CAST: BUNTA SUGAWARA, HIROKI MATSUKATA, KEN TAKAKURA, MIKIO NARITA, NOBUO KANEKO
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | 35MM | 100 MINUTES
Bunta Sugawara plays a cop so corrupt he’s basically a member of the yakuza—delivering witnesses to his criminal buddies and looking the other way when they murder rivals. But now a war is breaking out and this bad lieutenant is going to have to choose sides.
Print courtesy of the Japan Foundation
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
EMPIRE OF LUST | 순수의 시대
AHN SANG-HOON, 2015 | CAST: SHIN HA-KYUN, JANG HYUK, KANG HANNA, KANG HA-NEUL
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH LIVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES | DCP | 113 MINUTES
A gorgeous period actioner set during the founding days of Joseon Dynasty in the early 14th century, Empire of Lust follows three men who engage in a power struggle within the palace walls, caught in the whirlwind of love, lust, greed, betrayal, and revenge.
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
A FOOL | 一個勺子
CHEN JIANBIN, 2014 | CAST: CHEN JIAN BIN, WANG XUEBING, JIN SHIJIA
CHINA | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 105 MINUTES
Chen Jianbin’s directorial debut is a harsh noir about an honest farmer’s efforts to help a young homeless man that instead set off a chain of disasters, serving as a reminder of man’s inhumanity when faced with greed.
Film courtesy of China Lion Film Distribution.
FULL ALERT | 高度戒備
RINGO LAM, 1997 | CAST: LAU CHING-WAN, FRANCIS NG, AMANDA LEE, MONICA CHAN, JACK KAO
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 98 MINUTES
Ringo Lam’s last great movie before his 12-year retirement is a dark, glittering gem of a police procedural that works both as a heist flick and as a tombstone for both pre-Handover Hong Kong and the action genre.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
U.S. PREMIERE
FULL STRIKE | 全力扣殺
DEREK KWOK & HENRI WONG, 2015 | CAST: JOSIE HO, EKIN CHENG, RONALD CHENG, TSE KWAN-HO, ANDREW LAM, WILFRED LAU
HONG KONG/CHINA | CANTONESE, HAKKA, AND ENGLISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 108 MINUTES
Racquet sport becomes martial art when a down-and-out gang of has-beens form a badminton team to win back their self-respect in this hyperactive, totally surreal comedy from Derek Kwok, the co-director of Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
FUNUKE, SHOW SOME LOVE YOU LOSERS! | 腑抜けども、悲しみの愛を見せろ
DAIHACHI YOSHIDA, 2007 | CAST: ERIKA SATO, MASATOSHI NAGASE, HIROMI NAGASAKU
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 112 MINUTES
Seduction, persecution, prostitution, suicide, and more greet the Wago family’s three siblings who return home for their parent’s funeral after they’re killed while trying to save a kitten. Yoshida’s twisted, smart, and deftly handled first film is as black as a comedy can get, yet wrapped in a lighthearted exterior.
Director Daihachi Yoshida will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
INSANITY | 暴瘋語
DAVID LEE, 2014 | CAST: LAU CHING-WAN, HUANG XIAOMING, ALEX FONG, FIONA SIT, NINA PAW
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 99 MINUTES
In this psychological thriller produced by Derek Yee (The Great Magician, One Night in Mongkok), a psychiatrist (Huang Xiaoming) is lured to the dark side of the mind by his patient and convicted murderer (Lau Ching-Wan).
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
THE ISLE | 섬
KIM KI-DUK, 2000 | CAST: CHO JAE-HYUN, SUH JUNG, PARK SEONG-HEE, JANG HANG-SEON
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 85 MINUTES
Kim Ki-duk helped put Korean cinema on the map with this art-house exploitation shocker about a cop on the run who winds up at a floating hotel owned by a woman who might be insane, or just really in love. You are not prepared.
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
IT’S ALREADY TOMORROW IN HONG KONG
EMILY TING, 2014 | CAST: JAMIE CHUNG, BRYAN GREENBERG, RICHARD NG
HONG KONG/USA | ENGLISH | FORMAT: DCP | 78 MINUTES
This compelling walk-and-talk romance à la Richard Linklater, centered on two Hong Kong expats who randomly cross paths one night, is as much about the attraction between the leads as it is about the love of Hong Kong.
Director Emily Ting and actors Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
KABUKICHO LOVE HOTEL | さよなら歌舞伎町
RYUICHI HIROKI, 2014 | CAST: SHOTA SOMETANI, ATSUKO MAEDA, LEE EUN-WOO, ROY (SON IL-KWON)
JAPAN | JAPANESE AND KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 136 MINUTES
Taking place over 24 hours in a Tokyo love hotel, this steamy and poignant character-driven ensemble drama from director Ryuichi Hiroki (Vibrator) looks at ordinary people as they experience life-changing events.
Director Ryuichi Hiroki and star Shota Sometani will attend the screening. Shota Sometani will be presented with the Screen International Rising Star Award.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
LA LA LA AT ROCK BOTTOM | 味園ユニバース
NOBUHIRO YAMASHITA, 2015 | CAST: SUBARU SHIBUTANI, FUMI NIKAIDO, SARINA SUZUKI, KATSUMI KAWAHARA
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 103 MINUTES
From Nobuhiro Yamashita (director of Linda Linda Linda and Tamako in Moratorium) comes this romantic comedy about an amnesiac man who, as the memory of his criminal past slowly returns, tries to find redemption and love through rock music.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
THE LAST REEL | ដុំហ្វីលចុងកាាយ
KULIKAR SOTHO, 2014 | CAST: MA RYNET, ROUS MONY, DY SAVETH, HUN SOPHY
CAMBODIA | KHMER WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 106 MINUTES
This gorgeous and engaging drama about a rebellious Cambodian girl determined to shoot the missing ending of a 40-year-old movie starring her mother is a meditation on Cambodia’s past and present, and the power of art.
Director Kulikar Sotho will attend the screening.
LITTLE BIG MASTER | 五個小孩的校長
ADRIAN KWAN, 2015 | CAST: MIRIAM YEUNG, LOUIS KOO, WINNIE HO
HONG KONG/CHINA | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 112 MINUTES
Hong Kong’s runaway box-office hit is a powerful drama based on the true story of a principal assigned to a failing rural kindergarten with only five students: if one of them drops out, the school closes.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
THE MAN WHO STOLE THE SUN | 太陽を盗んだ男
KAZUHIKO HASEGAWA, 1979 | CAST: BUNTA SUGAWARA, KENJI SAWADA
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 147 MINUTES
A ballsy satire about a high-school science teacher (rock-star Kenji Sawada) who builds an atomic bomb at home and uses it to try to get The Rolling Stones to play in Japan, all the while playing cat and mouse with a police detective sporting a buzz cut (Bunta Sugawara).
Print courtesy of the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
U.S. PREMIERE
MEETING DR. SUN | 行動代號孫中山
YEE CHIH-YEN, 2014 | CAST: ZHAN HUAI-TING, MATTHEW WEI, JOSEPH CHANG, BRYAN CHANG
TAIWAN | MANDARIN AND TAIWANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 94 MINUTES
A deadpan high-school noir about two gangs of impoverished boys competing to steal a statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (the founding father of the Republic of China) so they can sell it as scrap metal. Schoolyard slapstick becomes a call for Taiwan’s youth to wake up.
Director Yee Chih-Yen will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
MY LOVE, DON’T CROSS THAT RIVER | 님아, 그 강을 건너지 마오
JIN MO-YOUNG, 2014 | CAST: JO BYEONG-MAN, KANG KYE-YEOL
KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 85 MINUTES
In Jin Mo-young’s critically acclaimed documentary—which is also the most successful independent film in Korean history—a couple who have been married for 76 years face death with dignity and the strength of love.
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.
NIHON KYOKAKU-DEN (TALES OF CHIVALRY IN JAPAN) | 日本侠客伝
MASAHIRO MAKINO, 1964 | CAST: KEN TAKAKURA, KINNOSUKE NAKAMURA, HIROKI MATSUKATA
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | 35MM | 98 MINUTES
The first film in Toei’s immensely popular ninkyo film series chronicles a bitter feud that brews and breaks out between two rival yakuza clans. Honor is stained, blood is shed, hilarity does not ensue.
Print courtesy of Japan Foundation.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
U.S. PREMIERE
PALE MOON | 紙の月
DAIHACHI YOSHIDA, 2014 CAST: RIE MIYAZAWA, MITSUYO KAKUTA, SOSUKE IKEMATSU
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 126 MINUTES
A housewife turns to a sophisticated embezzlement scheme to support an affair with a college student in NYAFF director-in-focus Daihachi Yoshida’s mesmerizing fantasy-drama.
Director Daihachi Yoshida will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
PARTNERS IN CRIME | 共犯
CHANG JUNG-CHI, 2014 | CAST: WU CHIEN-HO, TENG YU-KAI, CHENG KAI-YUAN, YAO AI-NING
TAIWAN-HONG KONG | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 88 MINUTES
Director Chang Jung-chi’s second feature and follow-up to Touch of the Light (Taiwan’s foreign-language Oscar entry in 2012) is an atmospheric and taut high-school mystery-drama centered on the apparent suicide of a student.
Presented with the support of the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
PERMANENT NOBARA | パーマネント野ばら
DAIHACHI YOSHIDA, 2010 | CAST: MIHO KANNO, EIKO KOIKE, CHIZURU IKEWAKI, YOSUKE EGUCHI
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: HDCAM | 99 MINUTES
A happy-go-wacky relationship film about a recently divorced woman (Miho Kanno) who returns with her young daughter to her tiny hometown. There, she reunites with her mother (Mari Natsuki) who runs the only hair salon in town, Permanent Nobara, an extraordinary place that provides a signature perm and a shame-free confessional for the local women to discuss their most personal love and sex issues.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
THE PRESIDENT’S LAST BANG | 그때 그사람들
IM SANG-SOO, 2005 | CAST: HAN SUK-KYU, BAEK YOON-SIK, SONG JAE-HO
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 104 MINUTES
One of the most controversial Korean movies of all time, Im Sang-soo’s black comedy tells the tale of the 1979 assassination of military dictator President Park by the head of the Korean CIA. It’s all the more relevant today because Park’s daughter is currently president of Korea.
Producer Shim Jae-myung will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
RED AMNESIA | 闖入者
WANG XIAOSHUAI, 2014 | CAST: LU ZHONG, SHI LIU, FENG YUANZHENG, QIN HAO, AMANDA QIN
CHINA | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 115 MINUTES
Beijing Bicycle director Wang Xiaoshuai’s latest film is a blood-curdling mystery about the harassment of an elderly widow, and her haunting by a mysterious young boy who brings back ghosts of past choices, moral compromises, and the long shadows of the Cultural Revolution.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
REVIVRE | 화장
IM KWON-TAEK, 2014 | CAST: AHN SUNG-KI, KIM QYU-RI, KIM HO-JUNG
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 93 MINUTES
Legendary 78-year-old Korean filmmaker Im Kwon-taek (Beyond the Years, Chihwaseon: Painted Fire) delivers a powerful and vital film—his 102nd!—about the indignities of old age and the inferno of suppressed desire, anchored by a commanding performance from veteran actor Ahn Sung-gi (Nowhere to Hide) as a marketing director who finds himself attracted to a younger employee while dutifully tending to his dying wife.
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.
U.S. PREMIERE
RIVER ROAD | 家在水草丰茂的地方
LI RUIJIN, 2014 | CAST: TANG LONG, GUO SONGTAO
CHINA | YUGUR WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 103 MINUTES
Bartel and Adikeer, two Yugur ethnic minority brothers, set out with their camel across the deserts of northwestern China in search of their parents in this masterfully lensed nomadic road movie.
WORLD PREMIERE
ROBBERY | 老笠
FIRE LEE, 2015 | CAST: DEREK TSANG, J. AIRE, LAM SUET, STANLEY FUNG
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 90 MINUTES
An absurdist blood-soaked Grand Guignol with attitude to burn, Fire Lee’s indie black comedy about an overnight shift in a convenience store starts with a simple robbery, then moves on to mass murder, terrorist bombings, police shoot-outs, and even the afterlife.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
NEW YORK PREMIERE (U.S. CONTINENTAL PREMIERE)
THE ROYAL TAILOR | 상의원
LEE WON-SUK, 2014 | CAST: HAN SUK-KYU, KO SOO, PARK SHIN-HYE, YOO YEON-SEOK
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 127 MINUTES
An eye-popping historical comedy about the king’s tailor (played by Korean icon Han Suk-kyu) encountering a younger rival. It’s a stylish fashion showdown as the queen favors the younger needle-slinger, while the king sticks with his more stately (and stodgy) designer.
Director Lee Won-suk will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.
Co-presented with The Korea Society.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
RUINED HEART: ANOTHER LOVE STORY BETWEEN A CRIMINAL AND A WHORE
KHAVN (aka KHAVN DE LA CRUZ), 2014 | CAST: TADANOBU ASANO, NATHALIA ACEVEDO, ELENA KAZAN
THE PHILIPPINES/GERMANY | FORMAT: DCP | 73 MINUTES
Neon-smeared pop poetry materializes on screen in this (almost) dialogue-free gangland art flick shot in the slums of Manila and starring Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer) and shot by longtime Wong Kar Wai cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
EAST COAST PREMIERE
SECOND CHANCE | 逆轉勝
KUNG WEN-YEN, 2014 | CAST: WEN SHANG-YI, P.J. HUANG, ANGEL YAO, JASON WANG
TAIWAN | MANDARIN AND TAIWANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 105 MINUTES
Like Rocky except for billiards instead of boxing, and if Rocky Balboa was a Type-A, overachieving schoolgirl, this flick features a who’s who of billiard champs as it becomes a fist-pumping sports movie.
Presented with the support of the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York.
U.S. PREMIERE
SOCIALPHOBIA | 소셜포비아
HONG SEOK-JAE, 2014 | CAST: BYUN YO-HAN, LEE JOO-SEUNG
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 100 MINUTES
Four friends track down a cyberbully only to find that she’s hung herself. But two of them are convinced it’s murder, and the film becomes a grungy, realistic murder mystery set in the twitchy world of social media.
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
SOLOMON’S PERJURY PART 1: SUSPICION | ソロモンの偽証 前編
IZURU NARUSHIMA, 2015 | CAST: RYOKO FUJINO, ANNA ISHII, TOMITA MIU, SHIMIZU HIROYA
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 121 MINUTES
In the first of a twisty two-parter, high-school students find the dead body of one of their classmates in the snow. Not convinced by the conclusion that he killed himself, they begin an investigation that eventually leads them to conducting a mock trial at school.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
SOLOMON’S PERJURY PART 2: JUDGEMENT | ソロモンの偽証 後編
IZURU NARUSHIMA, 2015 | CAST: RYOKO FUJINO, ANNA ISHII, MIU TOMITA, HIROYA SHIMIZU
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 149 MINUTES
Wrapping up the multitude of mysteries from the first part, the second film focuses on the trial, where both shocking and subtle revelations send irrevocable tremors through the high school and the adults surrounding the case.
THE TAKING OF TIGER MOUNTAIN 3D | 智取威虎
TSUI HARK, 2014 | CAST: ZHANG HANYU, TONY LEUNG KA-FAI, LIN GENGXIN, YU NAN, TONG LIYA, HAN GENG, CHEN XIAO
CHINA | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 141 MINUTES
Tsui Hark (Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame) is back doing what he does best: delivering a popcorn thrillride. This adaptation of Qu Bo’s adventure novel, set in the late 1940s, mixes elements of spy movies, Chinese civil war sagas, and Mainland People’s Liberation Army actioners into a 3D blockbuster spectacle that was custom-made for the big screen.
Film courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
TAKSU | 欲動
KIKI SUGINO, 2014 | CAST: YOKO MITSUYA, TAKUMI SAITOH, KIKI SUGINO, TOM MES
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 97 MINUTES
Two couples find their needs and desires driving them further apart in this intensely erotic and melancholy drama set in Bali.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
TOKYO TRIBE
SION SONO, 2014 | CAST: RYOHEI SUZUKI, DAIS YOUNG, NANA SEINO, SHUNSUKE DAITO, TAKUYA ISHIDA, YUI ICHIKAWA, MIKA KANO, SHOTA SOMETANI, SHOKO NAKAGAWA, RYUTA SATO
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 116 MINUTES
Told almost entirely in hip-hop, Sion Sono’s berserk rap musical about warring gangs in Tokyo is full of tanks, B-boy battles, and so many baroque visual flourishes that the entire movie feels like Versailles stabbing you in both eyes.
Screen International Rising Star Shota Sometani will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
Film courtesy of XLrator Media.
NEW YORK PREMIERE (INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL PREMIERE)
TWENTY | 스물
LEE BYEONG-HEON, 2015 | CAST: KIM WOO-BIN, LEE JOON-HO, KANG HA-NEUL
KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 115 MINUTES
Three friends enter their twenties with sex on the mind, easy access to soju, and absolutely no clue how to navigate college, money, or women… or really anything else in the world. A painfully hilarious reminder about how awkward the transition into adulthood can be.
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
TWO THUMBS UP | 衝鋒車
LAU HO-LEUNG, 2015 | CAST: FRANCIS NG, SIMON YAM, PATRICK TAM, MARK CHENG
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 102 MINUTES
Old-school Hong Kong action-comedy at its finest, Two Thumbs Up stars Simon Yam and Francis Ng as ex-cons who disguise themselves as policemen to pull a heist. But it turns out they kind of like being cops…
Director Lau Ho-leung will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.
NORTH AMERICAN FESTIVAL PREMIERE
VENGEANCE OF AN ASSASSIN | เร็วทะลุเร็ว
PANNA RITTIKRAI, 2014 | CAST: CHUPONG CHANGPRUNG, NATHAWUT BOONRUBSU, PING LUMPRAPLOENG, NISACHON TUAMSUNGNOEN
THAILAND | THAI WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | DIGITAL PROJECTION | 99 MINUTES
The final film from action legend Panna Rittikrai (Ong-Bak films)—the kinetic master of mayhem—pulls out all the stops to deliver a rough-and-ready action flick sporting everything from badass games of soccer to gun fu.u
Film courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
VIOLATOR
DODO DAYAO, 2014 | CAST: VICTOR NERI, ANTHONY FALCON, R.K. BAGATSING
THE PHILIPPINES | TAGALOG WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 115 MINUTES
The sole horror movie in this year’s lineup, Violator sees five men become trapped at a police station during a typhoon with a young man who claims to be Satan. A barebones indie that achieves a kind of monumental evil majesty as it progresses.
WAIKIKI BROTHERS | 와이키키 브라더스
YIM SOON-RYE, 2001 | CAST: LEE EOL, PARK WON-SANG, HWANG JUN-MIN
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | 35MM | 109 MINUTES
In this modern Korean classic, a failed cover band returns to the lead guitarist’s hometown to try to get a fresh start, but the past, women, booze, and drugs threaten to break them apart.
Director Yim Soon-rye and producer Shim Jae-Myung will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.
Co-presented with The Korea Society.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
THE WHISTLEBLOWER | 제보자
YIM SOON-RYE, 2014
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 113 MINUTES
The All The President’s Men of bioresearch, Yim Soon-Rye (one of Korea’s few female directors) turns in a sharply suspenseful powerhouse thriller based on the true story of one of the biggest scientific frauds of the 21st century.
Director Yim Soon-rye will attend the screening.
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.
Co-presented with The Korea Society.
WOLVES, PIGS AND MEN | 狼と豚と人間
KINJI FUKASAKU, 1964 | CAST: KEN TAKAKURA, SANAE NAKAHARA, SHINJIRO EBARA, KINYA KITAOJI
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 95 MINUTES
Kinji Fukasaku’s first yakuza masterpiece is an angry tale of three brothers who walk and work the mean streets of a postwar Tokyo slum and buy themselves a world of trouble over a bag of stolen cash.
Print courtesy of Japan Foundation.
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.
H/T: Subway Cinema