KCCNY and NYAFF present: A MERRY ZOMBIE XMAS

KCCNY and NYAFF
Present

A MERRY ZOMBIE XMAS
When: December 24, 2020 - January 7, 2021
Where: koreanmovienight.org

Celebrate the holiday season with brains, blood and guts!
WATCH hit Korean Zombie Films starting X-Mas Eve for free!

'Tis the Season to run for your life as Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY) and the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) are in the giving spirit to present a free streaming series that highlights one of the sweeping film genres to grace the big screen that will aim to leave you dying for more...literally.

What lurks in Winter's breath is the stillness of the undead creeping upon an unknowing populace. Keep your loved ones close and your enemies as a human shield as they take the first bite from a relentless zombie horde! Don't wait up for Santa. He probably didn't make it.

Full Lineup:
TRAIN TO BUSAN
TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS: PENINSULA
RAMPANT
ZOMBIE FOR SALE (also known as: ODD FAMILY: ZOMBIE FOR SALE)

A MERRY XMAS SERIES Streaming details:
Free and unlimited run of the films for 15 days
December 24, 2020-January 7, 2021 at koreanculture.org

Full Lineup Announced for the 17th Annual New York Asian Film Festival

The Film Society of Lincoln Center

and

Subway Cinema

present

The 17th Annual New York Asian Film Festival

When: June 29 - July 15, 2018

Where: Film Society of Lincoln Center

& SVA (School of Visual Arts) Theatre

The full lineup for the 17th New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) has been announced by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema, joint presenters of the event. The festival begins this coming Friday, June 29th and continues through July 15th. Films, Q&As, and award presentations will take place at two venues: the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the SVA (School of Visual Arts) Theatre.

The announcement is here.

An alphabetical listing of the films, including dates, times, and location can be found here.

New York Asian Film Festival 2016

Here's the recent press release from Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema concerning the first fifteen titles that have been announced. AsianCineFest has covered NYAFF since 2006 and once again looks forward to covering this year's festival. 

Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema

announce initial details for

THE 15th NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

June 22 – July 9, 2016

15 FOR 15: THE COOL, THE CRAZY, THE CORRUPT

This summer’s New York Asian Film Festival (June 22 – July 9) has its most cutting-edge lineup yet, with a cast of Asia’s hottest stars, some receiving our significantly expanded Star Asia and Screen International Rising Star Awards. Today, we give our first glimpse at this year’s offerings, revealing the 15 key titles that shape the themes of our 15th anniversary edition.

From the Philippines we present three genre-defying films that explore fatherhood, and what it means to be an adult: Erik Matti’s religious crime drama Honor Thy Father, Ralston Jover’s noir youth drama Hamog (Haze), and Mario Cornejo’s sensual surfing film Apocalypse Child, which posits that Francis Ford Coppola left behind an illegitimate son as well as a surfboard after shooting Apocalypse Now in the Philippines.

We cling to the company of lost souls to explore the little known territory of Tamil-language Malaysian cinema and the plight of the local Indian community in the 1990s. First-time director Shanjhey Kumar Perumal’s Jagat (Brutal) follows the hardships of a 12-year-old boy as he gets drawn into the criminal lifestyle of his uncle, a henchman for a local Malaysian gang. Channeling the spirit of Satyajit Ray, this raw coming-of-age story receives its North American premiere at NYAFF.

From South Korea come films about people selling their souls, both figuratively and literally. In E J-yong’s The Bacchus Lady, an elderly prostitute plies her trade in city parks. The bittersweet tale reflects the national scandal of a generation facing abject poverty and abandonment. Kim Jin-hwang’s The Boys Who Cried Wolf follows an unemployed actor paid to be a false witness to a child’s murder, while Jang Jae-hyun’s modern exorcist thriller The Priests will have heads spinning with its hair-raising car chases, piglets as demonic vessels, and the antichrist.

In explorations of innocence corrupted, we put the spotlight on first-time female directors with China’s What’s in the Darkness (dir. Wang Yichun), about a curious teenage girl who is seduced into her cop father’s investigation of a serial killer; Hong Kong’s Lazy Hazy Crazy (dir. Jody Luk), in which schoolgirls explore the city’s heart of greed by charging for sex; and Thailand’s Grace (dir. Ornusa Donsawai & Pun Homchuen), a merciless attack on social-media idolatry.

We next descend into Japanese madness with Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s unnerving Creepy, about a maniac who infiltrates and corrupts the nuclear-family unit; Sakaki Hideo’s shocking Kiyamachi Daruma, featuring a manipulative yakuza boss who lacks not only digits but also his arms and legs; and the loony Hentai Kamen 2, the hotly anticipated sequel to our 2013 Audience Award winner about a fetishistic superhero who wears his crime-busting underwear on his head.

We round out our 15 key films with two thrillers that explore institutionalized corruption—in the police, in the courts, in the media, and on the political stage—with Woo Min-ho’s Inside Men from South Korea and Cheng Wen-tang’s Maverick from Taiwan. Both films are razor-sharp dissections of the corruption at the heart of the two fragile democracies at a moment when both are swinging pendulums of political turmoil.

The festival’s executive director, Samuel Jamier, says, “To celebrate our 15th edition, we made the difficult and deliberate decision to have a lean selection of approximately 50 features. Bigger isn’t better; better is better. While maintaining a focus on quality, we’re putting our energies into promoting each film, so that they have a life after the festival. We have a larger lineup of exciting guests booked, including Asian stars who are joining us for our anniversary celebration.”

The festival will announce its opening film and the Screen International Rising Star Award recipients in mid-May from Cannes, followed by the full-lineup reveal at the end of May.

15 for 15
1. Apocalypse Child; dir. Mario Cornejo [Philippines], North American Premiere
2. The Bacchus Lady 죽여주는 여자; dir. E J-yong [South Korea], New York Premiere
3. The Boys Who Cried Wolf 양치기들; dir. Kim Jin-hwang [South Korea], North American Premiere
4. Creepy クリーピー　偽りの隣人; dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa [Japan], New York Premiere
5. Grace อวสานโลกสวย; dirs. Ornusa Donsawai & Pun Homchuen [Thailand], International Premiere
6. Hamog (Haze); dir. Ralston Jover [Philippines], North American Premiere
7. Hentai Kamen 2 HK 変態仮面 アブノーマル・クライシス; dir. Yuichi Fukuda [Japan], North American Premiere
8. Honor Thy Father; dir. Erik Matti [Philippines], New York Premiere
9. Inside Men 내부자들; dir. Woo Min-ho [South Korea], New York Premiere
10. Jagat (Brutal); dir. Shanjey Kumar Perumal [Malaysia], North American Premiere
11. Kiyamachi Daruma 木屋町DARUMA; dir. Hideo Sakaki [Japan], International Premiere
12. Lazy Hazy Crazy 同班同學; dir. Jody Luk [Hong Kong], North American Premiere
13. Maverick 菜鳥; dir. Cheng Wen-tang [Taiwan], North American Premiere
14. The Priests 검은 사제들; dir. Jang Jae-hyun [South Korea]
15. What’s in the Darkness 黑处有什么; dir. Wang Yichun [China] North American Premiere

The New York Asian Film Festival is co-presented by Subway Cinema and the Film Society of Lincoln Center and takes place from June 22 to July 5 at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater, and July 6 to 9 at SVA Theatre. Keep up to date with information at www.subwaycinema.com and www.filmlinc.org.

PORT OF CALL will be Opening Night Film at NYAFF on Friday; second screening Saturday afternoon

Aaron Kwok, center with glasses, stars in Port of Call

 Port of Call

Director: Philip Yung

Cast: Aaron Kwok, Michael Ning, Jessie Li

Hong Kong, 2015, 121 minutes

Language: Cantonese with English Subtitles

North American Premiere

When: Friday, June 26 at 8:30pm & Saturday, June 27 at 3:00pm

Where: Walter Reade Theater

Tickets

Port of Call will be the Opening Night Film at the 14th New York Asian Film Festival on Friday, June 26th. This screening will be preceded by the presentation of the Star Asia Award to actor Aaron Kwok. (This screening has -- not surprisingly -- sold out. However, there will be a standby line should any tickets go unclaimed.) The film will also be shown on Saturday, June 27th when Kwok will participate in an Intro and Q&A.

Jiamei (Jessie Li, in her film debut) is a sixteen year old girl who has moved to Hong Kong with her mother and sister, while her father stayed in Hunan. She dreams of becoming a model, but ends up as a teen-age prostitue who is brutally murdered. Hong Kong Police Officer Chong (Aaron Kwok, whose 53 credits include The Storm Riders and Cold War) is the detective who heads up the investigation into the crime. With glasses and grey hair, Chong is a grizzled veteran who is all but done in by all the violence he has seen. A loving father to his preteen daughter, one senses that what his job has done to him over the years probably has much to do with why he is separated or divorced.

The film is divided into four sections, and although the identity of the murderer is revealed fairly early on, much mystery remains. There are several jumps back and forth in time, but each shift is identified by year. Director Philip Yung has done a deft job of keeping the narrative clear and moving along. The cinematography is fabulous, which is what one would expect from veteran Christopher Doyle, who is probably best known for his work on several films by Wong Kar Wei.

A gripping crime mystery, Port of Call is a perfect film for opening night at this year's NYAFF. There's teen-age sex and prostitution and some harrowing violence, both described and depicted. There's also some explicit nudity. The film must carry a Category III (adults only) rating in Hong Kong. Given it's subject matter and nude scenes, I can't imagine it being released in any form -- even severely edited -- in Mainland China, except, of course, as an illegal bootleg.

AsianCineFest Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars; very good indeed.

The two screenings of Port of Call are part of HONG KONG PANORAMA, one of the Special Focus sections of NYAFF, and are presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

The full schedule for NYAFF 2015 can be found here.

Initial details for 14th New York Asian Film Festival have been announced!!!

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER and SUBWAY CINEMA

Announce initial details for

THE 14th NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

June 26 – July 11, 2015

Director Ringo Lam will be presented with the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award, superstar Aaron Kwok with the 2015 Star Asia Award, and Japanese actor Shota Sometani with the 2015 Screen International Rising Star Award

Film lineup to include the North American premieres of Nobuhiro Yamashita's La La La at Rock Bottom and Yim Soon-rye's The Whistleblower and the international premiere of Namewee’s Banglasia, which was banned in Malaysia

A spotlight on Myung Films and Korean women filmmakers and a joint film tribute to Japanese legends Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara are among the notable sidebars

The New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), North America’s leading festival of popular Asian Cinema, is back for its 14th edition. Co-presented with Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema, the festival will run from June 26 to July 11. The festival takes place from June 26 to July 8 at the Film Society and July 9 to 11 at SVA Theatre (333 W. 23rd Street). Initial details include notable awards to be presented to director Ringo Lam, superstar Aaron Kwok, and actor Shota Sometani. The festival will also host a slew of North American film premieres, as well as spotlight the works of Korean female directors and honor the memory of Japanese legends Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara with a joint tribute.

Hong Kong’s legendary director Ringo Lam (City on Fire) will receive the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award. One of Hong Kong’s most influential directors, Lam was directing comedies when City on Fire was released in 1987, fusing the social-protest movie with kinetic action filmmaking. It was followed by the massive hit Prison on Fire later that year, and then School on Fire, a movie so unblinking that nervous Hong Kong censors sliced it to ribbons. Lam became one of the city’s best action filmmakers, and one of the few local directors to be so deeply concerned with the price of progress, the corrosive influence of money on human relationships, and the lives of the little people crushed beneath the wheels of change. In 2003, he directed what was to be his final feature and went into semi-retirement, only to be lured out again in 2015 with Wild City, in which Lam’s tooth-and-claw vision of modern urban living remains untamed.

Hong Kong’s superstar actor-singer Aaron Kwok (Divergence, After This Our Exile, Cold War) will receive the festival’s 2015 Star Asia Award on June 26. One of Hong Kong’s Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop, Kwok has won dozens of awards for his chart-topping albums. For over 30 years, he has performed steadily both on television and in movies and is respected for his box-office star power as well as his outstanding acting chops. Kwok has worked with some of Hong Kong’s finest directors, like Johnnie To, Jacob Cheung, Andrew Lau, and Patrick Tam. His self-described Method acting was rewarded in 2005 and 2006 when he won back-to-back Golden Horse awards for Best Actor, a feat previously achieved only by Jackie Chan. Kwok was awarded his first Best Actor prize was for his performance in 2005’s Divergence, but it was his work in the 2006 After This Our Exile, for which he won his second award, that blew audiences away. In that film, Kwok’s fearless portrayal of a gambling addict exhibited a serious commitment to his craft as well as a complete lack of vanity. He then went on to give a series of startling performances in films like Yim Ho’s Floating City, the blockbuster Cold War, as well as his upcoming tour de force, Port of Call.

Japanese actor Shota Sometani will attend the festival on July 4, on the occasion of the New York premiere of Kabukicho Love Hotel, to receive the Screen International Rising Star Award. Director Ryuichi Hiroki will also be in attendance. This marks the second year of a partnership with Screen International, with whom the NYAFF will honor an emerging talent in the East Asian film world each year. At age 22, Sometani is already a leading man in both blockbusters and indie gems and has earned critical acclaim on the international film festival circuit. In 2011, he received the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in Himizu, along with his co-star Fumi Nikaido (last year’s recipient of the Screen International Rising Star Award).

Notable NYAFF titles this year will include the North American premieres of Nobuhiro Yamashita's La La La at Rock Bottom and Yim Soon-rye's The Whistleblower and the international premiere of Namewee’s Banglasia, which was banned in Malaysia, its home country.

The festival will also feature a section on Korea’s production company Myung Films, highlighting a few of their major works—Cart, The President’s Last Bang, The Isle, and Waikiki Brothers—as part of a greater focus on women who work behind the camera. Producer Shim Jae-myung and directors Yim Soon-rye (The Whistleblower) and Boo Ji-young (Cart) will be in attendance.

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 digital remaster of the 1973 classic Battles Without Honor and Humanity—screened for the time in North America—among others.

Keep up with the latest festival news at:
www.facebook.com/NYAFF, www.subwaycinema.com, 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).

2014 New York Asian Film Festival Dates and Highlights Announced

 

13th NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

June 27 – July 14, 2014

at Film Society of Lincoln Center (June 27 – July 10)

Japan Society (July 10-13)

Asia Society (July 13-14)

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema, in association with the Japan Society, have announced 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. 

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).

 

The 2014 NYAFF receives support from 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.

NYAFF's sponsors include The Kitano Hotel, Anthology Film Archives, Møsefund Farm, Manhattan Portage, Well Go USA, Epic Proportions, Flaskingtree, and Kirin.  Its media partners are Screen International, Film Business Asia, and Noonchi.

 

ACF 1762: R.I.P. Daniel Anderson Craft, film fan and a director of Subway Cinema

Paige Barr (Daniel's wife), actor George Takei, and Daniel

The legion of Asian Film Fans, particularly the New York City contingent, suffered a tragic loss with the recent death of Daniel Anderson Craft. I knew Daniel, not well, but I knew him from Subway Cinema's NY Asian Film Festival. He'd joined Subway Cinema in 2004, a couple of years before I started covering the festival in 2006, and was one of its directors. He was one of the nicest people I've ever met, and I'm glad that we had more conversations at the 2012 NYAFF than ever before.

Daniel is survived by his wife Paige Barr, a comedic actress and filmmaker, his mother, and brother.

While he enjoyed many types of movies, Daniel was an especially big fan of Star Trek, as evidenced by the photo above of him and Paige with actor George Takei at a convention. When Daniel wasn't able to see the teaser for the upcoming Star Trek: Into Darkness film, friends and family posted a plea on the Reddit message board and, long story short, Daniel got to see a a rough cut of the film in his home shortly before he died. You can read about it at this post at The Hollywood Reporter. There's also a very nice post at Reddit.com by Grady Hendrix, one of the founders of Subway Cinema, and a friend of Daniel's.

I was so sorry to hear about Daniel's illness and passing, but so glad he got his own special screening of the next Star Trek movie. Thanks to all those who made that happen, and heartfelt condolences to his widow.

ACF 1542: Two New York Asian Film Festival interviews at VCinema

The VCinema Show, an affiliate of AsianCineFest, has a special podcast episode with two interviews I conducted recently.

One was with Pang Ho-cheung, the Hong Kong director of Vulgaria, the raunchy and hilarious opening night film at this year's NYAFF.

The other was a joint interview with Giddens Ko and Michelle Chen, both of whom are from Taiwan. They are, respectively, the director and female lead of You Are the Apple of My Eye. It's a coming of age film, and Giddens'  feature directorial debut, that has set all kinds of box office records in several Asian markets. Michelle was awarded a "Rising Star" award at the festival pretty much on the basis of her breakout performance in it.

Check out the podcast here, or download it from the VCinema podcast listings at iTunes.

ACF 1540: DRAGON at NYAFF

Dragon / Wu Xia

Directed by Peter Ho-Sun Chan

Hong Kong/China, 2011, 98 minutes

Starring Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tang Wei

When: Monday, July 9, 2012 at 7:45 pm

Donnie Yen will receive the Star Asia Award before the screening

Where: New York Asian Film Festival

The Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Street, New York, NY

Map here

This screening is currently sold out. Visit the venue’s box office

on the day of the screening for any available tickets.

Prior to the start of this year's New York Asian Film Festival, I attended the press screening of Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s 2011 film Dragon (a.k.a. Wu Xia). The film stars Donnie Yen (Hero; Seven Swords; Kill Zone; both Ip Man films, etc.) He plays Liu Jinxi, a papermaker and seemingly run-of-the-mill fellow. He’s married to lovely Ayu (Tang Wei, Late Autumn; Crossing Hennessey; and Lust,Caution). They have two boys: the older is Ayu’s from her previous husband, who abandoned her and the child, the younger one is her’s and Jinxi’s. They live in a small, remote village in Yunnan in southwest China.

Their life of peaceful anonymity and marital bliss goes all to hell one day in 1917 when two thugs come into a village store and demand money. When the shopkeeper tries to resist, the pair go ballistic on him and everyone else in the store. Initially cowering behind a cabinet, Jinxi emerges and wraps his arms around the larger would-be-robber. Holding on for dear life, he is flung around the store and ultimately winds up in a river. But it’s the two robbers who somehow end up dead. When it turns out that one of them was a top wanted criminal, Jinxi becomes somewhat of a celebrity and is commended for his role in bringing the pair to justice, though he claims that he was just lucky.

Inspector Xu Baijiu (Takeshi Kaneshiro, Chungking Express, House of Flying Daggers, the two-part Red Cliff movie) is unconvinced. With his glasses and straw hit, he displays Sherlock Holmes-like investigative abilities, including that of recreating exactly what happened by carefully examining the evidence and the testimony of those involved. Having made the mistake of going easy on a young criminal in the past, a mistake that cost innocent people their lives, Baijiu is fanatical about enforcing the letter of the law. He doggedly pursues Jinxi, not believing his account of what transpired with the two crooks and convinced that he is hiding something from his background. As a result Ayu comes to question everything she thought she knew about her husband, and the lives of Jinxi, his family, Baijiu and all the villagers are threatened by a group known as the 72 Demons, led by Jimmy Wang Yu, star of the legendary Shaw Brothers film The One-Armed Swordsman (1967).

Truth be told, there were times during the screening when I almost thought maybe I was watching a Quentin Tarantino film, because Dragon alludes to so many other movies. The revealing of the surprising past of a seemingly ordinary family man is reminiscent of David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence. Baijiu, as I’ve already indicated, comes across much like an early 20th Century Chinese Sherlock Holmes. There are visual flourishes of the body’s inner workings similar to goings on in Andrzej Bartkowiak’s Romeo Must Die. And besides the presence of Jimmy Wang Yu, who is absolutely fantastic here, there is, suffice it to say, another nod to The One-Armed Swordsman.

This is in no way to cast any pallor on Chan’s film. I loved the allusions (at least those that I believe I caught), but it won’t diminish your enjoyment of Dragon if you have no familiarity with any of the other movies alluded to.

Director Chan (The Warlords) has crafted a fabulous tale that features terrific martial arts. (Yen, besides starring, was also the action director). Dragon also offers compelling family drama and intriguing criminal investigative techniques. Underlying it all is the question — and it’s a big one that’s given serious and due weight here — of whether or not one can achieve redemption, atone for past mistakes, sins and crimes. I give it 3.5 out of 4 stars; very highly recommended.

According to the wonderful folk of Subway Cinema (who, along with the Film Society of Lincoln Center) present New York Asian Film Festival: “This version of Dragon runs 98 minutes, 12 minutes shorter than the Hong Kong cut. Director Peter Chan tightened up the movie after its Asian release and that’s the only version he’s made available to North American distributors.”

As I indicated in the info at the top of this post, Mr. Yen will receive the Star Asia Award before the screening of Dragon on Monday, July 9 at 7:45 pm. Today, Sunday, July 8 at 5:15 pm, he will engage in an onstage chat about his career after the screening of Kill Zone (a.k.a. SPL), in which he also stars. Tickets for Kill Zone are also sold out. You can visit the venue’s box office on the day of the screening for any available tickets.

For information about Dragon and the other films and special events of this years New York Asian Film Festival, click here.

[This post originally appeared in somewhat different form at VCinema.

ACF 1528: Meeting and interviewing Giddens Ko & Michelle Chen

Giddens Ko, left, yous truly, and Michelle Chen

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of spending some time interviewing Giddens Ko and Michelle Chen. They were in town for the New York Premiere of You Are the Apple of My Eye (Taiwan, 2011) at the 2012 NY Asian Film Festival.

Giddens wrote the novel upon which his screenplay was based and also directed. The film just happens to be his first feature film, but it's done with such a sure hand and fine sense of narrative development and pacing that one would never suspect that. It's an autobiographical teen coming of age story set in Taiwan in the 1990s. Michelle portrays Shen Chia-yi, an exemplary high school student who becomes the focal point of the attention of several young male co-students.

Michelle received a well-deserved Star Asia Rising Star Award at the Sunday, July 1st screening which was packed, as was yesterday's screening which took place right after our talk. The final screening will be next Monday, July 9th at 12;30 PM, and as of now, some tickets are still available.

While neither Giddens nor Michelle will be at that screening, just seeing the film is well worth your time. First because it's a sweet, touching teen rom-com that Giddens intended as an apology to a girlfriend to whom he never said "Sorry." Secondly, it also happens to have been wildly successful in several major Asian markets, and if you see it you'll understand why.

Further info about the film and a link to order tickets can be found here.

I'm hoping that the full interview will be run soon as a special podcast at VCinema. If that doesn't work out, I'll be posting a transcription here at AsianCineFest. Stay tuned.

ACF 1523: Opening Night at NYAFF

Scene from Pang Ho-cheung's Vulgaria

Last night I attended the 2012 New York Asian Film Festival's opening night screening of Vulgaria.

It was the most joyous film night of my life.

Just before 6 pm I left my apartment in Riverdale, a section of the Bronx near the Hudson River. Walked east several blocks, then up the three flights of stairs to the Number 1 train for the ride down to Lincoln Center, which takes a bit under an hour.

Grabbed a chili-dog from a street vendor after I got out at the 66th Street subway stop and ate it on the short walk to the Walter Reade Theater of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which is on 65th Street just east of Broadway.

The terrific 2012 NYAFF T-shirt

I had some time before my scheduled interview with Pang Ho-cheung, director of Vulgaria, at 7:15, so I got my 2012 NYAFF t-shirt which features terrific graphics from Oldboy, which will be shown at 1 pm today (Saturday) and King Boxer, a.k.a. Five Fingers of Death, which is playing at 5:30 today. I also grabbed a copy of the gorgeous,, full color NYAFF festival brochure and some other materials about NYAFF and the upcoming Japan Cuts festival, which will run July 12-28, 2012.

When the time came, I was led up, around and down various stairways and hallways to one of the "Green Rooms" where I had my 15 minute interview with director Pang. (I made this trek a couple of times for interviews at the 2011 NYAFF and have almost gotten the hang of it. But I still think I might get lost if I had to do it on my own.) Pang's English was very good, and the available interpreter was only needed briefly a very few times. Hope to get the interview online very soon.

With director Pang after our interview

I then hooked up with Colleen Wanglund; she writes for the VCinema blog, to which I also post as well as serving as a co-host on the VCinema podcast. I was glad to have the presence of mind to introduce her to the members of Subway Cinema who were passing by from time to time.

Then it was time for the 8:30 screening of Vulgaria. After the prime movers of Subway Cinema were introduced, Grady Hendrix, one of the original founders of Subway Cinema gave his usual energetic and rousing, P.T. Barnum-like address to the audience, which pretty much packed the theater. Pang spoke briefly, then the film began.

And it was a rousing success. This was the first time that I'd attended the opening night screening at NYAFF, and it was just as I expected. The film (which I've reviewed here at ACF) was a perfect choice. The audience roared with laughter, over-and-over-and-over again, and there were empathetic responses to some of the touching scenes involving the main character's young daughter, scenes that serve as beautifully measured counterpoints to the raunchy vulgarity that dominates the film.

I wasn't able to stay for Pang's Q&A after the film or for the free beer provided by festival sponsor Kirin. Wish I could have.

But it still was as perfect an evening as I could've dared hoped for. And I think that probably was that way for just about everyone else who attended.

ACF 1513: VULGARIA at NYAFF

A photo shoot in producer To's office space

Vulgaria

Directed by Pang Ho-cheung

Hong Kong, 2012, 90 minutes

In Cantonese and Profanity with English subtitles

When: Friday, June 30, 2012 at 8:30 PM

North American Premiere

Where: New York Asian Film Festival

The Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Street, New York, NY

Map here

Buy tickets

This hilarious, raunchy romp through the process of film-making as experienced by a CAT III Hong Kong producer is the Opening Night Film at this year's New York Asian Film Festival. And it more than lives up to its title.

To Wai-cheung (actor Chapman To) is a down-on-his luck producer of the kind of films whose premieres are never shown on TV. He's being interviewed about just what it is that a producer does by a Professor Cheng in front of an auditorium full of students. He explains that, just as pubic hair reduces friction between a couple fornicating, so a producer is responsible for easing friction between people! And we -- and the film -- are off!

In a series of flashbacks, To elaborates on what befell him in the course of making his latest movie. He has had to deal with his ex-wife, a barrister to whom he is behind in his alimony payments. She wants to severely curtail, if not completely end, his visitation rights with their daughter, Jacqueline. To's further suffers from his almost totally incompetent female assistant. And then there's the matter of a bounced check, or two, or three, or four, or more.

Double the pleasure of Clerks II?

A call from a friend results in him hooking up with Brother Tyrannosaurus, a mainland gangster with money to born and some peculiar culinary and sexual inclinations. Brother T says he'll back a film remake of the porn classic Confessions of a Concubine, providing it again stars Yum Yum Shaw, who was in the original.

This puts To in a quandary because, as Yum Yum indicates when she and To "do lunch," she wouldn't think allowing herself to be shot in the nude at her age and that no one would want to see her like that anyway. When he hooks up with a would-be starlet named Popping Candy, To comes up with a brilliant plan to make everyone happy. Tyrannosaurus will get the porn star he loved when he was a youth in the film he's financing. Yum Yum will get to star but not reveal her aged body. Popping Candy finally will get to star, at least to a degree, in a movie. And best of all, To will get to make a movie and hopefully lots and lots of money!

Director To with aspiring actress Popping Candy

[Popping Candy, I must note, is played by the lovely and extremely well-endowed Dada Chan (best known as "E-cup Babe"). The character's name, build, and nature bring to my mind the character Kandi (played by April Bowlbi) who became Alan's second wife and was in a total of fifteen episodes of Two and a Half Men from 2005 to 2007.]

Needless to say, things do not go according to To's plans. But he has an angle and an answer for everything. And he also proves himself to be a masterful manipulator as he slyly arranges to save his completed film from pre-release purgatory.

Subway Cinema, the group that presents the annual NYAFF, says this about Vulgaria: "Shot in just 12 days, on a microscopic budget, the actors, director, and screenwriter wrote this porno Apocalypse Now as they went along." All I can say in response is that to have come up with a comedic triumph like Vulgaria under these circumstances is INCREDIBLE!

This is a "be sure to see it if you can" screening. Just also be sure to stick around through the credits or you'll miss some final touches that further cement this film as one helluva terrific comedy.

I'll be there even though I've already watched a screener DVD. I can't wait to see it again, especially in the context of NYAFF's opening night with what's sure to be a huge, enthusiastic and appreciative audience.

Plus, special guest, director Pang Ho-cheung, will attend the screening!

This screening of Vulgaria is part of Return of the King: Hong Kong Movies 15 Years After the Handover, a festival sidebar update on the status of the Hong Kong film industry fiften years after the handover to Mainland China.

And for another positive review of Vulgaria, this one by Pierce Conran at AsianCineFest associate VCinema, click here.

ACF 985: Yoshihiro Nishimura's "Helldriver" will screen at Japan Society

Helldriver © 2010 The Sushi Typhoon / Nikkatsu Corporation

Helldriver
Directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura
Japan, 2010, 116 minutes, HD Cam
In Japanese with English subtitles
When: Thursday, April 28th, 2011 at 7:30 PM
Where: Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, NYC
Between 1st and 2nd Avenues
Co-Presented with Subway Cinema
New York Premiere
Japan Cuts/NYAFF "Be a Zombie" after-party!
With director Yoshihiro Nishimura and actress Eihi Shiina in person!

In a land where half of the population has become not-so-sexy flesh eaters and the economy gently withers away, all hope seems lost for Japan... until Kika (Yumiko Hara) arrives. A stunning high school girl armed with an artificial heart-powered chainsaw sword, she leads a motley crew of desperados on a secret mission into the zombie-infected wilds to exterminate zombie queen Rikka (Eihi Shiina from Audition and Tokyo Gore Police) and put an end to the plague of the living dead.

But the road is fraught with a thriving zombie culture that, with its own designs on the living half of Japan, refuses to just lay down and die.

Visionary filmmaker Yoshihiro Nishimura's first solo directorial effort since Tokyo Gore Police is an epic, apocalyptic road movie featuring non-stop, over-the-top splatter action. The long-awaited realization of his dreams, Helldriver is Nishimura's bid to create the ultimate zombie film. The showdown for the future of Japan is at hand and no one, living or dead, may survive to see it! Your one chance to see the original director's cut of the film, with more action... and more gore!

The screening is also a very special launch event for Japan Society's 5th Festival of Contemporary Japanese Film (July 7–July 18): Japan Cuts and for the New York Asian Film Festival 2011. It will be followed by a party for ye undead featuring black metal band Vaura. Also at the party, special announcements will be made revealing titles in this year's festivals, and prizes will be given away.

TICKETS:
$12/$9 members, students & seniors
50% of all ticket sales will go to Japan Society's Earthquake Relief Fund.

Buy Tickets Online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.

ACF 861: U.S.theatrical opening of Ip Man 2 in 12 cities this weekend

The uncut, undubbed, English-subtitled version of Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster will be opening in the U.S. in selected cities this coming Friday, January 28th, 2011. Donnie Yen reprises his role as the titular character, the Wing Chun master who taught Bruce Lee and others. The film also stars the venerable Sammo Hung.

The original Ip Man, which was shown at the 2009 New York Asian Film Festival, was a terrific movie. (Click here to read my review of it.) Both it and Ip Man 2 (which I unfortunately was not able to catch) screened at last year's NYAFF. But I can't imagine the sequel not be highly entertaining, especially having watched some of the clips on Facebook and YouTube.

I've been advised that the distributor will be looking at the opening week-end take, hoping it'll be at least $100,000. Meeting this figure may prove important as to whether or not future films of this nature will get theatrical distribution in the United States.

So it's more important than usual to get out and see this film on the opening weekend. I'm doing my part and I hope you will do yours, because seeing Hong Kong martial arts films -- as well as Asian films in general -- in theaters, and not just on DVDs, is important to all us fans.

For info about screening times of Ip Man 2 in the twelve home cities, click here.

ACF 540: New York Asian Film Festival 2010 at 3 venues including Lincoln Center!

Info has begun trickling out about the New York Asian Film Festival 2010. As readers of AsianCineFest or Asian Cult Cinema magazine know, I've been covering this annual festival for several years. It is an incredible event and is certainly one of the premiere opportunities to check out great Asian films from a wide variety of countries, not just Hong Kong, China, Japan, and Korea. Even if you can't make it to New York, you owe it to yourself to at least read about the films that NYAFF will be screening, so be sure to use the links below.

The big news this year is that the main venue will be at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater! FSLC presents the annual New York Film Festival and has periodically offered outstanding Asian film series, such as the two Heroic Grace series that focused on Hong Kong films and The Newest Tiger, which focused on recent films from South Korea.

Now the NYAFF is going to be there! Outstanding!

On a personal note, this'll make it even easier for me to cover screenings in person, as Lincoln Center is right on the subway line between my day job and my home. I'm looking forward to seeing even more films with a live audience, although I'm sure I'll be previewing some on DVD screeners as well.

Here's the basic schedule for NYAFF 2010:

JUNE 25 - JULY 8 at LINCOLN CENTER'S WALTER READE THEATER

JULY 1 - JULY 4 at JAPAN SOCIETY

MIDNIGHTS JUNE 25-26 & JULY 2-3 at IFC CENTER

For more info, click the links below. Also check back here for further details as they become available.

Subway Cinema website

Subway Cinema News blog

Join the Subway Cinema News mailing list

ACF 276: 8th annual NYAFF in 2 months!

This year's festival is certain to feature many terrific films. Find out about it by checking back here at AsianCineFest and at subwaycinema.com.

ACF 263: NY Asian FIlm Festival 2009 - 1st films announced

You can get the finger from watching Love Exposure

Exciting news about the best showcase in the U.S. of new and recent films from the FarEast - talkin' 'bout the New York Asian FIlm Festival. The good folks at Subway Cinema have just released info about several of the films that will be showing in New York as spring turns to summer.

Ten to twenty additional films are expected to be added to the roster, and there'll also be many special guests.

The festival will run from June 19 - July 2 at the IFC Center (323 Sixth Ave, at West 4th Street)and at Japan Society (333 East 47th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues) from July 1 to 5, 2009.

Descriptions of each film and links to trailers for some can be found at Subway Cinema News.

Here's the list of films (and the countires of origin) that have been announced so far:

China:
The Equation Of Love And Death
If You Are The One
Old Fish

Indonesia:
The Forbidden Door

Japan
20th Century Boys
20th Century Boys: Chapter Two - The Last Hope
All Around Us
Children Of The Dark
Climber's High
The CLone Returns Home
K-20: Legend Of The Mask
Love Exposure
Monster X Strikes Back: Attack The G8 Summit
- preceeded by Gehara: The Long-Haired GIant Monster
Snakes And Earrings

Malaysia
When The Full Moon Rises

South Korea
Breathless
Dachimawa Lee
Dream
Rough Cut

Taiwan
Cape No. 7

And again, in case you missed it, descriptions of each film and links to trailers for some can be found at Subway Cinema News.

ACF 254: 8th Annual NYAFF in 3 months!

The 8th annual New York Asian Film Festival will be upon us in three months! Two whole weeks of cinematic mayhem and madness!

Even if you're not in New York, you should rejoice because you can at least learn about many of the latest and greatest films that are coming out of Asia, films that may later screen near you or be available on DVD.

I'll be covering the festival here at AsianCineFest as I have since I wrote about Oh! My Zombie Mermaid way back in ACF 002 on July 4, 2006.

I don't have specifics about this years festival (other than the planned dates), but will pass them on as they become available. In the meanwhile, I suggest you check out:

The Subway Cinema website and Subway Cinema News (their blog)

ACF 003: Oh! My Zombie Mermaid Gallery

Asami (actress Urata Awata) and Kota Shishio (Shinya Hashimoto)

Ready to battle!

Four of the "Killer Wrestlers" from the U.S.

Nami Ishizuka (actess Sonim) preapres to face wrestler Eva

fotos: Subway Cinema/New York Asian film Festival

ACF 002: Oh! My Zombie Mermaid

(Photo courtesy Subway Cinema/New York Asian film Festival)

This is a film that delivers, but not the way I expected from the title. There is a mermaid, to be sure, but she's not really a zombie. She just had a near-death experience. Her name is Asami and she starts out as the terrestial wife of Kota Shishio, a professional wrestler. He's played by real life wrestler Shinya Hashimoto.

As the movie begins, they're having a party at their lovely new home. Among the guests are Kota's teammates from Wrestling Group Zero. All hell breaks loose when uninvited guest Mark Ichijoh, played by karate and K-1 champion Nicholas Pettas, instigates a fight. See, he's a bit ticked off that Kota killed his brother, even though this seems to have been unintentional.

The house is all but destroyed in the ensuing melee; then an explosion finishes the job. Asami (Urata Awata), who was upstairs playing piano, is seriously injured in the extreme. While hospitalized, she begins growing scales and making squeaky sounds, a clear indication that she's turning into a mermaid.

Kota hopes that a new house will somehow cure his wife. Abandoned by his teammates, he reluctantly accepts an offer made by Naoto Yamaji (actor Shiro Sano), a truly sleazy TV producer/director. How sleazy is this guy? Well, his demented actions to increase audience share and improve ratings are justified with a simple, "TV always feeds off the dark side of humans."

And the offer? Kota will get his beautiful new home, but he has to fight his way through a team of killer wrestlers from the United States who are currently inhabiting it. One of these is a drooling mad man who really does come across like a zombie. Another is Eva, a buff amazon played by professional wrestler April Hunter, who Kota faces in the terrifying "Electric Bath Bout." When he can't bring himself to fight her because she's a woman, his lovely sister-in-law Nami Ishizuka (single-name actress Sonim)steps in.

The climactic seqence plays out like a videogame. Each succeeding boss is badder than the last. Whether or not you'll know in advance who the final boss is will probably depend on how drawn into the film you are. I was so totally sucked into the action that it didn't occur to me who Kota would face as his last opponent.

Oh! My Zombie Mermaid is delightful popcorn and candy entertainment. I'm not a big fan of professional wrestling, but I really enjoyed this movie. Some of the fight scenes are admittedly pretty gory. But aside from that, if you're in the mood for some mindless, light hearted asian cult cinema, it'll fit the bill just fine.

The imdb entry for O!MZM is under the Japanese title A! Ikkenya puroresu. There are several problems with the limited entry. Neither O!MZM nor the other English names I've come across (Ah! House Collapses, which I believe is a literal translation of the Japanese title, or Home Sweet Battlefield) are listed as alternative titles. Also there is no information about the cast, and the entry mistakenly identifies Executive Producer Terry Ito as the director. The film's director is Naoki Kudo, for whom there is no IMDb entry at this time. Fuller and more reliable information is available at the website of the U.S. distributor, Eleven Arts, Inc.

[Update #2, 2006.07.31 - I don't know if it's through my efforts in the original posting and my 1st Update, but there have been some improvements at the IMDb site for O!MZM. The IMDb entry now lists both Kudo and Ito as the directors of the film. Also, there is a separate entry for Kudo; it indicates that O!MZM was his freshman and thus far only film as writer and as director. If correct, I have to say "Kudos to you, Kudo." The "Full Cast and Crew" screen designates Ito as "executive" director, a job title new to me. Lastly, the cast members I identified in my original posting above are now listed. Now, if someone can just get IMDb to include the alternate English titles.]

[UPDATE #3 2006.09.14 - I checked the IMDb entry today and am pleased to write that it now includes the info "Also Known As: Oh! My Zombie Mermaid (USA) (informal English title)." ]

Mermaid was one of the 29 films that screened at the recent New York Asian Film Festival 2006. This was the fifth annual festival put on by Subway Cinema. I urge you to check out their gorgeous, thoughtful, informative, and just plain great website. In 2003, Roger Corliss of Time magazine chose it as the Best Movie Website. It's still a stunner. While you're there, consider subscribing to Subway Cinema News, a "happy guide to Asian entertainment in New York...and beyond!" There's a link to it in the box at the top right of Subway Cinema's home page, or just click here.

A final note, and I'm sorry to say it's a sad one. Star Shinya Hashimoto died on July 11, 2005, a few days after his 40th birthday, from a ruptured brain aneurysm. R.I.P., big guy, and thanks for the good times.