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.

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