RSS
June 28 – July 7, 2013
The Film Society of Lincoln Center
We’re back with the 12th edition of North America’s leading festival of popular Asian Cinema! This year we have a special focus on the Philippines with Manila Chronicles: The New Filipino Cinema and a lineup of Taiwanese “Black Movies,” the rambunctious early-80’s exploitation flicks that used to fill Taipei grindhouses with Taiwan Pulp! We’re also spotlighting audience favorite, actor Ryoo Seung-Beom, and giving special focus shout-outs to two of the festival’s oldest friends, Well Go USA (the champion of Asian film among U.S. distributors) and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York on the occasion of their 30th birthday. Co-presented with Subway Cinema.
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.
For more: http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/new-york-asian-film-festival-2013
