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<\/a><\/p>\nChou\u2019s THE ROOFTOP will make its North American Premiere as the Closing Night selection for NYAFF. Shot on location in Taiwan, Beijing and Shanghai, Cho\u2019s second film behind the camera, following SECRET (2007) is a romance combining elements of martial arts and special effects in a musical extravaganza. The film stars Chou with Eric Tsang, Wand Xueqi and Alan Ko in a story set in a fantasy world comprised of two distinctly contrasting communities and lifestyles. One group lives on rooftops, where they dance and sing, passing their days without a care in the world, while below them are the people living under the rooftops, who possess more money and power. Chou has described the film as the first in a new genre, \u201cA musical action movie, (where) love is the main axis, combining fantasy, romance, dancing, action, special effects and many other elements, so that there will be romantic scenes and classical taste.\u201d Chou also wrote ten songs for the film\u2019s soundtrack.<\/p>\n
Highlights include the North American premieres of Sion Sono\u2019s and Tokyo GAGAGA\u2019s long awaited sci-fi gang war epic, BAD FILM, Hideo Nakata\u2019s chilling descent into a much darker family drama with THE COMPLEX, Nattawat Poonpiriya\u2019s COUNTDOWN, about a deadly New Year\u2019s Eve outing, Takashi Miike\u2019s return to blood and guts with LESSON TO THE EVIL, and the latest entry in the popular Ip Man series, IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT, with director Herman Yau in attendance. Mika Ninagawa\u2019s HELTER SKELTER, a horror film dealing with celebrities and plastic surgery, will make its New York debut, and Andrew Lau will be on hand to present the first two films from his YOUNG AND DANGEROUS series.<\/p>\n
NYAFF has also announced three planned focuses for this year\u2019s edition of the popular festival: Hong Kong Cinema Now & Beyond!; Taiwan Pulp! \u2013 Tales of Gangsters, Female Avengers and Ninjas!; and a spotlight on distributor Well Go USA.<\/p>\n
HONG KONG CINEMA NOW & BEYOND! \u2013 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York (HKETONY)<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 30th anniversary, the festival will present new and exciting Hong Kong produced titles including: THE BULLET VANISHES, COLD WAR, DRUG WAR, HARDCORE COMEDY, IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT, THE LAST TYCOON, and THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN<\/p>\n
TAIWAN PULP! – TALES OF GANGSTERS, FEMALE AVENGERS, AND NINJAS!<\/p>\n
Presented with the support of the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York, this special section takes as its focus Taiwan\u2019s 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, NEVER TOO LATE TOO REPENT, WOMAN REVENGER and the documentary TAIWAN BLACK MOVIES.<\/p>\n
WELL GO USA SPOTLIGHT<\/p>\n
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\u2019s seemingly never-ending collection of great and entertaining films will include: CONFESSION OF MURDER and AN INACCURATE MEMOIR.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n