12th New York Asian Film Festival

June 28-July 15, 2013 at the Walter Reade Theater and Japan Society
co-presented with Film Society of Lincoln Center, in association with Japan Society/JAPAN CUTS

The New York Asian Film Festival will shock you! This year, we’re going further, reaching deeper, and opening up our horizons to put on an orgy of Asian movie excitement the likes of which you’ve never seen. Variety is our peanut butter, change is our jelly, and our bread is made of your butts in our seats.

 We’re showing the expected Ip Man movie, but it’s Herman Yau’s left-wing deconstruction of the Ip Man movies, Ip Man: The Final Fight. We’re screening a heartwarming movie from Korea (Comrade Kim Goes Flying) but it’s not from the usual South Korea, it’s from the Communist North Korea. As usual we’re shining a spotlight on Asian film industries but this year our big focus is on Taiwan and the Philippines, two countries that are usually overlooked by film festivals. Our wallow in Taiwanese movie culture includes a crawl through the exploitation underground of Taiwanese Black Movies (few of which still exist), a romantic comedy set in the world of Taiwanese local dialect films (a world that died in the early 80’s when the government decreed that all movies should be in Mandarin), and a brand new musical that simultaneously sends up and celebrates Taiwanese musicals from the 1950’s (our closing night film, The Rooftop) directed by and featuring one of Taiwan’s biggest stars, Jay Chou.

The Philippines are getting a huge focus with our line-up of brand new films from a country whose film industry used to be massive, but has fallen off in recent decades. In fact, it’s been almost 10 years since we’ve even shown a Filipino film. That, obviously, has to change and this year we’re dishing up an all you-can-watch buffet of electrifying new movies by brand new directors.

We’re showing a Johnnie To movie, but it’s his first crime film set in China and it is the darkest most subversive flick you’ll ever see out of the Mainland. We’re celebrating a Korean actor, but it’s not your everyday pretty boy, it’s Ryoo Seung-Beom, one of the country’s best character actors. And instead of blaming American film distributors for doing Asian movies wrong, we’re celebrating Well Go USA for getting it right.

Change or die is our motto this year. Rather than fight over the same old movies that go to the same old film festivals, we’re stretching our legs and going to a less familiar part of town. Here, the superheroes are perverts who wear panties on their faces, the refrigerators are lethal, and the drug dealers travel through time. We hope you trust us enough by now to take this trip with us and don’t worry, you don’t need a passport. All you have to do is get a ticket.

Sidebars

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 best know him as the voice of Aachi in the scatalogical 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 REFRIGERATOR), as well as first time filmmakers such as Gino M. Santos (THE ANIMALS). This line-up will include: ABERYA, THE ANIMALS, CATNIP, THE FRIDGE REFRIGERATOR, 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, and THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN, and TALES FROM THE DARK PART.

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 will include CONFESSION OF MURDER and AN INACCURATE MEMOIR.

Films
ABERYA (2012)
THE ANIMALS (2012)
ARAHAN (2004)
BAD FILM (2012)
BEHIND THE CAMERA: WHY MR. E WENT TO HOLLYWOOD (2013)
BEIJING BLUES (2012)
THE BERLIN FILE (2013)
BLOODY TIE (2006)
THE BULLET VANISHES (2012)
CATNIP (2012)
THE CHALLENGE OF THE LADY NINJA aka CHINESE SUPER NINJA 2 (1982)
COLD WAR (2012)
THE COMPLEX (2013)
COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING (2012)
THE CONCUBINE (2012)
CONFESSION OF MURDER (2012)
COUNTDOWN (2012)
DAY TRIP (2012) - short
DOUBLE XPOSURE (2012)
DREAMS FOR SALE (2012)
DRUG WAR (2013)
ENTER THE DRAGON (1973)
EUNGYO aka A MUSE (2012)
FENG SHUI (2012)
FOREVER LOVE (2013)
THE FRIDGE (2012)
GANGSTER (2012)
THE GREAT WAR: DIRECTOR’S CUT (2013)
HARDCORE COMEDY (2013)
HELTER SKELTER (2012)
HENTAI KAMEN (2012)
HOW TO USE GUYS WITH SECRET TIPS (2013)
I’M FLASH (2012)
AN INACCURATE MEMOIR (2012)
IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT (2012)
IT’S ME, IT’S ME (2012)
JURY (2013) – short
JUVENILE OFFENDER (2012)
THE KIRISHIMA THING (2012)
THE LADY AVENGER (1981)
THE LAST SUPPER (2012)
THE LAST TYCOON (2012)
THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN (2010)
LESSON OF THE EVIL (2012)
A LIFE OF NINJA (1983)
MYSTERY (2012)
NEVER TOO LATE TO REPENT aka THE FIRST ERROR STEP (1979)
ON THE SOCIETY FILE OF SHANGHAI (1981)
ONE PERFECT DAY (2013) – short
THE PEACH TREE (2012)
RIGODON (2012)
THE ROOFTOP (2013)
RUROUNI KENSHIN (2012)
SECRETLY, GREATLY (2013)
A STORY OF YONOSUKE (2013)
TAIWAN BLACK MOVIES (2005)
TALES FROM THE DARK PART I (2013)
THERMAE ROMAE (2012)
THE UNJUST (2010)
VERY ORDINARY COUPLE (2013)
VESUVIUS (2012)
THE WARPED FOREST (2011)
WHEN A WOLF FALLS IN LOVE WITH A SHEEP (2012)
WOMAN REVENGER aka THE NUDE BODY CASE IN TOKYO (1982)
YOUNG AND DANGEROUS (1996)
YOUNG AND DANGEROUS 2 (1996)

Selection of short films from the 11th Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival
WHO KILLED GONG JUNG-WHA? (2012)
CHEONG (2012)
PANDORA (2011)
GREEN SLIME (2012)
ANESTHESIA (2011)
THE PROFESSIONAL DEMONSTRATORS (2013)
THE VISITOR (2012)
POISON FROG (2012)
YOU PROMISED ME (2012)

Guests
Tsai Yang-Ming (NEVER TOO LATE TO REPENT, WOMAN REVENGER)
Ryoo Seung-beom (ARAHAN, THE BERLIN FILE, BLOODY TIE, THE UNJUST)
Kim Go-eun (EUNGYO aka A MUSE)
Grasshoper (THE GREAT WAR: DIRECTOR’S CUT)
Softhard (THE GREAT WAR: DIRECTOR’S CUT)
Herman Yau (IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT, THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN)
Erica Li (IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT, THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN)
Andrew Lau (THE LAST TYCOON, YOUNG AND DANGEROUS 1 & 2)
Toshiaki Toyoda (I’M FLASH)
E. J-Yong (BEHIND CAMERA: WHY MR. E WENT TO HOLLYWOOD)
Jung Ji-woo (EUNGYO aka A MUSE)
Hou Chi-Jan (WHEN A WOLF FALLS IN LOVE WITH A SHEEP, TAIWAN BLACK MOVIES)
Yan Yan Mak (THE GREAT WAR: DIRECTOR’S CUT)
Jang Cheol-soo (SECRETLY, GREATLY)
Lee Won-suk (HOW TO USE GUYS WITH SECRET TIPS)
Aozaru Hsiao (FOREVER LOVE)
Dada Chan (HARDCORE COMEDY)
Nicholas Bonner (COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING)