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Chris Knipp
06-15-2023, 03:02 PM
NY ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL July 14-30, 2023

FESTIVAL COVERAGE THREAD (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41339#post41339)

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Here is the first press release of this year's NYAFF, the 22nd, from Lincoln Center. This is one of the biggest film series FLC puts on. It's richness and variety are amazing and I hope to review a few of the best offerings again this year.

THE NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FOUNDATION AND FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCE FIRST HIGHLIGHTS FROM
THE 22ND EDITION OF THE NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL

This year’s festival features 60+ world, international, and North American premieres, prominent movie stars in attendance, along with new collaborations and a new venue in the birthplace of film/

New York, NY (June 15, 2023) – On July 14, 2023, the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center will kick off the 22nd edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), with 60+ [78] new and classic titles, a greatly expanded selection of short films, and an exciting slate of celebrated guests from Asia and the diaspora. The festival runs from July 14–30, 2023 at Film at Lincoln Center (FLC), with a special weekend of screenings (July 21–23) at a new venue, the historic Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the birthplace of the motion picture industry in America.

“As filmmakers from Asia continue to earn the lion’s share of top awards (and attention) on the international film festival circuit, this year’s selection shows that those are still trees hiding a forest of talent,” said Samuel Jamier, executive director of NYAFF and president of the New York Asian Film Foundation. “We are thrilled to offer a platform that is ever more culturally relevant with new films from all corners of Asia. It is a year of massive expansion for us at a time when a growing number of American filmmakers of Asian descent are conquering screens and hearts. We look forward to bringing passionate stories to passionate audiences in a city that remains a global center of film culture and business!”

The NYAFF Opening Film is the North American premiere of the unique Korean genre mashup Killing Romance, directed by Lee Won-suk. The director will be joined at Film at Lincoln Center on opening night by his lead actor, Lee Sun-kyun (Parasite, A Hard Day), who turns in an unforgettable performance as the indescribably overbearing husband of a disgraced supermodel-movie star, fully armed with his history of versatile roles in everything from art-house collaborations with Hong Sang-soo to rom-coms to his SAG Award-winning turn in Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite. Director Lee Won-suk has a rich history with NYAFF—his first film, How to Use Guys with Secret Tips, premiered at NYAFF 2013, and Lee won the Audience Award at NYAFF 2015 with his second feature, the big-budget period drama The Royal Tailor. It’s a thrill to welcome him back with his third feature.

This year’s Hong Kong Panorama, point of origin and DNA of the festival’s programming (NYAFF started off as a Hong Kong movie showcase), is an explosive cocktail of genre nostalgia and humanistic drama, drawing the contours of a road map for the future of the island’s cinema. A new 4K restoration of Patrick Tam’s 1982 Hong Kong New Wave watershed Nomad (Director’s Cut) enhances the film’s outré mix of romance and violence, and one of Leslie Cheung’s early great roles. Cutting-edge noir auteur Soi Cheang’s Mad Fate harkens back to the region’s time-honored legacy of crime films with a new sense of urgency and manic energy; Amos Why’s Everyphone Everywhere captures pandemic-era life in Hong Kong via the city’s reliance on cell phones like no other film, and has more to say on recent social shifts than hours of CNN commentary; The Sunny Side of the Street sees the incomparable Anthony Wong lending salty sympathy to new immigrants; and A Light Never Goes Out highlights the city’s iconic neon craftwork and all its storied achievements, offering a unique love letter to the island’s culture.

As previously announced, actor and producer Louis Koo, one of Hong Kong’s biggest stars, is to be honored with NYAFF’s Extraordinary Star Asia Award. Koo has more than 100 credits to his name, including sci-fi action thriller Warriors of Future, the highest-grossing Asian film of all time in the territory following its release last August. The award highlights his work as a producer and philanthropist, recognizing his many exceptional contributions to the Asian film industry, including the One Cool Group, now an industry powerhouse, and his support of award-winning work both in and outside Asia. Of the many Koo-starring films featured at NYAFF over the years, recent highlights include the White Storm trilogy, Paradox, A Witness Out of the Blue, All U Need Is Love, and his new lifesaving drama Vital Signs, which he will be on hand to introduce. NYAFF will also present the latest One Cool production, In Broad Daylight, a shocking exposé of abuse at a care home based on real events.

NYAFF’s China lineup showcases novel work and a filmmaker-in-focus program/tribute to entrepreneur turned director and producer Zhang Wei, who has built a unique body of cinematic work, making the naturalistic portrayals of the marginalized in China’s rapidly changing society his signature. In the context of U.S.-China tension, and the frequent demonization of the country’s regime, showcasing his hard-hitting films The Empty Nest, Factory Boss, and The Rib (Director’s Cut) takes on a particularly acute significance; all stories focus unblinkingly on hot-button issues through unassuming characters and straightforward storylines that turn the spotlight on societal fault lines and fractures with impact far beyond the country’s borders. Making their North American premieres are Wang Chao’s A Woman, a tale both simple and sweeping in scope that chronicles the sexual and political day-to-day existence of a female factory worker during the years of the Cultural Revolution, and Liu Jian’s Art College 1994, a fond satire of student life told in his charmingly stark and sardonic animation style, made famous by his previous film, Have a Nice Day (2017).

NYAFF’s bold and diverse South Korean lineup, presented with the support of the Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY), includes Lee Hae-young’s Phantom, an action-packed spy drama set in 1933 that is one of this year’s biggest hits in the country; the boisterous family comedy Bear Man, from Park Sung-kwang, featuring Park Sung-woong in two indelible roles; Hail to Hell, the impressive feature debut of female helmer Lim Oh-jeong, about two oddballs who track down the bully who pushed them to the brink of suicide; the rousing underdog dramedy Rebound from Chang Hang-jun, in which a group of misfits come together to play nonstop basketball for eight days straight in the KBA National Tournament; and A Tour Guide from Kwak Eun-mi, the touching and timely story of a young North Korean defector who excels at leading Chinese-language tours of Seoul but lives a maladjusted, precarious life as a stranger in a strange land.

NYAFF’s Japanese lineup, supported by the Japan Foundation, is led by the North American Premiere of veteran auteur Junji Sakamoto’s audacious, aesthetically brilliant new jidaigeki, Okiku and the World, which he will be on hand to introduce. Also a must-see is the New York Premiere of Daishi Matsunaga’s heralded LGBTQ+ love story Egoist. The director will be joined on stage by leading actor Ryohei Suzuki (2015 NYAFF Audience Award winner; HK: Forbidden Super Hero; Last of the Wolves), a superstar in his native Japan, and the 2023 NYAFF Screen International Rising Star Asia honoree. A superstar of another sort, musician-actor Satoru Iguchi (King Gnu) will also be on hand at FLC for the North American Premiere of In Her Room, an otherworldly erotic tale by veteran female screenwriter Chihiro Ito (Crying Out Love in the Center of the World; Spring Snow), who makes her long-awaited directorial debut with this enigmatic love story.

Tokyo-based Indian director Anshul Chauhan and actor Shogen will appear with their film December, a riveting courtroom drama. Erstwhile New York City resident Takeshi Fukunaga will return with his third feature, the haunting allegory Mountain Woman, a mythic tale of female oppression and liberation starring Toko Miura (Drive My Car). Also showcased in the Japan lineup are A Hundred Flowers, the award-winning directorial debut by Genki Kawamura (superproducer of Monster, Your Name, Belle, and Rage); Ryūichi Hiroki’s tragic study of the maternal instinct in the form of a Rashomon-like procedural, Motherhood; the thrillingly dark genre gem #Manhole by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri; and Shinichi Fujita’s superheroine (or supervillain?) ode to the literal and figurative empowerment of young women, Mayhem Girls.

NYAFF’s Taiwan lineup features some of the most striking and daring new films from the “beautiful island.” Movie star Kai Ko makes his directorial debut with Bad Education, a controversially dark coming-of-age comedy-thriller; the LGBTQ+ action-comedy Marry My Dead Body foments a gender-fluid revolution with its premise of a macho cop who unwittingly marries a gay ghost; and Gaga, by Taiwan’s first indigenous female director, Laha Mebow, who will be in attendance, chronicles a tangled web of drama across three generations of an Atayal tribe family.

NYAFF reaches further across the continent for even more incredible cinematic discoveries. Philippines: I Love You, Beksman is the fabulously campy tale of a “straight guy with a queer eye” who must overcome his gay family’s apprehensions when he meets the superfly girl of his dreams; based on a shocking real-life story, Where Is the Lie? boasts out-of-the-box storytelling and an extraordinarily luminous performance by trans actor EJ Jallorina as the tragically lovelorn target of a sexy but vicious cyberbully; the timely drama 12 Weeks chronicles a fiercely independent 40-year-old woman’s attempts to arrange a safe abortion in a devoutly anti-choice nation where it is illegal. Singapore: Geylang is a wild pop-art genre joyride seething with the tropically hot melting pot flavors of the city-state put through a riotously macabre Moebius strip of neon-noir influences. Thailand: Kitty the Killer is an anarchic action-comedy about a team of top-notch female assassins who must transform a ridiculously goofy young man from zero to hero in order to wreak bloody vengeance on the agency that betrayed them; You & Me & Me is the directorial debut of real-life identical twin sisters, and art may be imitating life in this glorious teenage coming-of-age fever dream where two look-alike siblings fall for the same boy and must confront their true feelings and who they really are, as they experience the pangs of first love. Vietnam: Glorious Ashes, the first film in over a decade from cinematic poet Bui Thac Chuyên, spins a poignant and dizzying tale of love, loneliness, and pyromania in a devastating omnibus-like tangle of interconnected romance gone wrong in yesteryear’s Mekong Delta.

Once again this year, the festival will be co-hosting, with Korean Cultural Center New York and Film at Lincoln Center, a free outdoor screening in Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park. Set for July 21 is Bong Joon Ho’s 2006 masterpiece The Host, arguably one of the greatest monster movies ever made. Highlighting the type of hilarious, ragtag family dynamics that would win him an Oscar for Parasite years later, Bong’s David-versus-Goliath story stars Song Kang-ho and Bae Doona.

A second wave of announcements will be made shortly, containing NYAFF’s Centerpiece and Closing films, the Uncaged Competition lineup and jury, special guests and award honorees, master classes and panels, and other exciting events. NYAFF is also thrilled to host the Opening Night Market on July 14 and the Monday Matsuri to Midnight on July 24, both with live music and Asian food stalls, as well as other parties and receptions.

From the deadly serious to the gleefully absurd, from the disquieting to the freaky, NYAFF continues to celebrate the most vibrant and provocative cinema out of Asia today.

The New York Asian Film Festival is co-presented by the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center, and takes place from July 14–30, 2023 at FLC’s Walter Reade Theater (165 West 65th Street, New York, NY), and on July 21–23 at the Barrymore Film Center (153 Main Street, Fort Lee, NJ). It is curated by executive director Samuel Jamier, associate director Claire Marty, China region expert and consultant Hiroshi Fukazawa, and programmers David Wilentz, Karen Severns, Koichi Mori, and Jenny Lin.

NYAFF 2023 VENUES
● Film at Lincoln Center (FLC), July 14–30, 2023
Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, New York, NY
● Barrymore Film Center, July 21–23, 2023
153 Main Street, Fort Lee, NJ


NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (NYAFF)
Celebrating its 22nd edition in 2023, the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) is North America’s leading festival of Asian cinema. It was called “the best film festival in New York” by The Village Voice and “arguably the world’s best-curated program of new and classic Asian cinema” by IndieWire. Launched in 2002, the festival showcases a wildly diverse lineup of singular titles each year, ranging from mainstream blockbusters and art-house eccentricities to genre and cult classics. It was the first North American film festival to champion the works of Johnnie To, Bong Joon Ho, Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike, and other auteurs of contemporary Asian cinema. Notable festival guests have included Lee Byung-hun, Ryoo Seung-wan, Masami Nagasawa, Sammo Hung, Lee Jung-jae, and Jackie Chan. Since 2010, NYAFF has been produced in collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center.
For more information, visit https://www.nyaff.org and on social: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, #nyaff2023.

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FOUNDATION
The New York Asian Film Foundation Inc. is America’s premier 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the exhibition and appreciation of Asian film culture in all its forms, with year-round festivals and programs, and a view to building bridges between Asia and America.

The New York Asian Film Foundation’s flagship event is the annual New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), which has been presented in collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center since 2010. Now celebrating its 22nd year, NYAFF is North America’s leading festival of Asian cinema.

The foundation’s other events and initiatives include special screening events and an annual Winter Showcase at the SVA Theatre.

The New York Asian Film Festival, a program of the New York Asian Film Foundation, is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.


FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
Film at Lincoln Center is dedicated to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema and enriching film culture.

Film at Lincoln Center fulfills its mission through the programming of festivals, series, retrospectives, and new releases; the publication of Film Comment; and the presentation of podcasts, talks, special events, and artist initiatives. Since its founding in 1969, this nonprofit organization has brought the celebration of American and international film to the world-renowned Lincoln Center arts complex, making the discussion and appreciation of cinema accessible to a broad audience and ensuring that it remains an essential art form for years to come.

Film at Lincoln Center receives generous, year-round support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on Twitter and Instagram.

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Chris Knipp
06-15-2023, 03:04 PM
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FESTIVAL COVERAGE THREAD (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41339#post41339)

FIRST WAVE OF LINEUP (43 feature films, 20 short films)— more titles to be announced
(Subject to change.)

CHINA
Art College 1994 | dir. Liu Jian, China, 2023 | North American Premiere
The Cord of Life | dir. Qiao Sixue, China, 2023 | New York Premiere
The Empty Nest | dir. Zhang Wei, China, 2020 | North American Premiere
Factory Boss | dir. Zhang Wei, China, 2014 | Special Screening
The Rib (Director’s Cut) | dir. Zhang Wei, China, 2018
A Woman | dir. Wang Chao, China, 2022 | North American Premiere

HONG KONG
A Light Never Goes Out | dir.Anastasia Tsang, Hong Kong, 2022 | U.S. Premiere
Everyphone Everywhere | dir. Amos Why, Hong Kong, 2023 | North American Premiere
In Broad Daylight | dir. Lawrence Kan, Hong Kong, 2023 | North American Premiere
Mad Fate | dir. Soi Cheang, Hong Kong, 2023 | North American Premiere
Nomad (Director’s Cut) | dir. Patrick Tam, Hong Kong, 1982, Restored 2023 | East Coast Premiere
The Sunny Side of the Street | dir. Lau Kok-rui, Hong Kong/Malaysia, 2022 | New York Premiere
Vital Signs | dir. Cheuk Wan-chi, Hong Kong, 2023 | North American Premiere

JAPAN (presented with the support of the Japan Foundation)
#Manhole | dir. Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, Japan, 2023 | East Coast Premiere
December | dir. Anshul Chauhan, Japan, 2022 | North American Premiere
Egoist | dir. Daishi Matsunaga, Japan, 2023 | New York Premiere
A Hundred Flowers | dir. Genki Kawamura, Japan, 2022 | New York Premiere
In Her Room | dir. Chihiro Ito, Japan, 2022 | North American Premiere
Mayhem Girls | dir. Shinichi Fujita, Japan, 2022 | International Premiere
Motherhood | dir. Ryūichi Hiroki, Japan, 2022 | U.S. Premiere
Mountain Woman | dir. Takeshi Fukunaga, Japan/USA, 2022 | North American Premiere
Okiku and the World | dir. Junji Sakamoto, Japan, 2023 | North American Premiere

PHILIPPINES
I Love You, Beksman | dir. Percival Intalan, Philippines, 2022 | North American Premiere
12 Weeks | dir. Anna Isabelle Matutina, Philippines 2022 | International Premiere
Where Is the Lie? | dir. Quark Henares, Philippines, 2023 | New York Premiere

SINGAPORE
Geylang | dir. Boi Kwong, Singapore, 2022 | North American Premiere

SOUTH KOREA (co-presented with Korean Cultural Center New York)
Bear Man | dir. Park Sung-kwang, South Korea, 2023 | North American Premiere
Hail to Hell | dir. Lim Oh-jeong, South Korea, 2022 | North American Premiere
The Host | dir. Bong Joon Ho, South Korea, 2006 | Special Screening
Killing Romance | dir. Lee Won-suk, South Korea, 2023 | North American Premiere
Phantom | dir. Lee Hae-young, South Korea, 2023 | North American Premiere
Rebound | dir. Chang Hang-jun, South Korea, 2023 | New York Premiere
A Tour Guide | dir. Kwak Eun-mi, South Korea, 2023 | North American Premiere

TAIWAN (presented with the support of Taipei Cultural Center in New York)
Bad Education | dir. Kai Ko, Taiwan, 2022 | North American Premiere
Eye of the Storm | dir. Lin Chun-yang, Taiwan, 2023 | International Premiere
Gaga | dir. Laha Mebow, Taiwan, 2022 | East Coast Premiere
Marry My Dead Body | dir. Cheng Wei-hao, Taiwan, 2022 | East Coast Premiere
Miss Shampoo | dir. Giddens Ko, Taiwan, 2023 | North American Premiere

THAILAND
Kitty the Killer | dir. Lee Thongkham, Thailand, 2023 | International Premiere
You & Me & Me | dir. Weawwan Hongvivatana and Wanweaw Hongvivatana, Thailand, 2023 | North American Premiere

VIETNAM
Glorious Ashes | dir. Bui Thac Chuyên, Vietnam/France/Singapore, 2022 | North American Premiere

DIASPORIC CINEMA
A-Town Boyz | dir. Eunice Lau, USA, 2023 | World Premiere
The Effects of Lying | dir. Isher Sahota, U.K., 2023 | North American Premiere

NARRATIVE SHORTS SHOWCASE
Animation
Borderline | dir. Kong Son-hee, South Korea, 2022 | World Premiere
Confusion of the Afternoon | dir. Yung-Chieh Lee, Taiwan, 2023 | East Coast Premiere
Goose Mountain | dir. Hu Rui and Chen Liaoyu, China, 2023
Handwritten | dir. Jaime Sunwoo, USA, 2022 | New York Premiere
Hidari | dir. Masashi Kawamura, Japan, 2023
Impurrfection | dir. Chiang Yao, Taiwan, 2022 | New York Premiere
Little Pig Demon (Nobody) | dir. Yu Shui and Chen Liaoyu, China, 2023
The Kidnapping (Old Man Yang) | dir. Gu Yang, Liu Kuang, Chen Liaoyu, China, 2023
Ship Down the Well | dir. Chen Xi, Zhou Xiaolin, Chen Liaoyu, China, 2023
What We Leave Behind | dir. Kang Nam-jin, South Korea, 2022 | International Premiere

Live Action
All Your Fault, PD | dir. Kim Sun-yeun, South Korea, 2022 | North American Premiere
Fix Anything | dir. Le Lam Vien, Vietnam, 2022 | North American Premiere
Hunchback | dir. Tahmineh Bahram, Iran, 2023 | World Premiere
Infant (Perzent) | dir. Karash Zhanyshov, Kyrgyzstan, 2022 | U.S. Premiere
Kumbang (Bugs) | dir. Gwai Lou, Malaysia, 2023 | World Premiere
Neo Portraits | dir. Gazebo, Japan, 2023 | International Premiere
Resellers | dir. Lee Seung-ju, South Korea, 2022 | International Premiere`
A Roadside Banquet | dir. Peiqi Peng, USA/China, 2023 | East Coast Premiere
Sweet Refuge | dir. Maryam Mir, USA, 2023 | East Coast Premiere
Will You Look at Me | dir. Shuli Huang, China, 2022

NYAFF TICKET PRICING AND INFO:
Tickets for the 22nd edition of the New York Asian Film Festival go on sale June 23 at 12pm ET, with early access for FLC Members beginning June 23 at 10am ET. Tickets are $17 for General Public; $14 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $12 for FLC Members. See more at FLC and save with a 3+ Film Package or FLC All-Access Passes ($249 for General Public and $199 for students). Note: Opening Night and premium events are excluded.

Opening Night tickets for Killing Romance are $25 for the General Public and $20 for FLC Members, students, seniors, and persons with disabilities. Those who wish to attend the Opening Night screening and the Night Market can get tickets for $50 for the General Public and $40 for FLC Members, students, seniors, and persons with disabilities.

Premium events––including both screenings of Killing Romance, Egoist, Vital Signs, Phantom, and more to be announced––are $25 for the General Public and $20 for FLC Members, students, seniors, and persons with disabilities.

Standard-priced screenings at NYAFF are eligible for the FLC Dinner + Movie combo. For $30, receive one ticket to an NYAFF screening and a select menu item at Café Paradiso, located in FLC’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. Learn more here.

For additional information, please visit Film at Lincoln Center at filmlinc.org, New York Asian Film Festival at nyaff.org, and follow us on social media @filmlinc and @nyaff.

Barrymore Film Center (153 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ 07024) will be screening films on July 21–23, with pricing to be announced at nyaff.org.

Chris Knipp
07-10-2023, 12:12 AM
Some recommendations

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MOUNTAIN WOMAN

Here are a few films in this year's NYAFF recommended by Richard Gray of thereelbits.com (https://thereelbits.com/2023/06/26/nyaff-2023-11-films-to-watch-at-the-new-york-asian-film-festival/). He says "there's always so much to watch." You said it, Richard.

The Korean films, also including DREAM as well as KILLING ROMANCE and PHANTOM, sound interesting, They may be harder for me to see, but I'll do my best to watch them and the others below. I give Richard's texts and Lincoln Center's

"Opening with Lee Won-suk’s KILLING ROMANCE, the program contains a whopping 78 films from Hong Kong, Japan, China, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These include Kazuyoshi Kumakiri #MANHOLE, featured on the festival poster, and the international premiere of Lee Byeong-heon’s DREAM as the centerpiece." - Richard Gray. Below is his list:

A-Town Boyz (Eunice Lau, US 2023)
One of the films that looks at this Asian diaspora around the world, this US documentary focuses on three young men who are involved in Atlanta’s vibrant hip-hop scene: Harrison “Vickz” Kim, Eugene Chung, and Jamy “Bizzy” Long. Director Eunice Lau’s film enjoys its world premiere at NYAFF this year. Produced by Spike Lee.

Art College 1994 (Liu Jian, China 2023)
Set in China in the 1990s, this animated film takes a look at youth featuring a group of art students. What is art? Ponder that during the incredibly measured pace of this highly detailed Chinese animated film from Liu Jian. Disarmingly wry and insightfully funny. At others, it feels almost documentary in nature. Read our full review. FLC: Loosely based on filmmaker Liu Jian’s own experiences at the Chinese Southern Academy of Arts, this consistently compelling masterwork proves that art school students are just about the same everywhere.

December (Anshul Chauhan, India 2023)
We’ve been following Anshul Chauhan for a few years now, especially the excellent Kontora (2019) from a few years ago, along with his more recent short film Leo’s Return (2021), which was another superb character study. So, a new feature film from the director is something to get excited about. This one follows the psychological trauma of a person fighting for a reduction of her prison sentence seven years after murdering a classmate.

Egoist (Daishi Matsunaga, Japan)
One of the LGBTQIA+ films tagged in this year’s program and director Daishi Matsunaga’s film is playing in New York following it’s German premiere at Nippon Connection in June. Based on the autobiographical novel by Makoto Takayama, it follows two young men who start a passionate affair following a workout session — although that relationship is soon put to the test.

Gaga (Taiwan)
One of the rare looks at Indigenous Taiwanese communities in this Golden Horse winning film from director Laha Mebow and a cast of non-professional actors. The title, which refers to the spiritual traditions of the Indigenous Tayal people, gives audiences a look at the tensions that exist between First Nations traditions and modern practices to this day in Taiwan.

In Broad Daylight (Hong Kong)
Coming from Hong Kong, director Lawrence Kan bases his latest thriller on true events. Starring Jennifer Yu as a reporter, this very topical film follows a news agency who investigates abuse at a nursing home.

Mountain Woman (Takeshi Fukunaga, Japan 2023)
This director's Ainu Mosir came along as part of a slow wave of recognition of Japan’s Ainu peoples, delivers more visual poetry about outsiders with a unique blend of quiet contemplation and breathtakingly inevitable outcomes. If his previous work looked at cultural identity through the coming of age story structure, then here he applies his naturalistic lens to a period setting. Read our full review. FLC: A rural woman whose village is in its second year of a devastating famine quest for survival gradually transforms into a journey to self-actualization in this haunting 18th-century-set tale of resilience in the face of harsh discrimination.

Okiku and the World/Sekai no Okiku (Junji Sakamoto, Japan)
Following its world premiere at IFFR earlier this year, Junji Sakamoto’s crisp black and white film about two people working as 'manure men' in this Edo Period jidaigeki. Already getting terrific reviews, film critic Mark Schilling calls this "a model of how to inventively and feelingly revive a core genre riddled with formulas and conventions."

Phantom (Lee Hae-young, South Korea)
Lee Hae-young, who was the director behind the superior 2018 thriller Believer, returns with a spy drama is set in 1933 Korea, during Japanese colonial rule, and features a cast of Korean stars — Sol Kyung-Gu, Lee Ha-Nee, Park So-Dam, Kim Dong-Hee, and Seo Hyun-Woo to name a few — speaking almost entirely in Japanese.

Redemption with Life (Zhang Wei, China 2023)
As part of the Filmmaker in Focus on director Zhang Wei section, NYAFF presents the world premiere of his latest outing. NYAFF describes the film, which follows a motorcycle club, as “a dark meditation on capitalistic corruption in which classic codes of honor and loyalty are put to the ultimate test.” FLC: In the latest feature from NYAFF’s Filmmaker in Focus, Zhang Wei, a majestic motorcycle club snakes its way along a glorious Tibetan highway before a nested series of flashbacks reveals the plight that brought them on their profound journey.

NYAFF Narrative Shorts Animation Showcase - Animation 2023
Yes, it’s a little bit of a cheat putting in a showcase of 10 films as the eleventh entry on this list, but where else will you find such a terrific set of animated shorts from across Asia? From the world premiere of Kong Son-hee’s BORDRLINE (South Korea) to Masashi Kawamura brand new film HIDARI (Japan), these span the realms of experimental fringes to the potential next big thing. Don’t miss them.

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REDEMPTION WITH LIFE

Chris Knipp
07-10-2023, 01:05 AM
More

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Bad Education (Kai Ko, Taiwan 2022)

Three bad-boy high school students who get drunk on their graduation night share their deepest, darketst secrets. Kai Ko's debut film and he is only 32. FLC: Taking over from his mentor Giddens Ko, Kai Ko delivers a kinetic (and often laugh-out-loud-against-our-better-judgment) delineation of good and evil with turbulent high stakes.

Chris Knipp
07-11-2023, 10:32 AM
The 20223 NYAFF: Staff Picks

(Text from Lincoln Center.)

Highlighting the Hidden Gems at NYAFF 2023
As the festival draws nearer, we wanted to share with you a handful of highly anticipated staff picks — some of the films that have captured our hearts and minds. Each selection has been carefully curated by our passionate team members, after NYAFF’s programmers scoured the cinematic landscape to bring you the best of Asian cinema.

***
You & Me & Me
A charmingly insightful directorial debut by real-life twins, about sisters who revel in fooling anyone they can as they use their twinship to their own personal advantage, until they meet the boy of their dreams and have to confront their true feelings as they experience the pangs of first love.
Saturday July 15, 2:30pm
Film at Lincoln Center
Intro & Q&A with directors Wanwaew Hongvivatana and Waewwan Hongvivatana.

The Effects of Lying
A dramedy about the lives of a British Asian family who get their signals crossed on a particularly bad day, leading secrets to be revealed and a tragicomic descent into chaos to begin, cleverly milking the universal truisms of family dysfunction for both philosophical reflection and savage laughs galore.
Tuesday July 18, 6:00pm
Film at Lincoln Center
Intro & Q&A with director Isher Sahota and producer Jon Tarcy.

Geylang
A post-postmodern crime-pulp action thriller set in Singapore's eponymous red-light district, told in illuminating temporal shifts, with a prostitute, her pimp and a social-activist lawyer going on a gore-filled wild goose chase.
Friday July 21, 6:00pm
Film at Lincoln Center
Intro & Q&A with director Boi Kwong and actor Jason Ho.

Kitty the Killer
NYAFF's 2023 Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema
An anarchic action-comedy about a team of topnotch female assassins known by the codename Kitty, who rigorously train a new mentor, a goofy young office worker, transforming him from zero to hero, before their next mission.
Friday July 21, 8:30pm
Film at Lincoln Center
Intro & Q&A with director Lee Thongkham and actor Vithaya Pansringarm.

The Rib (Director's Cut)
A transwoman in China fights tooth and nail against the unbearable stigma of an intolerant society to get sex-reassignment surgery, from NYAFF's Filmmaker in Focus, Zhang Wei.
Saturday, July 22 7:00pm
Film at Lincoln Center
Intro & Q&A with director Zhang Wei.

Where Is the Lie?
Based on a shocking real-life story, this film about catfishing, ghosting and cancel culture boasts formal innovations and an extraordinary central performance by luminous trans woman EJ Jallorina, playing the lovelorn target of a vile cyberbully.
Saturday July 22, 10:15pm
Film at Lincoln Center
Intro & Q&A with director Quark Henares and actor Royce Cabrera.

Empty Nest
A poignant tale of love, betrayal, and the search for meaning in the twilight years of life, this follows an aging widow as she meets a health products salesman and discovers the transformative power of love in the face of life's most challenging moments.
Sunday July 23, 3:30pm
Film at Lincoln Center
Intro & Q&A with director Zhang Wei.

Chris Knipp
07-12-2023, 08:25 PM
A-TOWN BOYZ (Eunice Lau 2023) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41363#post41363)

This documentary about young Asian men in Atlanta, shot over years, disproves the myth of the privileged minority. These guys' parents worked so hard to make it in the promised land they didn't have time to raise their children in a safe, positive environment and their sons turned to gangs, crime, and rap.

premieres at the New York Asian Film Festival on July 23, 8.30pm ET at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater.
WORLD PREMIERE · Q&A WITH EUNICE LAU

Chris Knipp
07-12-2023, 08:29 PM
NOMAD/- 烈火青春(導演版) (Patrick Tam 1982) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41366#post41366)

4K restoration and director's cut from the Hong Kong New Wave that influenced Wong Kar-wai is a rare, lovely artifact from a more innocent time in Hong Kong where young boys and girls flirt and get sexy. The guys wear short-shorts, a style that looks weird today. A young Leslie Cheung has a special sweetness. But then it turns strangely violent and murderous, on the beach beside an antique sailing vessel.

Presented as part of the 2023 New York Asian Film Festival.
Showtimes
Friday, July 21
3:45 PM Buy Tickets
Venue: Walter Reade Theater

Chris Knipp
07-13-2023, 02:28 AM
OKIKO AND THE WORLD/SEKAI NO OKIKO (Sakamoto 2023) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41370#post41370)

An unusually original and rich B&W example of jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) set in the late Edo and focused on two 'manure men' and a samurai's daughter who has fallen on hard times. It's bawdy, direct, romantic, and in literally full of shit.

Showtimes
Sunday, July 16
2:30 PM, Walter Reade Theater
Q&A with Junji Sakamoto, who will be honored with NYAFF’s 2023 Screen International Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award

Chris Knipp
07-14-2023, 01:57 AM
EGOIST / エゴイスト (Daishi Matsunaga 2022) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41371#post41371)

what begins as a rich fashionista's accessory boyfriend ends in tragedy and intimacy in this "groundbreaking" from Japan about orphaned gay men searching for family.

Presented in the 20223 New York Asian Film Festival
Showtimes
Saturday, July 15
8:30 PM Standby Only
Venue:
Walter Reade Theater
NEW YORK PREMIERE · Q&A WITH DAISHI MATSUNAGA AND RYOHEI SUZUKI

Chris Knipp
07-15-2023, 03:32 AM
HOME SWEET HOME スイート・マイホーム ("Sweet My Home") (Taikumi Saitoh 2023) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41377#post41377)

The Japanese are brilliant at horror and this is a nice example. This by accomplished actor turned filmmaker (in his third directorial outing) starts out as an original variation on the haunted house genre and then becomes much more, an understated creation of a world turned to hell.

Part of the part of the Jul. 14-30, 2023 New York Asian Film Festival at Lincoln Center.
Showtimes:
Thursday Jul 27, 9:00pm
Walter Reade Theater
Intro & Q&A with director Takumi Saitoh.

Chris Knipp
07-15-2023, 06:55 PM
GEYLANG 芽笼 (Boi Kwong 2022) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41378#post41378)

This slasher crime film set in Singapore's red-light district has a comic strain and features a complicated plotline and a quaint notion of a political element. It's Singaporean director Kwong's sophomore effort, delayed 13 years. Only for those with a taste for the lurid ultra-violence and a strong stomach. Action choreography and the neon nigh images are eye-popping, though.

Part of the Jul. 14-30, 2023 New York Asian Film Festival at Lincoln Center.
NYAFF Showtimes:
Friday, July 21, 6:00 PM, Walter Reade Theater
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE · Q&A WITH BOI KWONG & JASON HO

Chris Knipp
07-16-2023, 09:27 PM
THE ABANDONED (查無此心 (Tseng Ying-ting 2022) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41381#post41381)

From Taiwan, an excellent, absorbing police procedural focused on a serial killer. It's traditional, with the kinky ritualistic killings, the bonding and squabbling among the cops, lots of good detail and good production values and cinematography. A new wrinkle is homicide cops are women, and the victims are illegal migrant workers - again women.

Showing as part of the 2023 NYAFF:
Showtimes
Wednesday, July 26
9:00 PM - Walter Reade Theater
Q&A with Tseng Ying-ting

Chris Knipp
07-17-2023, 01:35 PM
GLORIOUS ASHES (Bui Thac Chuyên 2022) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41382#post41382)

This return to directing by the Vietnamese film school director is a tale of three women and their difficult men in a forest-side village in the Mekong Delta, one of whom turns out to be a pyromaniac. Not a secret: in the village there are no secrets. But the feel of the watery village life is better than the storytelling anyway.

2023 New York Asian Film Festival: North American premiere.
Showtimes
July 16
5:00 PM, Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center

Chris Knipp
07-17-2023, 01:38 PM
IN HER ROOM ひとりぼっちじゃない (Chihiro Ito 2023) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41384#post41384)

Languorous lovers in a plant-filled room where the apartment is left unlocked. The young model and pop star actors in this slow-moving puzzler wear loose designer clothes and the slow-moving, mysterious action is experimental. For audiences who welcome a challenge.

New York Asian Film Festival at Lincoln Center.
Showtimes
July 28,6:00 PM
Walter Reade Theater

Chris Knipp
07-19-2023, 09:51 PM
#MANHOLE #マンホール ( Kazuyoshi Kumakiri 2023) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41386#post41386)

Deliciously over-the-top, dark, and very Japanese revenge-horror movie of a man trapped in a manhole - but with a fully charged smartphone and a complicated past.

Part of the 2023 NYAFF, shown:
Sunday Jul 16, 10:00pm
Walter Reade Theater, Film at Lincoln Center

Chris Knipp
07-19-2023, 09:59 PM
DECEMBER ‘赦し’ (Anshul Chauhan 2022) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41387#post41387)

A crack in the brutal Japanese justice system appears in this emotional and suspenseful retrial of a juvenile offender who has been serving an adult sentence. Directed by non-Japanese rising director Chauhan, who was born in India.

Screened for this review as part of the 2023 New York Asian Film Festival.
Showtimes
Monday, July 24
6:00 PM Walter Reade Theater
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE · Q&A WITH ANSHUL CHAUHAN & SHOGEN

Chris Knipp
07-21-2023, 01:07 PM
REDEMPTION WITH LIFE 兄弟 (Zhang Wei 2023) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41395#post41395)

Chinese director Zhang is the featured artist of the festival. This ambitious film about close friends and an investor who goes astray ends with a motorcycle club's ritual trip through spectacular mountain roads to Tibet.

Redemption with Life 兄弟 ("Brothers"), 94 mins., has its world premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival July 28, 2023. Screened as part of coverage of the festival.
Showtimes:
Friday Jul 28, 3:30pm (Walter Reade Theater, Film at Lincoln Center)
Saturday Jul 29, 8:00pm (Look Cinemas, Look Cinemas)

Chris Knipp
07-21-2023, 09:53 PM
Art School 1994 (艺术学院 (Liu Jian 2023) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41391#post41391)

Animated film director Liu Jian (HAVE A NICE DAY, 2017, which was reviewed here (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4438-HAVE-A-NICE-DAY-(Liu-Jian-2017)&highlight=liu+jian+nice+day) (liked the images; the rest fizzled), this time makes an autobiographical remembrance of the atmosphere and the (then, seemingly) "deep" philosophizing and dorm debates of art school students, vintage 1994. There's something universal about them. But it doesn't go anywhere.

Chris Knipp
07-23-2023, 02:58 AM
MAD FATE 命案 (Soi Cheang 2023) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41401#post41401)

Fate and free will have a mad free-for-all in Hong Kong in the rainy season in this gory absurdist comedy-mystery-thriller.

Chris Knipp
07-26-2023, 11:03 PM
GREENHOUSE 비닐하우스 (Lee Sol-hui 2022) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41411#post41411)

In this quietly outrageous debut about a caregiver getting into a heap of trouble, you have to tune in and realize the action is not downbeat but deadpan.

Opening in Korea today, July 26, 2023, it premiered at Busan late last year. It shown in the NYAFF July 22, with a Q&A with Lee Sol-hui.

Chris Knipp
08-07-2023, 05:21 PM
THE RIB (DIRECTOR'S CUT) 肋骨 (Zhang Wei 2018) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?5346-NEW-YORK-ASIAN-FILM-FESTIVAL-July-14%9630-2023&p=41438#post41438)

This treatment of the theme of the recognition of the rights of transgender people in China is significant, but feels a bit dutiful and drab, including the "meaningful" but anemic black and white images. Is Christianity a retro force in the country?

Included in NYAFF 2023 at Lincoln Center, Zhang Wei's 2018 THE RIB (Director's Cut) was shown Saturday Jul 22, 7:00 p.m.