New York Asian Film Festival 2019

June 28-July 14
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FESTIVAL COVERAGE THREAD

The list includes 53 films, something like the past two years.
This now Lincoln-Center-based series is incredible.
See their:
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#NYAFF2018 #NotYourAverageFuckingFestival.

FULL LINEUP (53)
Titles in bold are included in the Main Competition; the list excludes the secret screening.

More detailed list of films H.E.R.E

CHINA (11)
Co-presented with Confucius Institute Headquarters and China Institute
– The Crossing (Bai Xue, 2018)
– A First Farewell (Wang Lina, 2018) – U.S. Premiere
– If You Are Happy (Chen Xiaoming, 2019) – New York Premiere
– Jinpa (Pema Tseden, 2018) U.S. Premiere
– Push and Shove (Wu Nan, 2019) – North American Premiere
– The Rib (Wei Zhang, 2018) – North American Premiere
– Savage (Cui Siwei, 2018)
– Uncle and House (Luo Hanxing, 2019) – International Premiere
– Winter After Winter (Xing Jian, 2019) – North American Premiere
– White Snake (Amp Wong, Ji Zhao, 2019) – North American Premiere
– Wushu Orphan (Huang Huang, 2018) – North American Premiere

HONG KONG PANORAMA (10)
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York
– The Attorney (Wong Kwok Fai, 2019) – International Premiere
– The Fatal Raid (Jacky Lee, 2019) – North American Premiere
– G Affairs (Lee Cheuk Pan, 2018) – North American Premiere
– Iron Monkey (Yuen Woo-ping, 1993) – Tribute to Yuen Woo-ping
– Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (Yuen Woo-ping, 2018) – Tribute to Yuen Woo-ping
– The Miracle Fighters (Yuen Woo-ping, 1982) – Tribute to Yuen Woo-ping
– Missbehavior (Pang Ho-cheung, 2019)
– See You Tomorrow (Zhang Jiajia, 2016) – North American Premiere
– Still Human (Oliver Siu Kuen Chan, 2018) – New York Premiere
…and the secret screening!

INDONESIA (1)
– 212 Warrior (Angga Dwimas Sasongko, 2018) – North American Premiere

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LYING TO MOM

JAPAN (11)
– 5 Million Dollar Life (Moon Sungho, 2019) – North American Premiere
– Complicity (Kei Chikaura, 2018) – New York Premiere
– Dare to Stop Us (Kazuya Shiraishi, 2018) – New York Premiere
– The Fable (Kan Eguchi, 2019) – U.S. Premiere
– Fly Me to the Saitama (Hideki Takeuchi, 2019) – New York Premiere
– The Gun (Take Masaharu, 2018) – North American Premiere
– Hard-Core (Nobuhiro Yamashita, 2018) – North American Premiere
– Jam (SABU, 2018) – North American Premiere
– Lying to Mom (Katsumi Nojiri, 2018) – North American Premiere
– Mr. Long (SABU, 2017)
– Samurai Marathon (Bernard Rose, 2019) – North American Premiere

MALAYSIA (1)
– Walk with Me (Ryon Lee, 2019) – North American Premiere

PHILIPPINES (2)
– Ma (Kenneth Lim Dagatan, 2018) – International Premiere
– Signal Rock (Chito S. Roño, 2018) – New York Premiere

SINGAPORE (1)
– Zombiepura (Jacen Tan, 2018) – North American Premiere

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MAGGIE

SOUTH KOREA (9)
Presented with the support of the Korean Cultural Center New York
100 Years of Korean Cinema KOFIC program
– Another Child (Kim Yoon-seok, 2019) – North American Premiere
– Dark Figure of Crime (Kim Tae-gyoon, 2018) – New York Premiere
– Kokdu: A Story of Guardian Angels (Kim Tae-yong, 2018) – U.S. Premiere
– Maggie (Yi Ok-seop, 2018) – North American Premiere
– Money (Park Noo-ri, 2018) – New York Premiere
– Move the Grave (Jeong Seung-o, 2018) ) – International Premiere
– The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale (Lee Min-jae, 2019) – North American Premiere
– A Resistance (Joe Min-ho, 2019) – North American Premiere
– Sub-Zero Wind (Kim Yu-ri, 2018) – North American Premiere

TAIWAN (4)
Presented with the support of Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York
– Han Dan (Huang Chao-liang, 2019) – North American Premiere
– It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Show (Hsieh Nien Tsu, 2019) – North American Premiere
– The Scoundrels (Tzu-Hsuan Hung, 2018) – North American Premiere
– Someone in the Clouds (Mitch Lin and Gary Tseng, 2018) – International Premiere

THAILAND (1)
– The Pool (Ping Lumpraploeng, 2018) – North American Premiere

VIETNAM (2)
– Furie (Le Van Kiet, 2019)
– Song Lang (Leon Le, 2018) – New York Premiere

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SAMURAI MARATHON

NYAFF (June 28-July 14) Press release.

Here are some excerpts from the press release giving some of the main featured events.

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (NYAFF)
Now in its 18th year, the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) is North America’s leading festival of popular Asian cinema, which The Village Voice has called “the best film festival in New York,” and The New York Times has called “one of the city’s most valuable events.” Launched in 2002, the festival selects only the best, strangest, and most entertaining movies to screen for New York audiences, 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. Since 2010, it has been produced in collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center.

NYAFF 2019 Venues:
- Film at Lincoln Center, June 28 – July 11
Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street

- SVA Theatre: July 11-14
333 West 23rd Street

New York, NY (June 12, 2019) – Film at Lincoln Center and the New York Asian Film Foundation announce the 18th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), June 28 – July 14, 2019.

After last year’s Savage Seventeen, this year’s program is dubbed the “Still Too Young to Die” edition with five international premieres, 23 North American premieres, four U.S. premieres, and eight New York premieres, showcasing the most exciting action, comedy, drama, thriller, romance, horror, and art-house films from East Asia, and bringing close to 30 directors and nine actors from Asia.

Eighteen - Still Too Young to Die: Many will recognize the cheeky reference to NYAFF 2016 audience award winner, Kudo Kankuro’s Too Young to Die!, in which a busload of high-school students plummet to their deaths. They either end up in heaven or hell, both of which defy expectations. Graduating into adulthood, NYAFF aims to defy expectations cinematically.

With the irreverent action-comedy stylings of the gonzo manga adaptation Fable and the singularly Singaporean zom-com Zombiepura as just two examples, NYAFF boasts both high-concept thrills and lowbrow gags. Rich contrasts can be found in deeply profound moral tales such as actor Kim Yoon-seok’s stunning directorial debut Another Child, or Huang Chao Liang’s literally explosive drama Han Dan, both in this year’s competition.

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.

Opening Night is the North American premiere of Bernard Rose’s Samurai Marathon, featuring a star-studded cast and a score by Philip Glass. This original take on the jidaigeki (period piece) reinterprets a lesser-known real event out of history in the wake of the West’s arrival in Japan during the 1850s. Packed full of intrigue, thrills, and comic relief, and including both ninjas and royal rebels, the film is a marvelous amalgam of transnational aesthetics and distinctly Japanese genre traditions.

The Centerpiece is the North American premiere of The Fable, directed by Kan Eguchi, who will attend the festival. The film captures the spirit that has sustained NYAFF over the years: a sprightly combination of action and pop comedy that never takes itself seriously but never completely leaves its brain at the door.

Closing Night will be announced at a later date.

Seven films will vie for the Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film in the third edition of the festival’s Main Competition: Moon Sungho's 5 Million Dollar Life (Japan), Kim Yoon-seok’s Another Child (South Korea), Huang Chao-liang’s Han Dan (Taiwan), Katsumi Nojiri’s Lying to Mom (Japan), Kenneth Lim Dagatan’s MA (Philippines), Yi Ok-seop’s Maggie (South Korea), and Wu Nan’s Push and Shove (China). Six of the films are North American premieres at NYAFF, with one international premiere, and six of the competition titles are feature debuts, underlining the competition’s mission to showcase new cinematic voices.

This year’s competition jury consists of prominent personalities from the film business that bridge Asia and America: Doris Pfardrescher (President & CEO, Well Go USA), producer Guan Yadi (Wind Blast, Assembly), Tim League (CEO, Alamo Drafthouse), and actress and producer Veronica Ngo.

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NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL at Lincoln Center JUNE 28 - JULY 14, 2019

The Films.
(These are short descriptions. For longer ones click on the individual films on the Film Lincoln Center site.)

China
Co-presented with Confucius Institute Headquarters and China Institute

A First Farewell
Wang Lina 2018 China 87 minutes
This bittersweet narrative-documentary hybrid offers a precious glimpse into China’s Uighur minority through the story of a young boy. Debut director Wang Lina’s charming ode to her own hometown speaks volumes about this marginalized community.
Showtimes
July 11
6:00 PM

If You Are Happy
Chen Xiaoming 2019 China 99 minutes
Q&A with actress Fu Miao
Through striking mise en scène and a vitriolic script built on cruel twists of fate, Chen Xiaoming’s film about a professor desperate to live in a school district that will guarantee a good education for his daughter, delivers a surprisingly suspenseful critique of modern society.
Showtimes
July 3
7:30 PM

Jinpa
Pema Tseden 2018 China 103 minutes
U.S. Premiere
Dream and reality meld in this stark tale, produced by Wong Kar Wai, in which a stoic truck driver picks up a silver-dagger-wearing hitchhiker in the desolate Kekexili plateau and later goes looking for him, ostensibly to prevent further bloodshed.
Showtimes
June 29
3:30 PM

Push and Shove
Wu Nan 2019 China 91 minutes
North American Premiere · Q&A with Wu Nan
Well-off screenwriter Yu Feng’s cute little dog is viciously attacked by the hefty Tibetan Mastiff from next door. Perturbed and undeterred by both the police’s apathy and the neighbor’s reluctance to settle the matter properly, Yu Feng and his family embark on a complex war of attrition in a literal dog-eat-dog tale.
Showtimes
July 10
9:15 PM

The Rib
Wei Zhang 2018 China 85 minutes
North American Premiere
This breakthrough film, about a 32-year-old man trying to undergo reassignment surgery, illustrates the intense stigma and obstacles that the LGBT community must face in China, offering an inside look at both the marginalized and those who condemn them.
Showtimes
July 5
1:00 PM

Savage
Cui Siwei 2018 China 112 minutes
Chang Chen plays the courageous cop to Liao Fan’s callous criminal, in a viscerally thrilling showdown between good and evil… and man and blizzard, which unfolds atop Mount Baekdu on the China/North Korea border, as the snowfall of a lifetime rolls in.
Showtimes
July 4
7:30 PM

Winter After Winter
Xing Jian 2019 China 110 minutes
North American Premiere
During the Japanese occupation of Manchuria circa 1944, an aging father’s attempts to maintain his family line, stopping at nothing to ensure that his daughter-in-law produces a male heir. This sets the stage for an elaborate plot of subterfuge, encapsulating the struggle to persevere against oppression
Showtimes
July 5
3:00 PM

White Snake
Amp Wong, Ji Zhao 2019 China 95 minutes
North American Premiere
A young woman who has lost her memory is helped by a snake catcher. In their quest to find her identity, they gradually develop feelings for each other, but just as the truth comes close, disaster looms... Embarking on a journey into the fantasy world of wuxia romance, the huge box-office success White Snake surely sets a new golden age for animated Chinese cinema.
Showtimes
July 7
1:30 PM

Wushu Orphan
Huang Huang 2018 China 121 minutes
North American Premiere · Q&A with Huang Huang and actor Liu Zhihan
Wet-behind-the-ears Lu Youhong takes a job teaching Chinese at a remote martial-arts academy, where he meets Zhang Cuishan, the only student who cares about academics. Huang Huang’s film is a beautifully poetic paean to the bittersweet pangs of growing up at any age.
Showtimes
June 30
8:30 PM
Hong Kong Panorama
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York

The Attorney
Wong Kwok Fai 2019 Hong Kong 102 minutes
International Premiere
Alex Fong shines as a lawyer who agrees to take the case of a young man accused of killing the daughter of Hong Kong’s richest tycoon and in the process unearths a conspiracy that may not only expose the truth behind the crime but also unravel a web of corruption.
Showtimes
June 29
5:30 PM

The Fatal Raid
Jacky Lee 2019 Hong Kong 96 minutes
North American Premiere
With bad-ass modern women warriors at the forefront, director Jacky Lee effortlessly exudes the hyperbolic stylings of classic Hong Kong action, bringing back the irrepressible "girls with guns" subgenre with full bombastic force.
Showtimes
July 5
8:15 PM

G Affairs
Lee Cheuk Pan 2018 Hong Kong 105 minutes
North American Premiere · Q&A with Lee Cheuk Pan and actress Hanna Chan
An intertwining menagerie of odd souls, including a bad cop and his teenage daughter, their lovers, a cellist, and an autistic man, reflect the darker chasms of Hong Kong society in Lee Cheuk-pan’s bold and shocking debut.
Showtimes
July 9
6:30 PM

Iron Monkey
Yuen Woo-ping 1993 Hong Kong 35mm 90 minutes
Tribute to Master Yuen Woo-ping, with Master Yuen in attendance
Yuen Woo-ping outdid himself with taut direction and revolutionary fight choreography for this classic from the early ’90s “New Wave” of old-school kung-fu films, featuring Donnie Yen as a man who is first mistaken for, then sent to track down and fight, the Robin Hood–style hero known as the Iron Monkey.
Showtimes
July 3
10:00 PM

Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy
Yuen Woo-ping 2018 Hong Kong/China 108 minutes
Q&A with Yuen Woo-ping, who will also receive the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award
Legendary action director Yuen Woo-Ping’s star-studded addition to the Ip Man universe centers on Cheung Tin Chi (Max Zhang), who after being defeated by Mater Ip tries to make an honest life with his young son in Hong Kong—but it’s not long before a mix of foreigners, money, and triad leaders draw him once again to the fight.
Showtimes
July 1
8:15 PM

The Miracle Fighters
Yuen Woo-ping 1982 Hong Kong 95 minutes
Introduction by Yuen Woo-ping

Kung-fu comedy master Yuen Woo-ping started added fantasy elements to the mix with this absolutely batshit-crazy cult classic. The wild and loose plot involves a Qing dynasty official in conflict with the emperor, resulting in the deaths of both his wife and the prince—and nonstop martial-arts zaniness.
Showtimes
July 2
9:00 PM

Missbehavior
Pang Ho-cheung 2019 Hong Kong 88 minutes
Singular auteur Pang Ho-cheung strikes again with his brilliant combination of uproarious lowbrow gags and insightful humanism, for this freewheeling tale that’s both a wild comedy built around a desperate scavenger hunt for breast milk and a look at the profundity of true friendship
Showtimes
July 4
5:30 PM

See You Tomorrow
Zhang Jiajia 2016 China/Hong Kong 128 minutes
North American Premiere
This unrepentant cinematic celebration of bar culture and the emotional wreckage that goes with it plays like a drunk version of Wong Kar Wai’s classics, but set in his birthplace of Shanghai, instead of Hong Kong. A stunningly bizarre journey that defies meaning, where lost souls never quite find themselves or each other.
Showtimes
July 5
5:30 PM

Japan

The Fable
Kan Eguchi 2019 Japan 122 minutes
Centerpiece Selection · North American Premiere · Q&A with Kan Eguchi
An unequaled yakuza hit man known as The Fable is ordered to lay low and live a “normal life,” but while undercover is forced into action to protect a woman, in this picture-perfect antihero-comedy manga adaptation.
Showtimes
July 2
6:00 PM

Complicity
Kei Chikaura 2018 Japan 116 minutes
As a Chinese man working illegally in Japan acclimates to his new life with a new identity, he forms a strong bond with his mentor, while a quiet romance develops with a local woman. However, the threat of deportation always lurks around the corner...
Showtimes
June 29
1:00 PM

Dare to Stop Us
Kazuya Shiraishi 2018 Japan 118 minutes
Kazuya Shiraishi, who cut his teeth making exploitation pictures at Wakamatsu Productions, has now directed this rambunctious, fact-based account of one young dreamer who joins Wakamatsu in 1969 to make pinku eiga, struggling to fit into the testosterone-heavy “family” and find her own voice.
Showtimes
July 4
3:00 PM

The Gun
Take Masaharu 2018 Japan 97 minutes
North American Premiere
Adapted from a prizewinning novel, this noir-tinged tale stars Nijiro Murakami as an aimless college student who stumbles upon the aftermath of a murder scene one night, and without thinking, grabs the titular weapon and keeps it safely hidden away at home. When a detective turns up at his apartment, a dangerous cat-and-mouse game ensues.
Showtimes
June 30
6:15 PM

Hard-Core
Nobuhiro Yamashita 2018 Japan 124 minutes
North American Premiere
Nobuhiro Yamashita’s first sci-fi-inflected outing about sad-sack Ukon and his only friend, Ushiyama, a kindhearted oddball, who revive a rusty old robot, is also a mirthful drama about loneliness, male bonding, female lust, and doing the right thing.
Showtimes
June 29
7:30 PM

Jam
SABU 2018 Japan 102 minutes
North American Premiere · Q&A with SABU
Cult director SABU’s latest feature is an absurdist dramedy driven by random chance and fateful encounters, as three disparate characters inch closer to crossing paths.
Showtimes
July 8
6:30 PM

Lying to Mom
Katsumi Nojiri 2018 Japan 133 minutes
North American Premiere · Q&A with Katsumi Nojiri
When a doting mother learns that her son has killed himself, the shock is so great she loses consciousness and her memory of that day. Worried that the truth might prompt a relapse, her husband and daughter lie to her—and the fabrications just keep snowballing... until the family begins imploding with unspoken secrets.
Showtimes
July 10
6:00 PM

Mr. Long
SABU 2017 Japan/Hong Kong/Taiwan 129 minutes
Q&A with SABU
When a job goes wrong in Tokyo, a legendary hit man takes refuge in a rundown neighborhood and is soon putting his knife to use cutting up food rather than people. But the mob is never far behind in this hitting actioner and self-actualization tale that masterfully combines punishing violence with poignant humanity.
Showtimes
July 8
9:15 PM

Samurai Marathon
Bernard Rose 2019 Japan/UK 100 minutes
Opening Night · North American Premiere · Q&A with Bernard Rose and Nana Komatsu
British director Bernard Rose brings 1850s Japanese history to exhilarating life with this lavish jidaigeki, in which a feudal lord prepares his samurai troops for the onslaught of modernization by having them compete in a marathon—which his independent-minded daughter secretly joins in on.
Showtimes
June 28
7:00 PM

Malaysia

Walk with Me
Ryon Lee 2019 Malaysia 91 minutes
North American Premiere
Melding tragic melodrama with startling supernatural and psychological elements, this dynamic Malaysian horror film starts as a story of a bullied young female factory worker and gradually escalates into a feverish nightmare involving an evil boss, an abusive father, a sibling’s mysterious death, creepy dolls, and ghost children.
Showtimes
July 4
10:00 PM
Philippines

MA
Kenneth Lim Dagatan 2018 Philippines 72 minutes
North American Premiere
Two tragic stories of motherhood converge in Kenneth Lim Dagatan’s chilling feature debut, a phantasmagorically macabre tale of loss, sacrifice, and evil.
Showtimes
July 7
9:15 PM

Signal Rock
Chito S. Roño 2018 Philippines 127 minutes
North American Premiere
What starts as a small slice of island life expands into a moving depiction of perseverance as Intoy works to help his sister win custody of her daughter from her abusive husband in a place where the only hope for women is to work in a bar or marry a rich foreigner.
Showtimes
July 7
3:45 PM

South Korea

Another Child
Kim Yoon-seok 2019 South Korea 96 minutes
North American Premiere · Q&A with Kim Yoon-seok
In actor extraordinaire Kim Yoon-seok’s riveting directorial debut about family dysfunction, amour fou, and coming-of-age under the oddest of circumstances, a teenage girl discovers that her father is having an affair with a classmate’s mother.
Showtimes
July 11
8:30 PM

Dark Figure of Crime
Kim Tae-gyoon 2018 South Korea 109 minutes
A psychological game of cat and mouse plays out between a purported murderer and an agitated policeman in this fascinating police procedural, inspired by true events, that explores the dark side of human nature.
Showtimes
July 6
9:00 PM

Kokdu: A Story of Guardian Angels
Tae-yong Kim Korean with English Subtitles 90 minutes
U.S. Premiere
The event features live traditional accompaniment performed by a 20-member ensemble from the National Gugak Center, the representative headquarters of Korean traditional performing arts, who will be playing the score for the first time in the US.
Showtimes
June 29
7:00 PM

Money
Park Noo-ri 2018 South Korea 115 minutes
Built around a devious scheme that serves as an indictment of avarice and materialism, the thrilling Money features rising star Ryu Jeon-yeol as a young aspiring stockbroker reaching for the golden ring, only to be shoved off his horse by an unscrupulous sociopath (Yoo Ji-tae, Oldboy).
Showtimes
July 6
6:00 PM

Move the Grave
Jeong Seung-o 2018 South Korea 95 minutes
International Premiere
In this candid critique of modern society as funny as it is cruel, four bickering sisters and one nightmarish problem child take a road trip from hell after learning they have to move their father’s grave due to construction.
Showtimes
July 6
4:00 PM

The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale
Lee Min-jae 2019 South Korea 112 minutes
North American Premiere
When the opportunistic Park family patriarch regains youthful vitality after a zombie bite, the get-rich-quick light bulbs go off. As the plague spreads, the more than eccentric Parks rely on outrageous feats of ingenuity to conquer the undead in hopes of turning a profit in Lee Min-jae’s action-packed and self-referential directorial debut.
Showtimes
July 9
9:15 PM

A Resistance
Joe Min-ho 2019 South Korea 105 minutes
North American Premiere
In 1919, 17-year-old schoolgirl Yu Gwan-sun is thrown in jail. But Yu isn’t just any girl; she’s a fierce, independence fighter and a leading figure of the March 1st Independence Movement. This is the story of her captivity in Seodaemun Prison in Japan-ruled Seoul, where she inspires the female inmates of Prison Cell #8 never to lose hope.
Showtimes
June 30
1:00 PM

Sub-Zero Wind
Kim Yuri 2018 South Korea 110 minutes
North American Premiere
Kim Yuri’s ambitious and incredibly moving feature debut follows two girls’ tumultuous lives from ages 12 to 19: Young-ha, whose father abandons her, and Mi-jin, her cousin and best friend. The two form an inseparable bond as they navigate the challenges of growing up with less-than-reliable adults as their caregivers.
Showtimes
July 6
1:30 PM

Taiwan

Han Dan
Huang Chao-liang 2019 Taiwan 125 minutes
North American Premiere · Q&A with Huang Chao-liang
Set against the tradition where men seek atonement by submitting themselves to ritualized firecracker attacks (as effigies of the deity Han Dan), this eye-opening moral tale about an upstanding young man who commits a reckless act that ends in life-changing tragedy not only reveals unique aspects of Taiwanese culture but its complex psyche as well.
Showtimes
June 30
3:30 PM

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Show
Hsieh Nien Tsu 2019 Taiwan 103 minutes
North American Premiere
The unscrupulous owner of Crazy TV sets out to lower the channel’s ratings; viewership surprisingly grows, but he has something else up his sleeve. And then things get really crazy in this madcap farce, a glorious tribute to the spirit of creativity.
Showtimes
July 4
12:30 PM

The Scoundrels
Hung Tzu-Hsuan 2018 Taiwan 104 minutes
A former basketball star barely getting by working shady part-time jobs falls into a downward spiral of crime, treachery, and violence after he is hijacked and framed for robbery in this taut, action-packed thriller.
Showtimes
July 1
6:00 PM

Vietnam

song Lang
Leon Le 2018 Vietman 102 minutes
Q&A with Leon Le
In this mesmerizing, beautifully performed musical melodramas set in 1980s Saigon, the paths of a gangster and as singer cross, and they gradually discover they are kindred spirits.
Showtimes
July 7
6:30 PM

Free Talks & Special Events


Masterclass with Yuen Woo-ping
Presented by HBO
Hong Kong action choreographer and director extraordinaire Yuen Woo-ping, perhaps best known to Western audiences for his work on The Matrix; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and Kill Bill, will discuss his art and career in Asia and America. The recipient of this year’s Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award, he is also the subject of a tribute, with three of his films screening at the festival.
Showtimes
July 7
7:30 PM

The Terror: Infamy
Josef Kubota Wladyka 2019 USA 50 minutes
World Premiere
The haunting second season of the horror-infused anthology centers on a series of bizarre deaths that haunt a Japanese-American community during World War II. Starring Derek Mio, Kiki Sukezane, Shingo Usami, and the renowned George Takei.
Showtimes
July 3
6:00

The 2019 NYAFF Filmleaf Festival Coverage reviews begin with:

SAMURAI MARATHON (Bernard Rose 2018)

A Japanese samurai movie directed by a Brit known for horror and Russian-themed films is based on a fanciful story about Japan in the 1850's when Commodore Perry's arrival had disrupted the country's long isolation. An oddball feudal lord stages a marathon to inspire readiness. A spy for the shogun misinterprets this as a rebellion and mayhem ensues. A good cast, beautiful settings, and a score by Philip Glass save this from seeming just chaotic and nutty. NYAFF Opening Night Film.

Friday, June 28, 7 pm at the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center.

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THE GUN 銃 (Masaharu Take 2018)

This psychological thriller from Japan about an aimless university student who finds a pistol and becomes unhinged won several awards at the Tokyo Film Festival last year and is notable for the elegance of its emotionless young protagonist, played by Nijirô Murakami. The always excellent Lily Franky (Shoplifters)) plays the key role of a detective.

Sunday, June 30, 6:15 pm at the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center.

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WUSHU ORPHAN 武林孤儿 (Huang Huang 2018)

A first film set in rural China in the Nineties. A naive young man with not much in the way of teaching credentials goes to a rural martial arts boarding school to be the instructor in Chinese, a thankless task. There is a gallery of odd characters, and one good student who hates martial arts.

Sunday, June 30, 8:30 pm at the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center.

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THE SCOUNDRELS 狂徒 (Huing Tzu-hsuan 2018)

From Taiwan, a brutal, tempestuous actioner in which a basketball star enters a life of crime after he is disgraced for attacking a spectator at a game. He becomes involved with a man who robs armored trucks carrying money. The director previously made only short films. It debuted at Busan and got a review in Hollywood Reporter.

Showtime, NYAFF"
Monday, July 1
6:00 PM
Walter Reade Theater

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COMPLICITY (Ken Chikaura 2018)

Complicity is a touching, intimate study of illegal immigration - of a young Chinese man into Japan. He takes a false identity for work and becomes like family at a rural soba shop. But his status is continually in danger. Actor Lu Yulai is excellent in the lead, and ably backed by the veteran Japanese actor Tatsuya Fuji.

NYAFF showtime:
Saturday, June 29
1:00 PM
Walter Reade Theater

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THE FABLE (Ken Ebuchi 2019)

A film from manga about a legendary hit man, Sato, whose boss puts him on furlough for a year to learn to "act normal." This of course could never work. A pretty woman menaced by an egotistical young ex-con (played by the extraordinary Yūya Yagira, who won Best Actor at Cannes at the age of 14 for Koreeda's Nobody Knows), forces Sato to act.

NYFF showtime
Tuesday, July 2
6:00 PM
Walter Reade Theater

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IF YOU ARE HAPPY 学区房72小时 (Chen Xiaoming 2019) (2019)

Social ambition and real estate maneuvering in contemporary Shanghai. A man is willing to stop at nothing to get his little girl into a better school. A film permeated by soullessness.

NYFF showtime
Wednesday, July 3
7:30 PM
Walter Reade Theater

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DARE TO STOP US (Kazuya Shiraishi 2018)

Dare to Stop Us 止められるか、俺たちを is the portrait of a moment and a group, the filmmaking team of Kōji Wakamatsu, a provocative Japanese film director, former yakuza, who made Pink eigu porn film but also radical political films. This is about Megumi, a young woman who comes to work there in the late Sixties, and the men she worked with, slept with, and got drunk with. Atmospheric study of a unique group at a special time.

NYAFF showtime:
Showtimes
Thursday, July 4
3:00 PM

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June 28 – July 11
New York Asian Film Festival

The New York Asian Film Festival begins today at 7 p.m. in Walter Reade Theater with Samurai Marathon.

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Quote:

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The 18th edition of the popular annual festival kicks off tonight with the North American premiere of Bernard Rose’s star-studded Samurai Marathon. NYAFF continues with a jam-packed lineup showcasing the most exciting action, comedy, drama, thriller, romance, horror, and art-house films from East Asia, featuring tons of premieres, sneak previews, in-person appearances, a free master class with Yuen Woo-ping on July 2, and much more.

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Reviews will be coneinually added. The available Filmleaf Festival Coverage secteion reviews of the 2019 NYAFF so far:

LINKS TO THE REVIEWS:
Complicity (Ken Chikaura 2018)
Dare to Stop Us 止められるか、俺たちを, (Kazuya Shiraishi 2018)
Fable, The (Ken Eguchi 2019)
Gun, The 銃 / Jû (Masaharu Take 2018)
If You Are Happy 学区房72小时 (Chen Ziaoming 2018)
Jinpa (Pema Tseden 2018)
Money (Park Noo-ri 2019)
Samurai Marathon (Bernard Rose 2019) Opening Night Film
Scoundrels, The 狂徒 (Hung Tzu-hsuan 2018)
Walk with Me (Ryon Lee 2019)
Winter After Winter (xing Jian 2018)
Wushu Orphan 武林孤儿 (Huang Huang 2018)

WALK WITH ME 雙魂 (Ryon Lee 2019)

A shy, bespectacled young garment factory worker is menaced by everyone, boss, father, random men, querulous mom, takes refuge in a doll that may contain the malevolent ghost of her dead little brother. It's a horror movie, the Malaysian-born screenwriter-director's fourth, heavy on the melodrama but gentle with the gore, and with nice colors, green and blue predominating.

In the New York Asian Film Festival, at Lincoln Center and 23rd St., which is now under way. It began last night.
NYAFF Showtime:
Thursday, July 4
10:00 PM

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Nana Komatsu (Princess Yuri in Samurai Marathon) received the 2019 Screen
International Rising Star Award


WINTER AFTER WINTER (Xian Jian 2019)

The title is apt because the snow never goes out of this chilly picture. It's a depiction in intense black and white of life in Manchuria in WWII when the Japanese are desperately trying to hold onto remnants of their empire. Definitely another example like Pema Tseden's Jinpa of "slow cinema." Not for the impatient.

Showing in the NYAFF
NYAFF showtime:
Friday, July 5
3:00 PM

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MONEY 돈 (Park Noo-ri 2019)

A financial immorality movie in the vein of Wall Street, Boiler Room, Wolf of Wall Street, only set in Seoul's Yeouido financial district and more of a high energy crime thriller. Sharp and energetic. The young star Ryu Jun-yeol (who is actually 32 but looks like a college kid here) shows why he's getting the Rising Star Asia Award the night of this NYAFF showing and the director, who I believe is a woman, scores a creditable debut.

Showing at the NYAFF:
NYAFF showtime:
Showtimes
July 6
6:00 PM

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WHITE SNAKE 白蛇：緣起 (Amp Wong, Ji Zhao 2019)

A big ($12 million, a lot by local standards) Chinese animation of an ancient popular folktale that has been often told and dramatized, even in film. A battle of good and evil forces is sweetened into the tale of a human boy falling in love with a demon girl who turns into a white serpent, and back again. Screen Daily says it has grossed $67 million at home this year ahead of its Annecy premiere.

Showing at the NYAFF:
NYAFF showtime:
Sunday, July 6
1;30 PM

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DARK FIGURE OF CRIME 암수살인 (Kim Tae-kyun 2018)

A different Korean police procedural where the cop is not done when the crazy murderer gets convicted of multiple murders. He is concerned to solve the unsolved ones - the "dark figure of crime" - for the sake of the suffering families living with no answers. A prize-winning screenplay and truly excellent performances by the two leads, Kim Yoon-seok as the detective and Ju Ji-hoon as the maniacal, provocative murderer.

NYAFF Showtimes
Saturday, July 6
9:00 PM

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SONG LANG (Leon Le 2018)

A lead performer of traditional folk opera (opulently represented) and a hardened debt collector, two beautiful, lonely young men, are drawn together in 1980's Saigon in this homage to Wong Kar-wai in a continual sequence of beautifully lighted, richly saturated 3:2 ratio scenes less kinetic but otherwise worthy of Wong's superb cameraman, Christopher Doyle - though the dp, an Aussie like Chris, was free of such influences.

NYAFF Showtimes:
Sunday, July 7
6:30 PM

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LYING TO MOM 鈴木家の嘘 (Katsumi Nojiri 2018)

A film about dealing with death, particularly a suicide in your immediate family. The suicide was a hikikomori so this is a particularly Japanese treatment. Lots of topics are covered, but the film would have benefited from some strenuous tightening up.

In the NYAFF.
Showtimes
Wednesday, July 10
6:00 PM

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MR. LONG ミスター・ロン (Sabu 2017)

This charismatic Taiwanese hitman so convincingly embodied by Chang Chen (who's worked for Edward Yang, Hou Hsieu-hsien, and Wong Kar-wai), who's so confident he uses only a short knife to wipe out a whole gang of baddies, gets marooned when a single hit goes wrong on the slummy outskirts of Tokyo with an adorable kid and his addict mom. At that unpromising venue, he displays his exceptional culinary skills for a while to satisfied neighbors. The movie is becalmed for a long middle section, and we almost like it. Sabu (Hiroyuki Tanaka) is a Japanese actor turned filmmaker. He has a second film included in the 2019 NYAFF, the omnibus film Jam.

See it at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center in three days. I'd go. As Mark Shilling of the Japan Times says, "Have fun."
NYAFF Showtime:
Monday, July 8
9:15 PM

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ANOTHER CHILD 미성년 (Kim Yoon-seok 2019)

The noted Korean actor directs, and costars in, a vivid, sometimes odd, film on adultery, unplanned parenthood, & their effect on daughters of the separate parties. WRT the 11th.

NYAFF Showtime:
Thursday, July 11
8:30 PM

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FIRST FAREWELL 第一次的离 (Wang Lina 2018)

An award-winning film, with top notch cinematography, editing, and score, about Uyghur people in XinjiangProvince where the filmmaker's own hometown is, and there is an elegiac note signaled in the title. They raise cotton and herd sheep, and the focus is on the children, who're under pressure to learn Mandarin. The film avoids overt political content about China's cultural persecution of this minority, but it's clear through the threat of going away to school. The scenes of young Isa and his best girl friend Kalbinur and their pet lamb are adorable. The mix of ethnography and humanism reminded me of Honeyland (2019 ND/NF).

NYAFF Showtime:
Thursday, July 11
6:00 PM

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Filmleaf 2019 NYAFF coverage.

FESTIVAL COVERAGE THREAD

LINKS TO THE REVIEWS:
Another Child 미성년 (Kim Yoon-seok 2019)
Complicity (Ken Chikaura 2018)
Crossing, The 过春天 (Bai Xue 2018)
Dare to Stop Us 止められるか、俺たちを, (Kazuya Shiraishi 2018)
Dark Figure of Crime 암수살인(Kim Tae-kyun 2018)
Fable, The (Ken Eguchi 2019)
First Farewell 第一次的离 (Wang Lina 2018)
Five Million Dollar Life 五億円のじんせい ((Moon Sung-ho 2019)
Gun, The 銃 / Jû (Masaharu Take 2018)
If You Are Happy 学区房72小时 (Chen Ziaoming 2018)
Jinpa (Pema Tseden 2018)
Lying to Mom 鈴木家の嘘 (Katsumi Nojiri 2018)
Maggie ( 메기 (Yi Ok-seop 2018)
Money 돈 (Park Noo-ri 2019)
Mr. Long (Ryo-san) (Sabu 2017)
Samurai Marathon (Bernard Rose 2019) Opening Night Film
Scoundrels, The 狂徒 (Hung Tzu-hsuan 2018)
Song Lang (Leon Le 2018)
Walk with Me 雙魂 (Ryon Lee 2019)
White Snake 白蛇：緣起 (Amp Wong, Ji Zhao 2019)
Winter After Winter (xing Jian 2018)
Wushu Orphan 武林孤儿 (Huang Huang 2018)



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THE CROSSING 过春天 (Bai Xue 2018)

In this striking debut, the dangerously driven Peipei, just turned sixteen, is a 'danfei' with remote parents split between Hong Kong and China, and she goes back and forth between the mainland and Hong Kong to school every day in school uniform. This makes her perfect to smuggle new iPhones to China. She becomes the mascot of a wild crew of older boys headed by Mrs Hua, who's like a potentially treacherous den mother overseeing dangerous fun. The key figure to her in this new life becomes Hao, her best gf's bf, who draws her into a bolder maneuver. An original, vivid and intense film of teenage obsession that never lets up.

It showed in the NYAFF July 12.

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MAGGIE 메기 (Yi Ok-seop 2018)

This Korean debut feature focuses on a nurse and slacker boyfriend and the insidiousness of doubt. Director Yi makes a fetish of arbitrary plot-shifts. Her interest is ideas. Played at aBusan, Rotterdam and Osaka and won some prizes.

It showed at the NYAFF July 13

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FIVE MILLION DOLLAR LIFE (Moon Sung-ho 2019

Picaresque coming-of-ager about a suicidal heart transplant kid that blends saccharine-ness and lively adventures. Ayumu Mochizuki is the indestructible kindness-magnet kid. The young director is from Hiroshima but went to film school in Korea after high school, exploring his roots.

Five Million Dollar Life 五億円のじんせい ("500 million yen"), 112 mins., releases July 20, 2019 in Japan. It was previewed as part of the NYAFF for this review, where it showed July 11.

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HUANG YAO IN THE CROSSING

A word about this year's New York ASian Film Festival.

You can peruse my recent NYAFF reviews on the Filmleaf Festival Coverage section. A couple I set up there I never completed but there are 19 or 20 reviews.

I particularly like finding good films outside the usual territories, such as Leon Le's dreamy and beautiful SONG LANG from Vietnam and Wang Lina's A FIRST FAREWELL about the Uyghurs. There were several outstandingly good and strikingly original first films by new directors, the standouts being Bae Xue's THE CROSSING, Lee Geuk-pan's G AFFAIRS. A fine Japanese (first) film was Kei Chicaura's COMPLICITY about a Chinese man working illegally in Japan. The idea of a Japanese director projecting into the experience of an outsider in this sensitive and well observed manner was striking and unusual. I watched some of the actioners of the series too - but they get repetitious, no matter how skillfully executed. Nonetheless, if they're your thing, take a look at them.

There may have been more discoveries lurking: I only saw half of the 41 films. For its variety and depth this is a truly remarkable film festival, and I'm glad to have been watching it since 2017 and wish I'd started earlier in its 18-year history.

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KALBINUR AND ISA IN A FIRST FAREWELL

Wide US release of A FIRST FAREWELL 第一次的离别 (Wang Lina 2018 on June 25, 2021.

A few recent reviews find flaws not pointed out earlier.

Wang Lina's well-reviewed A First Farewell is releasing online June 25, 2021 on Amazon Prime Video, Hoopla, Vimeo on Demand, Cathay Play, Smart Cinema USA, Montage Play (more at AFirstFarewell.com).

A First Farewell received raves at its festival release from admiring reviewers, including myself. But some reviews appearing more recently have been more critical.

Among these is a Feb. 25, 2021 LA Times review by Michael Ordona that questions some of Wang Lina's methods and finds the film dangerously unclear about the current Uyghur situation. He feels Wang's "filmmaking techniques blurring documentary and narrative" and her dodging of censorship have led to problems. He notes the director admits deceiving the child actor to make her cry when chastised in school and never revealed the deception. Ordona points out the film never so much as mentions the humanitarian crisis the Uyghurs are in, a situation the US has officially designated as "genocide." The film's lack of direct criticism of Chinese policy toward the Uyghurs, he notes, must have been necessary to "get it past stringent censors in a country where" (quoting a New York Times article), "a vast system of surveillance, detention, cultural erasure and forced labor has devastated the Uyghur people in their homeland." All this, Ordona says, makes the film "murky" - morally and intellectually confused. Can the use of fictionalized documentary methods have brought about dangerous distortions in this case? Ordona certainly implies so.

A Letterboxd citizen reviewer with moniker "nathanrao" expresses similar views. The reviewer notes that though the film is "beautifully shot" and "moving" they "don't understand what wang was trying to say" and concluded that she was probably "hamstrung from a greater message due to politics." This about sums it up: A First Farewell is a striking debut, beautiful and touching and remarkable in its use of non-actors, even if that at some points may be questionable; but the film is vague about the larger issues of the Uyghur humanitarian crisis, a "murkiness" due to politics and censorship constraints. The focus on the children's point of view may be seen in this context as a strategy enabling the filmmaker to bypass those constraints and avoid confronting headlong larger issues the young protagonists might not yet be aware of.