New York Asian Film Festival 2021

[Chris Knipp]

Centerpiece and Closing Night films of the 2021 NYAFF (Aug. 6-22)



THE NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL UNVEILS
LEGENDARY ACTION DIRECTOR BENNY CHAN’S
EXPLOSIVE FINAL FILM
RAGING FIRE
AS THE FESTIVAL CENTERPIECE

DISASTER-FILM MAESTRO KIM JI-HOON’S HOTLY-AWAITED
SINKHOLE
WILL BE THE CLOSING FILM

The two titles complete this year’s 20th edition lineup,
with over 70 films to screen in person and virtually.

NYAFF 2021 logo

Benny Chan's Raging Fire
© 2021 Well Go USA Entertainment / Emperor Motion Pictures

New York, NY (July 30, 2021) – The New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center have announced two final titles, completing the lineup for the upcoming 20th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF). The festival will be screening over 70 films, both virtually and in person, to audiences in New York and across the country from August 6 – 22, 2021. Tickets are already on sale.

NYAFF is thrilled to present as its festival Centerpiece the international premiere of NYAFF favorite director Benny Chan’s final work, RAGING FIRE. Completed shortly before his untimely death in August 2020, the Hong Kong-Chinese action film stars the inimitable Donnie Yen as Shan, a by-the-book cop whose past returns to haunt him. After a sting operation goes disastrously awry, Shan finds himself pitted against Ngo (Nicholas Tse), a former protégé who has turned criminal mastermind and is out for revenge. Nothing, it seems, can stop him, including his former mentor.

Chan, a NYAFF Centerpiece guest in 2011, also produced Raging Fire along with Yen (NYAFF’s 2012 Star Asia Awardee), the superstar hero of a range of blockbusters, including Shanghai Knights, The Monkey King, Ip Man, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Chan’s hard-boiled action swan song also reunites Tse (Shaolin Soccer, Beast Stalker, Bodyguards and Assassins) with his Shaolin director.

Raging Fire features a star studded cast that includes Qin Lan (The Last Supper), Ray Lui Leung-wai (Firestorm), Ben Lam (Flash Point) and Simon Yam (PTU, Election). The film also brings together an exciting collective of action directors; Huen Chiu Ku (Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Kenji Tanigaki (Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, the Rurouni Kenshin franchise), and Chris Collins (Ip Man 4), as well as action choreographer Kang Yu (Chasing the Dragon, Special ID) to produce a never before seen action experience on the big screen.


Kim Ji-hoon’s Sinkhole
© 2021 SHOWBOX AND THE TOWER PICTURES, INC.

NYAFF is also thrilled to announce that our Closing Film will be the North American premiere of Kim Ji-hoon’s (The Tower, Sector 7) disaster comedy, SINKHOLE, direct from its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival. One of South Korea’s most hotly anticipated summer tentpoles, the film focuses on a small group of people who must pull together and pool their strengths in a battle against time and gravity, 500 meters underground. Sinkhole runs the emotional gamut, from Korean-style satirical comedy to tense, action-packed survivalist drama.

Led by busy actors Cha Seung-won (Cheer Up, Mr. Lee; Night in Paradise) and Kim Sung-kyun (Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time, The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful), with beloved comic actor Lee Kwang-soo (Running Man, Busted!) and Kim Hye-jun (Kingdom) rounding out the ensemble cast, Sinkhole entertainingly highlights human tenacity in adverse circumstances, with spectacular, larger-than-life special effects and stunts that are both nail-biting and laughter-provoking.


Kim Ji-hoon’s Sinkhole
© 2021 SHOWBOX AND THE TOWER PICTURES, INC.

[Chris Knipp]

Getting off to a late start; the festival is in its sixth day.

OVER THE TOWN 街の上で (Rikiya Imaizumi 2020)

Imaizumi is a prolific maker of youth-focused romantic comedies with 16 features and several TV series under his belt. This is one set in Tokyo's hip Shimokitazawa districct, Shimokita for short, an area with cool shops, miicro brew bars, art theaters, and such. The 20-something protag Ao works in a tiny secondhand clothing shop and is beginning to enjoy his increased appeal to women, but when hired to play himself in an indie film directed by a young woman probably smitten by him, he's a flop. When you get on the wavelength, this is droll stuff.

[Chris Knipp]

LAST OF THE WOLVES akA BLOOD OF THE WOLVES II 孤狼の血 LEVEL2 (Kazuya Shiraishi 2021)

Second film in a franchise based on novels of Yûko Yuzuki that is unusual today from Japan, a yakuza genre picture. Reportedly more propulsive and violent than its predecessors. Too gruesome in places for me and at 139 minutes too long, but satisfying to fans of the genre.

[Chris Knipp]

BOOK OF THE FISH 자산어보 (Lee Joon-ik 2021)

B&W Korean historical film set in the early 1800's about the meeting of a learned high born Christian in exile on an island and the bright fisherman he befriends.

[Chris Knipp]

JOINT ジョイント (Oudai Kojima 2020)

The director, who is only 27 and grew up from age three to 13 in New York City then was educated in Japan, has not escaped from yakuza movie conventions but has somehow nonetheless made a completely fresh version, with a noirish, shaky cam look, documentary researched elements and a new star. The subject is an ex con who returns to Tokyo planning to be a success in straight business, but first to raise money will do just one last deep dive in data-mining scams. . .

[Chris Knipp]

BLUE ブルー ( Keisuke Yoshida 2021)

Meticulous, loving, brutally honest picture of boxing. Goes the extra mile. Not formally innovative in any way though.

[Chris Knipp]

2021 New York Asian Film Festival

INTRODUCTDORY TRAILER