New York Asian Film Festival 2011
At Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater (July 1 – 14) and Japan Society (July 7 – 10).
The New York Asian Film Festival is ten years old! So this year’s festival is a no-holds-barred anniversary celebration of Asian pop cultural masterpieces, erupting out of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Japan Society like two raging volcanoes of molten fun.
In 2001, the NYAFF held the first major retrospective of Hong Kong’s greatest director, Tsui Hark, and so it’s with great pride that we bring Tsui Hark himself to the festival ten years later to headline our special focus, “Wu Xia: Hong Kong’s Flying Swordsmen.” Presented with the support of the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office New York, we’ll be screening new and old classics of the wu xia genre. Wu xia movies are swordplay films with a touch of fantasy and they’re all visual marvels, teeming with flying swordsmen, magical blades and glowering female steel-slingers. Our line-up includes Tsui Hark’s mega-hit, DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME, and several retrospective titles like Tsui’s astonishing, feral masterpiece, THE BLADE.
Na Hong-Jin's "The Yellow Sea"
From Korea comes “Sea of Revenge: New Korean Thrillers,” presented in association with the Korean Cultural Service New York. The series will feature the new school of hardcore action movies that have been setting the Korean box office, and Cannes, on fire. Special guest, director Ryoo Seung-wan (CITY OF VIOLENCE), will be here to present his film, THE UNJUST, a sprawling corruption saga. and also screening will be THE YELLOW SEA from director Na Hong-Jin whose previous thriller, THE CHASER, was Korea’s word-of-mouth box office smash of 2008. THE YELLOW SEA will be screening at the NYAFF fresh from its Cannes screening as part of Un Certain Regard
From Japan, there’s Takahisa Zeze’s HEAVEN’S STORY. Zeze is known as one of Japan’s “Kings of Pink,” and he’s one of the most famous directors of pink films, Japan’s unique softcore porn genre that gave directors like Kiyoshi Kurosawa (TOKYO SONATA) their start. But HEAVEN’S STORY is no skin flick. Instead it’s a four-and-a-half-hour epic that follows the grief, pain and redemption that spill out over the decades from two random acts of violence. Tak Sakaguchi, Japan’s number one stuntman/actor/director and all-around two-fisted renaissance man will be here in person with his new film, YAKUZA WEAPON, and we’ll also be screening Noboru Iguchi’s biggest-budgeted movie to date, KARATE-ROBO ZABORGAR, a tongue-in-cheek feature film based on a popular 70’s series about a robot that can turn into a motorcycleŠand it knows karate!
Edward Murphy's "Raw Force"
Exploitation cinema from the Philippines will get its due with a screening of the festival fave documentary MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED, which will be paired with the jaw-dropping 1980’s Filipino exploitation mind-blower, RAW FORCE.
There’ll be a special focus on Taiwan’s great genre director, writer and producer, Su Chao-pin, presented with the support of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York. We’ll be screening his new movie, the wu xia blockbuster, REIGN OF ASSASSINS, starring Michelle Yeoh and Korean star Jung Woo-Sung, and co-directed by John Woo. We’ll also be screening some of Su’s classic films like BETTER THAN SEX an adrenaline-propelled comedy about first love, hand amputations and porn.
From movies about punk rock Buddhist monks (Yuji Sadai’s ABRAXAS) to bone-breaking, stuntman-destroying Thai action extravaganzas (Panna Rittikrai’s BANGKOK KNOCKOUT), to brain-frying Japanese whatzits (Yoshimasa shibashi’s MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY), this tenth anniversary edition of the New York Asian Film Festival has enough marvels to turn your mind into a blazing inferno of fun.
Update: The full line-up!
Update 2: Festival Trailer (Great clips in here!)
