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The premiere rich film festival will include world premieres of Takashi Miike’s highly anticipated NINJA KIDS!!! and Eiji Uchida’s 60’s throwback THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD, the international premieres of the Johnnie To produced thriller PUNISHED and Yu Irie’s love letter to rock n’ roll, RINGING IN THEIR EARS. In addition, 2011 NYAFF will feature 12 films making their North American premieres and 15 more making their New York City debuts.
Yoshimasa Ishibashi’s MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY will make its North American Premiere as the Opening Night Selection. A bizarro musical/variety/ samurai/love story directed by the mad genius behind “The Fuccon Family” television show, and starring Takayuki Yamada in three different roles, MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY defies description. Following a scene where a young boy falls in love with the title character only to have his heart broken by her, the film introduces us to three young men who are all in MILOCRORZE’s thrall, either literally or figuratively. Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, Yoshimasa Ishibashi and Takayuki Yamada will both attend the screening.
Centerpiece Presentations include Takashi Miike’s NINJA KIDS!!! and Benny Chan’s SHAOLIN. Making its world premiere, NINJA KIDS!!! is the big-screen adaptation of the long-running Japanese television show “Rantaro the Ninja Boy”. The film follows the adventures and countless battles with mutant ninjas, monsters and gangster hairdressers, a young aspiring ninja must undertake after he is sent to ninja school by his parents as a way to escape his lower class background. NINJA KIDS!!! is presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema.
Making its North American premiere, Chan’s SHAOLIN is an epic adventure starring Andy Lau, Nic Tse and Jackie Chan in a blockbuster retelling of the primal martial arts story: the attempted destruction of Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of martial arts. Lau plays a ruthless warlord who gets his comeuppance and has his entire world destroyed to the point he must seek refuge and (ultimately) redemption with the Shaolin monks. The film also stars Fan Bingbing, Wu Jing, Yu Hai. Benny Chan will attend the screening.
Na Hong-Jin’s THE YELLOW SEA will make its New York City debut as the Closing Night presentation. Reuniting with his stars from THE CHASER (Ha Jung-Woo and Kim Yun-Seok), Na Hong-Jin makes a big, relentless follow-up about a gambling addicted cabbie set up by a crime boss to take a big fall in Seoul. However, he turns out to have a talent for survival. The film comes to NYAFF straight from its Cannes screening as part of Un Certain Regard. The film is a 20th Century Fox release. Na Hong-Jin will attend the screening.
The NY Asian Film Festival will present its 2011 Star Asia Rising Star Award to Takayuki Yamada. Arguably Japan’s most versatile young actor, Yamada has gone from being a TV heartthrob to a TRAIN MAN (his breakthrough role) as well as being one of Takashi Miike’s 13 ASSASSINS. And in this year’s Opening Night selection, MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY, he plays every single male part.
The 2011 Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Hong Kong film legend Tsui Hark. In 2001, the NYAFF held the first major retrospective of Tsui Hark’s work, and so it’s with great pride that the festival will host Tsui Hark himself, ten years later to headline the programming section, Wu Xia: Hong Kong’s Flying Swordsmen. Presented with the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York, NYAFF will screen new and old classics of the wu xia genre. Swordplay films with a touch of fantasy, wu xia films are visual marvels, teeming with flying swordsmen, magical blades and glowering female steel-slingers. The line-up will include Tsui Hark’s mega-hit, DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME (an Indomina release), and several retrospective titles like Tsui’s astonishing, feral masterpiece, THE BLADE. Regarding honoring Tsui Hark, NYAFF co-founder Goran Topalovic said, “One of the NYAFF’s first events was the Tsui Hark retrospective in 2001, and since we consider him to be one of the most important living Hong Kong directors, we figured it was time to bring him to the festival and give him an award.”
Other films featured in the Wu Xia Focus include Ching Siu-tung’s DUEL TO THE DEATH, as well as Tsui Hark’s DRAGON INN and ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN.
Another special NYAFF section will be the Sea of Revenge: New Korean Thrillers Focus. In 2008, when the Korean film industry was at its lowest point, Na Hong-Jin released the word-of-mouth hit, THE CHASER, launching a wave of twisty thrillers focused on intense action and ace performances. In this special focus, presented in association with the Korean Cultural Service New York, NYAFF will present the best of what THE CHASER has wrought.
In addition to Na Hong-Jin’s THE CHASER and THE YELLOW SEA, the Sea of Revenge Focus will include Ryoo Seung-Wan’s THE UNJUST, Jang Cheol-Su’s BEDEVILLED, Kim Min-Suk’s HAUNTERS, Lee Jeong-Beom’s THE MAN FROM NOWHERE and Kwok Hyok-Jae’s TROUBLESHOOTER.
Filmmaker Su Chao-pin will be the subject of the third special focus: Su Chao-pin: Taiwan’s King of Entertainment. With the support of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, the NYAFF is proud to bring to the city one of Taiwan’s most popular and entertaining directors. Highlighted films will include REIGN OF ASSASSINS (co-directed with John Woo), THE CABBIE, featuring Su’s first produced screenplay, and his directorial debut, BTS: BETTER THAN SEX.
Two films will make their world premieres at NYAFF 2011. Those films are THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD and NINJA KIDS!!!.
Three films will be making their international premieres: the feature films RINGING IN THEIR EARS and PUNISHED, as well as the short film DARK ON DARK.
Twelve films will make their North American premieres at NYAFF 2011. Those films are; BUDDHA MOUNTAIN, FOXY FESTIVAL, GANTZ 2: PERFECT ANSWER, HEAVEN’S STORY, HORNY HOUSE OF HORROR, LOVE AND LOATHING AND LULU AND AYANO, MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY, OCEAN HEAVEN, OSAMU TEZUKA’S BUDDHA: THE GREAT DEPARTURE, SHAOLIN, THE UNJUST and THE YELLOW SEA.
Fifteen films will make their New York premieres at NYAFF 2011. Those titles include; 13 ASSASSINS: DIRECTOR’S CUT, ABRAXAS, BATTLEFIELD HEROES, BEDEVILLED, BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT, GANTZ, HAUNTERS, KARATE ROBO ZABORGAR, MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED, THE RECIPE, REIGN OF ASSASSINS, SELL OUT!, TROUBLESHOOTER and YAKUZA WEAPON.
The New York Asian Film Festival is presented in association with the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema.
And we’re deeply grateful for the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York, the Korean Cultural Service New York and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York.
Keep up with the latest festival news at:
www.subwaycinemanews.com
Tickets are on sale both at the box office and on-line. Discounts are available for Film Society members. Read more about The Film Society of Lincoln Center - www.filmlinc.com
Screenings will be held at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater (located at 165 West 65th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway) and Japan Society (333 East 47th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues).
PRESS SCREENINGS (AT THE WALTER READE THEATRE)
RSVP to either Seth Hyman at shyman@filmlinc.com or John Wildman at jwildman@filmlinc.com
TUESDAY, JUNE 14
10:00AM BUDDHA MOUNTAIN
12:30PM THE BLADE
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15
11:00AM THE YELLOW SEA
PRESS SCREENINGS (AT JAPAN SOCIETY)
RSVP to Kuniko Shiobara at kshiobara@japansociety.org
FRIDAY, JUNE 17
6:00PM MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY
8:00PM NINJA KIDS!!!
FILM DESCRIPTIONS FOR THE 2011 NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL
13 ASSASSINS: DIRECTOR'S CUT (2010, 141 minutes) - New York Premiere
Director: Takashi Miike
Country: Japan
The complete UNCUT version of Takashi Miike’s samurai masterpiece about a group of assassins who come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord and defeat his army. With 17 minutes of original footage restored. The cast includes Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada and Yusuke Iseya.
13 ASSASSINS will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
***Takayuki Yamada will attend the screening.
ABRAXAS (2011, 113min) – New York Premiere
Director: Naoki Kato
Country: Japan
Having recently screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Naoki Kato’s drama focuses on the internal struggle a punk rocker turned Buddhist monk faces as he discovers a deep-seated need to rock out following a public breakdown at a career-day speech at his son’s school. The cast includes rock star Suneohair Kyoshinen, Rie Tomosaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Manami Honjou.
ABRAXAS will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
BATTLEFIELD HEROES (2011, 118min) – New York Premiere
Director: Lee Joon-lk
Country: South Korea
An absurdist satire about war, this movie from Lee Joon-Ik (director of KING AND CLOWN, the highest-grossing Korean film of all time) is like a Terry Gilliam movie gone Korean as a farmer too poor to even have a name gets drafted into one of medieval Korea’s eternal wars. Desperate to return home alive, the farmer (played by comedian Kim Min-Sang) survives by his wits, using his fast-moving mouth to get him out of dead-end situations and suicide missions. The film also stars Jeong Jin-Yeong, Lee Mun-Shik and Ryu Seung-Ryong.
BATTLEFIELD HEROES will screen in Korean with English subtitles.
***Lee Joon-Ik will attend the screening.
BATTLE ROYALE (2000, 114min)
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Country: Japan
A celebratory screening of Kinji Fukasaku’s masterpiece about a class of grade schoolers who must fight each other to the death to win the right to be the one survivor allowed to leave an island compound.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, BATTLE ROYALE will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
BEDEVILLED (2010, 115min) – New York Premiere
Director: Jang Cheol-Su
Country: South Korea
Winner of multiple film festival awards, BEDEVILLED star Seo Young-Hee took home six “Best Actress” awards for her performance as a woman who ventures back to her childhood home on a remote island: an untamed hellhole populated by a handful of ruddy-faced men and old women bleached orange by the sun. It’s a misogynistic anti-Eden where the women work in the fields from dawn to dusk and prey on each other in competition for the savage, square-faced brutes they call their men. And when tragedy strikes, their sick little island paradise will never be the same. The film’s cast also includes Ji Seong-Won, Seo Young-Hee, Park Jung-Hak, Jo Duk-Je and Je-Min.
Part of the Sea of Revenge Focus, BEDEVILLED will screen in Korean with English subtitles.
BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT (2011, 105min) – New York Premiere
Director: Panna Rittikrai, Morakot Kaewthanee
Country: Thailand
This exploitation stunt-tacular features some of the best stuntmen and women unleashing muay thai, capoeira, dirt bike fu, shovel beatdowns, fights on fire, fights in the water, fights under trucks, fights in mid-air, and two back-to-back climactic smackdowns in the service of a story of a group of aspiring stuntmen who can't wait to go Hollywood. Unfortunately, the world has other plans. Plans like drugging them, dropping them into a warehouse populated by psychotic murderers, and betting on the outcome of the ensuing life-or-death struggle for fun. The cast includes Chatchapol Kulsiriwoottichai, Sarawoot Kumsorn, Speedy Arnold and Sorapong Chatree.
BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT will screen in Thai with English subtitles.
THE BLADE (1995, 100min)
Director: Tsui Hark
Country: Hong Kong
A rare screening of Tsui Hark’s martial arts masterpiece, considered one of the towering achievements of Chinese cinema. The film is a reimagining of Chang Cheh’s landmark, 1967 martial arts film, THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMEN. When a swordmaking master’s daughter manipulates two apprentice swordmakers to fight for her affections, she invites much more violence and chaos into their world than any of them could have imagined.
Part of The Wu Xia Focus, THE BLADE will screen in Cantonese with English subtitles.
***Tsui Hark will attend the screening.
A BOY AND HIS SAMURAI (Japan, 2010, 109 minutes) – North American Premiere
Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura
Country: Japan
The director of FISH STORY and GOLDEN SLUMBER returns to the festival with this family film about a 180-year old samurai who winds up in the modern era. After he is taken in by a single mother, he shows a knack for taking care of the house duties and helping raise her young son. The cast includes Fuku Suzuki, Hiroki Konno, Hitomi Sato, Keisuke Horibe, Rie Tomosaka, Ryo Nishikido, Shiori Kutsuna and Yuji Nakamura.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, A BOY AND HIS SAMURAI will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
BTS: BETTER THAN SEX (2002, 92min)
Director: Su Chao-pin
Country: Taiwan
A hyperactive, comedy about sex, BTS: BETTER THAN SEX revolves around a well-endowed teenager who just wants to leave his porn-addiction behind and find a real girl. Meanwhile, a classmate has nearly gone crazy to get over her crush on him and his school’s campus is under assault from an ex-Yakuza TV newsman determined to wage war on out-of-control teens. The film stars Michael Wong, Ginny Liu, Leon Dai and MC Hotdog.
BTS: BETTER THAN SEX will screen in Mandarin with English subtitles.
***Su Chao-pin will attend the screening.
BUDDHA MOUNTAIN (2010, 105min) – North American Premiere
Director: Li Yu
Country: China
Festival favorite (Cannes, Tokyo Intl FF, Deauville Asian FF) stars Sylvia Chang as a suicidal landlady who rents an apartment to three irritating young hipsters in this transcendent drama from Li Yu (LOST IN BEIJING) one of the only female directors working in China. Popular actress, Fan Bingbing (SHAOLIN), stars as one of the hipsters, but it’s Sylvia Chang, the most important woman in Chinese show business in the 70’s and 80’s, who owns this movie. The film also stars Wilson Chen and Fei Long.
BUDDHA MOUNTAIN will screen in Mandarin with English subtitles.
THE CABBIE (2000, 94min)
Director: Yiwen Chen, Huaken Zhang
Country: Taiwan
Su’s first movie as a writer was the Taiwanese Academy Award submission for 2001. Based on his first-hand experiences driving a cab, the film is a fast-paced black comedy about a cabbie in love with a traffic cop. The film also stars Leon Dai, Rie Miyazawa and Cheng-heng Chu.
THE CABBIE will screen in Mandarin with English subtitles.
***Su Chao-pin will attend the screening
THE CHASER (2008, 125 minutes)
Director: Na Hong-Jin
Country: South Korea
Hit thriller about a dirty detective turned pimp who is confounded by the fact that several of his girls have gone missing. While attempting to track them down, he discovers they all had one particular client in common – and the fate of another girl may rest in his ability to outwit that killer. The cast includes Yun-seok Kim, Jung-woo Ha and Yeong-hie Seo.
Part of The Sea of Revenge Focus, THE CHASER will screen in Korean with English subtitles.
***Na Hong-Jin will attend the screening.
CITY OF VIOLENCE (2006, 92 minutes)
Director: Ryoo Seung-Wan
Country South Korea
Thriller follows the investigation of an old high school friend’s death by a detective and another old school mate. Their mutual investigations lead them to the same land development project headed by yet a fourth member of their childhood group. The film stars Jae-mo Ahn, Kil-Kang Ahn and Seok-yong Jeong.
CITY OF VIOLENCE will screen in Korean with English subtitles.
***Ryoo Seung-Wan will attend the screening.
DARK ON DARK (Japan, 2011, 17 minutes) – World Premiere
Director: Makooto Ohtake
Country: Japan
This short film is the directorial debut from Makoto Ohtake, a well-known Japanese comedian and actor since the 80’s (he’s worked extensively with Takeshi Kitano and the popular City Boys troupe). It’s all about a two-bit talent manager and his outrageously endowed adult video talent bringing peace into the world via their various “gifts.” Screens with HORNY HOUSE OF HORROR.
DARK ON DARK will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME (2010, 122min)
Director: Tsui Hark
Country: Hong Kong
Tsui Hark’s return to greatness is a Holmes-ian fantasia about spontaneous combustion and kung fu deer. A female empress, on the eve of her coronation, discovers the giant Buddha-like statue she is having erected in her honor is causing court officials to spontaneously combust. To solve the mystery, she enlists the aid of a disgraced official she herself imprisoned as well as her trusty whip-wielding assistant. An Indomina release, the film stars Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Tony Leu Kar-fai, Li Bingbing, Deng Chao.
Part of The Wu Xia Focus, DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME will screen in Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles.
***Tsui Hark will attend the screening
DRAGON INN (1992, 109min)
Director: Raymond Lee, Tsui Hark, Ching Siu-tung
Country: Hong Kong
Two of Hong Kong’s greatest actresses, Maggie Cheung and Brigitte Lin, play swordswomen who attempt to thwart Donnie Yen’s bloodless eunuch’s treachery in Tsui Hark’s swordplay romance. This is a brand new 35mm print of this classic film, struck for this special screening at the New York Asian Film Festival.
Part of The Wu Xia Focus, DRAGON INN will screen in Cantonese with English subtitles.
***Tsui Hark will attend the screening
DUEL TO THE DEATH (1983, 109min)
Director: Ching Siu-tung
Country: Hong Kong
Ching Siu-tung’s directorial debut deploys ninjas, poisoned blades and some of the world’s most innovative choreography to create a movie that’s one part martial arts film, one part exploitation shocker and one part ballet. Two great warriors – one Chinese, the other Japanese, develop a friendship even as they are locked in a legendary competition. Screening on a rare 35mm print!
Part of The Wu Xia Focus, DUEL TO THE DEATH will screen in Mandarin with English subtitles.
FOXY FESTIVAL (2010, 110min) – North American Premiere
Director: Lee Hae-Young
Country: South Korea
A “Making Our Neighborhoods Safe & Happy” festival has the vice cops working overtime in this multi-character comedy that’s like a Robert Altman flick about fetishes. Love - and handcuffs, and nipple clamps - all conspire to save the day from the forces of conformity. The film stars Shim Ha-Kyun, Uhm Jo-Won, Shim Hye-Jin, Song Dong-Il, Ryoo Seung-Bum and Oh Dal-Su.
FOXY FESTIVAL will screen in Korean with English subtitles.
GANTZ (2011, 110min) – New York Premiere
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Country: Japan
Based on Japan’s existential sci fi action manga, GANTZ follows two teens who, after trying to rescue a man on the subway tracks, wake up in a room dominated by a mysterious black sphere that sends them to hunt down and kill aliens hiding on Earth. The cast includes Ken’ichi Matsuyama, Takayuki Yamada, Kanata Hongo, Kazunari Ninomiya, Yuriko Yoshitaka.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, GANTZ will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
GANTZ 2: PERFECT ANSWER (2011, 130min) – North American Premiere
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Country: Japan
The sequel finds the two teens now tasked with the job of fighting the aliens from Planet Black Suit. Returning cast members include Ken’ichi Matsuyama, Takayuki Yamada, Kanata Hongo, Kazunari Ninomiya, Yuriko Yoshitaka.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, GANTZ 2: PERFECT ANSWER will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
HAUNTERS (2010, 114min) – New York Premiere
Director: Kim Min-Suk
Country: South Korea
50% superhero movie, 50% horror movie and 100% Korean thriller, HAUNTERS is a commercial hit about a troubled kid who uses his ability to control minds destructively until a simple guy, immune to his ability, reveals himself as the one person that can stop him. The film stars Gang Dong-Won, Ko Soo, Abu Dodd, Enes Kaya, Jung Eun-Chae.
Part of The Sea of Revenge Focus, HAUNTERS will screen in Korean with English subtitles.
HEAVEN’S STORY (2010, 278min) – North American Premiere
Director: Takahisa Zeze
Country: Japan
“King of Pink Films” Takahisa Zeze spent almost two years shooting this 4 hour movie about two random murders and the heartbreak, trauma and healing that spills out from them over the next two decades. Monumental and strange, passionate and philosophical, this is an epic in every sense of the word. The cast includes Tsuruoka Moeki, Hasegawa Tomoharu, Oshinari Shugo, Murakami Jun.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film, HEAVEN’S STORY will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
HORNY HOUSE OF HORROR (2010, 75min) – North American Premiere
Director: Jun Tsugita
Country: Japan
Japan does the violent porno horror thing better than anyone else and this oddity features butt-walls, weiner-eating and demon hookers. The directorial debut from the writer of MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD, the film follows the ill-fated decision of a group of baseball players to give their 40-year old virgin teammate a bachelor party at the mysterious new Shogun Massage Parlor. After much bloody mayhem ensues, the survivors must team with a beautiful sex worker to try to destroy the horny house of horror for good. The cast includes Mint Suzuki, Saori Hara, Asami, Yoshihiro Nishimura.
Preceded by: DARK ON DARK (see above, 17min)
HORNY HOUSE OF HORROR will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
KARATE-ROBO ZABORGAR (2011, 102min) – New York Premiere
Director: Noboru Iguchi
Country: Japan
Noboru Iguchi (ROBO GEISHA) directs an adventure film based on an obscure TV show from the 70’s (“Denjin Zaborgar”) about a young, bright-eyed police officer and his karate robot (who transforms into a motorcycle) fighting crime. But in Iguchi’s version, from Sushi Typhoon, the two split up after the police officer falls in love and have to reunite years later after middle age has taken its toll. The film stars Itsuji Itao, Yasuhisa Furuhara, Mami Yamasaki, Yuya Miyashite, Akira Emoto.
KARATE-ROBO ZABORGAR will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD (2011, 96min) – World Premiere
Director: Eiji Uchida
Country: Japan
A return to the trippy, socially-engaged, blackly comic, ridiculously violent revolutionary movies of Japan’s 60’s. A high school student has a vision that the world is ending and so, faced with no consequences, he abducts a fellow student and goes on a crime spree. The cast includes Jyonmyon Pe, Chieko Imaizumi, Kiyohiko Shibukawa.
THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
LOVE AND LOATHING AND LULU AND AYANO (2011, 119min) – North American Premiere
Director: Hisayasu Sato
Country: Japan
Based on a book of interviews with porn film day players, this exuberant, anime-influenced movie about life on the bottom rungs of the adult film business focuses on a young girl who finds life in the porno business is a chance for her to escape her humdrum, everyday existence. Now, if she can keep her double identity safe from a veteran (and jealous) actress and a creepy stalker… The film stars Norie Yasui, Mayu Sakuma, Hirofumi Arai, Makiko Watanabe and Ini Kusano.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, LOVE AND LOATHING AND LULU AND AYANO will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED (2010, 84min) – New York Premiere
Director: Mark Hartley
Country: Australia
From the people who made NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD, about the history of Ozploitation, comes this definitive documentary about the Filipino exploitation film bonanza that erupted in the 70’s and 80’s. The film features interviews with Roger Corman, John Landis and Eddie Romero.
THE MAN FROM NOWHERE (2010, 119min)
Director: Lee Jeong-Beom
Country: South Korea
One part Batman, one part Bourne, Korean mega-star, Won Bin, revamped his image as a hard man of action with this movie about a spy coming out of retirement to take on a ring of organ harvesters. The number one movie at the Korean box office in 2010 (beating INCEPTION and IRON MAN 2), it took home 16 film awards! The cast includes Won Bin, Kim Sae-Ron, Kim Tae-hoon, Kim Tae-hoon and Lee Jong-Pil.
Part of The Sea of Revenge Focus, THE MAN FROM NOWHERE will screen in Korean with English subtitles.
***OPENING NIGHT PRESENTATION***
MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY (2011, 90min) – North American Premiere
Director: Yoshimasa Ishibashi
Country: Japan
A bizarro musical/variety/samurai/love story directed by Yoshimasa Ishibashi, the mad genius behind “The Fuccon Family” television show, and starring Takayuki Yamada in three different roles, MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY defies description. Following a scene where a young boy falls in love with the title character, only to have his heart broken by her, the film introduces us to three young men who are all in MILOCRORZE’s thrall, either literally or figuratively.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
***Yoshimasa Ishibashi and Takayuki Yamada will attend the screening.
***CENTERPIECE PRESENTATION***
NINJA KIDS!!! (2011, 100min) – World Premiere
Director: Takashi Miike
Country: Japan
Directed by Takashi Miike, this big-screen adaptation of the long-running Japanese television show “Rantaro the Ninja Boy” follows the adventures and countless battles with mutant ninjas, monsters and gangster hairdressers, a young aspiring ninja must undertake after he is sent to ninja school by his parents as a way to escape his lower class background.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, NINJA KIDS!!! will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
OCEAN HEAVEN (2010, 96min) – North American Premiere
Director: Xue Xiaolu
Country: China, Hong Kong
Directed by one of China’s rare female directors, this movie sees Jet Li team up with cinematographer Christopher Doyle and composer Joe Hisaishi to make a restrained, heartbreaking movie about a dad (Jet Li) trying to teach his autistic son how to live on his own. Beautifully shot, scored, acted and observed, it’s got no action, but maximum heartbreak. The film also stars Wen Zhang, Guey Lun-mei and Zhu Yuanyuan.
OCEAN HEAVEN will screen in Mandarin with English subtitles.
OSAMU TEZUKA'S BUDDHA: THE GREAT DEPARTURE (2011, 111min) –
North American Premiere
Director: Kozo Morishita
Country: Japan
The much-anticipated animated epic based on Osamu Tezuka’s landmark life of the Buddha. The voice cast includes Sayuri Yoshinaga, Masato Sakai, Kiyokazu Kanze, Hidetaka Yoshioka.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, OSAMU TEZUKA’S BUDDHA: THE GREAT DEPARTURE will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
PUNISHED (2011, 94min) – International Premiere
Director: Law Wing-cheong
Country: Hong Kong
Johnnie To produced this drama about a dirty-dealing real estate tycoon (played by Anthony Wong in a powerhouse turn) who has his world turned violently upside down following the kidnapping of his daughter. The cast also includes Richie Ren, Janice Man, Maggie Cheung, Lam Lee, Charlie Cho.
PUNISHED will screen in Cantonese with English subtitles.
RAW FORCE (1982, 86min)
Director: Edward D. Murphy
Country: Philippines, USA
One of the strangest Filipino/US co-productions from the 80’s, this rarely-screened exploitation fever dream is better known by its other title KUNG FU CANNIBALS. When a passing cruise ship stumbles upon an enclave of cannibal Buddhist monks, a battle between the martial artists onboard the ship versus the monks - and the ninjas and zombies they conjure to aid them – erupts. The cast includes Cameron Mitchell, Hope Holiday, Li Lin-lin, Chanda Romero, Jillian Kesner, John Dresden, Vic Diaz and Camille Keaton.
THE RECIPE (2010, 107min) – New York Premiere
Director: Lee Seo-Goon
Country: South Korea
Part culinary fairy tale, part scrumptious ghost story, THE RECIPE is a cryptic parfait from an up-and-coming female director, Lee Seo-Goon. A serial killer escapes from prison but is recaptured when he stops to eat a bowl of stew that’s so good he loses track of time. What is the secret behind the stew? A ratings-hungry TV producer wants to know and thus begins his search for the recipe. The film stars Ryoo Seung-Ryong, Lee Yo-Won and Lee Dong-Wook.
THE RECIPE will screen in Korean with English subtitles.
REIGN OF ASSASSINS (2010, 117min) – New York Premiere
Directors: Su Chao-pin, John Woo
Countries: Hong Kong, Taiwan, China
Co-directed with John Woo, starring Michelle Yeoh and Korean star Jung Woo-Sung, this massive martial arts hit follows a lady assassin who finds herself a target after she steals the sacred remains of a powerful monk. After changing her identity and becoming a housewife, all is peaceful until some old enemies discover her new identity, jeopardizing her new life.
REIGN OF ASSASSINS will screen in Mandarin with English subtitles.
***Su Chao-pin will attend the screening.
RIKI-OH: THE STORY OF RICKY (1991, 91 minutes)
Director: Ngai Kai Lam
Country: Hong Kong
A 20th Anniversary screening of the classic Hong Kong midnight action movie about a young man with superhuman strength who finds himself incarcerated at a prison run by corrupt officials/monsters. Naturally, he seeks to fix things using his martial arts skills. Rarely seen on the big screen! The film stars Siu-Wong Fan, Mei Sheng Fan and Ka-Kui Ho.
RIKI-OH: THE STORY OF RICKY will screen in Mandarin with English subtitles.
RINGING IN THEIR EARS (2011, 89min) – International Premiere
Director: Yu Irie
Country: Japan
Yu Irie (8000 MILES 1 & 2) returns with this ambitious flick about an upcoming concert by a reclusive rock group and the managers, obsessed fans, shut-ins, single moms and kindergarten teachers who are affected by it. A true tribute to the healing power of rock and roll.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, RINGING IN THEIR EARS screens in Japanese with English subtitles.
SELL OUT! (2008, 110min) – New York Premiere
Director: Yeo Joon Han
Country: Malaysia
A musical about money, creativity and a reality show focusing on those who are about to die, featuring an arts show host and a product designer that work for a multinational conglomerate with a directive to be “original”. The question is can they continue to do so despite the allure that fame holds. The cast includes Peter Davis, Kee Thuan Chye, Jerrica Lai and Hannah Lo.
SELL OUT! Screens in Mandarin, Cantonese and English with English subtitles.
Yeo Joon Han and Peter Davis will attend the screening.
***CENTERPIECE PRESENTATION***
SHAOLIN (2011, 131min) – North American Premiere
Director: Benny Chan
Countries: Hong Kong, China
It doesn’t get any bigger than this. Superstars Andy Lau, Nic Tse and Jackie Chan all star in this swank, blockbuster retelling of the primal martial arts story: the attempted destruction of Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of martial arts. Lau plays a ruthless warlord who gets his comeuppance and has his entire world destroyed to the point he must seek refuge and (ultimately) redemption with the Shaolin monks. The film also stars Fan Bingbing, Wu Jing, Yu Hai.
SHAOLIN will screen in Mandarin with English subtitles.
***Benny Chan will attend the screening.
TROUBLESHOOTER (2010, 99min) – New York Premiere
Director: Kwon Hyeok-Jae
Country: South Korea
A private investigator is called to investigate a lover’s tryst at a hotel, and suddenly finds himself caught in a fiendish trap - there’s a body in the room, and all the evidence points to him instead of the serial killer he put away back in his days on the police force. Produced by Ryoo Seung-Wan, this is a classic “wrong man” movie, only this time the wrong man is a hardcore ex-cop (Sol Kyung-Gu from the highly successful PUBLIC ENEMY series) and it’s got a black, bleak sense of absurdist humor most thrillers lack. The film stars Sol Kyung-Gu, Lee Jung-Jin, Oh Dal-Su and Choi Ji-Hon.
Part of The Sea of Revenge Focus, TROUBLESHOOTER will screen in Korean with English subtitles.
***Kwok Hyeok-Jae and Ryoo Seung-Wan will attend the screening.
THE UNJUST (2010, 119min) – North American Premiere
Director: Ryoo Seung-Wan
Country: South Korea
Longtime festival favorite, action director Ryoo Seung-Wan, turns in this epic, sprawling corruption saga featuring a no-holds-barred face off between a stalwart police captain and an ambitious prosecutor, as they battle over their respective territory to succeed at any costs in their pursuit of a killer of school girls.
Part of The Sea of Revenge Focus, THE UNJUST will screen in Korean with English subtitles.
***Ryoo Seung-Wan will attend the screening.
VERSUS (2000, 120min)
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Country: Japan
An 11th anniversary celebration of the Japanese zombie action film that launched a thousand horror/splatter/action flicks. A group of ruthless gangsters, an unknown woman and an escaped convict have met unwittingly in The Forest of Resurrection, which contains a portal to another reality. An evil spirit brings back to life those killed in the forest and the group must fight for their survival and ultimately – take on the evil spirit as well. The film stars Tak Sakaguchi, Hideo Sakaki and Chieko Misaka.
VERSUS screens in Japanese with English subtitles.
***Tak Sakaguchi, and writer, Yudai Yamaguchi, will attend the screening.
YAKUZA WEAPON (2011, 105min) – New York Premiere
Director: Tak Sakaguchi, Yudai Yamaguchi
Country: Japan
Stuntman-turned-director, Tak Sakaguchi, directs himself as a hard-hitting maverick who returns to Tokyo, only to discover his Yakuza father murdered, his family headquarters turned into a shady loan shop, and a powerful gang leader attempting to overthrow the entire criminal underworld! With rival gangs jacked up on “hyperdrug,” he must becomes a one-man, butt-kicking army – and things only get wilder when he loses an arm and a leg, only to have them replaced with more firepower than the entire Japanese military possesses. YAKUZA WEAPON is another warped Susi Typhoon production. The cast also includes Shingo Tsurumi, Mei Kurokawa, Takashi Nishina, Cay Izumi, Arata Yamanaka.
Presented with Japan Cuts: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema, YAKUZA WEAPON will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.
***Tak Sakaguchi, Yudai Yamaguchi, Arata Yamanaka, and producer Yoshinori Chiba will attend the screening.
***CLOSING NIGHT PRESENTATION***
THE YELLOW SEA (2010, 156min) - New York Premiere
Director: Na Hong-Jin
Country: South Korea
Na Hong-Jin reunites with his stars from THE CHASER (Ha Jung-Woo and Kim Yun-Seok) to make this big, relentless follow-up about a gambling addicted cabbie set up by a crime boss to take a big fall in Seoul. However, he turns out to have a talent for survival. The film comes to NYAFF straight from its Cannes screening as part of Un Certain Regard. The film is a 20th Century Fox release.
Part of The Sea of Revenge Focus, THE YELLOW SEA will screen in Korean with English subtitles.
***Na Hong-Jin will attend the screening.
ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN (1983, 94min)
Director: Tsui Hark
Country: Hong Kong
The movie that launched a thousand wu xia, Tsui Hark’s surreal phantasmagoria will blow your mind. A hapless scout, while seeking refuge in a ruined shrine, is attacked by flying zombies. He is saved by a powerful swordsman and the two men find themselves locked in an eternal battle against the forces of evil. This is a rare chance to see a 35mm print of this movie in all its big screen glory. The cast includes Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, Adam Cheng, Brigitte Lin, Damian Lau, Meng Hoi.
Part of The Wu Xia Focus, ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN will screen in Cantonese with English subtitles.
***Tsui Hark will attend the screening.
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