Ice Mother[/caption]
Ice Mother (Czech Republic) directed by Bohdan Sláma and Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster’s Science Fair (United States) snagged the top audience accolades at the 41st Portland International Film Festival. Ice Mother won the award for Best Narrative Feature and Science Fair took the Best Documentary Feature award.
Director Ryôta Nakano is the winner of this year’s Best New Director award for his debut feature, Her Love Boils Bathwater (Japan). Tehran Taboo (Austria/Germany) director Ali Soozandeh takes home the Audience Award for Best Animated Feature. This year’s Best International Short Film Award goes to director Britt Raes for her film Catherine (Belgium). Portland-based director Dawn Jones Redstone’s film We Have Our Ways is the recipient of the Best Oregon Short Film Award.
Bad Genius
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“Ice Mother” and “Science Fair” Win Top Audience Awards at 41st Portland International Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_27542" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Ice Mother[/caption]
Ice Mother (Czech Republic) directed by Bohdan Sláma and Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster’s Science Fair (United States) snagged the top audience accolades at the 41st Portland International Film Festival. Ice Mother won the award for Best Narrative Feature and Science Fair took the Best Documentary Feature award.
Director Ryôta Nakano is the winner of this year’s Best New Director award for his debut feature, Her Love Boils Bathwater (Japan). Tehran Taboo (Austria/Germany) director Ali Soozandeh takes home the Audience Award for Best Animated Feature. This year’s Best International Short Film Award goes to director Britt Raes for her film Catherine (Belgium). Portland-based director Dawn Jones Redstone’s film We Have Our Ways is the recipient of the Best Oregon Short Film Award.
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Alexander Payne’s DOWNSIZING to Close + Final Wave of Films Announced for 2017 Fantastic Fest
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DOWNSIZING[/caption]
The 2017 Fantastic Fest announced its final wave of films, along with Alexander Payne’s miniature masterpiece DOWNSIZING as the closing night film. Rounding out a trio of Fantastic-Fest first-timers making their way to Austin is Cory Finley and his jaw dropping debut THOROUGHBRED, and fan-favorite tough guy extraordinaire Frank Grillo for the World Premiere of his nail-biting getaway drama, WHEELMAN.
In keeping with world premieres, Fantastic Fest announced a fistful of titles that will receive their big screen bows. Screen great Barbara Crampton will be in attendance with director Bradford Baruh for a ride in his chilling APPLECART, featuring over forty minutes of zero gravity footage; Russia’s SALYUT-7 is guaranteed to pop 3D eyes; HAUNTERS: THE ART OF THE SCARE walks us through the world’s most terrifying haunted houses; and TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID delivers a contemporary fairytale from within the world of the mexican cartels.
“I’m incredibly proud of the vast array of filmmaking on display in this year’s program,” said Fantastic Fest Creative Director Evrim Ersoy. “From the most highly acclaimed studio titles to the smallest independent debuts, it’s exhilarating to embrace unique creativity from the four corners of the world. Bringing filmmakers together in a program that highlights the increasing diversity of cinema is truly an honor that we can’t wait to share with our audience.”
Female filmmakers once again deliver powerful voices with three of the most dynamic films of the festival. Angel Robinson will be in attendance to share the controversially kinky true story behind the year’s biggest superhero with PROFESSOR MARSTON & THE WONDER WOMEN; Lisa Bruhlmann makes a stunning entrance with her fantastical coming-of-age debut BLUE MY MIND; and not to be outdone, first time feature-maker Coralie Fargeat turns the revenge genre upside down with her outrageous femme fatale fiesta, REVENGE.
A mainstay of Fantastic Fest has been showcasing world cinema’s finest exports and this year is no exception. Asia basks in the glory of master Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s return to the apocalyptic fold with BEFORE WE VANISH (Japan), while his countryman Sôichi Umezawa delivers the outlandish midnight spectacle of VAMPIRE CLAY (Japan). South Korea represents with the year’s toughest crime caper, THE MERCILESS, and serial killer shocker V.I.P., while NYAFF award-winner BAD GENIUS represents Thailand. And Taiwan shows school students no mercy with the hyper-violent MON MON MON MONSTERS. Not to be outdone, Europe comes out swinging with Hungarian auteur Kornél Mundruczó’s follow up to WHITE GOD, the stunning JUPITER’S MOON, French filmmakers Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani splash their hyper-stylized western LET THE CORPSES TAN across the screen and Norway’s Joachim Trier delivers one of the most quietly impressive films of the year, the assured THELMA.
The world premiere of Don Hertzfeldt’s WORLD OF TOMORROW EPISODE 2: THE BURDEN OF OTHER PEOPLE’S THOUGHTS highlights an animated sidebar that pushes the medium into brave new spaces. Rounding out the fantastical trio is the debut feature from Studio Ponoc, MARY AND THE WITCHES FLOWER, from ex Studio Ghibli key animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi, and JUNK HEAD, Takahide Hori’s claymation feature that took him over seven years to complete, entirely by himself.
American Genre Film Archive makes its triumphant return to Fantastic Fest with two movies that will rot your libido in the best way. BAT PUSSY, the world’s first X-rated parody, shares the spotlight the world premiere of a brand new 2K transfer of one of the most sought-after lost films in the history of exploitation cinema in a very special secret screening. Additional rep titles include the world premiere of the Takashi Miike-approved 4K restoration of ICHI THE KILLER, the digital remaster of the seminal Indian cult movie BAASHA, and Jean Rollin’s THE NUDE VAMPIRE, presented by Kier-la Janisse in celebration of her new book Lost Girls: The Phantasmagorical Cinema of Jean Rollin.
True to form, Fantastic Fest will be re-writing reality once more with a crowded cornucopia of events that invade all corners of the fest. Gross-out grub-gorging spectacle Puke and Explode rumbles once more, notorious VHS archival warriors Everything is Terrible return with an all-new show to both delight and horrify. Comedy legend Gilbert Gottfried will be performing and screening the incredible biographical doc GILBERT, and the seminal Fantastic Debates marks its 10-year anniversary of polemic pugilism in spectacular fashion.
FINAL WAVE OF FILM:
AGFA + SOMETHING WEIRD PRESENT: BAT PUSSY and SECRET SCREENING American Genre Film Archive makes its triumphant return to Fantastic Fest with two movies that will rot your libido in the best way. BAT PUSSY, the world’s first X-rated parody, is what happens when an anonymous smut producer gets inspired by the 1960s BATMAN TV show but only has $5. It’s also what happens when your wildest dreams and most horrifying nightmares collide in an explosion of flaccid stupefaction. Next up, after years of detective work, AGFA presents the world premiere of a brand new 2K transfer of one of the most sought-after lost films in the history of exploitation cinema. LOST GIRLS Book Launch: THE NUDE VAMPIRE presented by Kier-la Janisse THE NUDE VAMPIRE France, 1970 Repertory, 88 min Director – Jean Rollin Jean Rollin’s THE NUDE VAMPIRE (1970) follows a sinister businessman who’s keeping a young vampire girl captive and experimenting on her in the hope that he finds the key to eternal life. The film will be screened in celebration of the launch of the new book from publisher Spectacular Optical, LOST GIRLS: THE PHANTASMAGORICAL CINEMA OF JEAN ROLLIN, the first examination of Rollin’s work to be written by all women critics, scholars and film historians, and will be introduced by the book’s publisher Kier-La Janisse. 3FT BALL & SOULS Japan, 2017 International Premiere, 93 min Director – Yoshio Kato Four strangers come together to commit suicide using explosives. But they discover that every time they blow up, they’re sent back to just before they killed themselves. APPLECART USA, 2017 World Premiere, 86 min Director – Bradford Baruh An idyllic weekend vacation to a secluded cabin turns deadly when the Pollack family discovers an unconscious woman whose sinister plans will pit the family members against each other. BAASHA India, 1995 Repertory/International Premiere, 165 min Director – Suresh Krissna Superstar Rajinikanth plays a rickshaw driver with a history of violence in this genre-defining musical gangster romance epic from the director of AALAVANDHAN. BAD GENIUS Thailand, 2017 Texas Premiere, 130 min Director – Nattawut Poonpiriya A quartet of high school students are better at cheating than anything you’ve ever done in your life in this epic nail-biter about the standardized tests that level the playing field for all kids, smart and dumb, rich and poor. BEFORE WE VANISH Japan, 2017 North American Premiere, 129 min Director – Kiyoshi Kurosawa Kurosawa’s latest film is a sci-fi thriller about an invasion in which aliens must come to understand humanity through understanding human emotion — most importantly, our collective capacity for love. BLUE MY MIND Switzerland, 2017 North American Premiere, 97 min Director – Lisa Brühlmann BLUE MY MIND follows 15-year-old Mia (Luna Wedler) as she undergoes a life-changing transformation, one that leaves her examining her body and her very existence in a new light. BRIMSTONE & GLORY Mexico, USA, 2017 Regional Premiere, 67 min Director – Viktor Jakovleski Tultepec is a small Mexican town that celebrates its love of fireworks with a yearly week-long festival. This festival is captured in a glorious documentary that is pure cinema. THE CURED Ireland, UK, France, 2017 US Premiere, 95 min Director – David Freyne A zombie virus has hit the world… but it has been cured. What’s next for the ex-zombies who have returned to normal? David Freyne’s debut feature throws lots of food for thought into the mouth of your mind. DARKLAND Denmark, 2017 US Premiere, 113 min Director – Fenar Ahmad An Iraqi doctor in Denmark seeks vigilante justice for his brother’s murder when the police come up short, biting off more than he can chew in a world of gangs, drugs and underground fight rings. FIRSTBORN Latvia, 2017 North American Premiere, 90 min Director – Aik Karapetian Provocative Latvian director Aik Karapetian returns to Fantastic Fest with a new thriller that explores how far a meek architect will go to protect his dignity in the eyes of his wife in the aftermath of an attack. FIVE FINGERS FOR MARSEILLES South Africa, 2017 US Premiere, 120 min Director – Michael Matthews A troubled young man returns to the town he fled as a youth and is forced to confront his past (and the town’s difficult future) in this gorgeous Xhosa language western. GEMINI USA, 2017 Special Screening, 93 min Director – Aaron Katz Our understandings of friendship, truth and celebrity are challenged when a heinous crime tests the complex relationship between a tenacious personal assistant (Lola Kirke) and her Hollywood starlet boss (Zoe Kravitz) in Aaron Katz’s latest. GILBERT USA, 2017 Regional Premiere, 99 min Director – Neil Berkeley GILBERT is the story of Gilbert Gottfried as never seen before, both a behind-the-scenes documentary and a poignant look at the life of a comedian who has more layers than most people can imagine. GOOD MANNERS Brazil, France, 2017 North American Premiere, 135 min Directors – Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra When lonely nurse Clara is hired as a nanny by wealthy Ana, she hardly expects anything like the friendship she finds with the lonely, pregnant woman. However, both women have dark secrets which will engulf all that they hold dear. HAUNTERS: THE ART OF THE SCARE USA, 2017 World Premiere, 88 min Director – Jon Schnitzer Delving behind the scenes of one of America’s most beloved seasonal pastimes, HAUNTERS shows the world of the people who make the scariest houses, mazes and experiences that range from the traditional to the controversial. ICHI THE KILLER – 4K RESTORATION Japan, 2001 Repertory/World Premiere of Restoration, 129 min Director – Takashi Miike The yakuza occupy a murky universe with more twists and turns than the Shinjuku alleys they call home. The mysterious disappearance of a Tokyo mob boss triggers a hunt to find him, dead or alive. The search leads to the city’s most depraved clubs and sex dens and eventually to Ichi, the schizophrenic hitman behind the crime. Even more shocking is the discovery that the mastermind who hired Ichi is a fellow gangster out for revenge. JUNK HEAD Japan, 2017 US Premiere, 114 min Director – Takahide Hori Humanity is dying. It’s been 1200 years since our rebellious clone workforce moved underground, and the only way we can survive is by plunging into the depths to learn more about our terrifying creations. JUPITER’S MOON Hungary, Germany, 2017 North American Premiere, 123 min Director – Kornél Mundruczó The most ambitious science fiction film of the year is also perhaps the most visually stunning. Aryan is a refugee who finds himself with the power to levitate after being shot. Stern is a disgraced, corrupt doctor. The two will meet and alter the entire world. LES AFFAMES Canada, 2017 US Premiere, 100 min Director – Robin Aubert In the remote Quebec countryside, things are not well. A plague has infected the land, affecting almost all the residents of a small village. The survivors have to navigate their new existence as well as deal with the infected with an appetite for flesh. LET THE CORPSES TAN Belgium, France, 2017 US Premiere, 92 min Directors – Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani On a beautiful corner of the Mediterranean, Rhino and his men take refuge after the robbery of 250 kilograms of gold. The plan is simple: Wait and split. But some unwanted visitors are about to turn this idyllic corner into a bloodbath. LETTERKENNY Canada, 2016 US Premiere, 151 min Director – Jacob Tierney The spiritual successors to STRANGE BREW’s Bob and Doug MacKenzie, the rural residents of the fictitious town of LETTERKENNY deliver a hysterical slice of Canadiana in the comedy phenomenon chronicling the daily problems of hicks, skids, hockey players and Christians. THE LINE Slovakia, Ukraine, 2017 North American Premiere, 112 min Director – Peter Bebjak One line is literal, the border between Slovakia and Ukraine. Criminal Adam Krajnak (Tomas Mastalir) crosses it often, smuggling product and people. The other line is metaphorical, and crossing it leads to a death spiral of violence and vengeance. LOVE AND SAUCERS USA/Canada, 2017 Texas Premiere, 67 min Director – Brad Abrahams David Huggins, a 72-year-old man who claims to have lost his virginity as a young man to an extraterrestrial being, turned to art to express his interspecies romance and lifelong relationship with the otherworldly. MARY AND THE WITCH’S FLOWER Japan, 2017 North American Premiere, 102 min Director – Hiromasa Yonebayashi Directing the first film out of Studio Ponoc, Hiromasa Yonebayashi (WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE) creates the dazzling and heartwarming story of an ordinary girl who becomes an extraordinary witch. THE MERCILESS South Korea, 2017 North American Premiere, 117 min Director – Byun Sung-hyun Cribbing liberally from the history of gangster films, Byun Sung-hyun’s hard-boiled Korean crime saga is filled with all manner of murder, deceit, double and triple crosses… and, oh yeah, slap-fighting. MOM AND DAD USA, 2017 US Premiere, 83 min Director – Brian Taylor Selma Blair and Nicolas Cage are seemingly ideal parents until an unknown force causes their town’s adults to murder their offspring. MON MON MON MONSTERS Taiwan, 2017 Regional Premiere, 112 min Director – Giddens Ko A bullied schoolboy is teamed up with his tormentors to do community social work. While on duty, they encounter a strange creature which they kidnap, and take bullying to a whole new level. THE PRINCE OF NOTHINGWOOD France, Germany, 2017 US Premiere, 85 min Director – Sonia Kronlund Meet Salim Shaheen: Afghani auteur, prolific actor and one-man moviemaking industry. Along with his trusted troupe of actors, he defies all the odds in the Middle East to fulfill his dreams of making movies. PROFESSOR MARSTON & THE WONDER WOMEN USA, 2017 US Premiere, 108 min Director – Angela Robinson In a superhero origin tale unlike any other, this film is the incredible true story of what inspired Harvard psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston to create the iconic Wonder Woman character in the 1940s. RABBIT Australia, 2017 International Premiere, 99 min Director – Luke Shanahan After a full year, Maude is still stricken by visions of her sister Cleo’s kidnapping. Believing that Cleo is still alive, Maude undergoes a suspenseful journey to find her in this stunning, atmospheric feature debut from Luke Shanahan. RADIUS Canada, 2017 US Premiere, 91 min Directors – Caroline Labrèche & Steeve Léonard When a man wakes up from a car crash with no memory of what happened, his first instinct is to find help. However, as he gets closer to civilization and other people, an ugly truth will rear its head and affect all those who surround him. REVENGE France, 2017 US Premiere, 108 min Director – Coralie Fargeat Three rich male thrill-seekers discover that Jennifer isn’t the human sex doll that they assumed she was when they invited her on their isolated hunting getaway. Jennifer teaches them fundamental lessons about consent in a manner that they — and we — won’t soon forget. RIFT Iceland, 2017 Texas Premiere, 111 min Director – Erlingur Thoroddsen After a phone call from his ex wakes him late one night, Gunnar drives out to a secluded vacation cottage to save Einar from himself, but what awaits him there is mystery and confusion. SALYUT-7 Russia, 2017 World Premiere, 119 min Director – Klim Shipenko Based on a true story, SALYUT-7 is the little-known mission to dock with an unmanned space station in order to stop it from crashing into Earth, a feat never before attempted in space history. THELMA Norway, 2017 Texas Premiere, 116 min Director – Joachim Trier A conservative young woman attending college in Oslo begins to fall in love while discovering her burgeoning supernatural powers in a stunning new film from Norway. THOROUGHBRED USA, 2017 Austin Premiere, 92 min Director – Cory Finley Two teenage girls in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. In the process, they learn that neither is what she seems to be, and that a murder might solve both of their problems. TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID Mexico, 2017 World Premiere, 83 min Director – Issa López When her mother suddenly disappears with no one to care for her, young Estrella ends up on the street and joins a gang of children, triggering a dangerous and tragic chain of events in the third feature from Mexican filmmaker Lopez. UNDER THE TREE Iceland, Denmark, Poland, Germany, 2017 US Premiere, 89 min Director – Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson On the outskirts of Reykjavik, the shadow cast by a tree triggers a feud between two neighboring families, with tragic and darkly comic consequences. V.I.P. South Korea, 2017 International Premiere, 128 min Director – Hoon-jung Park A notorious serial killer who happens to be the son of a defecting DPRK official sends South Korea’s National Intelligence, police from both states and even international brass into a mad political scramble in this thrilling neo-noir. VAMPIRE CLAY Japan, 2017 US Premiere, 80 min Director – Soichi Umezawa A class of art school hopefuls is stalked by blood-thirsty, flesh-hungry clay in this bizarre practical effects-heavy horror assault from THE ABCs OF DEATH 2 segment director and longtime special makeup effects artist Umezawa. VIDAR THE VAMPIRE Norway, 2017 Texas Premiere, 82 min Directors – Thomas Aske Berg & Fredrik Waldeland Christian farmer Vidar has a boring life, living with his mom and tending sheep. When he wishes for more excitement he wakes up undead, hangs out with vampire Jesus and discovers that sometimes the party can go on too long. WHEELMAN USA, 2017 World Premiere, 82 min Director – Jeremy Rush Frank Grillo (KINGDOM; CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR) stars as the wheelman, a getaway driver thrust into a high stakes race to survive after a bank robbery goes terribly wrong. With a car full of money and his family on the line, the clock is ticking to figure out who double-crossed him and the only person he can trust… his 14-year-old daughter. All reasons to think fast and drive faster. WORLD OF TOMORROW EPISODE TWO: THE BURDEN OF OTHER PEOPLE’S THOUGHTS USA, 2017 World Premiere, 22 min Director – Don Hertzfeldt The highly anticipated follow-up to Don Hertzfeldt’s Oscar-nominated WORLD OF TOMORROW finds Emily Prime swept into the brain of an incomplete backup clone of her future self, who’s on a mission to reboot her broken mind. Continuing the tradition of the first film, WORLD OF TOMORROW EPISODE TWO was written entirely around candid audio recordings of Hertzfeldt’s five-year-old niece.
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2017 London Film Festival Unveils Lineup of 242 Feature Films + 128 Shorts
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The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)[/caption]
The 61st BFI London Film Festival today announced its full program, featuring a diverse selection of 242 feature films including 46 documentaries, 6 animations, 14 archive restorations and 16 artists’ moving image features. The program also includes 128 short films, and 67 countries are represented across short film and features.
Alongside the Galas, Special Presentations and films in Competitions, the Festival will show a range of new cinema in sections aka strands titled Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Experimenta and Family. In 2017, the LFF debuts a new strand, Create, featuring films that celebrate artistic practice in all its channels and forms the electricity of the creative process, reflecting London’s position as one of the world’s leading creative cities.
Audiences will have the opportunity to hear some of the world’s creative leaders through the Festival’s acclaimed talks’ series LFF Connects, which features artists working at the intersection of film and other creative industries, and Screen Talks, a series of in-depth interviews with leaders in contemporary cinema. Participants this year include Julian Rosefeldt & Cate Blanchett, David Fincher, Demis Hassabis, Nitin Sawhney, Johan Knattrup Jensen, Ian McEwan and Takashi Miike.
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
Robin Campillo, 120 BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) Vivian Qu, ANGELS WEAR WHITE Majid Majidi, BEYOND THE CLOUDS (World Premiere) Nora Twomey, THE BREADWINNER (European Premiere) Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra, GOOD MANNERS Xavier Beauvois, THE GUARDIANS (European Premiere) Andrew Haigh, LEAN ON PETE Andrey Zvyagintsev, LOVELESS Azazel Jacobs, THE LOVERS (European Premiere) Warwick Thornton, SWEET COUNTRY Cory Finley, THOROUGHBRED (International Premiere) Annemarie Jacir, WAJIBFIRST FEATURE COMPETITION
Daniel Kokotajlo, APOSTASY Léa Mysius, AVA Michael Pearce, BEAST (European Premiere) Ofir Raul Graizer, THE CAKEMAKER Gilles Coulier, CARGO Kogonada, COLUMBUS Rungano Nyoni, I AM NOT A WITCH Léonor Serraille, JEUNE FEMME Ana Asensio, MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND Carla Simón, SUMMER 1993 Hlynur Pálmason, WINTER BROTHERS John Trengove, THE WOUNDDOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Maryam Goormaghtigh, BEFORE SUMMER ENDS Elvira Lind, BOBBI JENE Arash Kamali Sarvestani, Behrouz Boochani, CHAUKA, PLEASE TELL US THE TIME (International Premiere) Radu Jude, THE DEAD NATION Shevaun Mizrahi, DISTANT CONSTELLATION Frederick Wiseman, EX LIBRIS – THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Agnès Varda, JR, FACES PLACES Austin Lynch, Matthew Booth, GRAY HOUSE Brett Morgen, JANE (European Premiere) Lucy Cohen, KINGDOM OF US (World Premiere) Emmanuel Gras, MAKALA Sonia Kronlund, THE PRINCE OF NOTHINGWOODSHORT FILM AWARD
Gabriel Abrantes, THE ARTIFICIAL HUMORS Phil Collins, DELETE BEACH Billie Pleffer, FYSH (International Premiere) Anna Cazenave Cambet, GABBER LOVER Karishma Dube, GODDESS Aegina Brahim, LAWS OF THE GAME Jonathan Vinel, MARTIN CRIES Patrick Bresnan THE RABBIT HUNT Moin Hussain, REAL GODS REQUIRE BLOOD Kibwe Tavares, ROBOT & SCARECROW Kazik Radwanski, SCAFFOLD Harry Lighton, WREN BOYS (World Premiere) The Festival program is organized in strands: Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Family, Treasures and Experimenta.LOVE
The Love Gala is the European Premiere of Dominic Cooke’s quietly heart-breaking film debut ON CHESIL BEACH. Saoirse Ronan and rising actor Billy Howle star as a young couple in the early 1960s struggling to physically connect on their honeymoon, impeccably adapted for the big screen by Ian McEwan from his own Man Booker-shortlisted novela. Other highlights in this section include: CLOSE-KNIT, Naoko Ogigami’s quietly subversive and emotionally rich portrait of a transwoman whose maternal feelings are stirred by the arrival of her boyfriend’s 11-year-old niece; THE GROWN-UPS, Maïte Alberdi’s tender and bittersweet documentary portrait of Chileans Anita and Andres, who have Down’s syndrome and are very much in love; the World Premiere of Carlos Marques Marcet’s ANCHOR AND HOPE, a London-set story about modern love and family featuring Oona Chaplin; John Cameron Mitchell’s cosmic ride HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES, sees aliens have landed in 1970s Croydon in a funny, energetic love story starring Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp and Nicole Kidman; the World Premiere of JOURNEYMAN, features Paddy Considine following up his acclaimed debut Tyrannosaur with the story of a boxer who must rebuild his life after a near-fatal injury; GOING WEST, a World Premiere from Norwegian newcomer Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken who delivers a sweetly delicious road movie; LET THE SUNSHINE IN, Claire Denis’ darkly witty drama starring Juliette Binoche as an artist caught up in a series of unsatisfying affairs, and David Gordon Green’s rousing yet devastating true-story drama STRONGER featuring a remarkable performance by Jake Gyllenhaal as a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing.DEBATE
This year’s Debate Gala is Samuel Maoz’s FOXTROT, a film that combines thrilling cinematography with superb performances, and highlights the absurdities of conscripted service. Debate also includes: BIRDS ARE SINGING IN KIGALI, Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze’s hard-hitting drama about the intertwined lives of two refugee survivors reeling from the impact of the Rwandan genocide and containing powerful central performances; the World Premiere of THE CLIMB, Michael Woodward’s debut documentary that charts Greenpeace’s daring all-female team that illegally ascended The Shard in protest against petroleum giant Shell’s plans to dig for oil in the Arctic; the World Premiere of THE FORGIVEN, Roland Joffé’s political drama starring Forest Whitaker as Desmond Tutu and Eric Bana as Piet Blomfeld, asking how far we can go in forgiving past crimes; the World Premiere of ISLAND, Steven Eastwood’s haunting and deeply moving documentary combining observational footage with contemplative shots of the costal landscapes of the Isle of Wight, and set among terminally ill cancer patients, and THE VENERABLE W., Barbet Schroeder’s disturbingly illuminating portrait of Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, who was known for espousing anti-Muslim hatred.LAUGH
This year’s Laugh Gala is Noah Baumbach’s THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED). A stellar cast give uniformly excellent performances, including Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Elizabeth Marvel and Emma Thompson. Through the madcap antics of a neurotic, failure-obsessed clan, Baumbach surfaces bigger questions about how to value family and the meaning of success. Laugh also includes: the World Premiere of Adrian Shergold’s FUNNY COW, which contains a formidable performance from Maxine Peake as an aspiring stand-up comic confronting her violent husband and the sexist Northern England club circuit; INGRID GOES WEST, Matt Spicer’s jet-black stalker comedy brilliantly skewers dangerous obsession and the sham of Instagrammed perfection with wicked and fearless performances from Elizabeth Olsen and Aubrey Plaza; joy and grace flow out of Dustin Guy Defa’s observational comedy drama PERSON TO PERSON, starring Michael Cera as a reporter keen on quoting (his own) heavy metal lyrics; Daan Bakker’s QUALITY TIME is perfect for lovers of experimental and irreverent cinema offering a portmanteau selection of stories of male arrested development; and Henrik Ruben Genz’s WORD OF GOD is set months after the Chernobyl disaster and provides dark and dirty humour where pretty much nothing is off limits.DARE
The Dare Gala is François Ozon’s frisky new thriller, AMANT DOUBLE, a deliciously duplicitous tale of psychoanalysis and seduction that channels the spirits of Hitchcock and De Palma at their naughtiest and stars Jérémie Renier, Marine Vacth and Jacqueline Bisset. Other highlights in the strand include: Eliza Hittman’s BEACH RATS, a gripping investigation of repressed sexual desire in a hyper-masculine environment; Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi’s touching drama GIANT, set in 19th century Spain and based on the true story of Mikel Jokin Eleizegi, allegedly the tallest man of his time; Semih Kaplanoğlu’s spellbinding dystopian sci-fi, GRAIN in which climate change has caused the nearextinction of human life; Liu Jian’s adult animé HAVE A NICE DAY, a biting, bone-dry satire on contemporary Chinese social mores and featuring plenty of bloodthirsty Tarantino-esque genre thrills; the European Premiere of Bornila Chatterjee’s THE HUNGRY, which reworks Shakespeare’s bloody Titus Andronicus into a macabre modern tragedy set in Northern India; Barbara Albert’s resplendent drama MADEMOISELLE PARADIS, based on the true story of Maria Theresia ‘Resi’ von Paradis, a gifted blind musician and contemporary of Mozart, paraded through Vienna’s courts to perform; Jean Libon and Yves Hinant’s jawdropping and extraordinary documentary SO HELP ME GOD, which details the work of an unorthodox Belgian judge Anne Gruwez as she tackles gruesome crimes, domestic violence and other sordid cases; and WESTERN, director Valeska Grisebach’s contemporary western in which tensions mount between German construction workers and Bulgarian villagers in a small rural town.THRILL
This year’s Thrill Gala is Takashi Miike’s savage and inventive action thriller, BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL, based on the famous manga series by Hiroaki Samurai about a samurai cursed with immortal life and has the distinction of being Miike’s 100th feature film. Thrill also features: the European Premiere of Nattawut Poonpiriya’s Thai teen thriller BAD GENIUS, in which young brainiac Lynn uses a very special set of skills to cheat on behalf of her classmates in the high-stakes world of entrance exams for elite international universities; the European Premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s THE BRAWLER in which a young and talented Indian boxer dreams of being champion, but is knocked sideways when he falls for the niece of the man blocking his road to success; Aaron Katz’s GEMINI in which a heinous crime tests the complex relationship between a tenacious personal assistant, Jill played by Lola Kirke and her Hollywood movie star boss Heather played by Zoë Kravitz; the Safdie brothers’ latest film GOOD TIME features Robert Pattinson as a small-time New York criminal, who after a bank robbery goes seriously wrong, devises a plan to spring his injured accomplice from police custody; Jennifer Peedom’s spectacular documentary MOUNTAIN, is a mind-blowing symphony of images and sound chronicling the powerful attraction mountains hold over us; love, crime and action combine in a taut and twisty thriller-cum-romance in Michaël R. Roskam’s RACER AND THE JAILBIRD starring Adèle Exarchopoulos as Bibi, a young racing driver and Matthias Schoenaerts as Gigi the Jailbird, a dashing playboy with, it seems, time and money to burn; Ian Nelms and Eshom Nelms’ blackly comic, crime noir, SMALL TOWN CRIME (European Premiere) stars John Hawkes as alcoholic former cop Mike, channelling a drunk Columbo who embarks on his own unofficial crime investigation while Octavia Spencer plays his supportive sister Kelly who is starting to lose patience with Mike’s lying, drifting and drinking; and the International Premiere of Xin Yukun’s sophisticated arthouse thriller, WRATH OF SILENCE featuring martial arts maestro Song Yang, as a mute bruiser who returns to his home, a remote farming village, following the disappearance of his son. With tight plotting, memorable characters and an unforgettable climax, director Xin Yukun establishes himself as a new international filmmaker you need to know.CULT
The Cult Gala is Joachim Trier’s subtle shocker THELMA, a supernaturally-tinged tale of a young woman’s macabre coming of age. Other titles in the strand include: S. Craig Zahler’s genre-bending, bone-crunching exercise in slow-burn suspense, BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99, starring Vince Vaughn as a former boxer-turned mechanic involved in a drug deal that goes wrong that sees him behind bars; the walking dead get a second chance at life in David Freyne’s debut THE CURED starring Ellen Page in an inventive and surprising post-zombie era drama where a cure has been found for the infected and the rehabilitated are transitioned back into society; the World Premiere of Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman’s GHOST STORIES in which they bring their hit London stage play to the big screen, with suitably chilling results. Nyman plays Phillip Goodman, an academic and professional sceptic out to debunk claims of the supernatural , but when he stumbles across a long lost file containing three unsolved cases of the Occult, his whole belief system – not to mention his sanity – is thrown into question; LET THE CORPSES TAN is directing duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s adaptation of JeanPatrick Manchette’s influential 1971 crime novel and the result is a sun-drenched Western-tinged, crimecaper; MY FRIEND DAHMER is director Marc Meyers’ adaptation of John Backderf’s revered graphic novel and is an unnerving portrait of one of America’s most prolific murderers, Jeffrey Dahmer; and Paco Plaza’s much-anticipated new horror film, VERONICA, inspired by an actual unsolved case in Spain and a no-holds barred supernatural shocker.JOURNEY
This year’s Journey Gala is Todd Haynes’ new film WONDERSTRUCK, an enthralling adaptation of Brian Selznick’s acclaimed young adult novel. Featuring Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams in supporting roles alongside a gifted young cast, Oakes Fegley and newcomer Millicent Simmonds, a deaf actress making her film debut, it is both a whimsical children’s film for adults and a refreshingly grown-up film for children. Other Journey titles include: Arshad Khan’s ABU, a compelling documentary about a young Pakistani man’s difficulties in coping with migration and the resultant cultural change, his emerging sexuality and an increasingly orthodox father; Iraqi filmmaker Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji’s THE JOURNEY, a taut, thoughtprovoking thriller that tackles what might just be the final moments of a potential suicide bomber’s life; David Batty’s stylish documentary MY GENERATION, presented and narrated by Michael Caine, playfully explores the impact of Britain’s working class cultural revolution in the 1960s and features a wealth of archive footage and a spot-on soundtrack from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who, which makes for an exhilarating journey back in time; the European Premiere of Egyptian director Amr Salama’s SHEIKH JACKSON, a bittersweet and poignant tale of an Islamist preacher experiencing a crisis of faith following the death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson; Marc J. Francis and Max Pugh’s fascinating and immersive exploration of mindfulness, WALK WITH ME, featuring narration by Benedict Cumberbatch, follows the daily rituals and routine of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and offers a rare insight into life within a monastic community; and the World Premiere of THE WHITE GIRL, where debut director Jenny Suen collaborates with legendary cinematographer Christopher Doyle on an intoxicating and textually rich film.CREATE
The brand new Create strand channels the electricity of the act of creation, celebrating artistic expression in all its forms. The inaugural Create Gala is Michel Hazanavicius’ REDOUBTABLE, an audacious, multi-layered biopic of French cinema’s most notorious director, Jean-Luc Godard. Also in Create: Greg Kohs’ ALPHAGO the story of how Google’s DeepMind team took on Go world champion Lee Sedol, posing questions about whether computers can think creatively and whether there is an algorithm for intuition; the World Premiere of THE BALLAD OF SHIRLEY COLLINS, Rob Curry and Tim Plester’s portrait of one of the great British folks singers who mysteriously lost her voice in 1980; G-FUNK tells the story of how three childhood friends from East Long Beach Warren G, Snoop Dogg and the late great Nate Dogg, transformed hip-hop into a global phenomenon and changed the world; the World Premiere of William Badgely’s HERE TO BE HEARD: THE STORY OF THE SLITS is a riveting film about the game-changing and largely female feminist punk band; Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman’s LOVING VINCENT is a stunning, fully painted animated feature created in the style of Van Gogh’s paintings matching extraordinary style with richly satisfying storytelling, broadcast live from the National Gallery to cinemas nationwide; and Julian Rosefeldt’s MANIFESTO starring Cate Blanchett as thirteen different characters in this energetic tribute to artistic troublemakers.FAMILY
Showcasing films for the young, as well as the young at heart the Family Gala is THE BIG BAD FOX AND OTHER TALES, an outstanding, laugh-a-minute animation from Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert, the team behind Ernest & Celestine (LFF 2012, Family Gala) and is guaranteed to appeal to adults as much as it will to children. Other highlights include Chang-yong Moon and Jin Jeon’s beautifully made documentary BECOMING WHO I WAS about a young monk Padma Angdu, who is said to be the latest incarnation of a religious teacher, known as a Rinpoche, and his attempts to reach the home he had in a former life; Xuan Liang and Chun Zhang’s visually breath-taking Chinese animated fantasy, BIG FISH & BEGONIA is as near to the best of Studio Ghibli as you’re likely to find anywhere; Meikeminne Clinckspoor’s family adventure CLOUDBOY is about 12- year-old Niilas who is sent away against his wishes to spend the summer with his estranged mother in Swedish Lapland, among the indigenous reindeer herding Sami people; and winner of the top prize at this year’s Annecy Animation Film Festival, Masaaki Yuasa’s anime LU OVER THE WALL brings human and merfolk together with surprising outcomes. This funky, upbeat tale is full of energy, features cute ‘merdogs’, musical mermaids and a giant humanoid shark and has a really cool soundtrack. This section also includes a program of animated shorts for younger audiences which bring together eclectic, exciting and colourful films from all around the globe.TREASURES
The Treasures selection brings recently restored cinematic classics from archives around the world to the Festival in London. The Archive Gala is the World Premiere of the BFI National Archive restoration of the silent film SHIRAZ: A ROMANCE OF INDIA (1928), a ravishing, romantic tale based on the story of the 17th century Mughal ruler Shah Jahan, his queen and the building of the world’s most beautiful monument to love, the Taj Mahal. Directed by Franz Osten, based on a play by Niranjan Pal and starring and produced by Himansu Rai, the film was shot entirely in India and performed by an all-Indian cast. Other highlights include the World Premieres of the 4K restoration by Sony Pictures Entertainment of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (1946); the digitally remastered experimental documentary FRANTZ FANON: BLACK SKIN WHITE MASK (1996), directed by artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien, as well as the new 4K restoration, by The BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation, of Terry Gilliam’s first feature as a solo director, JABBERWOCKY (1977). The Festival will also screen the 4K restoration of Toshio Matsumoto’s FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES (1969), a wild, kaleidoscopic vision of the underground scene in 1960s Japan and a significant influence on Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and Italian genre-master Dario Argento’s eye-popping slice of technicolour terror, SUSPIRIA (1977) with stunning 4K restoration.EXPERIMENTA
Experimenta features films and videos by artists who transform our experience of seeing moving images. Highlights include: the World Premiere of Benedict Seymour’s DEAD THE ENDS, a politically urgent retelling of Chris Marker’s La Jetée bookended by the 2011 London riots; ERASE AND FORGET, Andrea Luka Zimmerman’s film is an excavation of the influence of fiction on truth in the American imagination of warfare and gun culture; the World Premiere of LEK AND THE DOGS, Andrew Kötting’s account of the ultimate outsider uses a range of visual styles derived from avant garde and genre cinema, and Kevin Jerome Everson’s TONSLER PARK uses an unobtrusive observational style to divulge the mechanisms behind the operation of Election Day at polling stations in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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BAD GENIUS Wins Best Film, Transgender Drama CLOSE-KNIT Wins Audience Award at New York Asian Film Festival
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Bad Genius[/caption]
Thailand’s Bad Genius won the Best Feature award in the Main Competition of the 16th New York Asian Film Festival. The international premiere of the high-school thriller opened the 17-day festival on June 30. Director Nattawut “Baz” Poonpiriya attended the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 15. The festival concluded July 16 with the U.S. Premiere of The Villainess.
Bad Genius was among seven feature films nominated in the festival’s newly launched Main Competition, which was restricted to films by first- and second-time directors; all seven films received their North American Premiere at the festival. The competition’s Special Mention award went to Yoshiyuki Kishi’s A Double Life from Japan, and an Honorable Mention for Most Promising Director went to Le Binh Giang for Vietnam’s Kfc.
The four other films competing in the seven-film competition were Mikhail Red’s Birdshot from the Philippines, Chen Mei-juin’s The Gangster’s Daughter from Taiwan, Cho Hyun-hoon’s Jane from South Korea, and Andrew Wong Kwok-kuen’s With Prisoners from Hong Kong. Red and Chen were among more than 30 directors, actors, producers and screenwriters who attended the festival.
Samuel Jamier, the festival’s executive director said, “The seven films represent the breadth of our lineup. Each title explores pressing ethical issues with protagonists who push back against a staid or corrupt status quo. We hope that the films’ ambition, confidence and bravura can inspire other filmmakers and festival programmers.”
Naoko Ogigami’s transgender drama Close-Knit (Japan) won the audience award. Second- and third placed in the audience vote are Shinobu Yaguchi’s post apocalyptic comedy Survival Family (Japan) and Thai thriller Bad Genius.
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New York Asian Film Festival Announces Awardees, Lifetime Achievement Award for Eric Tsang
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Eric Tsang[/caption]
The 16th New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) will present five awards, including the Star Hong Kong Lifetime Achievement Award to Eric Tsang, two Star Asia Awards, the Screen International Rising Star Award to Thailand’s Chutimon “Aokbab” Chuengcharoensukying, and the Daniel E. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema to South Korea’s Jung Byung-gil.
Gang Dong-won, China’s Duan Yihong will be awarded the Star Asia Award at the 16th New York Asian Film Festival on 1st July 2017. It is in recognition for his entire body of work. It will be presented in person to the actor before screenings of Extraordinary Mission and Battle of Memories at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
This is the first time that a Star Asia Award has been presented to an actor from China. Previous recipients include Donnie Yen, Miriam Yeung and South Korea’s Lee Byung-hun. The festival’s Screen International Rising Star Asia Award recognizing new talent has previously been presented to two actors from China, Huang Bo in 2010 and Jelly Lin in 2016.
“We’re honored to give one of our top awards to Duan Yihong, who we regard as one of China’s greatest modern actors,” said Samuel Jamier, the festival’s executive director. “The cinema of China is now central to our lineup, in recognition that it is not only at the forefront of genre cinema in Asia, but is also making the most perceptive, honest films about human relationships.”
Chinese-language films in this year’s selection include Yang Shupeng’s Blood of Youth, Han Han’s Duckweed, Liu Yulin’s Someone to Talk To, Zhang Yang’s Soul on a String, Leste Chen’s Battle of Memories and Extraordinary Mission, directed by Alan Mak and Anthony Pun.
The Excellence in Action Cinema Award will be presented to South Korea’s Jung Byung-gil. The maverick director is a former guest of the festival in 2008 when he attended the international premiere of his debut feature Action Boys. He returns to New York almost a decade later with his reinvention of action cinema, The Villainess, which will be the closing film.
The NYAFF will honor the great Eric Tsang with the Lifetime Achievement Award. This is a change from the previously announced awardee Tony Leung Ka-fai, who is unfortunately no longer able to attend the festival due to extenuating circumstances. The festival describes Tsang as the perfect choice in a year in which the festival is championing first-time filmmakers from Hong Kong. Although best known as an actor, Tsang’s most vital contribution to Greater China cinema is as an investor, producer and supporter of new directors. The festival is showing his new film Mad World by first-time director Wong Chun, also attending.
The festival will screen 57 feature films over 17 days. The festival opens on 30 June with the international premiere of Thai high-school thriller Bad Genius and closes on 16 July with the U.S. premiere of South Korean revenge thriller The Villainess. The festival’s centerpiece gala is Mikhail Red’s ecological thriller Birdshot from the Philippines.
The festival this year launches its competition for first- and second-time directors whose films are receiving their North American premiere at the festival. The seven films competing are Bad Genius (Thailand), Birdshot (Philippines), A Double Life (Japan), Jane (South Korea), Kfc (Vietnam), and With Prisoners (Hong Kong).
The 16th New York Asian Film Festival will be held at Film Society of Lincoln Center June 30 to July 13, 2017; and SVA Theater from July 14 to July 16, 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZVtP80s2RE
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Fantasia 2017 Unveils Poster and First Wave of Films, Opens with Action Thriller THE VILLAINESS
The Fantasia International Film Festival celebrates its 21st Anniversary in Montreal this summer, taking place from July 13-August 2, 2017, with its Frontières International Co-Production Market and Industry Rendez-Vous Weekend being held July 20-23. The full lineup of over 130 feature films will be announced July 5. In the meantime, the festival is excited to reveal a selected First Wave of titles, along with several special happenings.
In celebration of Montreal’s 375th anniversary, veteran Fantasia artist Donald Caron has created a poster the festival describes as “a visual love letter to our city with a piece that truly speaks for itself.”
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THE VILLAINESS[/caption]
Fantasia 2017 will start with a thunderous smash! After leaving the Cannes audience absolutely mesmerized with its groundbreaking and spectacular fight scenes and Kim Ok-vin’s ferocious, yet poignant interpretation, Jung Byung-gil’s action thriller THE VILLAINESS (North American Premiere) will be the Opening Film of this year’s edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival.
Following this astonishing jolt of raw adrenaline, who else than the Grand Maestro of international genre cinema could keep the pace? Fantasia favorite Takashi Miike, who received a well deserved Lifetime Achievement Award last year, will once again please his hordes of Montreal fans with the exuberant JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: DIAMOND IS UNBREAKABLE (North American Premiere), masterfully adapted from Hirohiko Kitakubo’s cult manga and featuring a stellar cast led by Kento Yamazaki.
This Summer, Fantasia will be saluting the groundbreaking work of independent American filmmaker Larry Cohen. Widely recognized as one of the godfathers of progressive, socially conscious genre cinema with such individualistic landmarks as the IT’S ALIVE films, BLACK CASEAR, Q, and THE STUFF, in addition to his distinctive screenwriting work for a plethora of other filmmakers, Cohen’s output has always been smart, character-driven, and boldly confrontational.
Larry Cohen will be awarded before the World Premiere of Steve Mitchell’s KING COHEN, a phenomenal documentary about the filmmaker’s extraordinary history and work, that features appearances by Martin Scorsese, John Landis, Yaphet Kotto, J.J. Abrams, Fred Williamson, Rick Baker, Joe Dante, and Eric Bogosian, among many others.
Following our past live performance events of METROPOLIS and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Gabriel Thibaudeau and Fantasia are re-teaming for a presentation of a unique cinematographic concert of Paul Leni’s 1928 classic THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, rightfully recognized as an early masterpiece of horror cinema. Thibaudeau’s original score for the film, which has been performed worldwide over the past 20 years, from Paris to São Paulo, Tokyo to New York, will be interpreted live by a nine-piece orchestra under the direction of the composer, featuring the Quatuor Molinari. Do not miss this true homage to silent cinema’s golden age!
Georgian-born French filmmaker Géla Babluani created one of the most significant thrillers of the last 15 years with his enthralling debut, the classic 13 TZAMETI. Now, after a seven-year hiatus following that film’s 2010 US remake, he has returned with MONEY’S MONEY – a taut robbery thriller whose stellar cast includes Benoît Magimel, Olivier Rabourdin, Vincent Rottiers, and Féodor Atkine. Fantasia will proudly be showcasing the film’s World Premiere.
Fantasia’s Axis Section presents two new animated films by Japan’s Yuasa Masaaki, who will attend the festival in person. Masaaki’s 2004 opus MIND GAME, showcasing his free-spirited sensibility, remains an all-time animated highlight of the festival’s programming history. First up, a wild jumble of characters and events that come together on one strange night in Kyoto, in the madcap, musical romantic comedy NIGHT IS SHORT, WALK ON GIRL (International Premiere). And then there’s LU OVER THE WALL (North American Premiere) – boy meets mermaid in this manic anime mash-up of Gothic folklore, wild fantasy, and feelgood teenage J-pop jams!
Fantasia will be presenting a special screening of Luc Besson’s hotly anticipated fantasy spectacular VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS. Based on the adored French comic series by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières, the film stars Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, and Rihanna – and promises to be one of the most visually extravagant genre works the screen has ever seen.
The lives of an addict, a Luchador, a cartel organ smuggler, and an ex-con collide in this wildly original crime/drama/blacker-than-black comedy/thriller that’s as informed by Mexican subcultures as it is by American cinema. A ferocious feature debut by Ryan Prows, LOWLIFE is one of the most gobsmacking crime film discoveries that we’ve come across in years. Beg, cheat, or steal to be at our World Premiere and witness the birth of an unforgettable instant classic.
Director Cho Sun-ho amazes with his masterfully crafted first feature film A DAY (International Premiere), which tells the story of a famous doctor stuck in a time loop where he must try to save his daughter from a fatal car accident over and over again. Going far beyond the GROUNDHOG DAY concept in terms of emotional implication and unpredictable twists, this riveting thriller will keep you on the very edge of your seat! Cho Sun-ho is definitely a name to remember!
Fantasia is proud to be presenting the World Premiere of FRIENDLY BEAST, a bold and brilliant feature debut from Brazilian writer/director Gabriela Amaral Almeida. Easily one of the most provocative works you’ll encounter this year, the film concerns a restaurant owner going over the edge when an armed robbery is attempted at his establishment. He holds everyone captive at gunpoint – criminals and customers alike – and situations corrode into a nightmare state, guided by manipulation and raw compulsion.
Ted Geoghegan’s sophomore feature, following 2015’s acclaimed WE ARE STILL HERE, confronts audiences with a very different kind of horror: our collective history. Set in 1814, MOHAWK tells the white-knuckle tale of two young Mohawk warriors and their British lover pursued by murderous American military renegades Hell-bent on blind revenge, and features a striking ensemble cast that includes Kaniehtiio Horn, Eamon Farren, Ezra Buzzington, Jonathan Huber (WWE Superstar Luke Harper), and Noah Segan. History often hurts, but sometimes it hits hard enough to kill.
The CAMERA LUCIDA Section is back at Fantasia for its eighth consecutive year! Opening with the Québec Premiere of David Lowery’s A GHOST STORY, a metaphysical exploration of love, longing, destiny and mortality that reunites the PETE’S DRAGON’s director with actors Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck, the section will once again showcase some of world cinema’s boldest and most innovative voices, at the very edge of genre cinema.
World premiering at Fantasia, Giordano Giulivi’s THE LAPLACE’S DEMON unfolds like an all-time great TWILIGHT ZONE episode directed by the three-headed offspring of Guy Maddin, Mario Bava, and Val Lewton! It will send you right over the edge with its unique mix of faux-vintage aesthetics, probabilistic science-fiction, and Gothic style. A total discovery, it beautifully balances pastiche, homage, and invention!
Also in the section, Yuya Ishii’s THE TOKYO NIGHT SKY IS ALWAYS THE DENSEST SHADE OF BLUE (Canadian Premiere) is an offbeat rom-com, a slacker dramedy, and a poetic ode to the Big City, all rolled into one virtuosic film from the director of THE GREAT PASSAGE, and based on the poetry of Tahi Saihate.
Geng Jun’s FREE AND EASY (also a Canadian Premiere) sees a soap salesman, a monk, and some lazy cops collide in a factory town in the Northeast of China. Putting the “dead” firmly back in deadpan, Geng’s comedy unfolds as an absurdist caper of Beckettian proportions, making for a great portrait of small-town crime in the wake of China’s rapid industrialization. The rest of this year’s Camera Lucida lineup will be revealed on July 5.
Years ago, Thailand gave the world ONG BAK. Then Indonesia surprised us with THE RAID. This year, it’s Cambodia’s turn to redefine the limits of action cinema with spectacular stunts and breathtaking fights at an unrelenting, frenetic pace. Explosively directed by Jimmy Henderson, JAILBREAK highlights the beauty and the know-how of a national cinema worth discovering. Don’t miss this!
YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, the hilarious feature debut of Spanish stunt coordinator Federico Cueva, who has worked extensively on the films of Alex de la Iglesia and Santiago Segura, is an explosive action/comedy that sees a framed con man (Peter Lanzani) having to impersonate an orthodox Jew in order to escape ruthless killers – played by Segura, Gerard Depardieu, and Hugo Silva! Fantasia offers you the chance to be the first to see this incredible actioner outside its home country!
Fantasia favorite Yuichi Fukuda (HK: FORBIDDEN SUPERHERO) is back, with his biggest film yet: GINTAMA, based on Hideaki Sorachi’s long-running, best-selling shonen manga series – adapted to the big screen in all its comedic, swashbuckling, fourth-wall-breaking glory! Fukuda runs completely wild with the manga’s many sight gags and extravagant costumes, in what proves to be at once a must for diehard fans and a treat for manga enthusiasts in general; a crash-course in live-action done right!
From the Oscar-winning director of THE COUNTERFEITERS and the ANATOMIE films comes the crushingly intense COLD HELL – a film that crackles with elements of Giallo, horror, thriller, and full-throttle action cinema, anchored with powerful doses of socio-political confrontation. A tough-as-nails Turkish taxi driver (Violetta Schurawlow) in Vienna witnesses a murder and finds herself stalked by a fundamentalist serial killer inspired by Islam. After a lifetime of being under siege, she’s not about to run from anyone. What follows is anything but the usual cat and mouse formula, as ideology and hate clash up against ferocious, end-of-the-rope anger.
Danish madmen Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam became a comedy team for the ages in the unforgettable KLOWN series – the first film having won a Cheval Noir at Fantasia, where it had its North American Premiere. Now, they’re together again, as co-writers and stars, in Jesper Rofelt’s DAN DREAM, an ‘80s-set comedy about a group of eccentric men striving to make an electric car. Fantasia’s audience will be the very first to see the film outside of Denmark. Get excited!
If Nicolas Machiavelli would’ve written a comic book with an edgy sense of humor, it would look like Usamaru Furuya’s manga Teiichi no Kuni. Akira Nagai, director of the Fantasia 2016 success IF CATS DISAPPEARED FROM THE WORLD, adapts this witty mix of political satire and coming of age story without falling one second into outrageous cynicism. With a dynamic performance from actor Masaki Suda who bring just enough humanity to his aspiring politician character, TEIICHI: BATTLE OF THE SUPREME HIGH (North American Premiere) is the perfect film to maintain a bit of sanity in today’s political context.
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BRIGSBY BEAR[/caption]
After celebrating its World Premiere at Sundance and its European launch at Cannes (Critic’s Week), Dave McCary’s extraordinary BRIGSBY BEAR will have its Canadian bow at Fantasia. Brigsby Bear Adventures is a children’s TV show produced for an audience of one: James (Kyle Mooney). When the show abruptly ends, James’s life changes forever, and he sets out to finish the story himself. Co-starring Mark Hamill, Claire Danes, and Greg Kinnear, BRIGSBY BEAR is an inventive and touching outsider comedy about the power of storytelling that easily ranks among the most charming films you’ll encounter this year.
Liu Jian’s award-winning 2010 debut, PIERCING 1, marked him as China’s first world-class independent animator, and established an austere, understated visual style and caustic social commentary that has carried through to his latest. Making its Canadian Premiere at Fantasia 2017, Liu’s bold second feature, the Berlinale breakout HAVE A NICE DAY is a bitter, bitingly funny slice of low-key neo-noir, in which a memorable bunch of nobodies chase a bag of cash and strike hopeless bargains with fate.
ADDITIONAL FIRST WAVE TITLES INCLUDE:
68 KILL
USA – Dir: Trent Haaga
Matthew Gray Gubler and AnnaLynne McCord incinerate the screen in this crazy scumbag thrill-ride of white-trash crime and kink that manages to subversively play with gender and be a toxic anti-romantic bloodbath of a comedy in the same breathless blow. Winner: Audience Award (Midnighters), SXSW 2017. Canadian Premiere.
BAD GENIUS
Thailand – Dir: Nattawut Poonpiriya
When Lynn (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) discovers that her academic skills can bring her thousands of baht if she helps her wealthy friends cheat at exams, she elaborates a complex scheme. What if OCEAN’S ELEVEN would somehow meet THE BREAKFAST CLUB? Well, it happened! A breathtaking coming-of-age thriller that is way smarter than anything you can expect! Official Selection: New York Asian Film Festival. Canadian Premiere.
BASTARD SWORDSMAN
Hong Kong – Dir: Tony Liu
Who will truly master the silkworm technique and bring balance to the martial world? The last surviving 35mm copy of the Shaw Brothers gem will blast you with its avalanche of unfettered lunacy. First Canadian screening in 30 years!
BITCH
USA – Dir: Marianna Palka
The provocative tale of a woman (Palka) who snaps under crushing life pressures and assumes the psyche of a vicious dog. A sharp, feminist satire that’s alternately uncomfortably funny and confrontational with a warrior soul, BITCH is a stunning achievement in every sense. Official Selection: Sundance 2017, Chicago Critics Film Festival 2017. Canadian Premiere.
DEAD MAN TELLS HIS OWN TALE
Argentina – Dir: Fabián Forte
Misogynist alpha male Angel has it all – money, power, family, sex. His only problem is, he’s dead. Gender politics are unpacked in Fabián Forte’s subversive black comedy dosed with unexpected terror. Official Selection: Morbido 2016, Fantasporto 2017. Canadian Premiere.
DEAD SHACK
Canada – Dir: Peter Ricq
A rural Canadian mix of DEAD ALIVE, SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, and ’80s kids’ movies! Director Peter Ricq (creator of the animated series FREAKTOWN) keeps things fast, light, and full of fight. Official Selection: Neuchetal Fantastic Film Festival 2017, Lund 2017. North American Premiere.
THE ENDLESS
USA – Dir: Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead
Two brothers return to the cult they fled from years ago to discover that the group’s beliefs may be more sane than they once thought. SPRING and RESOLUTION announced Benson and Moorehead as unconventional genre forces to be reckoned with. THE ENDLESS – in which the gifted filmmaking duo also star – confirms their brilliance beyond any question. Official Selection: Tribeca 2017. Canadian Premiere.
GAME OF DEATH
Canada – Dir: Sebastien Landry and Laurence Baz Morias
A hard-partying pack of teens are forced into a desperate game of kill-or-be-killed after playing the wrong retro game in this high-energy, blood-spattered brainchild of Montreal filmmakers Sebastien Landry and Laurence Baz Morais. Official Selection: SXSW 2017, Jeonju International Film Festival 2017. Canadian Premiere.
KILLING GROUND
Australia – Dir: Damien Power
A young couple (Harriet Dyer; Ian Medows) on a romantic getaway in the Australian wilderness encounter a dangerous pair of locals (Aaron Pedersen; Aaron Glenane) and a make deadly discovery in this inventively intense thriller that brings audiences back to the glory days of Aussie genre cinema and sun-drenched outback horror. Official Selection: Sundance Film Festival. Canadian Premiere.
KODOKU MEATBALL MACHINE
Japan – Dir: Yoshihiro Nishimura
People are turning into bizarre organic/mechanical creatures who terrorize the last survivors of a decimated, dome-covered Tokyo. Yoshihiro Nishimura (TOKYO GORE POLICE), Japan’s master of extreme make-up effects, is back with more of his gory creativity and his formidable capacity to create hellish – but funny – monsters. Official Selection: SXSW 2017, Night Visions 2017, The Overlook Film Festival 2017. Canadian Premiere.
MAYHEM
USA – Dir: Joe Lynch
Amid a frightening viral outbreak that leaves the infected temporarily unable to control their impulses – and subsequently not criminally responsible for their behaviour – a lawyer (THE WALKING DEAD’s Steven Yeun) and shafted homeowner (Samara Weaving) fight to confront the top executives who wronged them. A cheerfully ferocious middle finger salute to cutthroat corporate culture. Official Selection: SXSW 2017. Canadian Premiere.
M.F.A.
USA – Dir: Natalia Leite
After being sexually assaulted by a fellow classmate, an art student (Francesca Eastwood) becomes an avenging vigilante, refusing the vulnerability of victimization and exacting cold-blooded – and bloody – revenge. Official Selection SXSW 2017, Galway Film Fleadh 2017. Canadian Premiere.
MON MON MON MONSTERS
Taiwan – Dir: Giddens Ko
In a shabby Taipei neighborhood plagued by nocturnal killings, four teenage boys find trouble… and trouble finds them. A twisted coming-of-age film from the writer of MACHI ACTION and an impressive blend of genres, bouncing from comedy to horror in matters of seconds without ever making a mess. Official selection: Hong Kong International Film Festival 2017, Udine Far East Film Festival 2017, New York Asian Film Festival 2017. Canadian Premiere.
MUSEUM
Japan – Dir: Keishi Ohtomo
Fantasia favorite Keishi Ohtomo (the RUROUNI KENSHIN trilogy) is back with MUSEUM, based on Ryosuke Tomoe’s 2013 manga of the same name. It’s overworked cop vs. sadistic, frog-headed killer in this gruesome and deranged, horror-tinged thriller in the tradition of David Fincher’s SE7EN! Official Selection: Sitges 2016, Busan 2016. Canadian Premiere.
MY FRIEND DAHMER
USA – Dir: Marc Meyers
Ross Lynch stars in the haunting, sad, funny, and true story of Jeffrey Dahmer in high school, based on Derf Backderf’s critically acclaimed 2012 graphic novel of the same name and Meyers’s own 2014 Black List script. Also starring Anne Heche, Dallas Roberts, and Vincent Kartheiser. Official Selection: Tribeca 2017. Canadian Premiere.
NAPPING PRINCESS
Japan – Dir: Kenji Kamiyama
The divide between teenage Kokone’s fanciful reveries and the real world is crumbling in NAPPING PRINCESS, a sleek Japanese anime that blends steampunk fantasy and plugged-in techno-thrillers. From acclaimed director Kenji Kamiyama (GHOST IN THE SHELL: SAC, CYBORG 009, and EDEN OF THE EAST). Canadian Premiere.
NIGHT OF THE VIRGIN
Spain – Dir: Roberto San Sebastián
The first time is often clumsy and awkward, but for Nico the virgin, it’s the beginning of an endless nightmare. An unmissable comedy/horror rollercoaster of blood and lust that features some of the most grotesquely imaginative grossouts we’ve seen in years. Official Selection: Fantaspoa 2017, FrightFest 2017. Canadian Premiere.
PORK PIE
New Zealand – Dir: Matt Murphy
A trio of young misfits in pursuit of lost love race the length of the country in a stolen Mini Cooper S. Avoiding the law and with nothing to lose, they become folk heroes and most wanted criminals as they find themselves caught in the crosshairs of a media frenzy and escalating police operation. North American Premiere.
REPLACE
Germany/Canada – Dir: Norbert Keil
Afflicted with a dermatological disease, young and beautiful Kira discovers she can replace her skin with that of other girls. REPLACE is a visually sumptuous and grotesque horror/science-fiction creation, co-scripted by Richard Stanley and co-starring genre legend Barbara Crampton. Canadian Premiere.
RON GOOSSENS, LOW-BUDGET STUNTMAN
Netherlands – Dir: Steffen Haars and Flip Van der Kuil
A failed stunt makes Ron Goossens an overnight national celebrity in Holland, in the incendiary new comedy from the team who gave you the insane NEW KIDS films! Official Selection: Fantaspoa 2017, Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival 2017. North American Premiere.
SEQUENCE BREAK
USA – Dir: Graham Skipper
A loner’s budding romance is menaced by a mysterious arcade game that’s a portal to the cosmos in this masterful melding of retro ’80s horror nostalgia and Lovecraftian doom. The directorial debut of actor Graham Skipper (THE MIND’S EYE), SEQUENCE BREAK won Best Feature Film at the 2017 Chattanooga Film Festival. International Premiere.
SPLIT
South Korea – Dir: Choi Kook-hee
A fallen bowling champion (OLDBOY’s Yoo Ji-tae) attempts to team up with an autistic prodigy (POETRY’s David Lee) to rack big money with underground bowling gambles. Built like a genuine sports drama, SPLIT has way more to offer than the traditional competition story… but it will still make you cheer for the protagonists until the end credits! Official Selection: New York Asian Film Festival 2017. Canadian Premiere.
SUPER DARK TIMES
USA – Dir: Kevin Phillips
An emotionally incinerating and strangely dream-like gaze into the shadowy crevices of teenage psychology, directed with vivid imagination, telling a powerful story about adolescence’s end and the darkening of innocence, friendship, loyalty… and murder. Official Selection: Rotterdam Film Festival 2017. Canadian Premiere.
THOUSAND CUTS
France – Dir: Eric Valette
From the maker of MALEFIQUE and ONE MISSED CALL comes a compelling story about wine, drugs, neighbors, neophobia, and politics, in which a hitman seeks a place to hide. Starring Tomer Sisley (SLEEPLESS NIGHT). Official Selection: Rotterdam Film Festival 2017. North American Premiere.
TOKYO IDOLS
UK/Canada/Japan – Dir: Kyoko Miyake
“Idols”, girl bands and their pop music, permeate every moment of Japanese life. TOKYO IDOLS peeks behind the curtains of this industry, explores a cultural phenomenon driven by an obsession with young female sexuality, and the growing disconnect between men and women in hyper-modern societies. Official Selection: Sundance 2017, Hot Docs 2017, DOXA 2017, Japan Cuts 2017. Québec Premiere.
TOM OF FINLAND
Finland – Dir: Dome Karukoski
Award-winning filmmaker Dome Karukoski (LAPLAND ODYSSEY) brings the life and work of one of the most influential and celebrated figures of twentieth century gay culture to the screen in this extraordinary story of revolution and acceptance through counter-cultural art. Official Selection: Goteborg Film Festival 2017, Edinburgh International Film Festival 2017, Tribeca 2017. Canadian Premiere.
VAMPIRE CLEANUP DEPARTMENT
Hong Kong – Dir: Yan Pak-Wing and Chiu Sin-Hang
A motley crew of misfits tackle the bloodthirsty hopping vampires descending on Hong Kong! Laughter, kung fu, horror, and insanity, with a gallery of HK icons! Official Selection: Udine Far East Film Festival 2017, Bucheon International Film Festival 2017. Canadian Premiere.
WHAT A WONDERFUL FAMILY! 2
Japan – Dir: Yoji Yamada
The Hirata family is back, and Grandpa is acting up again! This sequel reunites legendary director Yoji Yamada (of the TORA-SAN series) with the exceptional cast of the first film for another round of hilarious, multi-generational slapstick comedy! Official Selection: Beijing International Film Festival 2017, Shanghai International Film Festival 2017. Canadian Premiere.
WU KONG
China/Hong Kong – Dir: Derek Kwok
Award-winning director Derek Kwok (GALLANTS) reboots the famous Monkey King legend from the popular novel, with fresh vigour of epic proportions that you’ll love for 10,000 years. To be released during the same week in China and North America. Québec Premiere.
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2017 New York Asian Film Festival Unveils Lineup, BAD GENIUS, BIRDSHOT, THE VILLAINESS and More
[caption id="attachment_22573" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Bad Genius[/caption]
The 16th New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) will take place from June 30 to July 13 at the Film Society and July 14 to 16 at the SVA Theatre. North America’s leading festival of popular Asian cinema will showcase 57 feature films, including 3 International Premieres, 21 North American Premieres, 4 U.S. Premieres, and 15 films making their New York City debuts.
This year, all three of NYAFF’s Gala screenings are brilliant reinventions of the thriller genre. The Opening Gala will be the International Premiere of Nattawut Poonpiriya’s Bad Genius, the first Southeast Asian film to open the festival, with the director and stars in attendance. In this exhilarating high school thriller, straightA students Lynn (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) and Bank (Chanon Santinatornkul) stage a heist that will undermine the U.S. university entrance system after they lose their own scholarships. The Centerpiece Gala of the festival will be the North American Premiere of Mikhail Red’s Birdshot, a continuation of the festival programmers’ efforts to champion films from Southeast Asia, and the Philippines in particular. The Closing Gala is the U.S. Premiere of Jung Byunggil’s The Villainess, fresh from its Midnight screening in Cannes. The adrenaline soaked action film stars Kim Okvin as a ruthless female assassin trained in China who starts a new life with South Korea’s Intelligence Agency.
New to NYAFF in 2017 is the Main Competition section, featuring seven diverse works by first or second time directors that are all having their North American premieres at the festival. Competing are Bad Genius (Thailand), Birdshot (Philippines), A Double Life (Japan), The Gangster’s Daughter (Taiwan), Kfc (Vietnam), Jane (South Korea), and With Prisoners (Hong Kong). The competition jury will be announced at a later date, with winners revealed on the festival’s final night at Film Society of Lincoln Center on July 13.
More now than ever, Hong Kong cinema is at the core of the festival’s programming: faithful to its Chinatown origins, this year’s edition celebrates the best filmmaking from the Special Administrative Region with a central Hong Kong Panorama section, commemorating the 20th anniversary of its establishment, with major support from the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York. Over the past two decades, Hong Kong cinema has continuously influenced and inspired many filmmakers in Asia and in the world. This year’s lineup proves the originality and excellence of its production is intact: from a powerful condemnation of life inside the territory’s juvenile detention centers (With Prisoners), to a wartime epic about resistance heroes during the Japanese occupation (Our Time Will Come), to a tale of corruption and redemption set in the underbelly of 1960s Hong Kong (Dealer/Healer), the films bear testimony to the city’s rich cinema history.
The core of the panorama will be a special (and first of its kind) focus on the exciting new generation of directors, titled Young Blood Hong Kong. As part of the 20th anniversary, the festival is looking to the future of Hong Kong cinema, rather than its past: these recent Hong Kong directors are working in various genres, tackling a range of social issues, and paying homage to the film traditions they grew up with, from tenement dramas to vampire comedies. Meanwhile, NYAFF continues to bring established, major filmmakers from the region: Lawrence Lau, who, along with Ann Hui, is one of Hong Kong’s best neorealist directors, will be introducing his star studded crime action drama Dealer/Healer; the Panorama will spotlight the new generation from the region with guest filmmaker Wong Chun and screenwriter Florence Chan with Mad World, Derek Hui with This Is Not What I Expected, and Alan Lo with Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight. Other films by first time Hong Kong directors in this year’s lineup are Derek Tsang’s Soul Mate, Yan Pakwing and Chiu Sinhang’s Vampire Cleanup Department, and Andrew Wong’s With Prisoners.
The 2017 lineup also includes five LGBTQ themed films: two dramas with transsexual protagonists, Naoko Ogigami’s CloseKnit from Japan, and Cho Hyunhoon’s drama Jane from South Korea; two coming of age high school youth dramas, Ahn Jungmin’s Fantasy of the Girls from South Korea, and Leste Chen’s 2006 Eternal Summer from Taiwan, which merits a second look a decade on; and Lee Sangil’s wild and violent mystery thriller Rage, featuring Go Ayano (NYAFF 2016 Rising Star Asia awardee) as a homeless stranger invited into the home of a semi closeted salaryman (Satoshi Tsumabuki) as his live in lover.
Another highlight of this year’s festival are three films that celebrate Japan’s unique “Roman Porno” genre, each having their North American premieres: Aroused by Gymnopedies, Dawn of the Felines, and Wet Woman in the Wind. Nikkatsu, Japan’s oldest film studio, is celebrating 45 years since they birthed the soft core Roman Porno genre (roman derives from the French word for novel). Invented to save a dying industry, they gave carte blanche to directors with minimal rules: keep it under 80 minutes with a sex scene every ten. This allowed for wild stream of consciousness works of both the highest and lowest caliber. Now, Nikkatsu has enlisted top contemporary talent for the Roman Porno Reboot Project, taking the provocative, envelope pushing format to a whole new level.
In addition to the festival’s screenings, the NYAFF awards a number of honorees each year, including this year’s recipients:
The 2017 NYAFF Lifetime Achievement Award goes to veteran Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Kafai, who will attend a three film tribute, including Johnnie To’s Election, Longman Leung & Sunny Luk’s Cold War 2 and Tsui’s Hark’s The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D. In a career spanning 35 years, Leung has worked with the iconic directors Li Hanhsiang, Wong Karwai, Stanley Kwan, and JeanJacques Annaud, and starred opposite the screen legends Jackie Chan, Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau, Jet Li, and Fan Bingbing. Leung was arguably the first Hong Kong star to become an international heartthrob, in JeanJacques Annaud’s The Lover.
THe Star Asia Award recipient is Korean movie star Gang Dongwon, whose charisma and emotional investment in his performances gives his films a unique edge. His most iconic films include Lee Myungse’s Duelist, Park Jinpyo’s Voice of a Murderer, and Jang Hoon’s Secret Reunion. Last year, NYAFF presented two of his films, The Priests and A Violent Prosecutor, and in 2017, the festival will be joined by Gang to present a special screening of the magical fable Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned.
The Screen International Rising Star Asia Award will be given to Thailand’s Chutimon “Aokbab” Chuengcharoensukying. The 21 year old model, who is still a student at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, found fame last year in Thank You for Sharing, an eight minute, viral short about cyberbullying. The NYAFF is opening with her feature debut, Bad Genius, in which she stars as a high school student who masterminds an ambitious heist of the American university entrance exam system. It’s a demanding role, in which her quick witted character must navigate a complex moral universe where parents and teachers don’t always know best.
FULL LINEUP (57)
Titles in bold are included in the Main CompetitionCHINA (6)
Battle of Memories (Leste Chen, 2017) Blood of Youth (Yang Shupeng, 2016) Duckweed (Han Han, 2017) Extraordinary Mission (Alan Mak & Anthony Pun, 2017) Someone to Talk to (Liu Yulin, 2016) Soul on a String (Zhang Yang, 2016)HONG KONG PANORAMA (11)
Cold War 2 (Longman Leung, Sunny Luk, 2016) Dealer/Healer (Lawrence Lau, 2017) Election (Johnnie To, 2005) Mad World (Wong Chun, 2016) Our Time Will Come (Ann Hui, 2017) Soul Mate (Derek Tsang, 2016) The Taking of Tiger Mountain (Tsui Hark, 2014) This Is Not What I Expected (Derek Hui, 2017) Vampire Cleanup Department (Yan Pakwing, Chiu Sinhang, 2017) With Prisoners (Andrew Wong, 2017) Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight (Alan Lo, 2017)JAPAN (15)
Aroused by Gymnopedies (Isao Yukisada, 2016) CloseKnit (Naoko Ogigami, 2017) Dawn of the Felines (Kazuya Shiraishi, 2016) Destruction Babies (Tetsuya Mariko, 2016) A Double Life (Yoshiyuki Kishi, 2016) Happiness (Sabu, 2016) Japanese Girls Never Die (Daigo Matsui, 2016) The Long Excuse (Miwa Nishikawa, 2016) Love and Other Cults (Eiji Uchida, 2017) The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio (Takashi Miike, 2016) Rage (Lee Sangil, 2016) Suffering of Ninko (Norihiro Niwatsukino, 2016) Survival Family (Shinobu Yaguchi, 2017) Traces of Sin (Kei Ishikawa, 2016) Wet Woman in the Wind (Akihiro Shiota, 2016)SOUTH KOREA (11)
Fabricated City (Park Kwanghyun, 2017) Fantasy of the Girls (Ahn Jungmin, 2016) Jane (Cho Hyunhoon, 2016) Ordinary Person (Kim Bonghan, 2017) A Quiet Dream (Zhang Lu, 2016) A Single Rider (Lee Jooyoung, 2017) Split (Choi Kookhee, 2016) The Tooth and the Nail (Jung Sik, Kim Whee, 2017) The Truth Beneath (Lee Kyoungmi, 2016) Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned (Uhm Taehwa, 2016) The Villainess (Jung Byunggil, 2017)SOUTHEAST ASIA (6)
Bad Genius (Nattawut Poonpiriya, Thailand, 2017) Birdshot (Mikhail Red, Philippines, 2016) Kfc (Le Binh Giang, Vietnam, 2017) Mrs. K (Ho Yuhang, Malaysia, 2016) Saving Sally (Avid Liongoren, Philippines, 2016) Town in a Lake (Jet Leyco, Philippines, 2015)TAIWAN (6)
Eternal Summer (Leste Chen, 2006) The Gangster’s Daughter (Chen Meijuin, 2017) Godspeed (Chung Monghong, 2016) Mon Mon Mon Monsters (Giddens, 2017) The Road to Mandalay (Midi Z, 2016) The Village of No Return (Chen Yuhsun, 2017)DOCUMENTARIES (2)
Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno (Jung Yoonsuk, 2017) Mrs. B., A North Korean Woman (Jero Yun, 2016)