7th
NEW YORK ASIAN
FILM FESTIVAL
JUNE 20 - JULY 6, 2008
america's leading festival
of popular asian cinema

It's back like a bad dream - the New York Asian Film Festival kicks off its seventh edition this summer and we're exploding with the rich smoky taste of pure Asian movie flavor. While we have plenty of surprises still to be announced (including extreme terrorism, extreme weirdness and some hard-hitting, high profile action titles) here's what's confirmed so far:  

SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO (2007, Japan) - We unleash the beast a full month before it hits movie theaters: Takashi Miike's berserk, bloody, out-of-control English-language spaghetti western, guest-starring Quentin Tarantino. Full of female gunfighters, clockwork wheelchairs, razor sharp samurai swords and tiny fetuses growing inside blooming flowers this is the Takashi Miike movie Variety calls “one of his wildest ideas yet” And they're right. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).

L: CHANGE THE WORLD (2008, Japan) - The prequel to last year's hit DEATH NOTE movies, this is another pop gothic popcorn muncher and this time it's directed by Hideo Nakata of THE RING and DARK WATER fame. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).

ASSEMBLY (2007, China ) - Feng Xiaogang's massive war epic has been compared to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, but the combat choreography has gotten considerably more sophisticated (the sound design, amount of gore and attention to geography are all aces. The first half is a dirt-in-your-teeth war film about the Ninth Company¹s last stand during China 's 1948 Civil War. The second half is a dissection of the way war heroes are put on the shelf and forgotten once the sounds of battle fade. Truly epic, and truly magnificent.

MAD DETECTIVE (2006, Japan) - Hong Kong 's Johnnie To reunites with his favorite leading man, Lau Ching-wan, and the result is one of the darkest, strangest, most depressing and most mystical movies to come out of Hong Kong this year. Lau plays a detective who has a supernatural ability to solve crimes by re-enacting them. Unfortunately, he's also crazy. Now he's being consulted by an ambitious young cop who's trying to solve the case of the disappearing police officer and things are about to get deeply disturbing. A movie in the vein of To's RUNNING ON KARMA, this is Taoist noir.  

DAI NIPPON JIN (2007, Japan) - Ever wondered what happens when giant monsters are in heat? Us too. Which is why we've programmed Hitosi Matumoto's DAI NIPPON JIN (literally "Big Man Japan ") the giant monster mockumentary that puts the "dead" back in "deadpan." All about a superhero who fights giant monsters, this flick mixes uncomfortably humiliating slice of life footage with bizarro giant monster battles to serve up a culty cocktail that'll leave your head spinning. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).

ALWAYS 1 & 2 (2005 & 2007, Japan) - These two massively budgeted feel-good Japanese blockbusters about a Tokyo neighborhood rebuilding itself after World War II have won 14 Japanese Academy Awards between them and sold millions of tickets. ALWAYS 1 sold-out the NYAFF in 2006, and this year we're bringing it back with its enormously satisfying sequel. (ALWAYS 2 is a co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).

M (2007, Korea ) - Lee Myung-Se (DUELIST, NOWHERE TO HIDE) turns in one of the trippiest films of the year. Dividing audiences around the world, this celluloid hallucination is a gorgeous cinematic evocation of dreaming - Director Lee believes that dying, dreaming, ghosts and the subconscious all intersect and this flick is his attempt to map out that particular dreamscape. M inspired a legion of hard-core fans to take to the streets of Seoul in protest when one theater wanted to end the movie's run early.

ACCURACY OF DEATH (2006, Japan) - Takeshi Kaneshiro (FALLEN ANGELS, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) rules as the sexiest angel of death ever seen in this pitch perfect remake of “Death Takes a Holiday .” It's a romantic comedy that manages the neat trick of being both genuinely funny and genuinely romantic. (A co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film).

LADY WHIRLWIND: AN EVENING WITH ANGELA MAO ­ Angela Mao Ying is arguably one of the most charismatic action actresses ever to come out of Hong Kong, and while most people are probably familiar with her role as Bruce Lee's sister in ENTER THE DRAGON, she's got a vast filmography that is uniformly amazing. Ms. Mao has graciously agreed to appear for one night only to introduce two of her films and answer questions from the audience about her career. We couldn't be more honored that this amazing actress is coming to the New York Asian Film Festival and we're currently selecting the movies we'll be screening with her.

New website, with all sorts of neat features, is coming soon (by the end of April) - sorry for the delays, as we're working hard to bring you the best selection of Asian films, and thank you for your patience!

In the mean time, if you need to contact us, drop us an [email]