| New York Asian Film Festival Schedule announced |
| Tuesday, 07 June 2011 08:30 |
 The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema announce the full schedule for the 2011 New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) which will screen July 1 -14. Presented in partnership between the two organizations with programming support from Japan Society, the popular film festival will showcase 46 films (45 feature length and 1 short film) from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Photo Caption: Tsui Hark |
