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Previews
NY Asian Film Fest Unleashes a Tidal Wave of Cinema
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Thursday, 28 June 2018 23:56
- Written by Brad Balfour
Blood of Wolves
The massive New York Asian Film Festival returns with its slate of drama, horror, comedy, action and classics from East Asia. Running June 29 to July 15, at various theaters in NYC with more film than most cities can handle.
The festival opens with the North American premiere of Tominaga Masanori’s Dynamite Graffiti, a drama based on the life and times of Japanese porn mag king Suei Akira, who cultivated future artists such as Moriyama Daido while navigating the world of Japanese smut. The Savage Seventeen set of films feature youth in rebellion with the movies Kim Ui-seok’s After My Death, Ogata Takaomi’s The Hungry Lion, and Naito Eisuke’s competition title Liverleaf. Sunny Chan’s Men on the Dragon, starring Francis Ng and Jennifer Yu, represents the proud tradition of Hong Kong cinema in which a group of blue-collar workers who reluctantly join their company’s dragon boat team. On Saturday, July 14 will be a special secret film screening. The film will not be revealed until showtime, but it is confirmed to be a North American premiere.
Seven films will compete for the festival’s Tiger Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film: Shiraishi Kazuya’s Blood of Wolves (Japan), Nam Ron’s Crossroads: One Two Jaga (Malaysia), Naito Eisuke’s Liverleaf (Japan), Dong Yue’s The Looming Storm (China), Sunny Chan’s Men on the Dragon (Hong Kong), Jeon Go-woon’s Microhabitat (South Korea), and Treb Monteras’s Respeto (Philippines). Six of the seven films are receiving their North American premieres at NYAFF, with one world premiere.
The festival closes with the world premiere of Erik Matti’s BuyBust from the Philippines starring Anne Curtis and MMA world champion Brandon Vera as narcs taking down a drug kingpin against insurmountable odds over one unrelenting rainy night.
For a complete list of films and more, go to: https://www.nyaff.org/
New York Asian Film Festival
June 29 - July 15, 2018
Various Locations
Rock 'N' Film Shakes the House at the Anthology Film Archives
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Wednesday, 27 June 2018 21:04
- Written by Brad Balfour
The Anthology Film Archives (32 2nd Ave, New York, NY) announced a massive slate of movies for it’s Rock ‘N’ Film series, running from August 2 to the 30th. Inspired by David E. James’s book “Rock ‘N’ Film” (published in 2016 by Oxford University Press), the series examines rock music from its black roots to glam to self destruction and beyond.
The cinematic intertwining of visuals and rock music had humble beginnings with the earliest jukebox musicals like Viva Las Vegas but took new forms and sought out new audiences as the likes of DA Pennebaker looked at glam legend David Bowie in Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, and Gordon Parks Jr. brought Curtis Mayfield and Blaxploitation together in Super Fly. One of the highlights of the series is a double bill of the Jayne Mansfield head-turner set to Little Richard’s impeccable performances, The Girl Can’t Help It, with Kenneth Anger’s fetishistic biker joyride, Scorpio Rising; which blended doo-wop, bikers, Jesus Christ, Nazis, and 1960s New York all together for a film that still packs a punch.
To learn more, go to: http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/
Rock ‘N’ Film
August 2 - 30, 2018
Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Ave.
New York, NY 10003
Sun, Sand, & Cinema at the Nantucket Film Fest
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Monday, 18 June 2018 11:48
- Written by Brad Balfour
Running June 22 to the 25th, the Nantucket Film Festival has a slate of narrative features, documentaries, shorts, and star studded panels coming to the scenic Massachusetts island.
One of the spotlight films of the fest is Burden. Motivated by his girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) and an African-American reverend (Forest Whitaker), a Ku Klux Klansman (Garrett Hedlund) seeks redemption. In Inventing Tomorrow is a profile of the forward-thinking scientists of tomorrow by inspiring teenagers from around the globe who bring their environmentally-themed projects to the world's largest science fair. Love, Gilda is a documentary following the life of comedy legend Gilda Radner directed by Lisa D'Apolito. The Sentence is a portrait exploring the personal impact of mandatory minimum sentencing laws on the filmmaker's own family, centered on his imprisoned sister and her three young daughters.
The festival has more to offer than just films. Actors and comedians Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley) and Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation) present a special version of their hysterical improv show, with special participation from Ben Stiller as part of the All-Star Comedy Roundtable. The fest also includes a slate of virtual reality films and experiences courtesy of Samsung.
To learn more, go to: http://nantucketfilmfestival.org/
Nantucket Film Festival
June 22 - 25, 2018
Various locations on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts
Downtown Comes Alive With Cinema During the SOHO International Film Festival
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Thursday, 14 June 2018 15:11
- Written by Brad Balfour
The SOHO International Film Festival, taking place at Village East Cinemas located at 189 2nd Avenue on 12th Street from June 14 to the 21st, brings a cavalcade of films and stars to NYC. The SOHO International Film Festival, which proudly carries the “Made in NY” logo from the NYC Mayor’s Office of Film, Television and Broadcasting is a vehicle to help the economy of the city, enhancing the festival’s sense of pride while boosting filmmaking and tourism in the Big Apple.
Features, shorts, and documentaries fill the proceedings. Films being shown include Moss, starring male supermodel-turned-actor Mitchell Slaggert, a road movie on a river about a young man who disappears into the woods on his eighteenth birthday to find himself. In Farmer of the Year, a grandfather tries to recapture his youth by road tripping with his unemployed granddaughter in a dilapidated Winnebago to his WWII reunion while desperately trying to find a date to impress his old army buddies. In the sexually charged Daddy Issues, Maya, a talented queer artist cyberstalks the alluring Jasmine; an aspiring designer in an emotionally charged, co-dependent relationship with a neurotic sugar daddy. When Maya and Jasmine’s paths finally cross, it leads to a bizarre love triangle.The festival closes with Edouard Salier’s Cabeza Madre (Mother’s Head), a suspenseful thriller/black comedy set against the dreamy and vibrant backdrop of Cuba.
To learn more, go to: http://www.sohofilmfest.com/
SOHO International Film Festival
June 14 - 21, 2018
Village East Cinema
181-189 2nd Ave.
New York, NY 10003
