Aliens, Romance, & Thrills at the 2022 NY Asian Film Festival

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 13 July 2022 18:27

Written by Brad Balfour

Angry Son, Photo: © LesPros entertainment

Kaiju, drama, horror, romance, and more are in store for you at the 2022 New York Asian Film Festival. Running July 15 to the 31st at venues across NYC, the NYAFF is committed to increasing exposure of Asian representation on screen and providing opportunities for audiences of all communities to experience the diversity and brilliance of Asian and Asian American cinema. New films from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and throughout South East Asia will delight, inspire and terrify audiences.

Films include the US premiere of Shin Ultraman, from director Shinji Higuchi and writer/producer Hideaki Anno, the duo behind Shin Godzilla, as they reinvent another classic icon of Japanese tokusatsu cinema. In the Hong Kong thriller Overheard, Sean Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo and Daniel Wu star as high-tech criminal intelligence officers investigating a devious executive suspected of monumental insider trading. When two of the cops get wind of an extremely lucrative secret, they go turncoat and try to cash in. Their altruistic boss intervenes but it proves too late, corruption spins the once-straight path to justice into violent chaos, with devastating repercussions for all. The Japanese film Angry Son, follows Jungo, a gay, biracial high schooler who was raised by his feisty single mom, a Filipina bar hostess, Enduring rampant xenophobia, homophobia bullying, and parental abandonment Jungo finds sollace in his loving boyfriend. The closing film of the fest, Alienoid, is a Korean sci-fi fantasy romp where rogue aliens have been trapped as prisoners inside human brains for years and when they try to break free, a lone keeper of intergalactic peace known as “the guard” (Kim Woo-bin) opens a rift in time to prevent them from escaping. This is but a small sampling of the cinematic onslaught on display at NYAFF.

The festival will also feature masterclasses and talks from actors, producers, and directors such as Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge), Doris Yeung (founder of CinemAsia Film Festival in the Netherlands), Dennis Liu (creator of the Netflix series Raising Dion), and Josie Ho (Dream Home), among others.

To learn more, go to: https://www.nyaff.org/

New York Asian Film Festival 2022
July 15 - 31, 2022

Various Locations

Urbanite Arts & Film Festival: Lifting Up Diverse Voices in Cinema

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 24 June 2022 15:34

Written by Renzo Adler

To help foster diverse voices in cinema, the Urbanite Arts & Film Festival is looking to promote young and underrepresented filmmakers. Running June 24th to the 26 at the Bedford Playhouse (633 Old Post Road, Bedford NY), the debut festival features short films, photographs, short films and spoken word from young artists around the world.

The mission of the Urbanites Arts & Film Festival is stated as…

…to foster the next generation of filmmakers that are underrepresented in the film industry. Launching its inaugural festival in June 2022, Urbanite Arts & Film Festival will highlight underrepresented voices including, but not limited to, young women, BIPOC, LatinX, LGBTQIA, people with disabilities, and the neuro-diverse communities. Through exhibition of their art, we create a platform for a diverse range of young artists to express themselves creatively and launch creative careers.

The festival opens with a ticketed Red Carpet event on Friday, June 24th. Films will be screened on June 25th, with the Award Ceremony & Artist Presentation on June 26th. The Urbanite Arts & Film Festival was founded by Alex Armando Torres, a self-taught filmmaker and photographer, seeking to lift up diverse under represented voices in cinema and art.

To learn more, go to: https://www.urbanitefest.org

Urbanite Arts & Film Festival
June 24 - 26, 2022

Bedford Playhouse
633 Old Post Road
Bedford, NY 10506

The Sanguinary Cinema of Dario Argento on Display at Lincoln Center

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 16 June 2022 15:51

Written by Brad Balfour

Suspiria

Italy has produced the finest in art, cuisine, and unparalleled horror cinema. For decades the work of Dario Argento has terrified audiences around the world and made giallo (Itallian murder mysterys named after the yellow paper of cheap novels) famous (alongside the work of luminaries such as Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci, of course). Filled to the brim with cacophonous music, haunting camera angles, and unbridled gore Argento redefined the slasher into something dream-like. Now Film at Lincoln Center is presenting the films of Dario Argento in Beware of Dario Argento: A 20-Film Retrospective.

Films include The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Deep Red, Tenebrae, Opera, Phenomena, Suspiria, special 35mm screenings of Inferno, Mother of Tears, Trauma, The Stendhal Syndrome, The Black Cat, and Dracula 3D, along with  his made-for-television feature Do You Like Hitchcock?. The lineup also will host the North American Premiere of Dark Glasses, his first film in 10 years. Argento will also be appearing at select screenings of the films, many of which also have new 4K restorations.

To learn more, go to: https://www.filmlinc.org/

Beware of Dario Argento: A 20-Film Retrospective
June 17 - 29, 2022

Film at Lincoln Center - Walter Reade Theater
165 W 65th St.
New York, NY 10023