Asian Film Festival Of Dallas Announces Key 2012 Titles! Miike! Kim! Yim! Matsumoto! Yee! Kurosawa & More!
My favorite time of year is right around the corner! That's right, we're a little more than a month away from the 11th Asian Film Festival of Dallas, and it's time to get pumped up! Last year, the festival celebrated it's 10th year with a fantastic program than was among their best, however, if these first released titles are anything to go by, it looks like the AFFD is going to outdo itself this year!
I was sent a big 'ol press release with all of this info, but I'm so excited about these films that I'm going to add a bit of flavor.
I'm going to the the uncustomary thing and begin with the closing night films, Doomsday Book. This film is a collaboration between KIM Ji-woon (I Saw the Devil, The Good, The Bad, The Weird, A Tale of Two Sisters) and Yim Pil-sung (Antarctic Journal, Hansel & Gretel), and was recently announced as an acquisition of DFW-based Well Go USA. I love both of those filmmakers, and this film sounds right up my alley. I cannot wait to check this out, and by the time closing night rolls around, I may just be foaming at the mouth to see it!
The opening night film brings back an AFFD favorite, the lovable Takashi Miike with his big-budget video game adaptation, Ace Attorney, which has been getting great reviews from all around and looks like a lot of fun! Last year the AFFD had a really good response to Zebraman 2 after a Miike-less few years, but the man is back, and this looks much more like the crazy Miike we're used to than the serious dude who made 13 Assassins (which is really awesome anyway).
Another AFFD favorite, Hitoshi Matsumoto, returns with his latest film, Scabbard Samurai. For those of us who are used to the insane humor of Matsumoto from films like Big Man Japan (Dai Nipponjin) and Symbol, this film promises a big surprise by being completely unlike either of those.
In addition to those, we can look forward to several North American premieres from big names. First up is Derek Yee's The Great Magician, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, then we've got Wong Ching-po's crazy-looking live action anime Let's Go!, followed by the Simon Yam/Nick Cheung starrer Nightfall, and the debut feature from Jiayi Du, One Mile Above. These are just the films they've chosen to share, which, by my count, leaves around 30 more features yet to be announced!
The 2012 Asian Film Festival of Dallas will take place at the Magnolia Theater in uptown Dallas from July 12-19th. You can visit the in-progress website at the link below and pick up your VERY affordable VIP passes online now!
I was sent a big 'ol press release with all of this info, but I'm so excited about these films that I'm going to add a bit of flavor.
I'm going to the the uncustomary thing and begin with the closing night films, Doomsday Book. This film is a collaboration between KIM Ji-woon (I Saw the Devil, The Good, The Bad, The Weird, A Tale of Two Sisters) and Yim Pil-sung (Antarctic Journal, Hansel & Gretel), and was recently announced as an acquisition of DFW-based Well Go USA. I love both of those filmmakers, and this film sounds right up my alley. I cannot wait to check this out, and by the time closing night rolls around, I may just be foaming at the mouth to see it!
The opening night film brings back an AFFD favorite, the lovable Takashi Miike with his big-budget video game adaptation, Ace Attorney, which has been getting great reviews from all around and looks like a lot of fun! Last year the AFFD had a really good response to Zebraman 2 after a Miike-less few years, but the man is back, and this looks much more like the crazy Miike we're used to than the serious dude who made 13 Assassins (which is really awesome anyway).
Another AFFD favorite, Hitoshi Matsumoto, returns with his latest film, Scabbard Samurai. For those of us who are used to the insane humor of Matsumoto from films like Big Man Japan (Dai Nipponjin) and Symbol, this film promises a big surprise by being completely unlike either of those.The Southwest Premiere of Centerpiece Film SAYA-ZAMURAI (SCABBARD SAMURAI) comes from the unique mind and talent of Director Hitoshi Matsumoto (BIG MAN JAPAN, SYMBOL) mixes offbeat humor with touching drama. This period tale follows a disgraced samurai who faces death in 30-days unless he can make the grieving son of a clan leader laugh. Matsumoto's antics are given a delicate treatment as his character dreams up wildly imaginative ways to cheer the young lord. As the days pass, the local citizens soon rally behind him.Those are all of the key screening, however, the folks at the AFFD were kind enough to send over some news about other screenings apart from the marquee stuff, including fantastic repertory screenings of Akira Kurosawa's Sanjuro, Masaki Kobayashi's Hara Kiri, and the recently deceased Kaneto Shindo's masterpiece Kuroneko.
In addition to those, we can look forward to several North American premieres from big names. First up is Derek Yee's The Great Magician, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, then we've got Wong Ching-po's crazy-looking live action anime Let's Go!, followed by the Simon Yam/Nick Cheung starrer Nightfall, and the debut feature from Jiayi Du, One Mile Above. These are just the films they've chosen to share, which, by my count, leaves around 30 more features yet to be announced!
The 2012 Asian Film Festival of Dallas will take place at the Magnolia Theater in uptown Dallas from July 12-19th. You can visit the in-progress website at the link below and pick up your VERY affordable VIP passes online now!
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