Jinsei

Source: Gaga

‘Jinsei’

New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) has unveiled the eight features that will compete for the Uncaged Award at its 24th edition, which is set to open with the world premiere of Korean action-comedy Informant.

The competition for best feature film at the festival, running July 11-27, includes titles that have already scored acclaim across Asia and chime with NYAFF theme this year of “cinema as disruption”. Organisers said its selection aimed to “challenge every assumption about Asian cinema”.

The nominees for its top prize include Time To Be Strong from South Korea’s Namkoon Sun, which won three awards including the grand prix at Jeonju International Film Festival last year. The film follows three former K-pop idol singers whose careers and personal lives have stalled, leading to a soul-searching trip together to Jeju Island.

From China are Xu Lei’s father-son comedy drama Green Wave, which won the jury award at Pingyao, and noir Deep In The Mountain, the directorial debut of award-winning editor Li Yongyi.

Family Matters from Taiwan’s Pan Ke-yin picked up an acting prize for the ensemble at Osaka Asian Film Fest while Ryuya Suzuki’s Japanese animation Jinsei recently played in competition at Annecy.

Set to receive their North American premieres at NYAFF are Hong Kong drama Montages Of A Modern Motherhood by Oliver Chan and Ash Mayfair’s Vietnamese transgender drama Skin Of Youth. The titles are rounded out by Baatar Batsukh’s Mongolian detective thriller Travesty, which previously played at Busan.

All the nominated directors are expected to attend the festival in New York to take part in Q&As and the NYAFF’s closing night awards ceremony on July 27. The jury comprises Japanese-US actress Masumi, veteran actor Tzi Ma, Hong Kong-based producer Michael Werner, actor Yao (most recently seen in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners) and Banjong Pisanthanakun, the Thai filmmaker known for Shutter, Pee Mak and The Medium.

NYAFF also revealed that this year’s edition will open with the world premiere of Korean action-comedy Informant, with director Kim Seok in attendance alongside actor Heo Sung-tae, best known international for his role in Netflix’s Squid Game.

Further guests are set to include Japan’s Tadanobu Asano, who won a Golden Globe for his performance in FX series Shogun, who will attend with Mark Gill-directed biopic Ravens; and Taiwanese actress Vivian Sung, known for romantic comedy Our Times, who will Korea-Taiwane co-production The Secret House.

This year’s programme will include 78 feature films and 28 shorts with screenings at four venues across Manhattan: Film at Lincoln Center, the SVA Theatre, LOOK Cinemas W57 and the Korean Cultural Center NY.

New spotlights at this edition include Queer Unbound, the Shanghai Animation Studio Retrospective, and North Korean Cool – a sidebar reframing the role of North Korean characters in storytelling.

“This completes our most ambitious program ever,” said Samuel Jamier, NYAFF executive director. He added that the festival would continue “to support bold artists before the world fully recognises them – and to celebrate how far they’ve come.”

As previously announced, Hong Kong star Ekin Cheng and actress Natalie Hsu are set to receive the Star Asia Award and Screen International Rising Star Award respectively. Both appear in Last Song For You, which will screen at the festival.

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