Win Tickets to See Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky at NYAFF

We and our friends over at VCinema are not only going to bring you coverage of the New York Asian Film Festival, we’re also going to send a couple of you to see the films themselves. In conjunction with NYAFF and Variance Films, we’re proud to be able to give away a pair of tickets to one lucky person and a guest to the midnight, Friday, July 8th screening of Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991) at the Walter Reade Theater in the Film Society Lincoln Center.

To enter this contest, send an email to vcinema@variedcelluloid.net with the subject line “Send me to Ricky!” and include your name and an answer to the following trivia question:

What is the name of the two-part martial arts epic that Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky star Siu-Wong Fan starred in recently?

All entries must be received by 11:59PST on Sunday, June 28th. One winner will be chosen randomly from all completed entries and their information will be sent to the folks at NYAFF. Only one entry per email address, please.

NYAFF’s synopsis of Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky:

The classic Hong Kong midnight action movie about prison privatization and monsters who strangle you with their guts. Rarely seen on the big screen, this is a full-on, ridiculously crazy mind-melter full of crucifixion, flaying,classic kung fu combat and prison wardens who keep breath mints in their glass eyeballs.

Our synopsis is come on, this RICKY-frickin’ OH, the baddest of the badass movies!!!! VCinema wouldn’t dedicate the very first episode of their podcast to this film if they didn’t love it to death as we do. We’re going to be jealous that the lucky schmuck winner of this contest is going to be able to see this on the big screen!

Want a chance to win tickets to see Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha at NYAFF too? Click here

For more information about the New York Asian Film Festival, check out Subway Cinema’s blog here.

Win Tickets to See Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha at Japan Cuts

We and our friends over at VCinema are not only going to bring you coverage of the New York Asian Film Festival, we’re also going to send a couple of you to see the films themselves. In conjunction with NYAFF, Japan Cuts, and Variance Films, we’re proud to be able to give away a pair of tickets to one lucky person and a guest to one of two screenings of Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha: The Great Departure (2011) at the Japan Society on East 47th Street between 1st and 2nd avenues in New York.

To enter this contest, send an email to vcinema@variedcelluloid.net with the subject line “Send me to Buddha!” and include your name, your choice of the two available screenings (Thursday, July 7th at 6:45pm or Sunday, July 10th at 12:30pm), and an answer to the following trivia question:

Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha is based on a manga series. How many volumes are in the complete series?

All entries must be received by 11:59PST on Sunday, June 28th. One winner will be chosen randomly from all completed entries and their information will be sent to the folks at NYAFF. Only one entry per email address, please.

Japan Cuts’ description of Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha: The Great Departure:

The much-anticipated animated epic based on Osamu Tezuka’s landmark bio of the Buddha. A spectacular, philosophical drama of life told through the eyes of Siddhartha, who will later become the Buddha.

Want a chance to win tickets to see Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky at NYAFF too? Click here

For more information about the New York Asian Film Festival, check out Subway Cinema’s blog here.
For more information about Japan Cuts, check out their website here.

KAFFNY ’11: psychohydrography

Peter Bo Rappmund’s 2010 experimental documentary psychohydrography is a sensory journey along the LA River from the mountains to the sea. It was shot on location at the Eastern Sierra Nevadas, Owens Valley, the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the Los Angeles river and the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Korean American Film Festival New York’s Opening Night program on March 17th at 10:45 pm. Tickets for the Opening Night can be bought here and more information about the event can be found here. My thoughts after the break. … Continue Reading

KAFFNY ’11: Wet Sand: Voices From LA

Dai Sil Kim-Gibson’s 2004 film Wet Sand: Voices From LA is her follow up to her 1993 film Sa-I-Gu (reviewed here) and is her attempt at creating a wider picture of the 1992 LA Riots and is screening as part of the Korean American Film Festival New York in their Dai Sil Kim-Gibson retrospective. The KAFFNY will screen Sa-I-Gu: From Korean Women’s Perspectives, Wet Sand: Voices from LA (2004), Olivia’s Story, directed by Charles Burnett (1999), A Forgotten People: The Sakhalin Koreans (1995) Motherland (2006) and Silence Broken: Korean Comfort Women(1999). You can find the info here. Read my thoughts after the break. … Continue Reading

One Hundred Mornings at reRun

We here at cineAWESOME! love the reRun Gastropub Theater in Brooklyn. A theater where you can drink good beer and eat some amazing snacks (also if you’re feeling very hungry just go right next door to reBar for some more substantial meals). It is also surprisingly affordable and a ticket and a snack is often less than what you would pay for just a ticket (substantially if its 3D) at a big chain theater in Manhattan.

So when one of our favorite places is playing a film we’ve had our eyes on for a while it’s time to get excited. Conor Horgan’s One Hundred Mornings has been on our radars since we first saw the trailer and we were hooked. There are a few genres that we love more than the post-apocalyptic film. One Hundred Mornings is a film about two couples who take refuge in a lake side cabin sometime after the world has experienced a breakdown in society. Horgan’s first feature, the film has been earning great reviews all over and this will be it’s New York theatrical premiere. As a bonus there will be special guests on Friday night!

So we highly suggest you check it out. I will be there, just look for someone with a funky t-shirt and an Irish hat most likely drinking a beer.

The film is running from 3/25-3/31.
You can buy tickets here.
Film Website is here.

ONE HUNDRED MORNINGS from Bl!nder Films on Vimeo.

KAFFNY ’11: Sa-I-Gu

Dai Sil Kim-Gibson’s Sa-I-Gu (1993, 3/4″ video 36 minutes) is a documentary focusing on the 1992 Los Angeles Riots from the perspective of Korean women shopkeepers. Broadcast on PBS’s POV September 1993, this documentary takes these women’s personal stories and explores race relations, poverty, and the immigrant experience as well as the media’s portrayal of the event as a Black v. Korean conflict. This film will be part of the Korean American Film Festival New York, which is largely documentary heavy. Dai Sil Kim-Gibson came to the US in 1962 to pursue graduate studies and after receiving a Ph.D. in religion from Boston University and teaching at Mount Holyoke College she began a career working at National Endowment for the Humanities and was director of the media program of the New York State Council on the Arts. In 1988 she left to pursue a film career and has since produced a series of provocative and important documentary works. The KAFFNY will screen Sa-I-Gu: From Korean Women’s Perspectives, Wet Sand: Voices from LA (2004), Olivia’s Story, directed by Charles Burnett (1999), A Forgotten People: The Sakhalin Koreans (1995) Motherland (2006) and Silence Broken: Korean Comfort Women(1999). You can find the info here. … Continue Reading

Korean American Film Festival New York

Now in its fifth year, the annual Korean American Film Festival (KAFFNY) is the only New York based independent film festival showcasing Korean American and Korean diasporic perspectives in film. Since 2006, KAFFNY has broadened its programming to include international films and videos by Korean and as well as non-Korean filmmakers.

For its fifth anniversary, KAFFNY presents New York audiences with a challenging and innovative program ranging from groundbreaking early Korean cinema to the most current emerging Korean American films.

This year KAFFNY honors the veteran documentary filmmaker Dai-Sil Kim-Gibson with a retrospective of six pioneering films that powerfully capture the complexities of the Korean diaspora. Special guest and long-time collaborator Charles Burnett will join Dai Sil Kim Gibson for a discussion about the LA Riots, 19 years later, after the screening of her documentaries SA-I-GU and WET SAND: VOICES OF LA.

KAFFNY’s opening night presentation features a live re-score of the seminal Korean Golden age drama MADAME FREEDOM (1956) by Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky with virtuoso violinist Sean Lee and acclaimed cellist Okkyung Lee. KAFFNY will screen over 14 feature films and more than 25 short films by emerging and established Korean American, Korean and international directors. … Continue Reading

Korean Film Blogathon 2011!

Inspired by the Japanese Blogathon run by the WildGrounds website for the last two years (see here: http://bit.ly/ht0Jxe), New Korean Cinema and cineAWESOME! have decided to steal been inspired by the idea and are joining forces to create our own Korean Blogathon in the hope that we can encourage you – yes, you! – to share and discover opinions and ideas about Korean cinema. It’s open to anyone – wherever you are around the world and whichever language you speak.

We’re hoping that for one week – 7th to the 13th March – we can encourage as many people as possible to get involved writing about Korean cinema. Hopefully over the week this will kick up some really interesting posts – and most importantly that people will discover films and ideas that they’ve never come across before, maybe learn a little about Korean film history, or maybe even discover websites and blogs they were previously unaware of.

Ideas for blog posts might include reviews, top tens, opinions on favourite directors / actors / genres, whatever you want – it just needs to be related to Korean cinema in some way.

All you need to do is to write a post – or as many posts as you want over the seven days – on your blog or website and then send an e-mail with your link to blogathon@newkoreancinema.com and we’ll post a link to you from the site. You can also post your own links on our Facebook page (which is here: http://on.fb.me/hdCT5L) or we will do it for you, and we’ll Tweet links to your posts throughout the week: Twitter tag for the week will be #koreablog. If you want to use one of our ‘Korean Blogathon 2011′ banner they can be downloaded from here: http://db.tt/Q9OOiWJ

So don’t forget: 7th to the 13th March is the Korean Blogathon. Get involved!

Kikujiro, a review

Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano, 1999) is easily one of my favorite Japanese films.  At a time when all I could find was the standard J-Horror on the movie shelves Kikujiro, as a movie of a vastly different genre, was a welcome change to me.  As I watched, I was immediately absorbed–which is saying something, sometimes movies don’t hold my attention totally.

After his friends leave for summer vacation, leaving him alone with his grandmother (Kazuko Yoshiyuki), Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi) decides to try to find his mother (Yuko Daike), who his grandmother said is away working hard for him.  When Masao is found by a former neighbor (Kayoko Kishimoto), she tells him he needs to have someone go with him on his trip.  She volunteers her husband, the titular character, Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano).

… Continue Reading

KAFFNY Urban November 3-7, 2010

Korean American Film Festival New York (KAFFNY) recently announced KAFFNY Urban, a film festival that has them partnered with The Big Screen Project, a 30′ x 16.5′ outdoor LED screen being constructed in the public plaza located behind the Eventi Hotel on 6th Ave between 29th and 30th Streets. The event will take place November 3-7, 2010.

According to the press release the area features a 15,000-square-foot mix-use outdoor plaza to highlight innovators in film, animation, art, and to raise awareness for humanitarian and environmental issues. JD Carlisle Development is the plaza’s developer and the space will have tables and chairs for film viewing and snacking on food (I recommend Kyochon chicken only a few blocks away).

“We are excited to be partnering with KAFFNY Urban to bring their festival to our outdoor public screen for all of New York to experience,” said Stuart Rentzler, senior director of the Big Screen Project. “The proximity to Koreatown, one of New York’s vibrant neighborhoods, along with KAFFNY’s unique and diverse content is an example of the type of opportunity we like to bring to the community.”

There will be 15 hours of programming taking place 8 to 11PM each day, and a reception on Friday November 5, with details to be determined. “Most people know KAFFNY for our annual film festival in February. But we wanted to connect with our audience more regularly and thought this smaller screening was a great way to showcase Korean and Korean-American films using technology and a unique public space. We’re honored to be the Big Screen Project’s debut art event,” said Dave Kim, KAFFNY’s co-founder and director of the annual film festival held in February. “We’re calling this project KAFFNY ‘Urban’ because we have a commitment to showcasing NYC-based, homegrown film talent as Korean film projects also continue to attract international audiences and markets.”

They are also partnering with IndieStory and Amuse Film to provide some independent Korean cinema for the event. There will be two  documentaires about the 1992 LA Riots (Sa-i-gu and Wet Sand). Other non-narrative work will include My Daddy Called Me a Snake by Sun Young Kim,  red; state by Sun Young Kim, and both Symphony and Way Home by Erick Oh

Narrative programming will feature Chemical Fiction by Thomas Kim, Crippled by Len Chi, The 8th Samurai by Justin Ambrosino, The Last Mermaids by Liz Chae, The Last Vacation by Jae-Ho Chang, Love Is Worth It by Sung-Min Yi, Passing by Esther Chung, The Postcard by Josh Kim, Texas Girl by Hyung Hyup Kim, Une Vie Merveilleuse a Paris by Sungmi Park, and Within Limits by Eubin Ki.

This looks to be a rather interesting project and I hope KAFFNY Urban find success in their endeavor. Any outlet for independent media is going to be supported by cineAWESOME! and you can look forward to more coverage in the future.