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June 09, 2006
THAT NY ASIAN FILM FEST SURE IS NICE!
The New York Asian Film Festival kicks off next week (June 16 - July 1) and we've added a truckload of events and special guests (see below). Also, we're giving away free tickets to the opening film, GANGSTER, the Malay action movie that was the big hit of 2005 - and the director will be there to introduce it (see even further below). And on top of all that, advance tickets are now on sale.
This year's ticket price is $9 at the box office and $9 online (plus a $1 service charge per ticket). So even if you buy your tickets online you're paying $10/each which is about 75 cents less than you'd pay in most NYC multiplexes - and it goes for a good cause (see even further than further below).
No one wants to hear us poor-mouth, but I just want to let anyone thinking of attending to know: Subway Cinema is five guys and a handful of very dedicated volunteers. We don't get salaries, we have no money, and we do the festival out of love. Although we have some sponsorship this year it only covers the cost of printing the program books. We need to make back our expenses on ticket sales and, in the past, we've always broken even. If you're thinking of supporting us this year, I encourage you to buy advance tickets. If you like what we do and can't make it to NYC, buy an advance ticket for a show at the Anthology Film Archives and it'll be like a $10 contribution to Subway and the New York Asian Film Festival (and don't worry about filling the theater - we'll resell the seat at showtime if someone wants to buy it and it's still empty). This is the time of year we get nervous (when the $7,000 shipping bills start coming in) and we really appreciate your support.
Now, on to the fun part!
Sunday, June 11 @ 7pm the Subway Cinema crew will close the Brooklyn International Film Festival with a screening of PEACOCK at the Brooklyn Museum. Giveaways! Funny outfits! Puppets! And a movie! (BUY TICKETS)
Wednesday, June 14 @ 7:30pm Subway Cinema and the Japan Society will present a special screening of ALWAYS – SUNSET ON THIRD STREET the Japanese movie that swept Japan’s Academy Awards, winning 13 of 14 categories. The screening will take place at the Japan Society and the movie’s director, Takashi Yamazaki, will introduce the film. (BUY TICKETS)
Friday, June 16 @ 6:30pm the New York Asian Film Festival will open with a screening of Malaysia’s box office hit of 2005, GANGSTER. Why on earth did a country that won’t even allow DAREDEVIL to be screened (because “devil” is in the title) make a grotty, bloody crime flick the number one movie of 2005? You can ask Director Bade Haji Azmi who will introduce the screening. (BUY TICKETS)
Thursday, June 22 @ 6:30pm the NYAFF will host the US premiere of Bollywood’s superhero spectacular, KRRISH, at the ImaginAsian Theater. This film has a huge budget, lavish song and dance numbers, and action choreography by the legendary Hong Kong action director, Ching Siu-tung (HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS). (BUY TICKETS)
Thursday, June 29 @ 8:30pm the NYAFF will host the International Premiere of Japan’s UMIZARU 2: TEST OF TRUST with director Eiichiro Hasumi, and stars Hideaki Ito and Ryuta Sato in attendance. UMIZARU 2 is the number one movie in Japan this year, and is still playing in Japanese theaters, on its way to being one of the top-grossing Japanese movies of all time. (BUY TICKETS)
Friday, June 30 @ 8:00pm we'll be hosting the World Premiere of Ram Gopal Varma's latest film, SHIVA. What more is there to say? Be the first to see his police corruption epic. (BUY TICKETS)
WANT TO WIN TICKETS?
Send an email to pandashine at yahoo.com with the answer to this question: What Malaysian actor plays the three lead roles in GANGSTER? You can find the answer somewhere on the festival website.
ADVANCE TICKETS
Advance ticket sales to both venues (the Anthology Film Archives and the ImaginAsian) will be handled through the ImaginAsian website. Just be sure you know at which venue your screening will be held and start clicking and buying. Last year we sold out over half our shows, and the year before we sold out two-thirds of them. So get tickets while you can!
And check out those funky graphics for the New York Asian Film Festival. Those are t-shirts designed by Steak Mtn. for the festival, and the goggle girl shirt will be on sale for $15 at the fest. Or, if you want to buy one through the mail, email me at grady at subwaycinema.com
June 9, 2006 at 12:32 PM in News | Permalink
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Comments
i cant believe there's not a single movie from hong kong this year
Posted by: Buma | Jun 9, 2006 2:20:26 PM
Hey did you see the NY Times piece today on "Krrish?"
They didn't even mention us (I'm one of those dedicated volunteers, I say, tooting my own horn) or that it's showing soon. It's just there. Am I correct in thinking that the art for those posters (or at least the Yokai War themed one is Craig Thompson?). Who did the art?
Posted by: Simon Abrams | Jun 10, 2006 7:12:17 AM
Steak Mtn. did the art.
You can find more of his stuff over at:
http://www.steakmtn.com/
Posted by: Grady Hendrix | Jun 11, 2006 5:07:25 AM
We tried to get several HK films for the fest, but most of the one's we were interested in were scooped up by the Weinstein's, and they weren't ready to release them. And sadly, the price on the only other HK film we went after was far too high for our pitful wallets, something we never expected, given that HK films have always been quite reasonable in the past.
Posted by: Paul | Jun 11, 2006 9:42:22 PM
Why is only the googles t-shirt on sale? The other one is far cooler?
Posted by: Charlie | Jun 11, 2006 9:48:53 PM
"We tried to get several HK films for the fest, but most of the one's we were interested in were scooped up by the Weinstein's, and they weren't ready to release them. "
Great news!
Which HK films were scooped up by the Weinstein's?
Posted by: no name | Jun 11, 2006 10:37:14 PM
I'll second Charlie. A snake-neck Yokai t-shirt would be very cool.
Posted by: David Austin | Jun 12, 2006 10:39:49 AM
Since they are notorius for buying films and not releasing them, I'm not sure this qualifies as "Great News!", but off the top of my head, some of the films they appear to have picked up are:
Tom Yum Goong
Sha Po Lang
Seven Swords
That said, they did just announce their DRAGON DYNASTY dvd label, so perhaps that's where these are headed.
Posted by: Paul | Jun 12, 2006 8:59:59 PM
hi. i was recently sent to korea to be a part of the team that is producing jang joon-hwan's new project, 'fartman' and i decided to start a blog to track its progression. anyways, if you are interested, please take a look: http://oiohl.blogspot.com/
there isn't much on there now, but hopefully, i'll have some more goodies added later on.
also, jang joon-hwan's 'hair' is premiering at the ny asian film festival!
Posted by: 2yen | Jun 13, 2006 3:44:51 AM
"Since they are notorius for buying films and not releasing them, I'm not sure this qualifies as "Great News!", but off the top of my head, some of the films they appear to have picked up are:
Tom Yum Goong
Sha Po Lang
Seven Swords"
Is Sha Po Lang one of the HK movies you guys tried for but got scooped by Weinstein ?
Which movie did you tried but couldnt afford ?
or can you not discuss it because "industry people" are not allow to name names ...
:-)
Posted by: Buma | Jun 13, 2006 2:40:23 PM
Um, I hardly think we're industry insiders - if we are then it sure is disappointing in here on the inside. I thought there would be more comfortable chairs.
This year our festival went after ISABELLA, ELECTION 1 and 2, SHA PO LANG, SEVEN SWORDS and a few others from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Unfortunately all of the movies were in negotiations with a US distributor and weren't able to be included in the festival. There was an issue of money with some of the films, but that's just a private business transaction and I'm not going to talk about it here. These things happen - for every film in the festival there are 2 other films that got away due to money, scheduling or the fact that the movie was tied up in some kind of negotiation or business deal that made participating in the fest impossible.
It's one of the more frustrating aspects of doing the film festival, but it's also just a fact of life that we've gotten used to over the last 5 years.
Posted by: Grady Hendrix | Jun 14, 2006 8:09:51 AM
Even ISABELLA were in negotiation with a US distributor? Great!
Posted by: no name | Jun 14, 2006 9:29:38 AM
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