Asian Film Festival of Dallas 2010 – July 23rd-29th

Over 30 films, 3 short film programs, Q & A’s, premieres and a ton of fun.

The 9th Annual AFFD will continue to enlighten and awaken our film tastes.  There’s horror, sci-fi, heart-warming drama, comedy and crazy wild ass antics.  So here’s the deal – PSD will have the luxury of covering the films and hope to attend 20 films total (hope!!).  For this first edition of our coverage of the festival we’ll give a run down of what we’re hoping to see each day.

Here is the link to the site itself.

Lets breakdown the 7 days that make up AFFD 2010.

Venus – Magnolia Theater and Angelika of Dallas.

July 23rd – Opening Night –

Au Revoir Taipei

The debut feature by writer-director Arvin Chen looks to be a mixture of Garden State and Go.  A romance that jumps from Taipei to Paris and back is complicated because of gangsters, mistaken identities and Death Cab for Cutie.  This one looks like a great way to start off the festival.  The full schedule is opened with Sparrow at 2pm – for you that can make it during the work day.  This is a must see for AFFD 2010 – come out and be part of the Southwest Premiere of Au Revoir Taipei.

Friday, July 23rd – 7:00pm
Landmark Magnolia Theatre

Thursday, July 29th – 12:00pm
Landmark Magnolia Theatre
Second Showing

PSD looks to cover crime thriller I Corrupt All Cops on Friday night as well. An All-star cast is thrown into British-ruled Hong Kong in the corrupt filled 1960’s and 70’s. With recent foreign crime thrillers like The Lives of Others gaining a large world following, I Corrupt All Cops has a chance to really shine.  Also films with crazy female lead villains are always fun (check out Animal Kingdom for a similar evil female crime leader).

Friday, July 23rd – 9:10pm
Landmark Magnolia Theatre

Tuesday, July 27th – 5:00pm
Angelika Film Center Dallas
Second Showing

Saturday July 24th – Full Day of Films!!!

There are 6 films today and we hope to see 4 of them.  We’ll start out with the artful documentary Agarian Utopia at 12pm.  For a complete change of pace Kung Fu Dunk at 5pm is labeled as an Action-Comedy about a young bball playing martial artist.  A kung fu slam dunk champion will be crowned = UM SOLD!!!  Both films are making premieres – Southwest for Agarian and North American for Kung Fu Dunk.  So far in the schedule we’ll have seen a Romantic Comedy, a Crime Thriller, a beautifully visual documentary and an action-comedy.  Lets follow all this up with an abrasive drama.  Breathless is about a debt-collector Sang-Hoon and how his aggressive and foul demeanor shape the world he lives in.   Sang-Hoon is played by talented actor Yang Ik-Joo who is marking his directorial debut with Breathless.

We’ll follow this all up with a midnight scary film!!  Phobia 2 simply a cluster of SCARY ASS STORIES.  5 thai directors take us on 5 tales of fear and well more damn fear!!  The sequel has added one more story (Phobia was about 4 scary ass tales) and seems to have gotten more sinister with its tales.  Midnight movies should make you fear driving home in the wee hours of the morning.  Looks like we have a winner!

Sunday July 25th –  Seeing EVER film!!  5 in total.

We’ll end the night with these two badasses from Clash.   Before all the crazy shoot-em up fun we start Sunday off with the first short program:  Explorations.  9 total short films that range from documentaries on the background of the Black Eyed Peas, monks, sharks, and the wonderful voice of Werner Herzog.

That’s right would it be an Asian Film Festival without some type of Anime film.  Well how about an award-winning animation film – Summer Wars.  Its about a young math-genius that saves the world and it looks GREAT.   The next film marks the directorial debut of legendary actor Koji Yakusho (Babel and Memoirs of a Geisha).  Toad’s Oil is a piece that Yakusho co-wrote and seems to be a personal tale that he is allowing us all to witness.  The next two action films are two real highlights.  The highly regarded sequel to IP Man (a special screening on thursday night of the original – hush hush) will have its Southwest Premiere.  IP Man 2 is one of the three centerpiece films (the other two open and close the festival).  It has Sammo Hung back in on-screen action – which means SHOW THE F UP its Sammo Hung kicking ass!!!  To end the wild night we’ll watch 90 minutes of pure-adrenaline-producing action.  One hot lady, 4 gun-wielding men, and NO QUESTIONS ASKED = Awesome.  Yep Bay Rong (Clash) is going to rock!

Monday July 26th – Big Q & A tonight.

Mao’s Last Dancer is the newest film from Bruce Beresford (BREAKER MORANT, TENDER MERCIES).  The film takes us from Communist China to the heart of Houston, Texas all through the eyes of a young ballet dancer.  Following the gripping film will be a Q & A with the real life – Charles Foster (played by Kyle MacLachlan) and Ben Stevenson (played by Bruce Greenwood).  This should be a wonderful event and comes highly recommended.  The late night film is Kamui, a loan ninja must battle his way through life.

Tuesday July 27th – PSD make it’s first trip to the Angelika!!

We’ll start out Tuesday with an inter-racial and inter-religion romance that takes place during a talent show.  The late-director Yasmin Ahmad battled intense controversy for her avant-garde and challenging films.  She tested the Islamic leadership in her home country of Malaysia and will always be remembered for this impacting battle.  Talentime is a heart-warming tale of a young girl’s love for a deaf/mute boy.  Tissues may be needed for this film.   I’ll venture on over to the Angelika to catch the late night showing of horror-comedy Chaw.

Wednesday July 28th – Sadly unable to see films today.

HOWEVER – if you want a strong recommendation!!

Running Turtle – 7:20pm at the Magnolia is a drama about a rural cop battling his gambling addiction and well of course CRIME.  This one looks AWESOME and well i’m a stickler for any Turtle related films.

Also documentary 9500 Liberty will have Director Eric Byler and community leaders in attendance to discuss the making of the film, and the impact of the immigration debate in the Dallas community.   This will be at the Angelika Dallas – film starts at 7:30 with discussion following the film.

Thursday July 29th – Closing Night.

I was sold on Hong Sang-soo comedy LIKE YOU KNOW IT ALL after I read this description – “has the feel of an Asian CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM”.  Following this fun film things become a bit more dramatic.   AFFD is the place for the US premiere of NO MORE CRY.  This is a wild ass tale of separated brothers fits nicely into the dark-comedy genre.  This one should be a real treat.  Ok time for SEX!!

The closing night film is THE PEOPLE I’VE SLEPT WITH by Quentin Lee.  Angela’s wild nights of sex are derailed after she becomes PREGNANT!!!  This one is going to be a fun film.  Following the film Director Quentin Lee will be there for a Q & A.  The actual last film that closes out AFFD 2010 is the late showing of SYMBOL.  This wild crazy experience is a wonderful way to end the festival.  It’ll have you questioning what exactly have you been watching for 93 minutes.

PSD will do our best to keep you updated daily and we’ll get all those wonderful Q & A’s covered for your hearts content.

PARTY TIME.