The Asian Film Festival of Dallas (AFFD) will be held at the Angelika Film Center Dallas July 25-28. The lineup for this 23rd edition of AFFD includes Ning Hao’s Chinese comedy The Movie Emperor as the opening night film.
Centerpiece will be Marc Marriott’s fish-out-of-water tale Tokyo Cowboy, and the Closing Night selection is Soi Cheang’s Hong Kong action-adventure film Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. A special Saturday Showcase selection following AFFD’s red carpet celebration will be Yeon Je-gwang’s South Korean thriller The Guest.
AFFD Executive Director Thomas Schubert
ED Schubert said, “The programming for this year’s edition of the film festival goes back to the basics of what AFFD has been delivering to Dallas audiences for more than two decades now: striking dramas, high comedies, action, thrillers, horror, and insightful documentaries for and about Asians and Asian Americans. The Angelika will once again play host to appearances and conversations with our filmmakers and talent, and we will celebrate their work both as we screen their films and through our other special events and parties that truly make the Asian Film Festival of Dallas a can’t miss event for DFW film lovers.”
The Movie Emperor. The satire centers on a former Hong Kong film star who takes on a role in a modest indie drama to revive his career. To prepare for his role, he immerses himself in rural life in mainland China, struggling to adapt to the daily way of life most everyone deals with due to his arrogance and detachment from reality.
Marc Marriott’s Tokyo Cowboy screens as the Centerpiece selection on Friday, July 26. In the film, a brash efficiency expert arrives in Montana, having convinced his Tokyo bosses he can turn a profitless US cattle ranch into a premiere-performing asset. However, having taken off his suit and dressed like a cowboy in an attempt to fit in, he winds up having a life-changing experience. Director Marc Marriott will be in attendance and will participate in a post-screening Q&A.
The Guest at Saturday Showcase
Following Red Carpet entrances featuring this year’s attending filmmakers and DFW guest luminaries, the Saturday Showcase selection features Yeon Je-gwang’s thriller, The Guest. Two lackeys at a seedy motel are doing the dirty work of clean up after the clients and managing the place – as well as taping their sexual activities and selling the videos. That is until they witness – and tape – a murder. Now, they’ve got a life-and-death choice to make. Director Yen je-gwang and star Lee Juseung will be in attendance and will participate in a post-screening Q&A.
Soi Cheang’s Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In closes AFFD on Sunday, July 28, with a thriller about a young man who stumbles into the treacherous walled city and soon aligns himself with a legendary and feared underworld figure, joining his effort to protect the walled city from Mr. Big, a crime lord hired by the colonial government to destroy their sanctuary.
Art is Love: Nepal by Local Filmmakers
Additional highlights include Daniel Driensky and Sarah Reyes’ documentary Art is Love: Nepal. The screening will be the rare occurrence of AFFD spotlighting a film made by local filmmakers and features Texas artist Sean Starr on a journey to Nepal, where he explores and documents traditional and handcrafted arts that are at risk of disappearing. Both the directing duo, Driensky and Reyes, as well as the documentary’s subject will be in attendance and participate in a post-screening Q&A.
Karan Tejpal’s Indian drama Stolen delivers a South Asian offering about two brothers who are unexpectedly enlisted to help a panicked woman find her lost child. Yamaguchi Yudai’s One-Percent Warrior delivers the samurai-style combat goods in a story about a legendary, aging action film star drawn into the real world of violence when feuding yakuza gangs infiltrate the set of his latest feature.
AFFD Tickets
To purchase badges, tickets, and for more information please visit asianfilmdallas.com.
Asian Film Festival of Dallas (AFFD) is a 501©(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and supporting emerging and established Asian and Asian-American filmmakers and sharing the rich diversity of Asian culture through the medium of cinema. Over the last 20+ years, the festival has provided opportunities for over 400 Asian and Asian-American filmmakers to share their vision, often providing the only venue for their films to be shown in Dallas. The films have also allowed festival goers a chance to experience other lives and cultures without leaving their seats.
