Chicago, IL – (March 2, 2021) – In their longest run yet, Asian Pop-Up Cinema: Season 12 will screen more than 33 films and one of its most diverse lineups. The joint virtual and drive-in film festival opens March 15 and runs through May 1, 2021.
Presented in three parts, the festival will include its official selection at its new virtual cinema, powered by eventive for the USA (March 15-31), Academy Award contenders for Best International Feature Film (April 1-15) via its screening partner Smart Cinema USA; and one-night-only screenings at the Lincoln Yards Drive-In operated by the Davis Theater (April 15 – May 1).
In addition to 8 North American and 12 U.S. premieres, the festival will offer three Hidden Gem Encores and selected films from Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Mongolia. For the first time in Asian Pop-Up Cinema’s history, the lineup will also feature four co-productions directed by non-Asian filmmakers from France/China, France/Cambodia, Canada/Vietnam, and USA/Philippines.
Pre-recorded “Filmmakers’ Talks” will be included in the majority feature presentations with questionnaires provided by virtual moderators Mark Schilling for Japan, Kevin Ma for Hong Kong, Ron Falzone for China/Thai/Co-Productions, Darcy Paquet for South Korea and Pat McDonald for Taiwan.
This season’s Bright Star Award recipient Kasumi Arimura will also be pre-rolling a thank-you before the screening of Sho Tsukikawa’s AND LIFE GOES ON, a story of love, survival, and hope in the aftermath of The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011; and A DAY-OFF OF KASUMI ARIMURA (Episode 1: At My Home), a faux-documentary mother-daughter dynamic that saw her working first time with Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda.
The Festival’s programming is selected by Sophia’s Choice (aka Festival Director and Founder Sophia Wong Boccio) who went the extra mile to spotlight an exciting lineup for moviegoers during the pandemic. “We are continuously excited with the impressive new directors’ works.” she said. “This season especially, bringing in four non-Asian directors’ works in the West Meets East Showcase is an excellent example of bridging cultures across continents by the creative storytellers.”
Whether at the Drive-in or online, the festival continues to deliver new and exciting cinema highlighting the best releases from top movie distributors around the world.
Asian Pop-Cinema: Season 12 opens by honoring Japanese filmmaking, with the U.S. premiere of Shinji Araki’s thriller THE TOWN OF HEADCOUNTS on Monday, March 15. Channeling sci-fi dystopian classics, this compelling thriller is a politically astute allegory of Japanese society, surveillance, election interference and terrorism. This season’s selection of films from Japan also includes the much anticipated ONE SUMMER STORY by Shuichi Okita’s new take on Rettou Tajima’s manga that emphasizes family and relationships.
Kicking off the drive-in presentations is Centerpiece film ONE SECOND CHAMPION from Hong Kong Director Chiu Sin Hang. Combining the boxing genre with a refreshing dash of fantasia, Chiu’s solo directorial debut follows a single father who is gifted with the power of seeing one second into the future. When his ability is exposed, a boxing buff persuades him to use his power in the ring.
Closing Night is the U.S. Premiere of quirky rom-com, READY O/R KNOT from first-time director Anselm Chan. The battle-of-the-sexes love story follows couple Heidi and Guy contemplating marriage, but their mounting campaigns against one another lead to hurt, heartbreak, and the questionable reconciliation.
Midwest premieres include Quebec’s Jean-Philippe Duval’s 14 DAYS, 12 NIGHTS, follows one woman’s pilgrimage to Vietnam as she discovers the whereabouts of her daughter’s biological mother. Throughout this stunningly beautiful journey, the two women form a friendship cemented by the mutual love they share for the same child. South Korean film MOVING ON from first-time director Yoon Dan-bi examines family dynamics through the young eyes of a brother and sister as they struggle with adolescence in a multi-generational household.
Nontraditional family love is explored in the U.S. premiere of DEAR TENANT, from director Cheng Yu-chieh, whose native Taiwan was the first in the region to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019 and is now the leading production hub for LGBTQ filmmaking on the continent. “I made this film for all the people in society who carry on loving, and are determined to love, despite facing a lot of ignorance and misunderstanding from others. I’m very moved by people who courageously express their love in the face of such stigma.”
Another North American premiere includes award-winning thriller THE SILENT FOREST from another first-time filmmaker, “tour-de-force” director Ko Chen-nien. Analyzing the psychological and sexual complexity in perpetrators and sufferers of child abuse, the film delves into trauma, victimization, and Taiwan’s lack of legal consequences.
Hidden Gem Encore CHOLA (Shadow of Water) from Indian director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan is a psychological thriller following a young couple on a day trip to a city, trapped with a sinister driver-chaperone. Reflecting on India’s rape cases in the mid-1990s, the film serves as an indictment of both Indian culture and societies worldwide that continue to abuse and objectify women to this day.
