It's one of the best Asian film events in North America and the first titles for the 2007 edition of the New York Asian Film Festival have just been announced. They're moving venues this year, operating from the IFC Center and the Japan Society through the festival's two and a half week run, and are also prominently featuring the launch of John Woo's Stranglehold - the video game sequel to Hard Boiled, which they will be screening - but let's get down to the good stuff: the films. Announced so far: Patrick Tam's After This Our Exile, Park Chan Wook's I'm A Cyborg and That's Okay, Johnnie To's Exiled, Takeshi Miike's Big Bang Love, Juvenile A, Thai action comedies The Bodyguard 1 and 2, both blockbuster adaptations of Japanese manga Death Note, Pakistani splatter picture Hell's Ground, the feel good Japanese hit Hula Girls, Japanese eye candy Memories of Matsuko, and Thai actioner Dynamite Warior. Nice.
Any truth to the rumor that Grady Hendrix who's an intergral part of this festival might be re-instating his KAIJU SHAKEDOWN blog?
I liked Bodyguard 2, although Paula Taylor should not have been verbally abused. I don't know who books the festival films, but I would recommend a screening of The Sperm and Alone of the films I saw recently in Thailand.