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Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema has revealed a sneak peek at its upcoming 17th season which will take place mainly at AMC NEWCITY 14 in Lincoln Park, Sept. 8 to Oct. 7 with three Chinese films also screening at the Illinois Institute of Technology and Chicago Cultural Center’s Claudia Cassidy Theater. Season 17 will open with bathhouse dramedy Yudo with Mongolian drama Harvest Moon as the Centrepiece film. Veteran Hong Kong actor Ben Yuen will receive this season’s Pinnacle Career Achievement award. The full programme will be announced Aug. 28.
Yudo
Toma Ikuta stars as a failed Tokyo architect returning to his home town with the intention of getting control of the family bathhouse currently run by his brother (Gaku Hamada) to tear it down and build an apartment block in this warmhearted celebration of traditional bathhouse culture.
Harvest Moon
Debut directorial feature from Mongolian actor Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam adapted from a novel by T. Bum-Erden in which a chef must return from the city to take care of the harvest after his father dies.
Stand Up Story
Veteran Hong Kong actor Ben Yuen, who will also be receiving this season’s Pinnacle Career Achievement Award, stars as an intellectually disabled father.
Like a Fish on the Moon
Iranian drama in which parents search for answers when their four-year-old son stops speaking.
A Letter to the President
Drama from Afghanistan following a public official who is arrested and put on death row after defending a woman accused of adultery.
The Best is Yet to Come
Screening at the Illinois Institute of Technology in collaboration with their Office of Community Affairs
Social drama based on the life of journalist Han Fudong who exposed the stigma against people with Hepatitis B in China.
Ripples of Life
Screening at the Illinois Institute of Technology in collaboration with their Office of Community Affairs
Wei Shujun’s meta odyssey follows a Beijing film crew to a small town in rural China where everyone it seems is longing for escape. Review.
Hachiko
Screening at Chicago Cultural Center’s Claudia Cassidy Theater
The heartrending tale of a faithful dog who continued to wait for his owner at a cable car station becomes a poignant symbol for a left behind China in Xu’s Ang’s reimagining of the 1987 Japanese film. Review.
Asian Pop-Up Cinema Season 17 runs in Chicago Sept. 8 to Oct. 7. The full lineup will be announced Aug. 28. Further details will soon be available via the official website and you can also keep up with all the latest news by following Asian Pop-up Cinema on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, and Vimeo.
Windows on Worlds 