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Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema returns for its 17th Season Sept. 8 to Oct. 7. Opening with bathhouse dramedy Yudo, the season will close with surreal Korean comedy Killing Romance with actor Lee Sun-Kyun in attendance to receive the Excellent Achievement in Film Award. Veteran Hong Kong actor Ben Yuen will receive this season’s Pinnacle Career Achievement award while Ng Siu Hin and Rachel Leung will receive the Bright Star Award and Mongolian actor/director Amarsaikhan Baljinnyham will also be recognised as a Pinnacle Career Achievement Honoree.
Japan Cinema Showcase
AMC NEWCITY 14 (1500 N Clybourn Ave, Chicago, IL 60610)
Opening Night Film
Friday, September 8, 7PM: Yudo (湯道, Masayuki Suzuki, 2022)
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.
Friday, September 8, 9:30 PM: Hoarder on the Border (断捨離パラダイス Takayuki Kayano, 2023) Special Encore
A former concert pianist begins to see the world from a different angle after taking a job cleaning houses in Takayuki Kayano’s humanistic dramedy. Review.
Saturday, September 9, 2:00 PM: The Dry Spell (渇水, Masaya Takahashi, 2023)
Toma Ikuta stars as a municipal worker in charge of turning off the water supply at houses that are behind with their bills but finds himself conflicted on discovering two neglected children living alone in a home which is already without electric and gas.
Saturday, September 9, 4:00 PM: Remembering Every Night (すべての夜を思いだす, Yui Kiyohara, 2022)
A series of women wander around Tama New Town each searching for something in Yui Kiyohara’s wistful drama. Review.
Saturday, September 9, 7:00 PM: Insomniacs After School (君は放課後インソムニア, Chihiro Ikeda, 2023)
Two teens begin to overcome their fears and anxieties after bonding over their shared insomnia in Chihiro Ikeda’s adaptation of the Makoto Ojiro manga. Review.
Come & Go (カム・アンド・ゴー, Kah Wai Lim, 2020) Special Encore
September 8 – 15, 2023 Streaming available for U.S. views at: https://comeandgo.eventbrite.com
A detective investigates the connection between the discovery of an old woman’s skeleton and a series of real estate scams by interviewing the local residents many of whom are migrant workers from other areas of Asia.
Hong Kong Cinema Showcase
AMC NEWCITY 14 (1500 N Clybourn Ave, Chicago, IL 60610)
Saturday, September 16, 2:00 PM: READY O/R ROT (不日成婚2, Anselm Chan, 2023) World Premiere
Actress Rachel Leung is scheduled to do the introduction of the film.
Sequel to the 2021 film Ready O/R NOT starring much of the same cast and revolving around three couples each facing concurrent crises from dealing with an unplanned pregnancy to infidelity and trying plan a wedding with a meddling mother-in-law.
Saturday, September 16, 5:00 PM: In Broad Daylight (白日之下, Lawrence Kan, 2023)
Director Lawrence Kan and Actress Rachel Leung are scheduled to attend to do the introduction of the film and Q&A after.
Jennifer Yu stars in this ripped from the headlines drama in which an investigative journalist goes undercover to expose the dire situation in Hong Kong’s care homes for the elderly and disabled.
Saturday, September 16, 8:00 PM: Stand Up Story (說笑之人 Au Cheuk Man, 2023)
Pinnacle Career Achievement honoree Ben Yuen, and two Bright Star Award recipients Ng Siu Hin and Rachel Leung (IN BROAD DAYLIGHT) are scheduled to attend the award ceremony before the film and Q&A after.
Veteran Hong Kong actor Ben Yuen, who will also be receiving this season’s Pinnacle Career Achievement Award, stars as an intellectually disabled father.
Sunday, September 17, 2:00 PM: Over My Dead Body (死屍死時四十四, Ho Cheuk Tin, 2023)
Residents of a swanky apartment block must band together to get rid of a random corpse and protect their property values in Ho Cheuk-Tin’s dark-hearted farce. Review.
Sunday, September 17, 5:00 PM: Wish Comes True (把幸福拉近一點, Ling Chi-Man, 2023) World Premiere
Actress Rachel Leung is scheduled to attend and do the introduction for the film.
Abandoned by her mother, Xiaofei discovers a “Wish Come True” machine and bonds with a young man, Wai, who is living with a rare disease.
Centerpiece
AMC NEWCITY 14 (1500 N Clybourn Ave, Chicago, IL 60610)
Saturday, September 23, 2:00 PM: Harvest Moon (Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam, 2023)
Pinnacle Career Achievement honoree Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam is scheduled to attend the award ceremony before the film and Q&A after.
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.
Saturday, September 23, 5:30 PM: A Letter to the President (Roya Sadat, 2017)
Director Roya Sadat is scheduled to attend for the introduction before the film and the Q&A after.
Drama from Afghanistan following a public official who is arrested and put on death row after defending a woman accused of adultery.
Saturday, September 23, 7:30 PM: Like a Fish on the Moon (Dornaz Hajiha, 2022)
Director Dornaz Hajiha is scheduled to attend for the introduction before the film and the Q&A after.
Iranian drama in which parents search for answers when their four-year-old son stops speaking.
Chinese Cinema Showcase
Illinois Institute of Technology (10 W 35th St, Chicago, IL 60616) Admission Free. RSVP is required.
Saturday, September 30, 2:00 PM: Ripples of Life (永安镇故事集, Wei Shujun, 2021)
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.
Saturday, September 30, 4:30 PM: The Best is Yet to Come (不止不休, Wang Jing, 2020)
Social drama based on the life of journalist Han Fudong who exposed the stigma against people with Hepatitis B in China.
Sunday, October 1, 2:30 PM at Claudia Cassidy Theatre: Hachiko (忠犬八公, Xu Ang, 2023) Special Encore
78 E. Washington St. Chicago, IL 60602. Admission Free. RSVP is required. Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, all the attendees will receive an individually wrapped moon cake after the screening, courtesy of the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago.
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.
Seven Days in Heaven (父后七日, Essay Liu, Wang Yu-lin, 2010) Special Encore
Director Wang will give a pre-recorded virtual introduction to the film.
September 25 – October 1, 2023 Streaming available for U.S. views at: https://seven-days-in-heaven.eventbrite.com
Comedy in which a young woman experiences culture shock on returning from the city for her father’s Taoist funeral.
South Korea Cinema Showcase
AMC NEWCITY 14 (1500 N Clybourn Ave, Chicago, IL 60610)
Friday, October 6, 7:00 PM: New Normal (뉴 노멀, Jung Bum-Shik, 2023)
Anthology film featuring six interconnected tales of love and violence in post-pandemic Seoul from the director of Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum.
Friday, October 6, 9:15 PM: The Childe (귀공자, Park Hoon-Jung, 2023) Special Encore
A boxer finds himself in a precarious position after travelling to Korea in search of the father who abandoned him in Park Hoon-jung’s bloody thriller. Review.
Saturday, October 7, 2:30 PM: Drive (드라이브, Park Dong-hee, 2023)
Director Park Dong-Hee is scheduled to attend and introduce the film and do the Q&A after.
Intense drama in which a snooty influencer falls asleep in a taxi after attending a brand launch and wakes up to discover she is trapped in the boot of a car. The driver wants a ransom, but not only that he wants her to live stream her kidnapping!
Closing Night Film
Saturday, October 7, 7:15 PM: Killing Romance (킬링로맨스, Lee Won Suk, 2023)
Lead actor Lee Sun-kyun is scheduled to attend for the award ceremony and together with director Lee Won Suk, they are doing the INTRO and the Q&A of the film.
A once famous actress sets out to reclaim her autonomy from an abusive, controlling, billionaire husband in Lee Won-suk’s hilariously off the wall comedy. Review.
Asian Pop-Up Cinema Season 17 runs in Chicago Sept. 8 to Oct. 7. Further details are 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 