nyaff winter showcase

NYAFF Winter Showcase 2020: Steal Your Heart With LOVE AT FIRST BITE For These Seven Edible Titles

Last year’s inaugural Winter Showcase by the New York Asian Film Festival was an amazing red carpet stunner with films like Miss Baek and Malaysian crime drama, Fly By Night outlined for its bilateral Crazy Broke Asians/A Touch Of Old School theme. As we speak, the NYAFF is now ready to load up on its approach toward the 19th summer film festivities, and before then, next month’s Winter Showcase is taking it up a notch with Love At First Bite, ushering in the new decade with a spotlight on food cultures through cinema. At a juncture when America still obsesses over Bong Joon-ho’s award winning Parasite, and some of its more minute plot points such as the wonders of Ram-Don (jjapaguri), it is timely to show that when it comes to putting food front and center, Asian movies do it best. The 2020 line-up, consisting of seven titles, is described […]

Through Violence, Social Awareness And A Child’s Eyes, MISS BAEK Urges You To Try A Little Tenderness

Lee B. Golden III

I haven’t seen Han Jae-rim’s 2007 film The Show Must Go On, so far be it for me to weigh in with any pretenses on the work of its co-writer, Lee Ji-won. Therein, however, lies the added bonus of only just now getting to sample his work as I did this week with his feature directing debut, Miss Baek, a film that rightly validates the ceremony that’s been much ado at festivals of late in Korea, Tokyo, the UK and as of last week, right here in New York City. Opening the New York Asian Film Festival’s inaugural Winter Showcase last week, the emotional journey Miss Baek takes you on is one that so fittingly tackles some important themes and issues regarding poverty and the 99% among which our own Baek Sang-ah (Han Ji-min) is a part of. Abandoned by her abusive mother at a young age and ostracized by […]

NYAFF Winter Showcase: MISS BAEK Star Han Ji-Min Illuminates As Film Ambassador For First-Year Event

Lee B. Golden III

Folks attending the first weekend of the NYAFF Winter Showcase got first hand entertainment last week with actress Han Ji-Min for the opening premiere of Lee Ji-won’s new drama, Miss Baek. Han was announced in mid-January as the organization’s Film Ambassador for this year’s inaugural Winter event launching two-weekends of notable Asian titles centric on the 99% and the extraordinary lives of ordinary people, coupled with a dose of old school kung fu and action films to boot. The first-ever Winter Showcase took place at Chelsea’s SVA theatre in New York City where the actress spoke to the audience and introduced the award-winning film. Han etches her place in NYAFF’s now 18-year history, following in the footsteps of summer edition attendees such as actors Lee Byung-hun (Keys To The Heart), Gang Dong-won (Ilang: The Wolf Brigade) and Kim Yoon-seok (Dark Figure Of Crime). “I’m so honoured to become the first […]