At the beginning of each month, CFI posts a comprehensive list of Chinese film screenings in NYC. To help you better understand China through cinema, we include films that are made by Chinese filmmakers, set in China, or tell Chinese stories. Here is what to see in June.
Film Festivals
BAMcinemaFest
06/20-07/01
A Still from ‘Shirkers’
Shirkers (Sandi Tan, 95 min, 2018)
06/25 at Peter Jay Sharp Building-BAM Rose Cinemas
In 1992, Sandi Tan was a film-obsessed teenage punk when she and her two best friends made a New Wave-inspired movie, shot guerrilla style on the streets of Singapore. Then Georges, her enigmatic American mentor, absconded with the footage, never to be seen again. Twenty-five years later, Tan revisits the episode, interweaving the newly rediscovered footage with her search for answers: Who was Georges? And what drove him to steal her art? Working in a charmingly lo-fi, handmade-collage style, Tan turns the central mystery of her life into a captivating essay on friendship, cinephilia, and the dashed dreams of youth.
Brooklyn Film Festival
06/01-06/10
I Am Not Pretty (Keung Yin Ni and Sin Man Ting, 6 min, Hong Kong, 2017)
06/08 and 06/10 at Windmill Studios
Della always puts on heavy make-up, anecdotes happen because of it. Wanting to appear more confident, wanting to look adorable for loved one, wanting to get preferential treatment, and society’s tendency to judge a book by its cover, Della believes appearance means everything, heavy make-up is beautiful.
Sisters (Fan Zhang, 4 min, China, 2018)
06/02 at Made in NY Media Center
“Sisters” is a story about two sisters separated because they have different life goals, based on the director’s real-life experiences.
New York Asian Film Festival
06/29-07/13
Lineup: To Be Updated.
Theatrical Releases
New Release:
A still from “Deadly Contract”
Deadly Contract/China Salesman (Tan Bing, 110 min, China, 2017)
opens 06/15 at Cinema Village East
Based on a true story, CHINA SALESMAN takes us on a dangerous and epic adventure to Africa where a Chinese salesman comes face-to-face with a corrupt competitor over a prized telecom deal. Local tribesman KABBAH (Mike Tyson) and mercenary LAUDER (Steven Seagal) take up opposite sides in a brutal hand-to-hand fight while the entire region threatens to explode in a dangerous civil war.
Watch the Trailer Here
Special Series and Screenings
Movies Under the Stars: MOCA Cinema: Mulan
Mulan (Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, 88 min, USA, 1998)
06/08 at Columbus Park
Join NYC Parks and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment for a free film. Come early! There will be different games and activities before the movie. This event is presented in partnership with the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA).
About the film: To save her father from death in the army, a young maiden secretly goes in his place and becomes one of China’s greatest heroines in the process. Watch the Trailer Here.
A still from “Pushing Hands”
Movies Under the Stars: MOCA Cinema: Pushing Hands
Pushing Hands (Ang Lee, 106 min, Taiwan and USA, 1991)
06/22 at Columbus Park
Join NYC Parks and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment for a free film!
A Chinese tai-chi master moves to America to live with his son’s family. This film is Not Rated.
Come early! We will have a Tai-Chi demonstration before the movie.
This event is presented in partnership with the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA).
Watch the Trailer Here.
A Still from ‘The Last Dragon’
Movies Under the Stars: MOCA Cinema: The Last Dragon
The Last Dragon (Michael Schultz, 109 min, USA, 1985)
06/29 at Columbus Park
Join NYC Parks and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment for a free film!
In New York City, a young man searches for the “master” to obtain the final level of martial arts mastery known as the glow. Along the way, he must fight a corrupted martial arts expert. This film is PG-13.
This event is presented in partnership with the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA).
Watch the Trailer Here.
A Still from ‘The Great Buddha Plus’
Taiwanese Waves fundraising event: The Great Buddha Plus screening
The Great Buddha Plus screening (Huang Hsin-yao, 104 min, Taiwan, 2017)
06/17 at Syndicated Bar
Provincial friends Pickle and Belly Button idle away their nights in the security booth of a Buddha statue factory, where Pickle works as a guard. One evening, when the TV is on the fritz, they put on video from the boss’s dashcam—only to discover illicit trysts and a mysterious act of violence.
This event is a collaboration of Taiwanese Waves and Cheng Cheng Films. This screening is a fundraiser for Taiwanese Waves, the annual showcase at SummerStage in Central Park in July.
Watch the Trailer Here.
