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2015 San Diego Asian Film Festival

All Films & Events

  1. AN

    Naomi Kawase / Masters / France, Germany, Japan / 2015 / drama, food / 113 mins
    The neighborhood pastry chef gets an unusual applicant to be his assistant: a 76-year-old woman with a surprising knowledge of how to improve the red-bean sweetness of his pancake confections. But with the secret recipe comes secrets about the woman’s background, and the chef is brought to rethink his inspiration.
    AN

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Tuesday, November 10, 2015 6:15 pm

    AN

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Thursday, November 12, 2015 5:30 pm


  2. THE ASSASSIN

    Hou Hsiao-hsien / Masters / China, Hong Kong, Taiwan / 2015 / drama, experimental, martial arts / 104 mins
    The great Hou Hsiao-hsien’s long-awaited martial arts adaptation is a masterpiece of the wuxia spirit. An assassin is ordered to kill her cousin but then scales away from a life of violence. Intricately ordered and immaculately detailed, but always profoundly naturalistic, Hou stuns with a treatise on beauty and justice that is beyond words.
    THE ASSASSIN

    UCSD Calit2 Atkinson Hall Auditorium
    Sunday, November 8, 2015 4:15 pm Buy Tickets

    THE ASSASSIN

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Wednesday, November 11, 2015 8:35 pm Buy Tickets


  3. ATOMIC HEART

    Ali Ahmadzadeh / Discoveries / Iran / 2015 / comedy, drama, fantasy / 93 mins
    Decked out in dyed hair and rhapsodizing on life in their twenties, a pair of partiers cruise the Tehran streets and along the way encounter a chic old friend and a charmer with a devilish side. Without a doubt the most surreal new Iranian film is also the coolest.
    ATOMIC HEART

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Tuesday, November 10, 2015 8:55 pm


  4. THE BEAUTY INSIDE

    Baek Jong-Yeol / Asia Pop! / South Korea / 2015 / fantasy, romance / 127 mins
    Imagine waking up every morning with a different face. Now imagine falling in love with somebody, only to know that their first impression will be the last. In the grand tradition of Korean romantic fantasy, THE BEAUTY INSIDE turns this premise into a lush exploration of amorous and cinematic surfaces.
    THE BEAUTY INSIDE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 4:50 pm

    THE BEAUTY INSIDE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Wednesday, November 11, 2015 5:35 pm


  5. BEING GOOD

    Mipo O / Discoveries / Japan / 2015 / drama / 121 mins
    A teacher has about had it with his rowdy students. A mother realizes she hasn’t a clue how to discipline her young daughter. Director Mipo O captures the anxiousness of childcare with paralyzing effect, but also a realist’s take on adults’ desires – even inclinations – for doing the right thing.
    BEING GOOD

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Tuesday, November 10, 2015 5:20 pm

    BEING GOOD

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Wednesday, November 11, 2015 8:00 pm


  6. THE CASE OF HANA & ALICE

    Shunji Iwai / Masters / Japan / 2015 / animation, drama / 100 mins
    In this animated prequel to Shunji Iwai’s 2004 hit, we find out that the titular high schoolers first met when they whimsically started looking into the famed murder surrounding a classmate. Their amateur sleuthing becomes a teenage dance of friendship, illuminated by the gentle hues of youth.
    THE CASE OF HANA & ALICE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, November 8, 2015 4:30 pm


  7. CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR

    Apichatpong Weerasethakul / Masters / Thailand / 2015 / experimental / 122 mins
    Apichatpong Weerasethakul casts another spell on his characters and audience, this time watching over a hospital full of soldiers with a mysterious sleeping sickness. Past worlds – a school, ancient ruins – animate strange states of longing and dreams held in suspension.
    CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Friday, November 6, 2015 5:35 pm

    CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 5:55 pm


  8. CHANGING SEASON: ON THE MASUMOTO FAMILY FARM

    Jim Choi / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2015 / documentary, family, food, LGBT / 57 mins
    Nothing is forever, and certainly not on the Masumoto family farm. Despite the peach farm’s renown, age and a depleting water table threaten its longevity. Enter Nikko: daughter, hapa, queer, and the personification of the farm’s changing season as well as its enduring spirit.
    CHANGING SEASON: ON THE MASUMOTO FAMILY FARM

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 1:00 pm


  9. COIN LOCKER GIRL

    Han Jun-hee / Asia Pop! / South Korea / 2015 / thriller / 110 mins
    Dickens meets Godfather when Il-Young, abandoned in a coin locker as a baby, grows up as a fierce daughter in a family of loan sharks. But teenage rebellion turns deadly when she starts to battle her adopted mother, the intimidating, coiffed-for-murder matron of the Chinatown underworld.
    COIN LOCKER GIRL

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Friday, November 6, 2015 9:20 pm

    COIN LOCKER GIRL

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, November 8, 2015 8:20 pm


  10. COUP D’ETAT

    Kiju Yoshida / Masters / Japan / 1973 / 110 mins
    Kiju Yoshida depicts the 1936 attempted coup against the Japanese government by Ikki Kita, played by the late Rentaro Mikuni. Equal parts political and sensual, the film ties the past to modern Japan in haunting ways.
    COUP D’ETAT

    Museum of Photographic Arts
    Thursday, November 12, 2015 6:30 pm


  11. CRUSH THE SKULL

    Viet Nguyen / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2015 / comedy, horror, thriller / 83 mins
    Chris Dinh and Katie Savoy are in love, but they need fast cash. Luckily, they’re professional thieves. Unluckily, they break into a house with no exit and no cell phone reception and no explanation for the torture pit they discover there. Luckily for us, their hapless misadventures are sheer comic gold.

    Preceded by: THE CUT THROUGH

    CRUSH THE SKULL

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Friday, November 6, 2015 9:05 pm

    CRUSH THE SKULL

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Wednesday, November 11, 2015 8:55 pm


  12. THE DARK HORSE

    James Napier Robertson / Asia Pop! / New Zealand / 2014 / drama / 124 mins
    Whale Rider’s Cliff Curtis stars as Maori chess legend Genesis Potini, an outsider in life who nonetheless stands up for underprivileged youth by creating opportunities for them through chess. Based on a true story, this raw and inspiring drama stokes passion that transcends class and disease.
    THE DARK HORSE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, November 8, 2015 8:35 pm


  13. DEADMAN INFERNO

    Hiroshi Shinagawa / Asia Pop! / Japan / 2015 / comedy, horror, thriller / 108 mins
    A crew of washed-up yakuza are about to hang up their coats until ZOMBIES ATTACK!! With the help of a high-kicking daughter, a reggae-loving fisherman, a questionable cop, and absolutely zero help from the authorities, they rediscover their calling in Japan’s most pitch-perfect horror-comedy in years.
    DEADMAN INFERNO

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 9:40 pm

    DEADMAN INFERNO

    La Paloma Theatre
    Saturday, November 14, 2015 7:30 pm


  14. DIGITAL PIONEER: BUZZFEED

    Asian American Panorama / Panel / 60 mins
    The website BuzzFeed has become not only one of the most formidable presences on the internet, but also one of the most significant platforms for Asian American artists. We welcome BuzzFeed producers including Eugene Lee Yang to talk about BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, changing demographics, and new opportunities for filmmakers.
    DIGITAL PIONEER: BUZZFEED

    UCSD Calit2 Atkinson Hall Auditorium
    Friday, November 6, 2015 5:00 pm Buy Tickets


  15. EROS + MASSACRE

    Kiju Yoshida / Masters / Japan / 1969 / 202 mins
    Kiju Yoshida's legendary biopic of anarchist Sakae Osugi and his sensually-complicated relationships with three women. Epic in size and ambition, Yoshida tells the story of a man who is the image of modern Japan.
    EROS + MASSACRE

    Museum of Photographic Arts
    Wednesday, November 11, 2015 6:30 pm


  16. FEMALE PERVERT

    Jiyoung Lee / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2015 / comedy / 62 mins
    Jiyoung Lee is back and the sleaze is as bemused an awkward as ever! This time we follow Phoebe, designer of video games of unappreciated genius and the lone champion of casual, mundane perversion, as she surveys the manscape while throwing shade at its petty intellectualism. Hilarious, screwy, enchanting.

    Preceded by: WEEKDAY GIRLS

    FEMALE PERVERT

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 7:25 pm


  17. FLOWERS OF TAIPEI: TAIWAN NEW CINEMA

    Hsieh Chinlin / Masters / Taiwan / 2014 / documentary / 109 mins
    Some of the world’s most famous directors and curators debate, reminisce, and celebrate “Taiwan New Cinema,” the film movement that reshaped cultural dialogue in 1980s Taiwan and introduced groundbreaking new talents like Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang.
    FLOWERS OF TAIPEI: TAIWAN NEW CINEMA

    UCSD Calit2 Atkinson Hall Auditorium
    Sunday, November 8, 2015 2:10 pm


  18. FULL STRIKE

    Derek Kwok, Henri Wong / Asia Pop! / Hong Kong / 2015 / comedy, sports / 108 mins
    A down-and-out ex-badminton champ shakes off her shuttlecock to reclaim her family honor from a trio of conniving thieves. Only in Hong Kong can this sports redemption tale play out with the lunacy of a thriller and the hysterical charms of a goofy comedy.
    FULL STRIKE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 1:20 pm

    FULL STRIKE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Tuesday, November 10, 2015 7:55 pm


  19. GETTING INTIMATE WITH DR. KEN

    Asian American Panorama / Panel / 60 mins
    Join us for a probing, awkwardly intimate conversation with everyone’s favorite doctor-turned-comedian Ken Jeong, star of Community, the Hangover films, and the new ABC sitcom Dr. Ken.
    GETTING INTIMATE WITH DR. KEN

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 3:10 pm


  20. GO AWAY MR. TUMOR

    Han Yan / Asia Pop! / China / 2015 / romantic comedy / 128 mins
    A plucky 30-year-old artist is hospitalized, but while friends fret about her health, she finds herself pleasantly distracted by her gorgeous doctor played by Daniel Wu. Gracefully personifying the manic spirit and emotion of the original web comic, actress Bai Baihe proves why she’s China’s new box office queen.
    GO AWAY MR. TUMOR

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Wednesday, November 11, 2015 5:20 pm