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2017 San Diego Asian Film Festival

Masters

Fresh from Cannes, Venice, and other prestigious international film festivals, these are premieres and rediscoveries of works by the world’s best directors.


  1. BEFORE WE VANISH

    Kiyoshi Kurosawa / Masters / Japan / 2017 / Romance, Science Fiction / 129 mins
    An unfaithful husband returns home to his dispassionate wife, but he’s no longer the same person. In fact, others in town too seem disconcertingly possessed by aliens intent on creating havoc and controlling minds. Meditative, unsettling, and deeply romantic, Kurosawa’s latest takes to body snatching to redeem humanity of its emotional and spiritual stasis.
    BEFORE WE VANISH

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Friday, Nov 10, 2017 8:35PM

    BEFORE WE VANISH

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Monday, Nov 13, 2017 8:40PM


  2. CLAIRE’S CAMERA

    Hong Sang-soo / Masters / France, South Korea / 2017 / Comedy, Experimental / 69 mins
    A self-parodic comedy of film festival attendees turns, with utter effortlessness by Hong Sang-soo, into a gentle rumination on chance encounters, alternative possibilities, and a spiritual escape best basked under the rays of the French Riviera sun. Kim Min-hee and Isabelle Huppert sing, drink, and shine.
    CLAIRE’S CAMERA

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, Nov 11, 2017 1:00PM


  3. THE DAY AFTER

    Hong Sang-soo / Masters / South Korea / 2017 / Comedy, Drama, Romance / 92 mins
    On her first day working at a publishing house, Areum discovers that the person she is replacing was the former mistress of the boss. Mistaken identity and drunken dallying ensue, but what sets THE DAY AFTER apart from Hong Sang-soo’s recent films is a darker melancholy cast over the humor and cinematic charms.
    THE DAY AFTER

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Friday, Nov 10, 2017 6:30PM

    THE DAY AFTER

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, Nov 11, 2017 5:00PM


  4. MRS. FANG

    Wang Bing / Masters / China, France, Germany / 2017 / Documentary / 86 mins
    Family and neighbors circle, chat, and leave, while the elderly Mrs. Fang lies quietly bedridden in her final days. This is documentary at its most uncompromising and fundamental: what is the experience of watching a human pass away? What spirits link, between our eyes and Mrs. Fang’s, as the merciless fact of death takes its place in the room?
    MRS. FANG

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Tuesday, Nov 14, 2017 8:05PM


  5. OUR TIME WILL COME

    Ann Hui / Masters / China, Hong Kong / 2017 / Drama, Historical / 130 mins
    During WWII, Japan has invaded Hong Kong, and a schoolteacher gets involved in efforts to smuggle activists and writers to safety across the border. Alternatingly spectacular and ordinary, Ann Hui’s historical drama captures the daily grind and the start-stop rhythms of ordinary folks – especially women – enlisted into the fight for national survival.
    OUR TIME WILL COME

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Monday, Nov 13, 2017 8:15PM

    OUR TIME WILL COME

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Wednesday, Nov 15, 2017 2:00PM


  6. SAMUI SONG

    Pen-ek Ratanaruang / Masters / Germany, Norway, Thailand / 2017 / Drama, Noir / 108 mins
    A soap opera star has had enough of her husband, a disciple of an off-putting, lurid cult. A chance meeting with a slick-haired problem solver gives her a possible way out, though things may not be as they seem. Pen-ek Ratanaruang is back with another eerie slow-burn noir as stylish as it is strange.
    SAMUI SONG

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Friday, Nov 10, 2017 8:20PM

    SAMUI SONG

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, Nov 12, 2017 6:30PM


  7. YOUTH

    Feng Xiaogang / Masters / China / 2017 / Drama, Historical, Romance / 146 mins
    The ardor of youth and the aromas of romanticism, tucked safely in the haven of a Cultural Revolution dance troupe, get blown into the wind in Feng Xiaogang’s poignant epic of lithe bodies, fleeting fancies, and the callous weight of China’s turbulent political history. The craft and the critique are as sweeping as they are impeccable.
    YOUTH

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Wednesday, Nov 15, 2017 6:00PM

    YOUTH

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Thursday, Nov 16, 2017 6:15PM