A BETTER MAN

Attiya Khan, Lawrence Jackman / Special Presentations / Canada / 2017 / Documentary / 79 mins

20 years after they were together, Attiya confronts Steve, an ex-boyfriend who used to abuse her every day. With Steve’s permission, Attiya films them in conversation as they acknowledge a painful past and lay out a path for healing. Viscerally intimate, A BETTER MAN is an inspiring work of courage with few peers in contemporary personal documentary.

CLASSICS OF CHINESE ANIMATION

Special Presentations / 59 mins

To contextualize this year’s shattering new film HAVE A NICE DAY, we present two earlier examples of Chinese 2D animation: PIGSY EATS WATERMELON (1958) and THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE GRASSLAND (1965). Both family-friendly shorts are presented in new digital restorations and are preceded by a short lecture by Chinese animation historian Sean Macdonald.

In This Program: PIGSY EATS WATERMELON, THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE GRASSLAND

MON MON MON MONSTERS

Giddens Ko / Special Presentations / Taiwan / 2017 / Comedy, Horror, Thriller / 110 mins

In high school, there are victims and victimizers, enablers and bystanders. There are monsters too: figurative ones that feed on trouble, and literal ones that feed on human flesh. When some of the former inadvertently capture one of the latter, the real monstrosity materializes. From Taiwan’s most popular novelist-turned-director comes a savage comedy of adolescence run amuck.

OH LUCY!

Atsuko Hirayanagi / Special Presentations / Japan, USA / 2017 / Comedy, Drama / 95 mins

A middle-aged woman in Tokyo escapes dull office life when she chances upon an English class taught by a charming American. Soon she’s renamed Lucy, she develops a penchant for hug-hellos, and she’s following a postcard from San Diego to find love, adventure, and her spunky niece in Southern California.

Preceded by: CRAVE

SHOPPING FOR FANGS

Quentin Lee, Justin Lin / Special Presentations / Canada, USA / 1997 / Comedy, LGBT, Thriller / 91 mins

On the 20th anniversary of the famed “Class of 1997,” we world premiere the new digital restoration of SHOPPING FOR FANGS, the shape-shifting comedy about restaurant flirtations, marital mistrust, and a guy who thinks he’s turning into a werewolf. Starring John Cho and directed by Justin Lin and Quentin Lee, soon to become pillars of Asian American cinema.