2017 Asian Pop-Up Cinema Season IV

Among the 18 films is the World Premiere of Goddesses in Taiwan Cinema, a retrospective of six (6) digitally restored movies starring legendary Taiwanese leading actresses, Pai Hong, Zhen Zhen, Brigitte Lin, Feng Fei-fei, Su Hui-lun and Kuai Lun-mei from the 1960's through the early 21st century. Asian Pop-Up Cinema is proud to present these six films free and open to the public in partnership with Taiwan Cinema Toolkit of Taiwan Film Institute and Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

Other festival highlights include the U.S. premieres of two new comedies, Survival Family, a Japanese family that struggles to keep it together after a world-wide electrical power outage occurs; and My Egg Boy, a young Taiwanese woman who’s afraid she’ll never have children freezes her eggs to prolong her fertility until the right man comes along; and a documentary-narrative shot in Tibet by critically acclaimed director Pema Tseden, The Search, about a photographer and a director traveling from village to village looking for actors to star in a film based on the Tibetan opera Drimé Kunden.

Hong Kong’s Teddy Robin Kwan will be the recipient of the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Thursday, May 11th at the Chicago History Museum. Teddy is one of the most celebrated entertainment figures in Hong Kong. His legendary career as a director/actor/singer/songwriter/record producer goes back decades. Please be sure to SAVE THE DATE.  

Season IV festival guests confirmed in attendance are:Japan: Opening Night film Survival Family director Shinobu Yaguchi accompanied by Japan Times reporter/film critic Mark Schilling and Pony Canyon International Sales Shinji Sakoda; Taiwan: My Egg Boy director Fu Tien-yu; Producer Rachel Chen; Inner Mongolia: Norjmaa Mongol Films Distribution Rep Tsogtbayar Namsrai; Korea: Closing Night film Love, Lies director Park Heung-sik; Hong Kong: Lifetime Achievement Honoree Teddy Robin Kwan accompanied by co-composer Tomy Wei. 

All ticketed screenings at AMC River East 21 includes a Q&A moderated by invited film experts from Asia or by Ron Falzone, Associate Professor at the Cinema Art and Science Dept. of Columbia College Chicago.  

As a new initiative, we are also providing extended runs at the Wilmette Theatre for select films to accommodate the audiences in the Northern suburbs.  

This season's 10 free screenings are made possible with the generous support from our various venues-hosting partners, namely, DCASE, PianoForte Chicago, Joffrey Ballet, Chinese-American Museum of Chicago; and a special contribution provided by BMO Harris Bank.  

Festival trailer providing an overview of our 18 films is edited by David Baker.  We thank him for his wonderful work 

We are also pleased to announce The White Hall Hotel being the Festival's Host Hotel taking good care of our Festival guests with many of them first-time Chicago visitors!  

Look forward to seeing you at the screenings!

Sophia Wong Boccio

Founder & Executive Director

February 1st, 2017

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