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Chicago – Season 12 continues for the Asian Pop-Up Cinema (Apuc) series of Chicago with a series of 11 films at the Lincoln Yards Drive-In from April 15th through May 2nd, 2021. For a complete schedule and ticketing information, click here.

The Opener at the Drive-In on Thursday, April 15th, is the U.S. Premiere of “One Second Champion” (Hong Kong), directed by Chiu Sin Hang. A loser single father learns that lesson the hard way when he becomes gifted with the power of seeing one second into the future. When his ability is exposed, a boxing buff persuades him to use his power in the ring. Can a second mean the difference between life and death?

April 15th, 2021: ’One Second Champion’ (Hong Kong) at Apuc Drive-In

Photo credit: AsianPopUpCinema.org

In addition to eight North American and 12 U.S. premieres, the festival is offering selected films from Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, China,...

Following up the stellar Happy Hour and Asako I & II, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s streak continued last month with the premiere of his latest film, the triptych Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy. Meant to be a small-scale project filmed while he prepared his next film, we’re hoping U.S. distribution for his Berlinale premiere arrives soon, but in the meantime, we have the first look at his second feature of 2021.

Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, staring Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura, Masaki Okada, and Reika Kirishima, is adapted from Haruki Murakami’s story, first published in the English-language anthology Men Without Women. With the film now completed, it was reported the story follows a stage actor and director happily married to his playwright wife. Then one day the wife disappears and, two years later, the hero is appointed the director of a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he is assigned a mostly silent young woman chauffeur,...

Chicago, Il – – With one of its most diverse lineups, Asian Pop-Up Cinema: Season 12 continues with a drive-in film festival, April 15 – May 2 at The Drive-In at Lincoln Yards, operated by local landmark cinema, Davis Theater.

This season highlights the best of Asian filmmaking, with a lineup of features from Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Mongolia. In addition to many international and U.S. premieres, the festival will screen five official selections submitted for 2021 Academy Awards consideration.

Oscar-nominated Minari will have a special screening on April 29 and May 1 at the Drive -In. Lee Isaac Chung’s acclaimed film, nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Score, tells the story of a Korean family pursuing the American dream on an Arkansas farm. Sponsored by the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Chicago, the screening will...

After staying relatively quiet since the release of The Grandmaster, Wong Kar-wai has been busy the past few months. He began production on his first project since the aforementioned film, we saw the debut of his restored and re-edited masterpieces courtesy of Criterion and Janus, and he even lent his producing hand to the Sundance premiere One for the Road. The prolific streak continues as he’s behind a new short film––one that outshines anything that aired during last night’s Super Bowl.

Created for Mercedes Benz China in conjunction with the Lunar New Year––which takes place this Friday––the 6.5-minute short is “curated” by Wong Kar-wai, according to on-screen text, while Ogilvy Asia reports he actually directed it. Full of Wong trademarks such as a vibrant color palette, rain-soaked windows, slow-motion, romantic longing, and more, it certainly contains his beautiful touches throughout regardless.

Watch the short film...

Ten years after Wilson Yip jump-started Donnie Yen's career with Spl (aka Kill Zone), the sequel is upon us, and it is making huge bank in mainland China. Kevin Ma over at FilmBiz Asia has done the maths, and claims that Soi Cheang's sequel has scored "a record opening for a contemporary action film", taking Us$50.6 million since opening on 18 June. A 3D release no doubt helped, but Wu Jing is on a roll after his last effort, Wolf Warrior, pulled in close to Us$100 million earlier this year. However, even with those figures, SPL2 could only place second to Jurassic World over the Chinese bank holiday weekend.A sequel in name only, SPL2: A Time For Consequences stars Tony Jaa, Wu Jing and Max Zhang,...

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It was just a couple of weeks ago that New York's Museum of the Moving Image presented the retrospective Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: The Cinema of Patrick Lung Kong. Yesterday, as Kevin Ma reports in Film Business Asia, Lung died at his home in the Us at the age of 79. "Making Cantonese-language films at a time when Mandarin-language films dominated Hong Kong cinema, Lung was a stylish storyteller whose films were considered ahead of their time. Often ending his films with didactic monologues, Lung was far from being a subtle storyteller. However, he was praised for tackling social issues that other filmmakers wouldn't touch." » - David Hudson...

It was just a couple of weeks ago that New York's Museum of the Moving Image presented the retrospective Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: The Cinema of Patrick Lung Kong. Yesterday, as Kevin Ma reports in Film Business Asia, Lung died at his home in the Us at the age of 79. "Making Cantonese-language films at a time when Mandarin-language films dominated Hong Kong cinema, Lung was a stylish storyteller whose films were considered ahead of their time. Often ending his films with didactic monologues, Lung was far from being a subtle storyteller. However, he was praised for tackling social issues that other filmmakers wouldn't touch." » - David Hudson...

Some big news coming in from China by way of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, better known over here by their catchy acronym Sapprft or, for broadcasted and theatrically released entertainment, Sarft. Often described as the Chinese censorship board, any film produced in Mainland China first has to be approved by Sarft. Which means that their monthly publication of approved titles is a nice heads-up on what is being planned over there. According to Kevin Ma over at Filmbiz Asia, this month's list includes at least one very hot item: production company Sil-Metropole Organisation Limited has been given license to make Spl 2, a thematic sequel to Wilson Yip's 2005 film Sha Po Lang. This is big, Big news. The...

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