HK films to hit New York Film Festival

Nine Hong Kong films, including two world premieres, one North American premiere, and three New York premieres, will be featured at the upcoming 2018 New York Asian Film Festival in Lincoln Center, New York City.

The two world premieres are Sunny Chan's directorial debut Men on the Dragon and Antony Chan's comeback House of the Rising Sons.

Men on the Dragon, selected by NYAFF to be the centerpiece presentation, will compete in the festival's relaunched main competition with six other films.

Sunny Chan, together with actress Jennifer Yu, will attend the premiere and a meet-the-audience session for the movie on July 12. Yu is one of 10 up-and-coming artists featured in the Hong Kong Film New Action 2018-Nova Power initiative.

Antony Chan is an original member and the drummer of the legendary teen-idol band the Wynners formed in 1973, and he has returned to the director's chair after 26 years to present a vibrant biopic. His previous directorial works included A Fishy Story, for which he was nominated for Best Director in the 1990 Hong Kong Film Awards. The director will attend the film screening on July 2 to talk about his music and filmmaking career.

Presented under the banner of "Hong Kong Panorama" and with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York, Hong Kong films have been the backbone of the annual festival since 2009.

Oxide Pang's The Big Call will have its North American premiere on July 4. The three New York premieres are Jonathan Li's debut The Brink, Wilson Yip's Paradox and Chapman To's The Empty Hands. The star of The Empty Hands, Stephy Tang, who was nominated for Best Actress at the 2018 Hong Kong Film Awards, will attend the film screening and meet New York audiences for the first time.

This year is also the time to celebrate the career of Dante Lam, whose first psycho-thriller Beast Stalker became an instant modern classic when it was released in 2008. The festival will present him with the Daniel A Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema. Lam will attend the festival's opening to discuss his films together with long-term producer Candy Leung.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema have announced the 17th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival is to be held from June 29 to July 15.