Can’t stand another cliché-ridden summer blockbuster?
This year’s Cine Fan Summer International Film Festival will run from August 11-25, featuring dozens of premieres, screenings and retrospectives.
Though smaller in scale than the main festival in April, the summer version boasts an award-winning lineup, with wuxia epic “The Assassin,” for which Taiwanese maestro Hou Hsiao-hsien won Best Director at Cannes, set as the opening film. Woody Allen’s predictably quirky and quasi-autobiographical rom-com “Irrational Man,” which stars Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, will close the festival.
Perhaps the most exciting news for local cinephiles is the gala premiere of Ringo Lam’s “Wild City,” which completes the director’s “City” trilogy that began 28 years ago with the influential “City on Fire.” With the film, Lam jumps out of retirement and continues his stark portrayal of crime and money worship in Hong Kong, which goes to show that not much has changed here over the past three decades.
Other highlights include a master class on the films of the Taiwanese father of “Slow Cinema” Tsai Ming-liang, who will meet the audience after a screening of his timelessly tragic “The River.” A retrospective on Hollywood screwball comedy films from the ‘30s will also be held.
Book your tickets on Urbtix today!
What: Cine Fan Summer International Film Festival 2015
When: August 11-25 (see website for show times)
Where: Various cinemas (see website for locations)
Tickets: Urbtix
Prices: HKD65-85
Photo Source: Screenshot of “Irrational Man” trailer
