Friday, March 1
PREMIERE
SKY HUNTER
“Gives Top Gun a run for its money”
— Richard Yu, Cinema Escapist
Only the second air combat movie in Chinese film history – the first was 2011’s Lock Destination – SKY HUNTER stars Fan Bingbing, China’s most popular actress, as a helicopter pilot in this high-octane military action adventure. Called “a treat for aviation enthusiasts and China watchers,” by Cinema Escapist’s Richard Yu, the film follows the thrilling exploits of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force as they work to defeat a group terrorists and bring down a deadly hostage plot in a film offering special access to aircraft and equipment rarely (if ever) seen in Western films. Li Chen also stars.
Friday, March 8
PREMIERE
MORIBITO: GUARDIAN OF THE SPIRIT: SEASON ONE
The best-selling fantasy novel series, “Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit”, comes to rich life in a full 4K adventure drama starring leading Japanese actress Haruka Ayase. Set in an imaginary land resembling ancient Asia, the worlds of spirits and humans intertwine in mysterious ways across four SEASON ONE episodes. The heroine, Balsa, a skilled bodyguard and a masterful spear-wielder, is forced to protect Prince Chagum who’s in danger of being assassinated by his father, King Mikado. Following Balsa’s perilous journey, audiences are propelled into a world of dense forests, spectacular palaces and spirits and demons in a world of adventure being unveiled for the very first time.
Friday, March 15
PREMIERE
MISBEHAVIOR
The second feature film by noted emerging director Kim Tae-yong (Set Me Free, which won the Citizen Critics’ Award at the 2014 Busan Film Festival) and produced by star filmmaker Ryoo Seung-wan (Veteran), MISBEHAVIOR is about a volatile relationship between two female teachers and their male student. Hyo-joo (Ha-neul Kim) is a temporary teacher at a boys’ high school and Hae-yeong (Yu In-yeong) is a fellow teacher who is the school board chairman’s daughter. One day, Hyo-joo witnesses Hae-young locked in a passionate embrace with a Jae-ha, a dance student, and she starts feeling an inexplicable sense of humiliation towards Hae-yeong, while gradually falling under the influence of Jae-ha’s elusive charm. (Korea, 2016, 96 minutes)
STREAMING PREMIERES
MARCH 2019
Friday, March 1
PREMIERE
OUTERMAN
In this parody of the classic tokusatsu series Ultra Man from director Minoru Kawasaki (Kani Goalkeeper, The Rug Cop, The World Sinks Except Japan, The Calamari Wrestler), the famous fictional alien hero Outer Man actually lands in Japan, promising to protect the world from the forces of evil-but he’s got another plan up his iconic latex sleeve, and it’s up to the actors from his TV show to stop him. Yasuhisa Furuhara, Gero, Gen Ichikawa, Yuki Ikushima, Eiichi Kikuchi, and Ryuki Kitaoka star. (Japan, 2016, 82 minutes)
Friday, March 8
EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE
CREAMY MAMI
One of the earliest pioneers in the now popular maho-shojo (magical girl) genre, CREAMY MAMI, which originally aired on Nippon Television from July 1983 to June 1984, captured anime fans hearts and was a huge hit for Pierrot. Now, MIDNIGHT PULP brings back this all-time anime classic for a new generation!
CREAMY MAMI centers around ordinary 10 year-old girl Yu Morisawa, who is given magical powers by aliens to transform into the beautiful 16-year-old Mami for one year. Quite by accident, Mami ends up becoming an overnight pop-idol sensation as “Creamy Mami”, and Yu quickly finds herself living a kind of double-life as both a 10-year-old school girl and a teen idol, all while interacting with aliens and supernatural beings, fighting with Pathenon Productions top rival stars and being looked after by two cats from the planet Feather Star.
Friday, February 8
PREMIERE
BEDEVILLED
“A must-see for anyone brave enough…one of the toughest and most powerful films from Korea”
–Beyond Hollywood.com
“Brutally intense”
— Twitch.com
This acclaimed, award-winning South Korean horror-thriller, a runaway box office smash, premiered at Cannes International Critic’s Week in 2010, where it was nominated for a Golden Camera and Critic’s Week Grand Prize.
Hae-won (Ji Seong-won) is a woman on the edge: a series of incidents at work earn her a forced vacation, but when she travels to a remote island from a childhood visit, at the urgent request of her friend Kim Bok-nam (Yeong-hie Seo), she has no idea what devils of the past are waiting. Moo-do Island is an unpleasant place to visit, and you definitely don t want to live there. Bok-nam is crumbling under a weight of violence, sexual menace, and fear with no means of escaping her tormentors. The vengeful rage that waits inside her is growing, and her sanity shredding. If Hae-won can’t help her escape, she may have to take matters into her own hands, once and for all. (South Korea, 2010, 115 minutes)
