Chicago Asian Pop-Up Cinema Festival

For the first time, our festival will feature a juried competition, with 16 films competing for the Grand Jury Feature Film Award, the Best Short Film Award, and the Francis Kwong Memorial Award recognizing an emerging director.

Schedule:

7:30 p.m - 9:15 p.m: Teki Cometh
A retired professor faces an invisible enemy in one of the most acclaimed Japanese films of 2024
North American Premiere
Japan, Drama, 2024, 108 minutes
In Japanese w/ English Subtitles
Director/Screenwriter: Daihachi Yoshida
Starring: Kyozo Nagatsuka, Kumo Takiuchi, Asuka Kurosawa, Yumi Kawak
Film Source: Happinet Phantom  
Gisuke is a widowed retired college professor who lives alone and occasionally receive visits from his students. One day, he finds a post on the internet about an approaching enemy. The more he sees it, the more he feels an ominous feeling growing inside. Director Daihachi Yoshida successfully turns what many believe to be an “unfilmable” novel into a compelling character study about paranoia and aging that is eerily dreamy, multi-layered and beautifully cinematic. This widely acclaimed drama won an unprecedented three prizes at the Tokyo International Film Festival – the Grand Prix, Best Director and Best Actor.  

8:30 p.m - 9:30 p.m: Crocodile Tears (Air Mata Buaya)
Nature’s ferocity is no match for a mother’s scorn in this tense and atmospheric drama  
Indonesia, France, Singapore, Germany, Drama, 2024, 99 minutes   
In Indonesian w/ English Subtitles   
Director/Screenwriter: Tumpal Tampubolon
Starring: Marissa Anita, Yusuf Mahardika, Zulfa Maharani
Film Source: Cercamon
Johan lives alone with his mother in voluntary exile on a crocodile farm, with only a white crocodile as their confidant. Their life is disrupted when Johan falls for a girl in town, threatening their lives’ delicate balance. In Asia, it’s normal for children to live with their parents well into their adulthood. While most parents look forward to becoming an empty-nester, Tumpal Tampubolon asks what happens when a parent takes extreme measures to keep their child around in this chilling and peculiar mother-son drama. Like the family crocodile, this matriarch will bite when you least expect it.   

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