Sunday, December 24, 2017

Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (隠し砦の三悪人), King Hu's Legend of the Mountain (山中传奇) at Regent Square Theater, part of Silk Screen + Pittsburgh Filmmakers collaboration in 2018.



Pittsburgh Filmmakers and the Silk Screen Asian Arts & Cultural Organization will show a different classic Asian film each month, with Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (隠し砦の三悪人) and King Hu's Legend of the Mountain (山中传奇) featured in January and March, respectively. Kurosawa's 1958 film will play each Sunday in January and Hu's 1979 film each Sunday in March; all shows start at 6:00 pm at the Regent Square Theater (map), and tickets are only available for purchase at the door.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Reading with Korean-American author Min Jin Lee, February 20 at City of Asylum.


via minjinlee.com

City of Asylum @ Alphabet City will host bestselling author Min Jin Lee on February 20 for a reading of her 2017 book Pachinko. Her website provides a summary of the book:
PACHINKO follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them all. Deserted by her lover, Sunja is saved when a young tubercular minister offers to marry and bring her to Japan.

So begins a sweeping saga of an exceptional family in exile from its homeland and caught in the indifferent arc of history. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, its members are bound together by deep roots as they face enduring questions of faith, family, and identity.
The reading runs from 8:00 to 9:30 pm at Alphabet City on the North Side, and is free and open to the public, though RSVP is required.

Magical Girl Lyrical NANOHA Reflection (魔法少女リリカルなのは Reflection) at Hollywood Theater in February.



The distributor recently announced the 2017 Japanese animated movie 魔法少女リリカルなのは Reflection will play at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont in February.

2017 Chinese movie Youth (芳华) to continue at Waterfront through December 27.



The 2017 Chinese coming-of-age drama Youth (芳华), which opened in Pittsburgh on December 15, will continue at the AMC Loews Waterfront theater through December 27. (It will also run at the Regent Square Theater from December 29 through January 4.) A September 9 Variety review introduces the film:
The narrator Suizi (Zhong Chuxi), a stand-in for screenwriter Yan Geling (“The Flowers of War” and “Coming Home”), whose semi-biographical novel was the film’s literary source, belongs to a military dance troupe stationed in the Great Southwest. However, the central figure is actually Xiaoping (Miao Miao), whose father has been branded a Rightist and thrown in a re-education camp. She is recruited from Beijing by the good-looking and kind-hearted lead dancer Liu Feng (Huang Xuan).

The pristine surroundings of their training center and dreamy soft focus that accompanies the young dancers whenever they rehearse revolutionary ballets exude a rarefied atmosphere that reinforces how privileged the troupe is, shielded from hunger, violence and back-breaking labor at the height of the Cultural Revolution. And yet, a hierarchy based on political pedigree is firmly in place in the so-called classless society. Shuwen (Li Xiaofeng) the daughter of a general and hospital supervisor, is the queen bee. Dingding (Yang Caiyu) scores with her looks, while Mongolian Drolma (Sui Yuan) plays her ethnic minority card.
Tickets and showtime information is available via Fandango. The theater is located at 300 West Waterfront Dr. in the Waterfront shopping complex in Homestead (map), across the Monongahela River from Greenfield, Squirrel Hill, and the rest of Pittsburgh.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Squirrel Hill's Bubble Pi closes again.



Bubble Pi Baking Arts, the first Asian bakery in Squirrel Hill, has closed again. The Taiwanese bakery opened in 2007 at 2218 Murray Ave. and was joined on the same street by Korean bakery Sumi's Cakery in 2011 and Taiwanese bakery Pink Box in 2014. Its original iteration closed in May but reopened a couple of weeks later under new management, but the second version kept irregular hours and a limited menu.

Chang Chun Chemical Corporation seeking bilingual English-Mandarin Sales Assistant in Pittsburgh.

Taiwan's Chang Chun Chemical Corporation is again seeking a bilingual English-Mandarin Sales Assistant for its office in Wexford, PA.
Communicating with Headquarters in Taipei for order processing and shipment arrangement

To support sales function such as issuing purchase order, invoice or sales related documents

To maintain filling, updating and keeping of records

Managing stock inventory and sales operation as instructed by the Sales Manager

Handling customers’ enquiries and maintain tip top service to customers.

Friday, December 15, 2017

2017 Japanese movie Gintama (銀魂) in Pittsburgh, January 20.



The 2017 Japanese movie Gintama (銀魂) will play at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont on January 20. An August South China Morning Post review summarizes:
Samurai warriors and alien invaders exist side-by-side on the streets of Edo period Japan in Yuichi Fukuda’s big-screen adaptation of Hideaki Sorachi’s bestselling manga. While this chaotic mash-up of sci-fi and period drama aesthetics triggers a relentless sugar rush of visual stimuli, Gintama proves an exhausting and alienating experience for the uninitiated.
Released in Japan in July, Gintama is the third-highest grossing domestic film in Japan this year. Tickets for the January 20 screening are not yet available.

Korea Economic Institute's "The Future of Korea" in Pittsburgh, January 17.

The Korea Economic Institute of America [KEIA] and World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh will present "The Future of Korea" on January 17. A profile of this outreach program, from the KEIA:
KEI's Future of Korea is an outreach program that strengthens interest in U.S.-Korea relations with community members, scholars, and students outside of the DC metropolitan area. KEI hosts a series of six to ten programs annually with leading local World Affairs Councils throughout the United States.

The Future of Korea program features panel presentations by a team of up to three people, usually one member of KEI, a representative from the U.S. State Department Korea Desk, and a diplomat from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea. The panel addresses all aspects of U.S.-Korea relations and the situation on the Korean peninsula, including political, economic, and security issues, followed by a question and answer session. In addition to the core event, the program often includes a similar panel discussion at a local university or high school and various media events. Other events are added depending on the wishes of the local host organization. These successful and popular programs have attracted as many as 2,000 participants in some cities.
The panel presentation will run from 11:30 to 1:00 pm, but a location has not been announced yet.

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Third annual Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival, April 2018.



Lawrenceville's Row House Cinema announced yesterday the first details of the third annual Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival, coming in April 2018. It will run from April 6 through 19, will feature Neko Atsume House (ねこあつめの家) as the opening film, and will screen Your Name (君の名は), Sion Sono's Antiporno (アンチポルノ), and two Kurosawa films. Additional information will follow in the coming months.

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