2008 is a year of many changes for the New York Asian Film Festival. We’ve got more films, more screenings, a bigger catalog, screening passes for the first time, gift bags, an intern, and we’re also devoting a section of our program to a focus on one of the newest and most exciting production and distribution companies in Japan, an upstart called Stylejam.

Formed three years ago, Stylejam has, in that short time, turned out some of the most interesting—and most difficult to pigeonhole—films in Japan. We’re presenting five of their films at the fest this year, all of them standing head-and-shoulders above comparable productions from other studios, and worthy of accolades and audience attention: the observational comedy about nothing more than a simple stroll through Tokyo, ADRIFT IN TOKYO; the genre-defying coming-of-age chick flick, DOG IN A SIDECAR; the truly unclassifiable nonsense comedy about coming to terms with adulthood, FINE TOTALLY FINE; director Shinji Aoyama’s long-in-gestation follow-up to his first film, SAD VACATION; and finally, the World Premiere of director Ryo Iwamatsu’s serio-comedy about a father and son who are both trying to avoid deep connections with women, THEN SUMMER CAME, which is being presented on June 20th as our Opening Night Film. (Director Iwamatsu will be joining us for the Opening Night screening on Friday night, and will perform a Q&A with the audience after the screening.)

Additional events connected with the Focus are our opening night party, co-sponsored by Stylejam and attended by Iwamatsu-san, and a special presentation that brings a truly Japanese television phenomenon to American audiences for the first time.

RETRO GAME MASTER is the newly-christened, English-subtitled version of a long-running Japanese TV show called GAME CENTER CX. The show follows popular comedian Shinya Arino, playing a fictitious corporate employee called “the Kacho,” as he attempts to defeat classic, old-school, 8-bit Nintendo (and other) games, all in one sitting. Condensed into half-hour episodes, these marathon challenges regularly run into the double-digit hours, with Arino calling on assistants and going through cheat guides in order to accomplish his task.

Stylejam has released several DVD box sets of the show in Japan, and all have become best-sellers. They’re now poised to unleash the phenomenon on the US, and are hoping for an IRON CHEF-level of audience appreciation. In support of this, we’ll be screening two episodes of the series—one featuring the obscure Japanese game MYSTERY OF ATLANTIS, the other with old-school favorite GHOSTS AND GOBLINS—several times throughout our festival, for FREE! Even better, this is the first time ever that any episodes of the show will be presented with English subtitles.

The free screenings are being held at IFC Center, and you just need to check in at the box office and say “hi!” in order to see them.

RETRO GAME MASTER: MYSTERY OF ATLANTIS (free screening at IFC Center):
Saturday, 6/21 at 11:00 am
Wednesday, 6/25 at 11:30 am
Saturday, 6/28 at 12:00 noon

RETRO GAME MASTER: GHOSTS AND GOBLINS (free screening at IFC Center):
Sunday, 6/22 at 11:00 am
Sunday, 6/29 at 12:00 noon
Wednesday, 7/2 at 11:30 am

And for you old-school gamers out there, there’s more coverage of the event already up at 1Up.com.