Upcoming film Operation Red Sea (红海行动), sequel to 2016's Operation Mekong, in Pittsburgh in February.

The upcoming Chinese-Hong Kong film Operation Red Sea (红海行动) will play in Pittsburgh from February 23. The production company provides a synopsis:

The Chinese Navy’s Jiaolong (“Sea Dragon”) Assault Team is famed for its skill in getting the job done. After its success in rescuing a cargo ship hijacked by pirates off the Somalia coast, the team is assigned an even more perilous mission. A coup in a North African republic has left local Chinese residents in danger, circumstances further complicated by a terrorist plot to obtain nuclear materials. The situation could prove fatal to the hostages and disastrous to the entire region, and presents Jiaolong with a challenge that threatens the very existence of the team and its members.

Tickets and showtime information is not yet available. Operation Red Sea will play at AMC Loews Waterfront in West Homestead (map), which will also play upcoming Chinese films The Monkey King 3 (西遊記女兒國) and Monster Hunt 2 (捉妖記2) next month.

国際機関就職ガイダンス2018, January 29 at Chatham University.

Chatham University will host Keisuke Fukuda (First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations) on January 29 for a Japanese-language career seminar on working for international organizations.

Pitt magazine profiles ten influential Korean alumni.

The Winter 2018 issue of Pitt magazine profiles ten Korean alumni of the University of Pittsburgh influential in growing education, business, and government in South Korea.

[Byong Hyon] Kwon was part of the first wave of South Korean students at Pitt. Today, South Korea has a large and organized Pitt alumni base. Its members include leaders in education, technology, government, the private sector, nursing, and public health. They are part of the colossal effort that turned the world's second-poorest nation into the 11th largest economy---in just three decades.

The print magazine has a lengthy profile on Kwon---a 1968 GSPIA graduate, former Korean ambassador to China, and president of Future Forest---and snapshots on nine others; the Pitt magazine website has full profiles on everyone.

• Sang-joo Lee
• Shin-Bok Kim
• Seung Wook Lee & Hyun Kyung Moon
• Ohjoon Kwon
• Kyungbae Chung
• Gio-bin Lim
• Keun Namkoong
• Namgi Park

There have been many other influential Koreans at Pitt over the years. Young Woo Kang, who died in 2012, is one example. Kang earned his PhD from the School of Education in 1976, and was the first blind Korean student to ever earn a doctorate.

City-Paper covers Pittsburgh's first Seijin no Hi.

The Pittsburgh City-Paper's Blogh has a write-up of the Coming of Age Day, Seijin no Hi, held at Pitt on January 10.

On Jan. 10, about 30 participants gathered together in the ballroom of Pitt’s University Club. Many were dressed in traditional Japanese kimonos, but others wore western business attire. Young men and women participated, and the Japanese international students were grateful for the chance to celebrate this right of passage.

“Before we came here, we couldn't expect this,” said Nika Tanimoto, a 20-year-old student from Hiroshima, at the event. “It is great, a special event.” Tanimoto’s friend and fellow international student, Manami Wada, said the event is an “honor” for her.

2018 Greater Pittsburgh Lunar New Year Gala, February 10 in Wexford.

The Chinese Association for Science and Technology - Pittsburgh Chapter and the Pittsburgh Chinese Cultural Center will present its 2018 Greater Pittsburgh Lunar New Year Gala on February 10 at Marshall Middle School in Wexford.

Shaw Brothers Kung Fu Cinema series at Row House Cinema in March.

Four classic kung fu movies will play at the Row House Cinema in March, part of its Shaw Brothers Kung Fu Cinema series that highlights the legendary Hong Kong production company. The lineup includes 1966's Come Drink With Me (大醉俠), 1978's Five Deadly Venoms (五毒), 1982's Legendary Weapons of China (十八般武艺), and 1978's The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (少林三十六房).



Tickets and showtime information have not been announced yet. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).

Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (隠し砦の三悪人) at Regent Square Theater once more, January 28.

Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (隠し砦の三悪人) will play at the Regent Square Theater on January 28. It has been playing there each Sunday in January as part of a collaboration between Pittsburgh Filmmakers and the Silk Screen Asian Arts & Cultural Organization that highlights a different classic Asian film each month. The Criterion Collection summarizes the film:

A grand-scale adventure as only Akira Kurosawa could make one, The Hidden Fortress stars the inimitable Toshiro Mifune as a general charged with guarding his defeated clan’s princess (a fierce Misa Uehara) as the two smuggle royal treasure across hostile territory. Accompanying them are a pair of bumbling, conniving peasants who may or may not be their friends. This rip-roaring ride is among the director’s most beloved films and was a primary influence on George Lucas’s Star Wars. The Hidden Fortress delivers Kurosawa’s trademark deft blend of wry humor, breathtaking action, and compassionate humanity.

The show starts at 6:00 pm at the Regent Square Theater (map), and tickets are only available for purchase at the door.

Upcoming Chinese movies The Monkey King 3 (西遊記女兒國), Monster Hunt 2 (捉妖記2) in Pittsburgh from February 16.

New installments of a pair of hit Chinese film franchises have recently been announced for Pittsburgh: The Monkey King 3 (西遊記女兒國) and Monster Hunt 2 (捉妖記2) will play at the Waterfront from February 16.

2017 Chinese movie that out-drew The Last Jedi, The Ex-File: The Return of the Exes (前任3:再见前任) in Pittsburgh, from January 19.

The 2017 Chinese movie The Ex-File: The Return of the Exes (前任3:再见前任) will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront theater from today, January 19. It was the top-grossing movie in China its first two weeks, and out-drew Star Wars: The Last Jedi in the latter's first week in the country. A South China Morning Post review provides a brief summary of the low-budget romantic comedy:

Directed by Tian Yusheng, the story is about two lengthy break-ups between two couples who are also friends with each other, and how the ex-boyfriends indulged themselves re-living the bachelor’s dream until their ex-girlfriends reappeared to upend their lives.

Tickets are available online 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.

2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花) at AMC Loews Waterfront, Row House Cinema from today.

The 2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花), which debuted in the region at local Cinemark theaters yesterday, will at the Row House Cinema as part of it's New Animated Films series from January 19 through 25. It will also run at the AMC Loews Waterfront theater from today. The distributor provides a summary:

From Academy Award®-nominated Hiromasa Yonebayashi – animator on Studio Ghibli masterpieces Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo, and director of When Marnie Was There and The Secret World of Arrietty – comes a dazzling new adventure about a young girl named Mary, who discovers a flower that grants magical powers, but only for one night.

Mary is an ordinary young girl stuck in the country with her Great-Aunt Charlotte and seemingly no adventures or friends in sight. She follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest, where she discovers an old broomstick and the strange Fly-by-Night flower, a rare plant that blossoms only once every seven years and only in that forest. Together the flower and the broomstick whisk Mary above the clouds, and far away to Endor College – a school of magic run by headmistress Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. But there are terrible things happening at the school, and when Mary tells a lie, she must risk her life to try to set things right.

Based on Mary Stewart’s 1971 classic children’s book The Little Broomstick, Mary and The Witch’s Flower is an action-packed film full of jaw-dropping imaginative worlds, ingenious characters, and the simple, heartfelt story of a young girl trying to find a place in the world.

Tickets for the Row House Cinema's screenings are available online via the theater's website. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map). Tickets for the Waterfront shows are available online via Fandango. That 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.