Chinese film Back to the Wharf (风平浪静) at Pitt, October 7 and 9.

The Chinese film Back to the Wharf (风平浪静) will play at the University of Pittsburgh on October 7 and 9 as part of the SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival. From a January Variety review:

The son of a midlevel official in a coastal fishing town, Song Hao (Zhou Zhengjie) is a bright student who’s robbed of the automatic college place he has rightfully earned. His position has been given to close friend Li Tang (Gao Yuhang), the son of powerful local mayor Li Weiguo (Jin Hui). In a feeble attempt to dress up his unethical decision as some kind of long-term benefit for the school, Song Hao’s headmaster (Zhou Jianya) tells the boy, “I prioritize the collective over the individual.”

Things go from bad to catastrophic in the first of many scenes taking place in pelting rain and howling wind that serve as visual metaphors for the protagonist’s sorrows and struggles. Intending to visit Li Tang’s upmarket home, Song Hao accidentally enters the wrong house and is mistaken for a burglar. In the confusion, Song Hao stabs owner Wan Yuliang (Zhao Longhao), who later dies. With his father Song Jianhui (Wang Yanhui) also implicated in this crime, which could ruin his career and destroy the family’s reputation, Song Hao flees to faraway Guangzhou, where he takes a lowly job in a masonry factory. Unbeknownst to father and son, Li Tang is aware of their transgressions and has chosen to remain silent.

It plays at 6:30 pm on the 7th and 12:00 pm on the 9th, at the Frick Fine Arts Buliding (map) both days. Tickets may be purchased online.

2020 Japanese film Wife of a Spy (スパイの妻), October 9 at Pitt, part of SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival.

The 2020 Japanese film Wife of a Spy (スパイの妻) will play at the University of Pittsburgh on October 9 as part of the inaugural SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival running October 6 through 10. From an NPR review:

Wife of a Spy is a Hitchcockian thriller by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a top Japanese filmmaker whose work has never gotten the attention that it deserves in the U.S. His heroine is Satoko — superbly played by Yu Aoi — the innocent, big-hearted wife of Yusaku Fukuhara, a prosperous import-export merchant and amateur filmmaker in the city of Kobe.

In a 1940 Japan bursting with nationalistic fervor, the Fukuharas tempt fate by pointedly living in a Western-style house, wearing Western clothes, and sipping Western whiskey. Things get even stickier when Satoko's husband returns from Japanese-occupied Manchuria with a beautiful young woman and evidence of military atrocities.

Faced with this, Satoko doesn't know how to react. She and her husband launch into a marital dance of trust, suspicion and betrayal. Is Yusaku abandoning Satoko for a new woman? Will he sell out his country, and their shared life, by revealing the army's abuses? Will Satoko help him do so, or will she save herself by turning her husband in to the righteous military policeman who has fancied her since childhood? The answer will involve deceit, torture, murder, hidden manuscripts and midnight escapes.

It plays at the Schenley Plaza Tent at 8:30 pm. Tickets are required and can be purchased online.

Sushi Kim 2 opening downtown on October 5.

Sushi Kim 2 has announced it will open downtown on October 5. The first Sushi Kim closed its famed Strip District restaurant in 2019 and announced the opening of a new spot in July. It will be located at 110 Smithfield St. (map). The new restaurant boasts of a sushi bar and "traditional Korean kitchen," and has posted its menu on its new website:

Korean film An Old Lady (69세) at Pitt, October 9.

The 2019 Korean film An Old Lady (69세) will play at the University of Pittsburgh on October 9 as part of the SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival.

A 69-year-old woman has to find justice for herself when she faces doubt and disdain from authorities who can't imagine her as the victim of sexual assault.

The movie starts at 5:00 pm in 125 Frick Fine Arts (map). Registration is required.

Taiwanese film As We Like It (揭大歡喜), October 7 at Pitt.

The 2021 Taiwanese film As We Like It (揭大歡喜) will play at the University of Pittsburgh on October 7 as part of the SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival. A synopsis, from Taiwan Cinema:

When Rosalind hears that her father had vanished into thin air after being kicked out of the family business, she came back to Taiwan with her cousin Celia to look for him. During the search, she met Orlando, a racing driver, and they fell in love with each other at first sight. Nevertheless, since Rosalind didn’t believe in true love, she disguised as a man and pretended to be her own cousin. After she transformed herself into a man, she started a role-playing game with Orlando, claiming it to be a test…. As We Like It is the sequel to CHEN Hung-i’s debut feature Candy Rain. Inspired by As You Like It by William Shakespeare, it’s set in Ximending in Taipei in 2021. The most unique feature of this production is its all-female cast. It tries to discuss gender politics, role-playing and human desire in the future.

The movie starts at 8:30 pm on the patio behind Posvar Hall (map). Registration is required and can be completed online.

2004 Studio Ghibli film Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城) in Pittsburgh, October 24, 25, and 28.

The 2004 Studio Ghibli film Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城) will play in Pittsburgh on October 24, 25, and 28 as part of Studio Ghibli Fest 2021. From the distributor:

From director Hayao Miyazaki and the legendary Studio Ghibli, Howl’s Moving Castle is an Academy Award®-nominated acclaimed fantasy based on the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones.

Sophie, a quiet girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl. The vain and vengeful Witch of the Waste, jealous of their friendship, puts a curse on Sophie and turns her into a 90-year-old woman. On a quest to break the spell, Sophie climbs aboard Howl's magnificent moving castle and into a new life of wonder and adventure. But as the true power of Howl's wizardry is revealed, Sophie finds herself fighting to protect them both from a dangerous war of sorcery that threatens their world. Featuring the voice talents of Lauren Bacall, Christian Bale, Billy Crystal, Blythe Danner, Emily Mortimer and Jean Simmons.

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theaters in Monroeville, North Hills, and Robinson, and tickets are available online. The October 24 and 28 shows are dubbed in English while the October 25 show is in Japanese with English subtitles.

Seoul Korean BBQ opens in Carnegie, with a Grand Opening set for October 6.

via @Kasai-Kogi-Bar Korean BBQ

Seoul Korean BBQ has opened in Carnegie, PA, a rebranding of Kasai-Kogi Bar Korean BBQ. The menu includes a variety of Korean sides, soups, bulgogi, and galbi dishes. Kasai-Kogi opened in summer 2019 and announced last year the name change and fall 2021 reopening. It is located at 523 W. Main St. (map), though at this point it is only open for take-out, and has a Grand Opening set for October 6.

Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し) in Pittsburgh, October 3, 4, and 6.

The 2001 Japanese film Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し) will play in Pittsburgh on October 3, 4, and 6 as part of this year's Studio Ghibli Fest 2021. From the distributor:

Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature, Hayao Miyazaki's wondrous fantasy adventure is a dazzling masterpiece from one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of animation.

Chihiro's family is moving to a new house, but when they stop on the way to explore an abandoned village, her parents undergo a mysterious transformation and Chihiro is whisked into a world of fantastic spirits ruled over by the sorceress Yubaba. Put to work in a magical bathhouse for spirits and demons, Chihiro must use all her wits to survive in this strange new place, find a way to free her parents and return to the normal world. Overflowing with imaginative creatures and thrilling storytelling, Spirited Away became a worldwide smash hit, and is one of the most critically-acclaimed films of all time.

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theaters in Monroeville, North Hills, and Robinson, and tickets are available online. The October 3 and 6 shows are dubbed in English while the October 4 show is in Japanese with English subtitles.

Pittsburgh Chinese Cultural Festival, October 16 at Mellon Park.

The Pittsburgh Chinese Cultural Festival returns on Saturday, October 16 at Mellon Park in Shadyside (map). It runs from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm, and those interested in participating as vendors or performers are invited to contact PITCHINESE at gmail.com.

Presentation on Japanese art and calligraphy at Carnegie Museum of Art, October 7.

The Carnegie Museum of Art and the Japan America Society of Pennsylvania will present Dr. Frank Feltens and "The Mary and Cheney Cowles COllection and 20th-Century Japanese Painting and Calligraphy in the Freer Gallery of Art" on October 7.

Dr. Frank Feltens, Associate Curator of Japanese Art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, will explore how the Freer Gallery’s Japanese art collection evolved over the hundred years since the museum’s founding and how the most recent additions stay true to the original intentions and aesthetics of Charles Lang Freer. The talk will conclude with a journey through the exhibition Meeting Tessai: Modern Japanese Art from the Cowles Collection that highlights the Cowles gift and showcases how Freer conversed with contemporary Japanese artists like the famous literatus Tomioka Tessai.

The talk will be held in the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater and will be followed by refreshments and a networking reception. Registration is free but donations are encouraged.

The event starts at 6:00 pm and is free and open to the public, though registration is required. The museum is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland (map), accessible by buses 28X, 58, 61A, 61B, 61C, 61D, 67, 69, 71B, 71D, 75, and P3.