20th Anniversary New York Asian Film Festival

Jul 15-31, 2022

Photo: © 2022 OX-HEAD VILLAGE Production Committee

North American Premiere

Ox-Head Village

牛首村

Three high school girls go missing after a prank gone wrong in an abandoned building. When a video of their last-seen moments goes viral, Kannon (Takuya Kimura’s daughter Koki, in her big-screen debut), is astonished to discover that she bears an uncanny resemblance to one of the missing girls. Obsessed with finding out the truth, she and her would-be boyfriend head off to the village of the disappearance. J-horror grandmaster Takashi Shimizu’s final entry in his “village” triptych proves the zenith of the three, taking his gonzo macabre mash-up of folk horror, urban legends, found footage and supernatural terror to the ultimate level. In the maestro’s hands, this coming-of-age tale is laced with uber-creepy myths about the eponymous ox head, frightening twinships, murderous curses and shocking gore.

Director: Takashi Shimizu
Cast: Koki, Riku Hagiwara
Languages: Japanese with English subtitles
2022; 114 min.

SCHEDULE:

Tuesday July 19, 9:00pm
Film at Lincoln Center

Director Takashi Shimizu will attend the screening.

Screen International Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award
Takashi Shimizu
清水崇

NYAFF’s 2022 Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award winner is Japanese writer-director Takashi Shimizu, who conceived, wrote, and directed the original Ju-on series. With Sam Raimi producing and Shimizu directing, the U.S. remake of Ju-on: The Grudge (2004) reached No. 1 at the box office, making Shimizu the first Japanese director at No. 1 in the U.S. He has also directed The Stranger from Afar (2004), Reincarnation (2005), Kiki’s Delivery Service (2014), and The Blue Hearts (2017), and worked as a producer in Japan and abroad, with titles such as Rigor Mortis (Hong Kong, 2013) and Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017).