19th New York Asian Film Festival

Aug 28 - Sep 12, 2020

Photo: © Activator Marketing Company

U.S. Premiere

IWeirDo

怪胎

Available: Aug. 28 - Sept. 12, All USA except California and Hawaii

Eerily timely in its focus on formalized paranoia as a lifestyle, the film follows the prudent footsteps of Po-Ching and Chen Ching, two young oddballs cursed with germaphobia and OCD, as they walk through life clad in personal protective equipment. Starting with a lively, empathetic account of their various quirks and neurotic rituals (the masks and gloves are sure to strike a chord), their friendship, forged over their shared dread of the outside world and its swarm of menacing, microscopic lifeforms, quickly morphs into a weird, impossibly charming romance. Until.. it takes stranger turns.

Liao Ming-yi’s maverick feature directorial debut, shot on iPhone XS, a feat that’s nearly undetectable even for the trained eye, is a telling tale of a society fragmented by its own technological advances. Part romcom, part dystopian nightmare, iWeirdo crafts a wholly captivating microcosm of our anxieties and aspirations.

Director: Liao Ming-yi
Cast: Austin Lin, Nikki Hsieh
Languages: Mandarin with English subtitles
2020; 102 min.

SCHEDULE:

Sunday August 30, 12:30pm
Smart Cinema USA

Available: Aug. 28 - Sept. 12, All USA except California and Hawaii

Liao Ming-yi
廖明毅

Liao Ming-yi graduated from the prestigious National Taiwan University of the Arts. Since then he has worked as an assistant director on several feature films including You Are the Apple of My Eye (NYAFF 2012), which he also edited, and has directed several short films. After accidentally discovering the surprising flexibility of shooting on an iPhone he decided to film iWeirdo this way. Why this title? Liao says, “Because I am one of them. Everyone has their own paranoia… Love is also part of that paranoia. I want to describe the promise of love through this story.”