Film News: Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema Opens with ‘The Town of Headcounts,’ Mar 15, 2021

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CHICAGO – The Asian Pop-Up Cinema (APUC) series of Chicago opens their Season 12 on March 15th, 2021, through their virtual/online platform, with the Japanese film “The Town of Headcounts.” You can access the film here through March 19th.

Pursued by loan sharks, our nameless protagonist in the film is rescued by a mysterious man in orange overalls, and spirited away to "The Town," where other dropouts hide out from debtors, abusive partners, or the police. It’s a perpetual holiday resort where every comfort – even sex – is catered to, but the arrival of a woman looking for her missing sister uncovers a sinister conspiracy.

The Town of Headcounts (Japan)
Photo credit: AsianPopUpCinema.org

In addition to eight North American and 12 U.S. premieres, the festival will offer selected films from Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Mongolia. In addition to the virtual/online line-up, APUC also features an Oscar Contender Event (beginning April 1st) and Drive-In films (April 15th). The festival is curated by Founder & Executive Director Sophia Wong Boccio.

For the complete line-up of films, click here for the virtual/online presentations, here for the Drive-In line-up and here for the list so far of Oscar contenders. For ticket purchase information, click here.

Most of the feature presentations will include Q&As with the filmmakers, moderated by Mark Schilling (Japan), Ron Falzone (China/Thai), Darcy Parquet (South Korea), Kevin Ma (Hong Kong) and Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com (Taiwan).

Japanese trailer for “The Town of Headcounts” …

By PATRICK McDONALD Editor, Film Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com