New York Asian Film Festival 2018
From vicious, life-destroying phone scams to balletic battles between equally corrupt cops and yakuza, NYAFF offers films that reflect on contemporary society while offering extreme genre pleasures. There are self-referential takes on cinematic zombies, existential date nights, and teens finding their own corners of the world despite familial and societal expectations. After last year’s Sweet Sixteen, this year’s program is dubbed the Savage Seventeenth edition with four world premieres, three international premieres, 21 North American premieres, three U.S. premieres, and twelve New York premieres, showcasing the most exciting comedies, dramas, thrillers, romances, horrors and arthouse films from East Asia.
China
Co-presented with Confucius Institute Headquarters and China Institute
Dude’s Manual
Q&A with director Kevin Ko
Taiwan’s Kevin Ko makes his first feature in China with this unexpectedly moving romcom dressed up as a ribald sex comedy, part of a new trend in Chinese films exploring the battle of the sexes.
End of Summer
U.S. Premiere
It’s 1998 and fifth grader Xiaoyang is caught up in China’s World Cup obsession, but his strict father, who is also the school headmaster, forbids him from playing sports. But his outspoken neighbor Grandpa Zheng secretly trains him for the soccer team tryout.
The Ex-Files 3: The Return of the Exes
Looking for Lucky
International Premiere · Director Jiang Jiachen will be in attendance
A graduate student loses his professor’s dog. Worried this will jeopardize his prospective tutorship to help him secure a good job, he enlists his layabout father in the search. Jiang Jiachen’s debut feature is a biting satire of China’s emerging social ills.
The Looming Storm
North American Premiere · Q&A with director Dong Yue
In 1997, a small industrial town is plagued by a serial killer. Factory worker and amateur sleuth Yu tries to solve the murders, much to the chagrin of the local police captain.
Old Beast
New York Premiere
Set in Inner Mongolia, this punchy debut feature follows unrepentant Lao Yang as he whiles away his final years by gambling in mahjong parlors, neglecting his bedridden wife for a young mistress, and swindling his children out of cash at every turn.
Wrath of Silence
New York Premiere · Q&A with director Xin Yukun and actor Jiang Wu, who will receive the Star Asia Award
Searching for his missing son in the rough mountains of Northern China, a mute, fiercely stubborn miner (martial arts star Song Yang) confronts a world of corruption led by a villainous coal tycoon (Jiang Wu) in this gripping contemporary mystery.Hong Kong Panorama
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York
Beast Stalker
10th Anniversary Screening · Director Dante Lam in attendance
This gritty, tightly knit thriller boasts intense action scenes and was a career turning point for action maestro Dante Lam and is a modern classic of Hong Kong cinema.
The Big Call
North American Premiere
Dastardly phone scammers are stealing millions from all walks of life. Altruistic young policeman Ding stealthily combines forces with a highly skilled female undercover agent to stop them.
The Brink
North American Premiere
China's most exciting new action star Zhang Jin (The Grandmaster, SPL 2: A Time for Consequences, Ip Man 3, Pacific Rim: Uprising) gets his first leading role—and goes blond—in this crime drama set on the high seas, combining scuba stunts, car chases, and human drama
The Empty Hands
Q&A with actress Stephy Tang, who will receive the Screen International Rising Star Award
Japanese-Chinese Mari has long been forced to practice karate by her strict father (Kurata Yasuaki). When he suddenly dies, she rejoices to sell the dojo and finally embrace a slacker lifestyle.
House of the Rising Sons
World Premiere · Preceded by Live Performance · Q&A with director Antony Chan
Directed by the band’s drummer Antony Chan and featuring contemporary musicians, this turbo-charged ’70s Hong Kong flashback chronicles the meteoric rise of real-life pop sensation The Wynners.
Men on the Dragon
Centerpiece Screening · World Premiere · Q&A with director Sunny Chan and actress Jennifer Yu
Four telecom employees begrudgingly join the company’s dragon boat team to help keep them immune from encroaching layoffs, only to discover themselves, in this life-affirming comedy-drama.
Operation Red Sea
Q&A with director Dante Lam and producer Candy Leung; Lam will receive the Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema
A major breakthrough in action cinema, Dante Lam’s epic is a nonstop barrage of shootouts, deadly hand-to-hand combat, high-powered chases, and nail-biting suspense.
Paradox
New York Premiere
When his daughter goes missing in Thailand, a Hong Kong cop (Louis Koo) teams with local police (Tony Jaa) to find her, but instead finds himself embroiled in a web of corruption and violence in this explosive thriller from renowned action director Wilson Yip.
Unbeatable
Director Dante Lam will be in attendance
Three down-on-their-luck ordinary people turn their lives around in Hong Kong’s biggest local hit of 2013, an involving action-drama set in the world of competitive mixed martial arts.Indonesia
Buffalo Boys
U.S. Premiere · Q&A with director Mike Wiluan
In 1860, two gun-slinging brothers return from California's wild west to their native Java to seek justice for their father's murder in this rollicking ride, a new take on old-school adventure.Japan
The Blood of Wolves
North American Premiere
In 1988, the streets of Hiroshima are rife with yakuza, and loose cannon cop Ogami (Koji Yakusho) is rumored to be as corrupt as them. Rookie detective Hioka learns this the hard way when Ogami gives him a crash course in subterfuge and street smarts.
Dynamite Graffiti
Opening Night · North American Premiere · Q&A with director Masanori Tominaga and actor Tasuku Emoto · Opening Night Party
Director Masanori Tominaga brings the memoir of Japan porn-mag mogul Akira Suei to the screen with this monumental biopic that chronicles his rise from sign painter to publisher and beyond.
The Hungry Lion
North American Premiere · Q&A with director Takaomi Ogata
When a high-school teacher is arrested for statutory rape, his sex video is leaked and rumors spread that the girl in it looks just like his student Hitomi. This tragic and powerful cautionary tale is an indictment of society, human nature, and the media.
Inuyashiki
North American premiere
Decrepit milquetoast salaryman Inuyashiki finds out he is terminally ill—only to be reborn as an indestructible combat cyborg after an apparent alien encounter in this adaptation of Hiroya Oku’s best-selling manga.
Kakekomi
New York Premiere · Director Masato Harada will be in attendance
Set in the Edo period, Harada’s first jidai-geki follows the wayward ways of three kakekomi (“runaway women”) who seek freedom from disastrous marriages in the mountain temple of Tokeiji, in Kakamura.
Kamikaze Taxi
Q&A with director Masato Harada
Employing a melange of cinematic devices and genre tropes, Harada unleashed a surprisingly humanistic diatribe against the sexism, racism, and corruption in society in this rebellious road movie that proved Harada an auteur to watch.
Liverleaf
North American Premiere · Q&A with director Eisuke Naito
Haruka, a high school student who has just moved to a small town, endures relentless bullying. Only the handsome and honorable Mitsuru takes her side, further enraging her tormentors.
Midnight Bus
North American Premiere · Director Masao Takeshita will be in attendance
Based on an award-winning novel, this deceptively quiet tale eloquently details a broken family coming to terms with the quotidian yet often suffocating travails of blood relations, love, and life itself.
One Cut of the Dead
North American Premiere
A low-budget film crew about to shoot a zombie movie at a desolate warehouse is suddenly attacked by real zombies in one of the most original genre-bending exploits in years.
River’s Edge
North American Premiere
Veteran director Isao Yukisada brings to the screen early nineties cult manga River’s Edge, which vividly portrays the tribulations of high schoolers in a Tokyo suburb as they struggle through a brutal, often invisible side of teenage life.
The Scythian Lamb
New York Premiere
A sleepy seaside town is stirred by the arrival of six mysterious strangers in this black comic manga adaptation, which features an all-star ensemble cast.
Sekigahara
New York Premiere · Q&A with director Masato Harada, who will receive the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award
This sweeping epic—about Japanese history’s bloodiest battle, fought on a single day in 1600, with losses of 30,000 people—teems with historical characters and enough Machiavellian maneuvering and exciting action for an entire miniseries.
Smokin’ on the Moon
North American Premiere · Q&A with director Kanata Wolf
Two slackers work at a midnight bar while also selling marijuana; when they get dangerously close to some unhinged yakuza, they follow wildly divergent fates.
The Third Murder
New York Premiere
This powerfully moving drama from internationally acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda follows the story of a man struggling to find the truth while questioning his own faith in the law.Malaysia
Crossroads: One Two Jaga
North American Premiere · Q&A with director Nam Ron and actor Ario Bayu
Nam Ron's third feature is structured around a rookie cop whose moral compass is tested by the systemic corruption that surrounds him.
Dukun
International Premiere
Blending horror tropes into a bizarre courtroom drama, Dain Said’s lost first film is a fascinating meditation on female sexuality, avarice, and corrupted morality that was shelved for over a decade due to its controversial nature.Philippines
BuyBust
Closing Night · World Premiere · Q&A with director Erik Matti and actors Anne Curtis & Brandon Vera · Closing Night Party
After two decades making erotica, fantasy, horror, thrillers and a superhero comedy, Erik Matti directs his first all-out action film. And it’s relentless, featuring 309 stuntmen, 1,278 extras, and a wildly ambitious three-minute, one-cut action scene.
Neomanila
New York Premiere
An orphan becomes entangled with police, drug dealers, mercenaries, and street gangs in this dark neo-noir thriller set amidst Manila’s ongoing war on drugs.
On the Job
Director Erik Matti will be in attendance
When a prominent drug dealer is murdered, federal agent Francis (Piolo Pascual) leads the investigation, but the trail goes immediately cold. What he discovers is a massive conspiracy.
Respeto
New York Premiere · Director Treb Monteras, actor Abra, and producer Monster Jimenez will be in attendance
Respeto is a searing indictment of social injustice, set in the world of underground rap battles and starring the Philippines’ biggest hip-hop stars.
Sid and Aya (Not a Love Story)
New York Premiere · Q&A with actress Anne Curtis
In this clever anti-romance, Dingdong Dantes plays a cutthroat stockbroker who can’t sleep at night. He befriends Anne Curtis’s sassy cafe waitress and offers to pay her $20 an hour to talk him through his insomnia.
We Will Not Die Tonight
World Premiere
Shot in just eight days, this pure genre piece stars Erich Gonzales as an underappreciated and underpaid stuntwoman who takes on one last job with her former gang, only to be trapped in a hellish underworld.South Korea
1987: When the Day Comes
Q&A with director Jang Joon-hwan and actor Kim Yoon-seok, who receive the NYAFF 2018 Star Asia Award
Set in 1987 and based on a true story, the film follows events that led up to the June Democratic Uprising in Korea, triggered by the death of a student protester during a police interrogation, which the authorities conspired to cover up.
After My Death
North American Premiere
A missing high-school girl is suspected of committing suicide. When it is discovered that somber Young-hee was the last to see her, troubling questions arise. Young-hee is quickly thrown into a maelstrom of accusations, leading to a witch hunt.
The Age of Blood
Counters
North American Premiere
This sadly topical documentary revolves around the conflict between ultranationalist demonstrators and opposing groups. Ironically, one of the most radically anti-nationalist crusaders, determined to fight racism and discrimination, is a former mid-level Yakuza boss.
Hit the Night
North American Premiere · Q&A with director/actress Jeong Ga-young
A young female filmmaker interviews a male friend over a long night of drinking, asking him alarmingly frank questions about love and sex in this refreshing female counterpoint to the work of Hong Sang-soo.
I Can Speak
North American Premiere
A feisty pensioner, infamous for hounding the local district office with innumerable complaints, clashes with a scrupulous young public servant in this deeply moving and transformative journey, based on true events.
Little Forest
New York Premiere
Kim Tae-ri (The Handmaiden) stars as Hye-won, a would-be teacher so frustrated by city life that she returns to her rural home, where she reunites with childhood friends and acquaints herself with life’s simple pleasures.
Microhabitat
North American Premiere · Q&A with director Jeon Go-woon and actor Ahn Jae-hong
When the price of cigarettes goes up, part-time housekeeper Miso decides to leave her small apartment and couch surf with college friends. This strikingly original first feature effortlessly balances humor and pathos.
The Return
New York Premiere
Two Danish-Korean adoptees return for the first time to the country where they were born in this seamless hybrid of documentary and fiction, partially based on Malene Choi’s personal experiences.
What a Man Wants
International Premiere
A simple sex farce evolves into a bitingly hilarious social satire that takes predisposed concepts of love and marriage to task in this sharp, character-driven comedy that lays bare the foibles and vulnerabilities of the human condition.Taiwan
Gatao 2: Rise of the King
North American Premiere
Imagine if Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage and Johnnie To’s Election had a bastard child. This film puts Taiwan firmly back on the gangster-cinema map.
The Last Verse
New York Premiere
A young couple starts their romance as new hope sweeps Taiwan, only to face physical separation due to military service and economic hardships in this realistic depiction of a relationship, set against the turmoil of three presidential administrations.
Missing Johnny
New York Premiere
Three lost souls are brought together by odd happenstance in this elegant reflection on modern life, the award-winning debut from Hou Hsiao-hsien disciple and NYU graduate Huang Xi.
On Happiness Road
North American Premiere
Forty years of Taiwanese history come to the surface in this tender yet powerful autobiographical animated film about one woman’s search for happiness.
The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful
New York Premiere
There are no men in the Tang family, run by the devious Madame Tang (Kara Wai), hard-hearted matriarch and shady syndicate leader. This stylized melodrama, a spectacle of family dysfunction and moral depravity, is intensified by its actresses’ chilling performances.Thailand
Premika
North American Premiere · Actress Gena Desouza will be in attendance
In this gloriously absurd Thai horror-comedy, a ragtag group of wannabes and has-beens converge at a countryside resort where they encounter a karaoke-crazed ghost out for vengeance, and suddenly find themselves forced to sing for their lives.
Sad Beauty
North American Premiere · Q&A with director Bongkod Bencharongkul and producer Kongkiat Khomsiri
Part road movie, part thriller, and part drug-fueled psychodrama, Sad Beauty is a brave and unexpectedly personal film about two women’s friendship directed by actress Bongkod Bencharongkul.
Tears of the Black Tiger
Secret Screening
Secret Screening
Free Talks
Masato Harada Master Class
Free and open to the public! · Sponsored by HBO®
In this master class, the master storyteller will discuss his career, the state of contemporary Japanese cinema, and the role of cinema in public discourse.
Artist Talk on Asian Representation in Art and Cinema
Free and open to the public! · Sponsored by HBO®
This Free Talk is in conjunction with Safe Imagination Is Boring, a group exhibition of eleven New York–based visual artists with different connections to Asia and Asian culture on view in the Furman Gallery at the Walter Reade Theater.
Chinese Cinema Now
Free and open to the public! · Sponsored by HBO®
In this panel, three directors with new films screening at NYAFF—including two making their directorial debuts, Dong Yue (The Looming Storm) and Jiang Jiachen (Looking for Lucky); and Xin Yukun (Wrath of Silence)—are joined by veteran producer Guan Yadi to discuss the state of Mainland Chinese cinema and the rise of a new genre cinema.
Southeast Asian Genre Cinema
Free and open to the public! · Sponsored by HBO®
Thailand’s Kongkiat Komesiri (Sad Beauty), the Philippines’ Erik Matti (BuyBust), and Indonesia’s Mike Wiluan (Buffalo Boys) are leading figures in Southeast Asian genre cinema. Here, they will discuss the challenges of making films for both domestic and international consumption in the age of online platforms.Tickets now on sale! To begin the purchase process, log in to your account. Don’t have an account? Sign up for one today.
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