New York Asian Film Festival 2021
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The Silent Forest
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Anima
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Dragon Inn© 2021 Seasonal Film Corporation
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A Song for You © 2021 Xstream Pictures
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Tiong Bahru Social Club
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Fighter
For nationwide virtual tickets, visit our Virtual Cinema.
The 20th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), a hybrid event with NYAFF’s largest film lineup to date, will screen over 60 films, both virtually and in-person, to audiences in New York and across the country from August 6 – 22, 2021.
NYAFF’s 2021 lineup will include two Japanese world premieres, six international premieres, 29 North American premieres, eight U.S. premieres, and nine New York premieres, showcasing the most exciting action, comedy, drama, thriller, romance, horror, and art-house films from Japan, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Singapore, and for the first time, Myanmar and the U.S.
Following an unprecedented year in which COVID-19 and increased violence against the Asian community in the United States presented enormous challenges, NYAFF is more committed than ever to increasing exposure of Asian representation on screen, and to provide opportunities for audiences of all communities to experience the diversity and brilliance of Asian cinema.
See information about SVA Theatre screenings here.
Virtual Screenings
Get virtual tickets, available nationwide!
Tickets are $12 each with a discounted FLC All-Access Pass for $150 for all virtual titles.
A Leg
U.S. Continental Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 15
A woman aims to reunite her dead husband’s amputated leg with his body, recalling their life together in the process, in this deliciously dark comedy.
All U Need Is Love
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 11
A high-spirited, feature-length PSA that enlists a multitude of Hong Kong stars to send a message about the role of artists in times of crisis.
As We Like It
East Coast Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 17
A novel take on the Shakespeare classic that reimagines the story’s gender-bending romance in a whimsical, near-future Taipei.
Blue
U.S. Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 9
Three misfits united by boxing form an odd triumvirate, viewing life’s travails through the lens of this most brutal yet scientific martial art.
Breakout Brothers
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 10
Three inmates band together to plot a desperate escape in this thriller rife with pathos, hard-boiled action, and pulp comic-book style to spare.
Fighter
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 7
A North Korean refugee in Seoul is coaxed out of her protective shell by a boxing coach in this starkly effective emotional drama.
From Today, It’s My Turn!!: The Movie
U.S. Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 9
Adolescent thugs fight at the drop of a hat in an amped-up 1980s setting in this absurdly hilarious feature version of the manga-based TV show.
Hand Rolled Cigarette
North American Premiere • Watch In-Person or Virtually
Actor Chan Kin Long (My Prince Edward, NYAFF 2020) makes his directorial debut with this gritty bromance, an exciting genre thriller and deeply poignant tale of personal loyalty with a formally astonishing final sequence that takes it to a whole nother level.
Here and There
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 22
Janine Gutierrez (star of NYAFF 2020 Opening Film The Girl and the Gun) and director JC Santos are perfectly paired in this meditation on the pandemic, a dexterous blend of romantic escapism with the heavier concerns about family, health, and distance that have impacted us all.
Hold Me Back
U.S. Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 11
A single office worker’s inner voice offers unpredictable and potentially limiting advice in this topical tale of modern romance and self-discovery.
I Don’t Fire Myself
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 18
An administrator banished to Nowheresville bonds with her co-workers over hardships in this impassioned plea against discrimination and exploitation.
Joint
International Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 14
A compelling portrait of today’s underworld, with multi-ethnic characters who are scrambling to bridge physical, generational, and moral divides.
Keep Rolling
New York Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 10
A wealth of images and interviews paint an intimate portrait of legendary filmmaker Ann Hui, a pioneering artist who is also the ultimate Hong Konger.
Midnight
International Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 7
A harrowing game of cat and mouse between a deaf woman and a serial killer sparks this edge-of-your-seat thriller with implicit social critiques.
Money Has Four Legs
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 12
A young director struggles to complete his first feature despite resistance on all sides in this gleefully inventive satire of the creative process.
My Missing Valentine
New York Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 17
A thirtyish postal worker’s humdrum life is transformed by an odd series of events in this dazzlingly original and whimsical twist on the rom-com.
One Second Champion
New York Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 9
A sad-sack single father is transformed into the One-Second Champion, able to see a moment into the future, in this inspiring twist on the fight film.
Over The Town
U.S. Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 8
Auteur Rikiya Imaizumi sends up modern romance and Japan’s “freeter” (slacker) lifestyle, also offering a sublime travelogue of Tokyo’s bohemia.
Rising Shaolin: The Protector
International Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 19
This homage to kung fu films of yore blends “now” with “then” for a rousing spectacle of martial-arts fury with a perennial moral of might for right.
Samjin Company English Class
New York Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 15
In 1995 Korea, a company-sponsored English class unites a trio of Korean “office ladies.” With smarts and determination above their lot in life, they uncover a scandal of Erin Brockovich proportions
Shadows
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 17
Stephy Tang shines in this dark psychological thriller as a forensic psychiatrist whose investigation reawakens her own insurmountable trauma.
Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting on Aug. 12
A fishing trip goes awry when three unwitting buddies venture into a deliriously off-kilter backwater in this gonzo action-comedy spectacular.
The Con-Heartist
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 16
A YouTuber and a handsome con man join forces to exact revenge on her unscrupulous ex in this taut heist movie–cum–rom-com that knows no bounds.
The Old Town Girls
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting on Aug. 13
An alienated teen reunites with her reckless birth mother in this arresting meditation on societal dysfunction through the lens of a fractured family.
The Prayer
International Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 13
This haunting exploration of AI sentience casts Lee Yoo-young as both a woman caring for her bedridden mother and the family’s devoted robot nurse.
The Silent Forest
New York Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 16
Corruption of the worst kind is exposed in this stirringly acted account of a boarding school for the hard of hearing, based on a shocking true story.
The Way We Keep Dancing
New York Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 11
Adam Wong’s joyous meta-study of dance films has much to say about the preservation of subcultures as they’re confronted by the forces of capitalism.
Three Sisters
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting Aug. 18
Stark drama, gentle comedy, and pointed social themes are deftly interwoven in this quietly triumphant family portrait.
Time
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting on Aug. 10
A once-legendary hitman reclaims his dignity in this clever and compassionate pastiche of genre trappings, imbued with endearing nostalgia.
Tiong Bahru Social Club
U.S. Premiere • Q&A with Thomas Pang · Watch In-Person or Virtually
Writer-director Tan Bee Thiam’s insightfully whimsical world-building posits deep existential questions against a cheerily inventive background, where the creeping shadow of artificiality may in fact point to enlightenment.
Tonkatsu DJ Agetaro
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting on Aug. 13
Mixing coming-of-age tropes and romantic comedy, this manga adaptation flippantly satirizes the consuming need to find one’s purpose in life.
Tough Out
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting on Aug. 10
Veteran documentarian Xu Hui-jing brings a Hoop Dreams–level depth to this unsentimental study of a baseball school for underprivileged youngsters.
Zokki
North American Premiere • Watch Virtually Starting on Aug. 16
Three of Japan’s most talented actor-directors adapt the refreshingly unique manga series Zokki, about characters in “an obscure corner” of the world.Outdoor Screenings
Dragon Inn AKA New Dragon Gate Inn
Free Outdoor Screening at Restart Stages
Two of Asia’s greatest actresses of all time, Maggie Cheung and Brigitte Lin (who famously took an arrow in the eye during the shoot), play badass swordswomen who attempt to thwart Ming Dynasty eunuch Tsao (played by Donnie Yen in full supervillain form) as he masterminds a plot to take over the Empire.In-Person Screenings
Anima
North American Premiere
Set in Inner Mongolia in the 1980s, when China launched economic development programs that resulted in widespread clear-cutting (essentially mass destruction by chainsaw), this is a breathtakingly beautiful debut with a romance at its heart and an environmental message in its soul.
Escape from Mogadishu
International Premiere
Set in 1991, when a long-festering internal conflict erupted into war, the fact-based film thrusts the audience into the terrifying street-level chaos, as two sets of Korean diplomats attempt to flee the country with their families and lives intact.
Hand Rolled Cigarette
North American Premiere • Watch In-Person or Virtually
Actor Chan Kin Long (My Prince Edward, NYAFF 2020) makes his directorial debut with this gritty bromance, an exciting genre thriller and deeply poignant tale of personal loyalty with a formally astonishing final sequence that takes it to a whole nother level.
A Shot Through the Wall
New York Premiere · Q&A with director Aimee Long and actor Kenny Leu
The compelling feature debut of Aimee Long, this troubling, fact-based film touches on of-the-moment themes that have become part of the public dialogue—from racial politics to the role of the media in manipulating public sentiment and meting out justice.
Tiong Bahru Social Club
U.S. Premiere • Q&A with Thomas Pang · Watch In-Person or Virtually
Writer-director Tan Bee Thiam’s insightfully whimsical world-building posits deep existential questions against a cheerily inventive background, where the creeping shadow of artificiality may in fact point to enlightenment.
Under the Open Sky
New York Premiere
A deeply compassionate and intensely moving film about an ex-con’s bumpy road to redemption, this masterwork from Miwa Nishikawa is punctuated by gentle humor, pointed satire, and explosive violence, and anchored by a career-best performance from beloved actor Kōji Yakusho.Tickets for the 20th New York Asian Film Festival are now on sale!
Virtual (Nationwide)
Virtual programs are $12 each with a discounted FLC All-Access Pass available for just $150 for all virtual titles. Get virtual tickets here.
In-Person (NYC)
Tickets for in-person programming are $15 for General Public and $12 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities. FLC Members receive $10 discounted in-person tickets. Get in-person tickets by clicking the “Films” or “Schedule” tab above.
See more and save at FLC with a six-film FLC All-Access Pass for $60. Purchase here. Please note, the FLC All-Access Pass can only be purchased online and can be picked up at the box office starting the first day of NYAFF.
See more and save at SVA with a SVA Theatre All-Access Pass for $250.
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