FLC and NYAFF announces first highlights from 22nd New York Asian Film Festival

New York, NY (June 15, 2023) – On July 14, 2023, the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center will kick off the 22nd edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), with 60+ new and classic titles, a greatly expanded selection of short films, and an exciting slate of celebrated guests from Asia and the diaspora. The festival runs from July 14–30, 2023 at Film at Lincoln Center (FLC), with a special weekend of screenings (July 21–23) at a new venue, the historic Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the birthplace of the motion picture industry in America.

“As filmmakers from Asia continue to earn the lion’s share of top awards (and attention) on the international film festival circuit, this year’s selection shows that those are still trees hiding a forest of talent,” said Samuel Jamier, executive director of NYAFF and president of the New York Asian Film Foundation. “We are thrilled to offer a platform that is ever more culturally relevant with new films from all corners of Asia. It is a year of massive expansion for us at a time when a growing number of American filmmakers of Asian descent are conquering screens and hearts. We look forward to bringing passionate stories to passionate audiences in a city that remains a global center of film culture and business!”

The NYAFF Opening Film is the North American premiere of the unique Korean genre mashup Killing Romance, directed by Lee Won-suk. The director will be joined at Film at Lincoln Center on opening night by his lead actor, Lee Sun-kyun (Parasite, A Hard Day), who turns in an unforgettable performance as the indescribably overbearing husband of a disgraced supermodel-movie star, fully armed with his history of versatile roles in everything from art-house collaborations with Hong Sang-soo to rom-coms to his SAG Award-winning turn in Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite. Director Lee Won-suk has a rich history with NYAFF—his first film, How to Use Guys with Secret Tips, premiered at NYAFF 2013, and Lee won the Audience Award at NYAFF 2015 with his second feature, the big-budget period drama The Royal Tailor. It’s a thrill to welcome him back with his third feature.

This year’s Hong Kong Panorama, point of origin and DNA of the festival’s programming (NYAFF started off as a Hong Kong movie showcase), is an explosive cocktail of genre nostalgia and humanistic drama, drawing the contours of a road map for the future of the island’s cinema. A new 4K restoration of Patrick Tam’s 1982 Hong Kong New Wave watershed Nomad (Director’s Cut) enhances the film’s outré mix of romance and violence, and one of Leslie Cheung’s early great roles. Cutting-edge noir auteur Soi Cheang’s Mad Fate harkens back to the region’s time-honored legacy of crime films with a new sense of urgency and manic energy; Amos Why’s Everyphone Everywhere captures pandemic-era life in Hong Kong via the city’s reliance on cell phones like no other film, and has more to say on recent social shifts than hours of CNN commentary; The Sunny Side of the Street sees the incomparable Anthony Wong lending salty sympathy to new immigrants; and A Light Never Goes Out highlights the city’s iconic neon craftwork and all its storied achievements, offering a unique love letter to the island’s culture.

As previously announced, actor and producer Louis Koo, one of Hong Kong’s biggest stars, is to be honored with NYAFF’s Extraordinary Star Asia Award. Koo has more than 100 credits to his name, including sci-fi action thriller Warriors of Future, the highest-grossing Asian film of all time in the territory following its release last August. The award highlights his work as a producer and philanthropist, recognizing his many exceptional contributions to the Asian film industry, including the One Cool Group, now an industry powerhouse, and his support of award-winning work both in and outside Asia. Of the many Koo-starring films featured at NYAFF over the years, recent highlights include the White Storm trilogy, Paradox, A Witness Out of the Blue, All U Need Is Love, and his new lifesaving drama Vital Signs, which he will be on hand to introduce. NYAFF will also present the latest One Cool production, In Broad Daylight, a shocking exposé of abuse at a care home based on real events.

NYAFF’s China lineup showcases novel work and a filmmaker-in-focus program/tribute to entrepreneur turned director and producer Zhang Wei, who has built a unique body of cinematic work, making the naturalistic portrayals of the marginalized in China’s rapidly changing society his signature. In the context of U.S.-China tension, and the frequent demonization of the country’s regime, showcasing his hard-hitting films The Empty Nest, Factory Boss, and The Rib (Director’s Cut) takes on a particularly acute significance; all stories focus unblinkingly on hot-button issues through unassuming characters and straightforward storylines that turn the spotlight on societal fault lines and fractures with impact far beyond the country’s borders. Making their North American premieres are Wang Chao’s A Woman, a tale both simple and sweeping in scope that chronicles the sexual and political day-to-day existence of a female factory worker during the years of the Cultural Revolution, and Liu Jian’s Art College 1994, a fond satire of student life told in his charmingly stark and sardonic animation style, made famous by his previous film, Have a Nice Day (2017).

NYAFF’s bold and diverse South Korean lineup, presented with the support of the Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY), includes Lee Hae-young’s Phantom, an action-packed spy drama set in 1933 that is one of this year’s biggest hits in the country; the boisterous family comedy Bear Man, from Park Sung-kwang, featuring Park Sung-woong in two indelible roles; Hail to Hell, the impressive feature debut of female helmer Lim Oh-jeong, about two oddballs who track down the bully who pushed them to the brink of suicide; the rousing underdog dramedy Rebound from Chang Hang-jun, in which a group of misfits come together to play nonstop basketball for eight days straight in the KBA National Tournament; and A Tour Guide from Kwak Eun-mi, the touching and timely story of a young North Korean defector who excels at leading Chinese-language tours of Seoul but lives a maladjusted, precarious life as a stranger in a strange land.

NYAFF’s Japanese lineup, supported by the Japan Foundation, is led by the North American Premiere of veteran auteur Junji Sakamoto’s audacious, aesthetically brilliant new jidaigeki, Okiku and the World, which he will be on hand to introduce. Also a must-see is the New York Premiere of Daishi Matsunaga’s heralded LGBTQ+ love story Egoist. The director will be joined on stage by leading actor Ryohei Suzuki (HK: Forbidden Super Hero, 2013 NYAFF Audience Award winner; Last of the Wolves, 2021), a superstar in his native Japan, and the 2023 NYAFF Screen International Rising Star Asia honoree. A superstar of another sort, musician-actor Satoru Iguchi (King Gnu) will also be on hand at FLC for the North American Premiere of In Her Room, an otherworldly erotic tale by veteran female screenwriter Chihiro Ito (Crying Out Love in the Center of the World; Spring Snow), who makes her long-awaited directorial debut with this enigmatic love story.

Tokyo-based Indian director Anshul Chauhan and actor Shogen will appear with their film December, a riveting courtroom drama. Erstwhile New York City resident Takeshi Fukunaga will return with his third feature, the haunting allegory Mountain Woman, a mythic tale of female oppression and liberation with Toko Miura (Drive My Car). Also showcased in the Japan lineup are A Hundred Flowers, the award-winning directorial debut by Genki Kawamura (superproducer of Monster, Your Name, Belle, and Rage); Ryūichi Hiroki’s tragic study of the maternal instinct in the form of a Rashomon-like procedural, Motherhood; the thrillingly dark genre gem #Manhole by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri; and Shinichi Fujita’s superheroine (or supervillain?) ode to the literal and figurative empowerment of young women, Mayhem Girls.

NYAFF’s Taiwan lineup features some of the most striking and daring new films from the “beautiful island.” Movie star Kai Ko makes his directorial debut with Bad Education, a controversially dark coming-of-age comedy-thriller; the LGBTQ+ action-comedy Marry My Dead Body foments a gender-fluid revolution with its premise of a macho cop who unwittingly marries a gay ghost; and Gaga, by Taiwan’s first indigenous female director, Laha Mebow, who will be in attendance, chronicles a tangled web of drama across three generations of an Atayal tribe family.

NYAFF reaches further across the continent for even more incredible cinematic discoveries. Philippines: I Love You, Beksman is the fabulously campy tale of a “straight guy with a queer eye” who must overcome his gay family’s apprehensions when he meets the superfly girl of his dreams; based on a shocking real-life story, Where Is the Lie? boasts out-of-the-box storytelling and an extraordinarily luminous performance by trans actor EJ Jallorina as the tragically lovelorn target of a sexy but vicious cyberbully; the timely drama 12 Weeks chronicles a fiercely independent 40-year-old woman’s attempts to arrange a safe abortion in a devoutly anti-choice nation where it is illegal. Singapore: Geylang is a wild pop-art genre joyride seething with the tropically hot melting pot flavors of the city-state put through a riotously macabre Moebius strip of neon-noir influences. Thailand: Kitty the Killer is an anarchic action-comedy about a team of top-notch female assassins who must transform a ridiculously goofy young man from zero to hero in order to wreak bloody vengeance on the agency that betrayed them; You & Me & Me is the directorial debut of real-life identical twin sisters, and art may be imitating life in this glorious teenage coming-of-age fever dream where two look-alike siblings fall for the same boy and must confront their true feelings and who they really are, as they experience the pangs of first love. Vietnam: Glorious Ashes, the first film in over a decade from cinematic poet Bui Thac Chuyên, spins a poignant and dizzying tale of love, loneliness, and pyromania in a devastating omnibus-like tangle of interconnected romance gone wrong in yesteryear’s Mekong Delta.

Once again this year, the festival will be co-hosting, with Korean Cultural Center New York and Film at Lincoln Center, a free outdoor screening in Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park. Set for July 21 is Bong Joon Ho’s 2006 masterpiece The Host, arguably one of the greatest monster movies ever made. Highlighting the type of hilarious, ragtag family dynamics that would win him an Oscar for Parasite years later, Bong’s David-versus-Goliath story stars Song Kang-ho and Bae Doona.

A second wave of announcements will be made shortly, containing NYAFF’s Centerpiece and Closing films, the Uncaged Competition lineup and jury, special guests and award honorees, master classes and panels, and other exciting events. NYAFF is also thrilled to host the Opening Night Market on July 14 and the Monday Matsuri to Midnight on July 24, both with live music and Asian food stalls, as well as other parties and receptions.

From the deadly serious to the gleefully absurd, from the disquieting to the freaky, NYAFF continues to celebrate the most vibrant and provocative cinema out of Asia today.

The New York Asian Film Festival is co-presented by the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center, and takes place from July 14–30, 2023 at FLC’s Walter Reade Theater (165 West 65th Street, New York, NY), and on July 21–23 at the Barrymore Film Center (153 Main Street, Fort Lee, NJ). It is curated by executive director Samuel Jamier, associate director Claire Marty, China region expert and consultant Hiroshi Fukazawa, and programmers David Wilentz, Karen Severns, Koichi Mori, and Jenny Lin.

FIRST WAVE OF LINEUP (43 feature films, 20 short films) — more titles to be announced
(Please note the program is still subject to change.)

SINGAPORE
Geylang | dir. Boi Kwong, Singapore, 2022 | North American Premiere

THAILAND
Kitty the Killer | dir. Lee Thongkham, Thailand, 2023 | International Premiere
You & Me & Me | dir. Weawwan Hongvivatana and Wanweaw Hongvivatana, Thailand, 2023 | North American Premiere

VIETNAM
Glorious Ashes | dir. Bui Thac Chuyên, Vietnam/France/Singapore, 2022 | North American Premiere

DIASPORIC CINEMA
A-Town Boyz | dir. Eunice Lau, USA, 2023 | World Premiere
The Effects of Lying | dir. Isher Sahota, U.K., 2023 | North American Premiere

NARRATIVE SHORTS SHOWCASE

Animation
Borderline | dir. Kong Son-hee, South Korea, 2022 | World Premiere
Confusion of the Afternoon | dir. Yung-Chieh Lee, Taiwan, 2023 | East Coast Premiere
Goose Mountain | dir. Hu Rui and Chen Liaoyu, China, 2023
Handwritten | dir. Jaime Sunwoo, USA, 2022 | New York Premiere
Hidari | dir. Masashi Kawamura, Japan, 2023
Impurrfection | dir. Chiang Yao, Taiwan, 2022 | New York Premiere
Little Pig Demon (Nobody) | dir. Yu Shui and Chen Liaoyu, China, 2023
The Kidnapping (Old Man Yang) | dir. Gu Yang, Liu Kuang, Chen Liaoyu, China, 2023
Ship Down the Well | dir. Chen Xi, Zhou Xiaolin, Chen Liaoyu, China, 2023
What We Leave Behind | dir. Kang Nam-jin, South Korea, 2022 | International Premiere

NYAFF TICKET PRICING AND INFO:
Tickets for the 22nd edition of the New York Asian Film Festival go on sale June 23 at 12pm ET, with early access for FLC Members beginning June 23 at 10am ET. Tickets are $17 for General Public; $14 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $12 for FLC Members. See more at FLC and save with a 3+ Film Package or FLC All-Access Passes ($249 for General Public and $199 for students). Note: Opening Night and premium events are excluded.

Opening Night tickets for Killing Romance are $25 for the General Public and $20 for FLC Members, students, seniors, and persons with disabilities. Those who wish to attend the Opening Night screening and the Night Market can get tickets for $50 for the General Public and $40 for FLC Members, students, seniors, and persons with disabilities.

Premium events––including both screenings of Killing Romance, Egoist, Vital Signs, Phantom, and more to be announced––are $25 for the General Public and $20 for FLC Members, students, seniors, and persons with disabilities.

Standard-priced screenings at NYAFF are eligible for the FLC Dinner + Movie combo. For $30, receive one ticket to an NYAFF screening and a select menu item at Café Paradiso, located in FLC’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. Learn more here.

For additional information, please visit Film at Lincoln Center at filmlinc.org, New York Asian Film Festival at nyaff.org, and follow us on social media @filmlinc and @nyaff.

Barrymore Film Center will be screening films on July 21–23, with pricing to be announced at nyaff.org.

Please send all NYAFF press inquiries to: [email protected]

(Viewing links for key films are available by request)

LINK TO FILM STILLS

LINK TO FESTIVAL LOGO

LINK TO FESTIVAL POSTER
This year’s poster image is from the film #Manhole by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri

NYAFF 2023 VENUES

Film at Lincoln Center (FLC), July 14–30, 2023
Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, New York, NY
Barrymore Film Center, July 21–23, 2023
153 Main Street, Fort Lee, NJ

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (NYAFF)
Celebrating its 22nd edition in 2023, the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) is North America’s leading festival of Asian cinema. It was called “the best film festival in New York” by The Village Voice and “arguably the world’s best-curated program of new and classic Asian cinema” by IndieWire. Launched in 2002, the festival showcases a wildly diverse lineup of singular titles each year, ranging from mainstream blockbusters and art-house eccentricities to genre and cult classics. It was the first North American film festival to champion the works of Johnnie To, Bong Joon Ho, Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike, and other auteurs of contemporary Asian cinema. Notable festival guests have included Lee Byung-hun, Ryoo Seung-wan, Masami Nagasawa, Sammo Hung, Lee Jung-jae, and Jackie Chan. Since 2010, NYAFF has been produced in collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center.

For more information, visit https://www.nyaff.org and on social: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, #nyaff2023.

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FOUNDATION
The New York Asian Film Foundation Inc. is America’s premier 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the exhibition and appreciation of Asian film culture in all its forms, with year-round festivals and programs, and a view to building bridges between Asia and America.

The New York Asian Film Foundation’s flagship event is the annual New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), which has been presented in collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center since 2010. Now celebrating its 22nd year, NYAFF is North America’s leading festival of Asian cinema.

The foundation’s other events and initiatives include special screening events and an annual Winter Showcase at the SVA Theatre.

The New York Asian Film Festival, a program of the New York Asian Film Foundation, is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
Film at Lincoln Center is dedicated to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema and enriching film culture.

Film at Lincoln Center fulfills its mission through the programming of festivals, series, retrospectives, and new releases; the publication of Film Comment; and the presentation of podcasts, talks, special events, and artist initiatives. Since its founding in 1969, this nonprofit organization has brought the celebration of American and international film to the world-renowned Lincoln Center arts complex, making the discussion and appreciation of cinema accessible to a broad audience and ensuring that it remains an essential art form for years to come.

Film at Lincoln Center receives generous, year-round support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on Twitter and Instagram.

For media-specific inquiries regarding Film at Lincoln Center, please contact:
John Kwiatkowski, Film at Lincoln Center, [email protected]
Eva Tooley, Film at Lincoln Center, [email protected]
Rogers & Cowan PMK, [email protected]

BARRYMORE FILM CENTER
Barrymore Film Center is a not-for-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to presenting classic repertory films, documentaries, independent movies, and worldwide cinema promoting 21st-century filmmaking through the prism of Fort Lee’s role as the birthplace of the American motion picture industry.

For more information, visit barrymorefilmcenter.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.