THE NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL July 11-27, 2025- preview

[Chris Knipp]

The 24th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival will run from July 11 to 27, 2025 at Film at Lincoln Center, SVA Theatre, LOOK Cinemas W57 and the Korean Cultural Center of NY

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The event's premiminary 2025 announcement:

This year’s theme is 'Cinema as Disruption'—spotlighting films that challenge, provoke, and reimagine. From unsettling horror and feminist thrillers to cosmic punk epics and political allegories, NYAFF celebrates the power of Asian cinema to defy convention.

The 2025 lineup confronts taboos and reclaims narrative power: Tokyo International Film Festival selection Pavane for an Infant by Chong Keat Aun explores Malaysia’s hidden crises; Japanese cult director Toshiaki Toyoda’s Transcending Dimensions conjures an opium-dream convergence of sci-fi, metaphysics, and gangster myth; and Korea’s Lee Jong-suk detonates social mores in Forbidden Fairytale, a fearless satire on sex, porn, and censorship.

This year’s program includes bold works from across Asia, with particular emphasis on rarely seen regions. From Thailand’s genre-bending blockbusters to rare dispatches from Bhutan (I, the Song), Myanmar, and Mongolia (competition title to be announced), NYAFF 2025 highlights formal ambition and moral urgency. MA – Cry of Silence, winner of the New Currents Award at the Busan International Film Festival, presents Myanmar’s post-coup surveillance state through a garment worker’s quiet reckoning—marking the country’s powerful return to international cinema.

"This year’s lineup dares to confront, question, and dream—exactly what cinema should do," says Samuel Jamier, NYAFF Executive Director. With 19 Southeast Asian films—our strongest regional representation ever—we’re witnessing a generational shift. Beyond the curation of films, we're redrawing a cultural map that urgently needs expansion. Many festivals treat Asian cinema like it ends at the Korean border—we’re here to blow up that thinking. We mean business. Or chaos. Probably both.”

The festival is presented with major support from the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York (HKETONY), Thailand Creative Culture Agency (THACCA), Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, Fundstrat Global Advisors, and Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY), whose partnership amplifies Asian cinema’s most vital voices.

This year’s festival celebrates cinema legends and rising auteurs through intimate post-screening Q&As and in-person appearances.

Lisa Lu, the beloved star of The Joy Luck Club and Crazy Rich Asians, reflects on a groundbreaking career spanning seven decades. She will be honored with two awards—the Trailblazer Award and the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award—marking the first time in the festival’s history that both distinctions will be conferred upon a single individual, in recognition of a body of work that has left an indelible mark on the history of cinema, not only entertaining and inspiring audiences but also elevating the cultural and artistic profile of Asian cinema on the world stage.

Star Asia Award recipient Ekin Cheng unveils his latest reinvention in Last Song for You, while Japanese visionary director Toshiaki Toyoda headlines NYAFF’s first-ever mid-career retrospective, appearing in person for the North American premiere of Transcending Dimensions. In addition to his latest film, rare screenings on 35mm of Blue Spring, Hanging Garden, a collection of his best shorts, turn the spotlight on a truly one-of-a-kind filmography.

Joining them are trailblazing voices like Venice winner Chong Keat Aun (Pavane for an Infant), breakout LGBTQ+ filmmaker Lilly Hu (1 Girl Infinite), and Screen International Rising Star Asia awardee Natalie Hsu (remarkable in both Pavane for an Infant and Last Song for You), along with emerging headliner Heaven Peralejo and Mikhail Red, the enfant terrible of new Philippine cinema—collectively ushering in a new era of vivid, unfiltered Asian storytelling.

More than 30 filmmakers will appear throughout July for post-screening discussions that turn each showing into a cinematic exchange.


The Numbers Behind the Wave
● 100+ films: 70+ features and 30 shorts, with Film at Lincoln Center hosting 40 features
● 75+ premieres, including eight world, 41 North American, five U.S.
● 19 Southeast Asian films from six countries
● 17 first-time directors, nearly half women
● 30+ filmmaker Q&As

Hong Kong’s Renaissance in Noir: Behind the Shadows and Smashing Frank explore crime through existential dread, while Jeffrey Lam Sen and Antonio Tam’s Valley of the Shadow of Death turn personal loss into collective moral reckoning.

Taiwan’s Intimate Rebellions: Rene Liu leads Unexpected Courage, which redefines midlife relationships with nuance.

Southeast Asia explodes with creative energy: Thailand leads with eight films; the Philippines brings four, including Mikhail Red’s sinister slow burn horror Lilim. Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bhutan, and Mongolia round out a vibrant chorus of new and exciting voices in cinema.

Seventeen first-time filmmakers—nearly half of them women—make their mark at NYAFF. Highlights include 1 Girl Infinite, a poetic queer punk romance by Lilly Hu, executive produced by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Dune) and produced by Matīss Kaža (producer of 2025 Oscar winner Flow); and two North American premieres: Flat Girls by Jirassaya Wongsutin, and A Girl with Closed Eyes by Chun Sun-young.

Nine horror films push boundaries in fresh and bone-chilling ways. Dollhouse explores domestic dread à la Annabelle. Attack 13 unleashes a Phi Tai Hong—a vengeful Thai ghoul—onto a doomed group of high-schoolers, and more.

NYAFF is thrilled to introduce a brand-new celebration this year: the Opening Weekend Gala on July 12 at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium. The evening will feature the presentation of the Vanguard Award to the legendary Lisa Lu, honoring her groundbreaking seven-decade career, and the Screen International Rising Star Asia Award to Natalie Hsu. Together, they embody both the legacy and bold future of Asian cinema. Acclaimed filmmakers, stars, and guests will gather over small plates, passed bites, and craft cocktails for a night of celebration. The festival’s beloved Opening Night Market returns on July 11—a perennial fan-favorite party with live music, Asian street food, and festive flair.

A second wave of NYAFF 2025 announcements will be unveiled next week.