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

FILMLEAF FESTIVAL REVIEW THREAD
FESTIVAL WEBSITE OF ALL FILMS

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.

[Chris Knipp]

FULL LINEUP: 78 feature films, 28 short films, 43 Screenings at FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER)
)Program still subject to change)
Films marked with ** will screen at Film at Lincoln Center.

FEATURES

BHUTAN
**I, the Song | dir. Dechen Roder, Bhutan/Norway/Italy/France, 2024 | East Coast Premiere

CHINA
**Bel Ami | dir. Geng Jun, China, 2024 | North American Premiere
Deep In The Mountain | dir. Li Yongyi, China, 2025 | North American Premiere
Girls On Wire | dir. Vivian Qu, China, 2025 | North American Premiere
**Green Wave | dir. Xu Lei, China, 2024 | North American Premiere
Legend Of The Sealed Book - 4K Restoration | dir. Wang Shuchen, China, 1983 | North American Premiere
**A Man and a Woman | dir. Guan Hu, China, 2024 | International Premiere
The Monkey King - Uproar In Heaven - 4K Restoration | dir. Wan Laiming, Tang Cheng, China, 1963 | North American Premiere
**My Friend An Delie | dir. Dong Zijian, China, 2024 | New York Premiere
A Story About Fire | dir. Li Wenyu, China, 2025 | North American Premiere
**To Kill a Mongolian Horse | dir. Xiaoxuan Jiang, China, 2024 | New York Premiere

HONG KONG (presented with the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York)
**Behind the Shadows | dir. Jonathan Li, Chou Man-Yu, Hong Kong, 2024 | North American Premiere
The Last Dance - Extended Version | dir. Anselm Chan, Hong Kong, 2024 | New York Premiere
**Last Song for You | dir. Jill Leung, Hong Kong, 2024 | North American Premiere
**Montages of a Modern Motherhood | dir. Oliver Chan Siu-kuen, Hong Kong, 2024 | North American Premiere
Papa | dir. Philip Yung, Hong Kong , 2024 | Special Screening
**Possession Street | dir. Jack Lai, Hong Kong 2024 | North American Premiere
**Smashing Frank | dir. Trevor Choi, Hong Kong, 2024 | U.S. Premiere
**Valley of the Shadow of Death | dir. Jeffrey Lam Sen, Antonio Tam, Hong Kong, 2024 | North American Premiere
**The Way We Talk | dir. Adam Wong, Hong Kong, 2024 | North American Premiere
**Young and Dangerous | dir. Andrew Lau, Hong Kong, 1996, 35mm | Special Screening

INDONESIA
Gowok: Javanese Kamasutra | dir. Hanung Bramantyo, Indonesia, 2025 | North American Premiere
**Perang Kota This City Is a Battlefield | dir. Mouly Surya, Indonesia/Singapore/Netherlands/France/Norway/Philippines/Cambodia, 2024 | North American Premiere

JAPAN
9 Souls | dir. Toshiaki Toyoda, Japan, 2003 | Special Screening
Babanba Banban Vampire | dir. Shinji Hamasaki, Japan, 2025 | North American Premiere
**Blue Spring | dir. Toshiaki Toyoda, Japan, 2002 | Special Screening
**Dollhouse | dir. Shinobu Yaguchi, Japan, 2025 | North American Premiere
**Hanging Garden | dir. Toshiaki Toyoda, Japan, 2005 | Special Screening
**How Dare You? | dir. Mipo O, Japan, 2025 | North American Premiere
Jinsei | dir. Ryuya Suzuki, Japan, 2025 | North American Premiere
Missing Child Videotape | dir. Ryota Kondo, Japan, 2024 | North American Premiere
**Ravens | dir. Mark Gill, Japan, France, Spain, Belgium, 2024 | East Coast Premiere
Samurai Fury | dir. Yu Irie, Japan, 2025 | U.S. Premiere
**Transcending Dimensions | dir. Toshiaki Toyoda, Japan, 2025 | North American Premiere

MALAYSIA
**Pavane for an Infant | dir. Chong Keat Aun, Malaysia, Hong Kong, 2024 | North American Premiere

MONGOLIA
Travesty | dir. Batsukh Baatar, Mongolia, 2024 | North American Premiere

MYANMAR
**MA – Cry of Silence | dir. The Maw Naing, Myanmar/South Korea/Singapore/France/Norway/Qatar, 2024 | North American Premiere

PHILIPPINES
Flower Girl (Closing Night Film) | dir. Fatrick Tabada, Philippines, 2025 | International Premiere
**The Hearing | dir. Lawrence Fajardo, Philippines, 2024 | North American Premiere
**Lilim | dir. Mikhail Red, Philippines, 2025 | North American Premiere
Sunshine | dir. Antoinette Jadaone, Philippines, 2024 | New York Premiere

SOUTH KOREA (Co-presented with Korean Cultural Center New York)
Commitment | dir. Park Hong-soo, South Korea, 2013 | Special Screening
**Forbidden Fairytale | dir. Lee Jong-suk, South Korea, 2024 | North American Premiere
**Fragment | dir. Kim Sung-yoon, South Korea, 2024 | U.S. Premiere
The Front Line | Jang Hoon, South Korea, 2011 | Special Screening
**A Girl with Closed Eyes | dir. Chun Sun-young, South Korea, 2024 | North American Premiere
**Hear Me: Our Summer | dir. Jo Seon-ho, South Korea, 2024 | North American Premiere
Hidden Face | dir. Kim Dae-woo, South Korea, 2024 | North American Premiere
Horoomon | dir. Lee Il-ha, South Korea, 2025 | International Premiere
**Informant (Opening Night Film) | dir. Kim Seok, South Korea, 2024 | World Premiere
Method Acting | dir. Lee Ki-hyuk, South Korea, 2024 | International Premiere
The Old Woman with the Knife | dir. Min Kyu-dong, South Korea, 2024 | New York Premiere
Omniscient Reader: The Prophet | dir. Kim Byong-woo, South Korea, 2025 | North American Premiere
**The Secret House | dir. Park Sang-min, South Korea, 2025 | North American Premiere
Somebody | dir. Lee Jung-chan, Kim Yeo-jung, South Korea, 2024 | New York Premiere
The Suspect | dir. Won Shin-yun, South Korea, 2013 | Special Screening
Swing Kids | dir. Kang Hyeong-cheol, South Korea, 2018 | Special Screening
Time To Be Strong | dir. Namkoong Sun, South Korea, 2024 | North American Premiere

TAIWAN (presented with the support of Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York)
Daughter’s Daughter | dir. Huang Xi, Taiwan, 2024 | U.S. Premiere
The Embers | dir. Chung Mong-hong, Taiwan, 2024 | East Coast Premiere
Family Matters | dir. Pan Ke-yin, Taiwan, 2025 | North American Premiere
Gorgeous 2K Restoration | dir. Chang Mei-chun, Taiwan, 1985 | International Premiere
Islanders Ep. 1, 2 (Series) | dir. Ler Jiyuan, Tsai Pao-chang, Taiwan, 2025 | International Premiere (Series)
**Lovesick | dir. Hsu Fu-hsiang, Taiwan, 2025 | North American Premiere
Organ Child | dir. Chieh Shueh Bin, Taiwan, 2024 | North American Premiere
**Unexpected Courage | dir. Shawn Yu, Taiwan, 2025 | International Premiere

THAILAND (presented with the support of Thailand Creative Culture Agency – THACCA)
404 Run Run | dir. Seua Pichaya Jarasboonpracha, Thailand, 2024 | North American Premiere
**Attack 13 | dir. Taweewat Wantha, Thailand, 2025 | International Premiere
**Flat Girls | dir. Jirassaya Wongsutin, Thailand, 2025 | North American Premiere
Panor | dir. Putipong Saisikaew, Thailand, 2025 | North American Premiere
**The Red Envelope | dir. Chayanop Boonprakob, Thailand, 2025 | North American Premiere
**Shutter (4K restoration) | dir. Parkpoom Wongpoom, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Thailand, 2004 | North American Premiere
**The Stone | dir. Pae Arak Amornsupasiri, Wutthipong Sukkhanintr, Thailand, 2025 | North American Premiere

U.S.
**1 Girl Infinite | dir. Lilly Hu, U.S., 2024 | North American Premiere
Earl | dir. Ty Kim, United States, 2024 | East Coast Premiere
**Lisa Lu Plays Herself | dir. Chen Mei-Juin, U.S., 2025 | World Premiere
Queerpanorama | dir. Jun Li, United States, Hong Kong, 2024 | New York Premiere

VIETNAM
**Skin of Youth | dir. Ash Mayfair, Vietnam, 2025 | North American Premiere

{SHORT FILMS are omitted here]

[Chris Knipp]

[First review.]

DAUGHTER'S DAUGHTER (Huang Xi 2024)

Sylvia Chang is superb as a feisty lady from Taipei with a compicated past who must travel to New York's Chinatown to retrieve her late daughter's remains - and decide what to do with the embryo she has left behind. The director studied at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and worked with Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-Hsien as crew member in producing his Goodbye, South, Goodbye and The Assassin. It shows. Chinese title: 女兒的女兒 (pinyin: Nǚ'ér de nǚ'ér).

SCHEDULE:
Friday July 18, 5:30pm
LOOK Cinemas W57

[Chris Knipp]

THE EMBERS 余烬 (Chung Mong-hong 2024)

On the face of it this is just a police procedural, about a murder investigation that leads to a connection with another nmurder, and another investiation, but this is a vastly ambitious, nort easy to follow, film that delves back into the terrible past of Taiwan's long White Terror period. There are several dozen characters and a nearly three-hour runtime. The references to history have ruffled some feathers at home.

Tuesday July 22, 8:45pm
SVA Theatre

[Chris Knipp]

FAMILY MATTERS (Pan Ke-yin 2025)

This family anthology from Taiwan in four segments, daughter, mother, brother, father, which grew out of a short involving the same cast and focused on the daughter/sister, is partly realistic, partly experimental. It is Pan Ke-yin's first feature. He will be present at the NYAFF. Original title; s 我家的事 (Wǒjiā de shì, My Family's Affairs),

SCHEDULE:
Saturday July 26, 1:30pm
SVA Theatre
2025 NYAFF Uncaged Award Nominee. Intro and Q&A with director Pan Ke-Yin

[Chris Knipp]

UNEXPECTED COURAGE (Shawn Yu 2025)

The director recreates his own experience as a 32-year-old director of commercials when his 45-year-old partner, a well known senior talent manager, unexpectedly becomes pregnant and to save the fetus to term, extreme measures have to be committed to. A beautiful and throught-provoking film. Original title: 我們意外的勇氣 (Wǒmen yìwài de yǒngqì, "Our Unexpected Courage").

SHOWTIMES:
Thursday July 17, 6:00pm
Film at Lincoln Center
Intro and Q&A with director Shawn Yu
Friday July 18, 8:30pm
LOOK Cinemas W57

[Chris Knipp]

BEHIND THE SHADOWS (Jonathan Li, Chou Man-Yu 2024)

From the Hong Kong company of cool star Louis Koo, a noirish crime action tale set in Kuala Lampur of a private detective (Koo) who winds up embroiled in a series of murders and investigting a man's suspicious "girlfriend" who turns out to be his own wife. He is a fall guy and worse, but equipt with a wealth of up to date electronic tracking devices and the charisma of this actor. I'm not sure where this is going; it may be a little too complicated for its own good; but it has some well-filmed urban noir action. Original title: 私家偵探 ("Private Investigator").

Showtime:
Tuesday July 15, 9:15pm
Walter Reade Theater

[Chris Knipp]

POSSESSION STREET 邪Mall (Jack Lai 2024)

A polished and interesting (too interesting?) zombie vampire movie, not for its latter acton so much as the setup which delves into Hong Kong history and is one of a series of films dwelling on how the life has gone out of this culturally rich city.

NYAFF:
Saturday July 19, 3:15pm
Film at Lincoln Center

[Chris Knipp]

THE WAY WE TALK (Adan Wong 2024)

Drama about three deaf people in Hong Kong, two boys and a girl, who grow up and deal with conflicts between CI (Cochlear Implant) and learning sign language, which in the early days of CI was repressed in the belief that focusing on spoken language exclusively will lead to better auditory and speech development. Let's hope this is vanishing. It feels like the repression of native languages in North American Indian schools. Anyway, we learn about this issue and various ways of grownng up deaf. Original title: 看我今天怎麼說 ("Let's see what I have to say today").

Sat, July 19
6:00 PM
Q&A Walter Reade Theater
Ticket holders are invited to the Furman Gallery for Matsuri to Midnight after the screening and Q&A end.

[Chris Knipp]

MISSING CHILD VIDEOTAPE ミッシング・チャイルド・ビデオテープ (Ryota Kondo 2024)

A. tasty and promising understated Japan horror debut, using Blair Witch mood, trauma of personal loss, and subtle pleasing aesthetics. With the blessing of J-horror legend Takashi Shimizu.


SCHEDULE:
Sunday July 13, 9:00pm
LOOK Cinemas W57

[Chris Knipp]

RAVENS (Mark Gill 2024)

An art photographer gets a rock star biopic.

Sunday July 20, 9:00pm
Film at Lincoln Center
Premium screening. Intro and Q&A with director Mark Gill, cinematographer Fernando Ruiz and actor Tadanobu Asano