The New York Asian Film Festival remains one of the highlights of the festival calendar. Now in its 22nd edition, the collaboration between the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center returns from 14-30 July this year.
Opening with Lee Won-suk’s KILLING ROMANCE, the program contains a whopping 78 films from Hong Kong, Japan, China, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These include Kazuyoshi Kumakiri #MANHOLE, featured on the festival poster, and the international premiere of Lee Byeong-heon’s DREAM as the centrepiece.
We’ve been covering NYAFF for the last few years, and there’s always so much to watch that we have to keep coming back. Here we’ve pulled out some highlights that have us excited to give you a sense of just how important this festival is for Asian cinema.
You can find more on the official NYAFF website and all of our past and future coverage right here.
Mountain Woman
Takeshi Fukunaga, whose Ainu Mosir came along as part of a slow wave of recognition of Japan’s Ainu peoples, delivers more visual poetry about outsiders with a unique blend of quiet contemplation and breathtakingly inevitable outcomes. If his previous work looked at cultural identity through the coming of age story structure, then here he applies his naturalistic lens to a period setting. Read our full review.
Art College 1994
What is art? Ponder that during the incredibly measured pace of this highly detailed Chinese animated film from Liu Jian. Disarmingly wry and insightfully funny. At others, it feels almost documentary in nature. Read our full review.
December
We’ve been following Anshul Chauhan for a few years now, especially the excellent Kontora (2019) from a few years ago, along with his more recent short film Leo’s Return (2021), which was another superb character study. So, a new feature film from the director is something to get excited about. This one follows the psychological trauma of a person fighting for a reduction of her prison sentence seven years after murdering a classmate.
Egoist
One of the LGBTQIA+ films tagged in this year’s program and director Daishi Matsunaga’s film is playing in New York following it’s German premiere at Nippon Connection in June. Based on the autobiographical novel by Makoto Takayama, it follows two young men who start a passionate affair following a workout session — although that relationship is soon put to the test.
Okiku and the World
Following its world premiere at IFFR earlier this year, Junji Sakamoto’s crisp black and white film about two people working as “manure men” in this Edo Period jidaigeki. Already getting terrific reviews, film critic Mark Schilling calls this “a model of how to inventively and feelingly revive a core genre riddled with formulas and conventions.”
Phantom
Lee Hae-young, who was the director behind the superior 2018 thriller Believer, returns with a spy drama is set in 1933 Korea, during Japanese colonial rule, and features a cast of Korean stars — Sol Kyung-Gu, Lee Ha-Nee, Park So-Dam, Kim Dong-Hee, and Seo Hyun-Woo to name a few — speaking almost entirely in Japanese.
In Broad Daylight
Coming from Hong Kong, director Lawrence Kan bases his latest thriller on true events. Starring Jennifer Yu as a reporter, this very topical film follows a news agency who investigates abuse at a nursing home.
A-Town Boyz
One of the films that looks at this Asian diaspora around the world, this US documentary focuses on three young men who are involved in Atlanta’s vibrant hip-hop scene: Harrison “Vickz” Kim, Eugene Chung, and Jamy “Bizzy” Long. Director Eunice Lau’s film enjoys its world premiere at NYAFF this year.
Gaga
One of the rare looks at Indigenous Taiwanese communities in this Golden Horse winning film from director Laha Mebow and a cast of non-professional actors. The title, which refers to the spiritual traditions of the Indigenous Tayal people, gives audiences a look at the tensions that exist between First Nations traditions and modern practices to this day in Taiwan.
Redemption with Life
As part of the Filmmaker in Focus on director Zhang Wei section, NYAFF presents the world premiere of his latest outing. NYAFF describes the film, which follows a motorcycle club, as “a dark meditation on capitalistic corruption in which classic codes of honor and loyalty are put to the ultimate test.”
Short Animation Showcase
Yes, it’s a little bit of a cheat putting in a showcase of 10 films as the eleventh entry on this list, but where else will you find such a terrific set of animated shorts from across Asia? From the world premiere of Kong Son-hee’s BORDERLINE (South Korea) to Masashi Kawamura brand new film HIDARI (Japan), these span the realms of experimental fringes to the potential next big thing. Don’t miss them.
