New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) is celebrating its landmark 25th edition with its strongest ever programme of horror, action, drama and queer cinema from across Asia.
More than 70 features will screen from July 10-26 at five venues across New York, many of which will be introduced by their director and, in some cases, stars.
“We show the disreputable, we show the reputable, we show everything that’s fun,” says NYAFF executive director Samuel Jamier. “A lot of film festivals are like your mum giving you vegetables. They give them to you because they’re good for you. That’s not really us. We run on different principals. Our brand has always been shamelessness.”
True to his word, this year’s edition kicked off with Colony, Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie thriller that premiered at Cannes and had the audience at New York’s Film at Lincoln Center theatre screaming (with occasional nervous laughter) on opening night. Both Yeon and star Gianna Jun took to the stage in front of a sold-out crowd to introduce the film and take questions from the audience, who saw the film long in advance of its planned North America release through Well Go USA on August 28.
It marked a full circle moment for Jun, whose breakout role in My Sassy Girl was not only one of just 12 films selected for NYAFF’s inaugural edition in 2002 but also won the festival’s first audience award. A 4K restoration of the romantic comedy, directed by Kwak Jae-yong, will receive its North American premiere at Anthology Film Archives – the theatre where it was first shown in New York 25 years ago.
“I thought it would be a good idea to go back to the original venues where the festival was started: Anthology Film Archives downtown and the IFC Center, basically the birthplaces of the festival,” says Jamier. “They have a rougher edge to them but they’re cool theatres and I felt it was important for us to go back to our roots.”
NYAFF’s first edition ran for seven days at Anthology Film Archives in April 2002, comprising films mainly from Japan and South Korea. It was founded by a small group of Asian film fans in response to the closure of the Music Palace, Chinatown’s last Chinese-language cinema. The festival moved to the IFC Center in 2007 before relocating to Film at Lincoln Center in 2010, now its primary home.
That original venue will host retrospective titles, “more in the spirit of what we used to show,” says Jamier, including Takashi Miike’s Ichi The Killer, Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer and Pang Ho-cheung’s You Shoot, I Shoot as well as My Sassy Girl. It will also feature a secret screening.
“As we are 25, some of our staff are younger than the festival itself so I’d like them to discover those films,” says Jamier, who first joined NYAFF on the programming side in 2011 before stepping up to spearhead the event in 2019.
Blockbusters
From humble beginnings, NYAFF now lands some of the biggest and most sought-after titles from Asia. Chief among them this year is Hope, Na Hong-jin’s genre bending action epic that premiered in Competition at Cannes and is believed to be South Korea’s most expensive film ever made.
Hope will receive its North America premiere as the festival’s Centerpiece film at the SVA Theatre – a venue used by US studios for Hollywood premieres – and is presented by powerhouse indie buyer and distributor Neon, known for landing the last seven Cannes Palme d’Or winners and multiple Oscar winners. It marks a fresh partnership with NYAFF and will give audiences chance to see the film nearly two months before its US release on September 9.
“It is probably one of the biggest films we have ever programmed, all thanks to Neon,” says Jamier. “It’s a monumental release and a spectacular film that redefines the rules of action cinema. Technically, we have the international premiere of the new cut.” (Further post-production on visual effects and editing have taken place on the film since Cannes.)
Na will be in town to introduce the film on July 20 and NYAFF is marking the occasion by presenting the filmmaker with the Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence In Action Cinema. The festival will also host a full retrospective of his career with screenings of The Chaser (on 35mm), The Yellow Sea and The Wailing.
Director Yeon will also be the subject of a retrospective, focused on his zombie features that include a new 4K version of his seminal 2016 horror Train To Busan as well as horror animation Seoul Station and Peninsula.
New York audiences will get early looks at some of Asia’s biggest box office titles of the year to date. These include the North American premiere of Dear You, the breakout sleeper hit that has taken more than $280m in mainland China, cementing its position as the country’s second biggest film of the year to date. Set as NYAFF 25’s closing film, director Lan Hongchun and cast are set to attend.
The festival also has the international premiere of Jack Ng’s Night King (Directors Cut), the original version of which led Hong Kong’s box office in the first half of 2026. The second-place title, Cold War 1994, will also receive a special screening at NYAFF with star Daniel Wu in attendance to receive the festival’s Best From the East Award.
The King’s Warden, South Korea’s highest grossing film of all time, will also receive a special screening while Thai box office juggernaut The Undertaker 2: World After Death with have its North American premiere with director Thiti Srinuan accompanied by the film’s cinematographer and producers.
NYAFF will also host North American premieres of Thai box office hits 4 Tigers, with star Mario Maurer set to attend, and heart-tugging canine tale Gohan, with directors Baz Poonpiriya (of Bad Genius fame) and Chayanop Boonprakob flying in.
Bringing in more than 50 filmmaking talents from across Asia is a monumental task – not least when faced with rise in costs due to the ongoing war in Iran and a reduction in hotel space in the midst of the FIFA World Cup – but it forms a key part of Jamier’s mission for the festival.
“These days, with people basically dating their phones, we’re missing a sense of connection,” he says. “With the rise of AI, people are craving this human presence and want to see there’s an actual person making these films. We bring the audience as close as it’s possible to the talent and filmmakers to restore this connection between the two. Going forward, I would like every film we show to have a guest.”
Star power
Among the talent set to attend this year is Joan Chen, the China-born US actress and filmmaker, who will receive the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award at NYAFF’s second annual Gala Night, honouring a career that ranges from The Last Emperor and Twin Peaks to more recent features Dìdi and Montréal, My Beautiful, of which the latter will screen at the festival.
Colony star Jun will also be honoured at the gala with the Extraordinary Star Asia Award.
This year’s Screen International Rising Star Awards will be presented to Angela Yeun, a Golden Horse and Hong Kong Film Award best actress nominee whose Gamer Girls and Afterpiece will receive their North America premieres at the festival; and Japanese actress Sara Minami, who also has two titles at this year’s NYAFF, Magical Secret Tour and All Greens.
The Screen International Star Asia Award is this year bestowed on Taiwanese actor Jospeh Chang, whose credits include Eternal Summer and Soul Mat. He attends the festival with his latest feature Deep Quiet Room, winner of the Fei Mu Award for best film at the 2025 Pingyao International Film Festival.
There will also be a focus on Hong Kong filmmaker Andrew Lau, who co-directed Infernal Affairs and receives a three-film spotlight with his latest The Dumpling Queen, 1998’s The Storm Riders and a 20th anniversary 4K restoration of Initial D. He will also take part in an in-conversation event during the festival.
Jamier highlights how a “big leap up” in terms of financial support from corporations and individuals has helped achieve this year’s bumper edition. This has been accelerated by the appointment of Karin Chien, an acclaimed US independent producer who is NYAFF’s director of development and strategic partnerships, leading the festival’s fundraising and institutional partnerships.
“The huge disadvantage we have in America is there isn’t much in the way of state support,” says Jamier. “At federal level, we’ve zero. But it also means we’re less dependent on the whims of the current administration, which isn’t exactly friendly towards culture.
“So Karin has been building the sponsor and foundation base behind the 25th edition and laying the groundwork for the multi-year support the festival is growing into.”
Looking to the future, Jamier’s ambitions include establishing a year-round home for Asian cinema in New York.
“The festival is turning 25 and I think of a festival like a person,” he adds. “When you’re 25, you’re young, you’re hot, you’re full of beans and hormones, bad ideas, hopes and dreams. I like to believe that’s where we are. When you’re 25, you think you’re immortal so may this festival live forever and outlast me.”
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