Montreal, My Beautiful

The New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) has revealed the first wave of films for its landmark 25th edition, which will present a lifetime honour to Joan Chen and rising star awards to Hong Kong’s Angela Yeun and Japan’s Sara Minami.

More than 50 filmmakers from across Asia are set to attend the festival, which runs July 10-26 and screens some of the best Asian films of the year to date at five New York venues including Film at Lincoln Center.

Scroll down for first wave of titles

Highlights including The King’s Warden, South Korea’s highest grossing local film of all time; Hong Kong thriller Cold War 1994; and Sundance award-winner Filipiñana from Filipino filmmaker Rafael Manuel.

As previously announced, Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony will open the festival, fresh from its premiere in Cannes and box office success in South Korea. Yeon will attend NYAFF to introduce the film and the festival will also screen a new 4K version of his seminal 2016 horror Train To Busan as well as horror animation Seoul Station and Peninsula.

China-born US actress and filmmaker Chen will receive the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award on July 11, honouring a career that ranges from The Last Emperor and Twin Peaks to her more recent features Dìdi and Montréal, My Beautiful, of which the latter will screen at the festival.

This year’s Screen International Rising Star honours will be presented to 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 Sara Minami, who also has two titles at this year’s NYAFF, Magical Secret Tour and All Greens.

Further highlights from Hong Kong include a director’s cut of Jack Ng’s Night King, never shown outside of Hong Kong. There will also be a focus on 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.

Other contemporary classics set for NYAFF’s 25th edition include Takashi Miike’s Ichi The Killer and a 4K showing of Kwak Jae-yong’s My Sassy Girl.

As well as Film at Lincoln Center, SVA Theatre and Korean Cultural Center New York, two venues hosting the festival are homecomings. Films will be screened at Anthology Film Archives, where the festival began in 2002, and IFC Center, NYAFF’s home for four formative editions.

Additional titles, such as the centrepiece and closing films, are expected to be revealed next week.

The festival is presented with support the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York (HKETONY), Thailand Creative Culture Agency (THACCA), Fundstrat Global Advisors, BitMine, Cathay Pacific, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York (TECO-NY), and Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY).

NYAFF 2026: First wave

CANADA

  • Montréal, My Beauty, dir. Xiaodan He

CHINA

  • Crossing A Dawn, dir. Zhao Badou
  • Take Off, dir. Peng Fei
  • The Dumpling Queen, dir. Andrew Lau

HONG KONG

  • Afterpiece, dir. Keane T.K. Wong
  • Bird Of Paradise, dir. Joey Wu
  • Cold War 1994, dir. Longman Leung
  • Cyclone, dir. Philip Yung
  • Fat Choi Spirit, dir. Johnnie To, Wai Ka-fai
  • Gamer Girls, dir. Veronica Bassetto, Sophie Yang
  • Initial D (20th Anniversary 4K), dir. Andrew Lau, Alan Mak
  • Night King (Director’s Cut), dir. Jack Ng
  • The Dating Menu, dir. Amos Why, Frankie Chung
  • The Storm Riders, dir. Andrew Lau
  • You Shoot, I Shoot, dir. Pang Ho-cheung

JAPAN

  • All Greens, dir. Takashi Koyama
  • Higuma!! The Killer Bear, dir. Eisuke Naito
  • Ichi The Killer, dir. Takashi Miike
  • Kinki, dir. Koji Shiraishi
  • Magical Secret Tour, dir. Chihiro Amano
  • Street Kingdom, dir. Tomorowo Taguchi
  • Unchained, dir. Keisuke Yoshida

MACAU / TAIWAN / HONG KONG / THAILAND

  • Girlfriends, dir. Tracy Choi

PHILIPPINES

  • 10s Across The Borders, dir. Chan Sze-Wei
  • Filipiñana, dir. Rafael Manuel
  • Manila’s Finest, dir. Raymond Red

SOUTH KOREA

  • 3670, dir. Park Joon-ho
  • Colony, dir. Yeon Sang-ho
  • Frosted Window, dir. Kim Jong-kwan
  • Funky Freaky Freaks, dir. Han Chang-lok
  • Journey There, dir. Kim Jin-yu
  • Lovely Death, dir. Lee Won-suk
  • My Sassy Girl (4k Restoration), dir. Kwak Jae-yong
  • Peninsula, dir. Yeon Sang-ho
  • Seoul Station, dir. Yeon Sang-ho
  • The Chaser, dir. Na Hong-jin
  • The King’s Warden, dir. Chang Hang-jun
  • Train To Busan (10th Anniversary 4K), dir. Yeon Sang-ho
  • Hallan, dir. Ha Myung-mi
  • My Name, dir. Chung Ji-young

TAIWAN

  • A Dance With Rainbows, dir. Lee Yi-shan
  • Deep Quiet Room, dir. Shen Ko-Shang
  • I Blew Out The Candles Before Making A Wish, dir. Chao Koi Wang, Hu Chin-Yen
  • Kiss Me My Ghost Friend, dir. Chen Ta-pu
  • Kung Fu, dir. Giddens Ko
  • Last Night In Taipei, dir. Kuo Cheng-chui

THAILAND

  • 4 Tigers, dir. Kongkiat Komesiri
  • Gohan, dir. Chayanop Boonprakob, Baz Poonpiriya, Atta Hemwadee
  • Human Resource, dir. Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit
  • Tha Rae: The Exorcist, dir. Taweewat Wantha
  • The Undertaker 2, dir. Thiti Srinuan

US

  • Jet Lag In Summer, dir. Yan Kunao

VIETNAM

  • A Life In Cinema, dir. Tony Bui
  • Ky Nam Inn, dir. Leon Le

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