New York Asian Film Foundation & Film at Lincoln Center Unveil Second Wave of Titles, Award Honorees, and Guests for 20th Anniversary New York Asian Film Festival

Tickets go on sale July 1 for the fully in-theater 20th anniversary edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), presented by the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center (FLC), running from July 15–28, 2022 at FLC, as well as on July 23 and July 28–31 at Asia Society, which will be co-presenting a selection of key films and a Hong Kong marathon day. International stars and acclaimed filmmakers will return in-person to grace the NYAFF red carpet at FLC, receive awards, speak at Q&A sessions, and impart wisdom during masterclasses and special talks.

Hong Kong cultural icon Josie Ho will headline NYAFF 2022 with her latest project as producer of the inspiring musical documentary Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice—The Director’s Cut, in which she travels with musicians and students from Hong Kong to Iceland for a transcendent collaboration. As a tribute to the acting superstar, the festival will also screen two of her earlier key films: Pang Ho-cheung’s real-estate horror masterpiece Dream Home and Derek Kwok and Henri Wong’s sports comedy Full Strike.

NYAFF’s 2022 Screen International Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award will go to legendary J-Horror maestro Takashi Shimizu, who has brought deliciously malignant shivers to thrill-hungry audiences around the world for over three decades, with films including The Grudge franchise and Ox-Head Village, which he will also present at NYAFF in its North American premiere.

The Screen International Star Asia Award will be bestowed on celebrated Japanese actor Hiroshi Abe, honoring his versatility, his cross-border appeal, and the diversity of genres he’s mastered in a three-decade career. He demonstrates his incredible range and inherent likability in Eiji Uchida’s remarkable new dramedy, Offbeat Cops, world premiering at NYAFF 2022, in which he plays a gruff, loose-cannon detective who’s shunted off to the local police band as a drummer.

NYAFF is pleased to announce a second honoree for its 2022 Screen International Rising Star Asia Award: South Korea’s Kim Hye-yoon (Snowdrop, Sky Castle), the titular rebellious hellion of Park Ri-woong’s The Girl on a Bulldozer. As previously announced, Urassaya “Yaya” Sperbund will also be honored with the Screen International Rising Star Asia Award, for her leading role in the NYAFF 2022 Opening Film Fast & Feel Love.

NYAFF’s 2022 Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema will go to South Korean actor and newly minted action-genre star Jang Hyuk, for his dazzling stunt work, emotional depth, and undeniable charisma in two electrifying films by director Choi Jae-hun, The Killer and The Swordsman (2020). Korea is truly center stage this year with star Ryu Seung-ryong also receiving the inaugural Best from the East Award, a distinction to honor a singularly outstanding performance in a film (Perhaps Love).

The NYAFF 2022 Centerpiece Film is Kim Han-min’s period action-war epic Hansan: Rising Dragon, the second in a trilogy focusing on the historic adventures of legendary Joseon Admiral Yi Sun-Shin. Based on the real-life Battle of Hansan Island naval engagement, it also stars Byun Yo-han and Ahn Sung-ki. Hansan: Rising Dragon is a follow-up to the 2014 film The Admiral: Roaring Currents, the most-watched and highest-grossing film in Korean cinema history, and will be released later this year by Well Go USA.

The NYAFF 2022 Closing Film, co-presented with Asia Society, will be the much-anticipated time-travel sci-fi epic Alienoid, from blockbuster Korean director Choi Dong-hoon, who will introduce the North American premiere of his latest production. The first part of a two-part film, it opens during the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392), when Taoists attempt to seize a legendary divine sword that controls a portal to the future.The fantasy features Ryu Jun-yeol (NYAFF 2019 Screen International Rising Star Asia awardee), Kim Tae-ri (The Handmaiden), and So Ji-sub (also at NYAFF 2022 with Confession), and will be released later this year by Well Go USA.

Along with all the award honorees, cultural titans, directors whose films have been selected for the Uncaged Competition and directors of narrative shorts in our Bright Futures section, NYAFF is thrilled to be welcoming filmmakers and creative forces from across Asia.

Those include Alienoid director Choi Dong-hoon; Shin Ultraman director Shinji Higuchi and producer Tomoya Nishino; Perhaps Love actor-turned-director Cho Eun-ji; Fast & Feel Love director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit and star Nat Kitcharit; I Am More director Lee Il-ha and glamorous drag queen-ballerina More; Big Night! director Jun Robles Lana and star Christian Bables.

Also including,  Offbeat Cops director Eiji Uchida (of Netflix megahit Naked Director fame); #LookAtMe star yao (formerly Thomas Pang); Confession director Yoon Jong-seok; Fire on the Plain director Zhang Ji; Next Door director Yeom Ji-ho; and Dealing with Dad director Tom Huang and star Hayden Szeto.

The 20th anniversary lineup will include six world premieres, eight international premieres, 19 North American premieres, four U.S. premieres, and 17 East Coast/New York premieres, showcasing the most exciting new action, comedy, drama, thriller, romance, horror, and art-house films from Hong Kong, Japan, China, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Mongolia, Singapore, and the United States.

NYAFF is pleased to unveil the seven wildly diverse and singular titles nominated for this year’s Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film Competition, which shines a spotlight on feature filmmakers whose singular cinematic visions should be internationally heralded, celebrating their passion, imagination, and willingness to take risks.

The films are #LookAtMe (Ken Kwek, Singapore), a brilliantly energetic romp about social media celebrity, cancel culture, and the erosion of human rights; Angry Son (Kasho Iizuka, Japan), an intensely moving tale of otherness and oppression; Imaginur (Nik Amir Mustapha, Malaysia), a stunning, dream-like work about memory and life itself that ingeniously depicts one of today’s most pressing problems; One and Four (Jigme Trinley, China), an ultra-tense comedy-thriller about double-crosses, mistaken identities, and poaching, set in a remote, snow-covered Tibetan forest; Perhaps Love (Cho Eun-ji, South Korea), an ebullient screwball dramedy about a washed-up novelist who is reinvigorated by a collaboration with his gay student.

Also in this competition, Reclaim (CJ Wang, Taiwan), a beautifully nuanced character study about late-life female empowerment through self-actualization; and The Sales Girl (Janchivdorj Sengedorj, Mongolia), a joyfully quirky coming-of-age tale fueled by a splendidly original script, utterly unique characters, and unexpected encounters.

The winner of the Uncaged Award will be selected by the Uncaged Competition jury, composed of prominent figures from the film business bridging Asia and America: Anderson Le (co-founder of East Films and artistic director of the Hawaii International Film Festival), Madeleine Molyneaux (independent producer and founder, Picture Palace Pictures), Jason Gray (creative producer, Loaded Films, Plan 75), and Mayu Nakamura (award-winning filmmaker and principal, Omphalos Pictures).

NYAFF will celebrate opening night on July 15 with its first post-Covid Opening Night Market Soirée, featuring live music by Kyle Chin (“Son of Paper”) and Asian food stalls, as well as a range of other parties and receptions. Our inaugural Matsuri to Midnight event takes place all afternoon and evening on July 18, with screenings of Japanese films, Japanese music, and Japanese delicacies.

NYAFF is proud to host a Fight Cancer Night fundraising event on July 17, with ticket proceeds going to the American Cancer Society. Director Kwon Soo-kyung will join us to present Stellar: A Magical Ride.

There will also be a Takashi Shimizu Masterclass: Planting the Seeds of Horror in Global Soil, with our Screen International Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, in which he’ll discuss horror-film elements that emanate from Japanese culture but also appeal to global audiences, as well as the role of horror cinema in public discourse.

In the Asian American Filmmaker Forum: Masterclass with Dennis Liu, the creator of the Netflix series Raising Dion will share invaluable insights into the creative process, from production to distribution, gleaned during his two-plus decades of experience in the industry. The Asian American Filmmaker Forum: Panel Talk will feature an illuminating conversation with key Asian American film industry professionals Dennis Liu (creator, Raising Dion), Brian Yang (producer, Dealing with Dad, Snakehead), and Doris Yeung (director, producer, founder of CinemAsia Film Festival) as they discuss navigating the film industry as independent creators and Asian Americans.

The New York Asian Film Festival is co-presented by the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center in association with Asia Society and takes place from July 15–28, 2022 at FLC’s Walter Reade Theater (165 West 65th Street), and on July 23 and July 28–31 at Asia Society (725 Park Avenue). It is curated by executive director Samuel Jamier, associate director Claire Marty, and programmers David Wilentz, Karen Severns, Koichi Mori, and Jenny Lin.

FULL LINEUP

(Please note the program is still subject to change.)

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (NYAFF)
Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2022, the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) is North America’s leading festival of Asian cinema, called “the best film festival in New York” by The Village Voice and “arguably the world’s best-curated program of new and classic Asian cinema” by indieWire. Launched in 2002, the festival showcases a wildly diverse lineup of singular titles each year, ranging from mainstream blockbusters and art-house eccentricities to genre and cult classics.

It was the first North American film festival to champion the works of Johnnie To, Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike, and other auteurs of contemporary Asian cinema. Notable festival guests include Lee Byung-hun, Ryoo Seung-wan, Masami Nagasawa, Sammo Hung, Lee Jung-jae, and Jackie Chan. Since 2010, NYAFF has been produced in collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center.

For more information, visit https://www.nyaff.org and on social: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, #nyaff2022.

NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FOUNDATION
The New York Asian Film Foundation Inc. is America’s premier 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the exhibition and appreciation of Asian film culture in all its forms, with year-round festivals and programs, and a view to building bridges between Asia and America.

The New York Asian Film Foundation’s flagship event is the annual New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), which has been presented in collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center since 2010. Now celebrating its 20th year, NYAFF is North America’s leading festival of Asian cinema.

The Foundation’s other events and initiatives include special screening events and an annual Winter Showcase at the SVA Theatre.

The New York Asian Film Festival, a program of the New York Asian Film Foundation, is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

Film at Lincoln Center
Film at Lincoln Center is dedicated to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema and enriching film culture.

Film at Lincoln Center fulfills its mission through the programming of festivals, series, retrospectives, and new releases; the publication of Film Comment; and the presentation of podcasts, talks, special events, and artist initiatives. Since its founding in 1969, this nonprofit organization has brought the celebration of American and international film to the world-renowned Lincoln Center arts complex, making the discussion and appreciation of cinema accessible to a broad audience and ensuring that it remains an essential art form for years to come.

Film at Lincoln Center receives generous, year-round support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Film at Lincoln Center. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on Twitter and Instagram.

Asia Society is the leading educational organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context. Across the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, the Society provides insight, generates ideas, and promotes collaboration to address present challenges and create a shared future.

Founded in 1956, Asia Society is a nonpartisan, nonprofit educational institution with offices in Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, Manila, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and Zurich. For more information, visit https://asiasociety.org/museum/asia-society-moviesand follow @asiasociety on Twitter.