New York Asian Film Festival 2023 Features Bold New Films & Classics

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 28 June 2023 18:03

Written by Brad Balfour

One of New York’s most vibrant film festivals, the New York Asian Film Festival, returns July 14, 2023 for its 22nd edition. Running July 14th to the 30th, NYAFF has over 70 new and classic titles, even more short films, and special guests. Expanding beyond NYC, NYAFF also includes a weekend of screenings (July 21–23) at a new venue, the Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

The opening film is Killing Romance, directed by Lee Won-suk, who will also be in attendance for the screening. Known for his role in Parasite and a diverse career ranging from arthouse to rom-coms, Sun-kyun brings his versatile acting skills to portray the unforgettably overbearing husband of a fallen supermodel.

The Hong Kong Panorama segment of the festival includes a 4K restoration of the 1982 Patrick Tam film, Nomad (Director’s Cut). Mad Fate from director Soi Cheang harkens back to the crime films of the 80s and 90s. In Everyphone Everywhere director Amos Why (Far, Far Away) brings his wry playfulness in this pointed satire of postmodern communication and its resultant technological fallout set around the Hong Kong during the pandemic.

The Chinese block of films includes A Woman, Wang Chao’s sweeping narrative of a female factory worker during the Cultural Revolution. The animated film Art College 1994 from Liu Jian is a satirical look at student life in China during a time when the future held new promise.

Representing the cinema of South Korea are films such as Phantom, Lee Hae-young's action-driven spy drama set in 1933. Hail to Hell is feature debut of director Lim Oh-jeong, about two oddballs who track down the bully who pushed them to the brink of suicide.

From Japan there’s the North American premiere of In Her Room, an intriguing erotic narrative featuring musician-actor Satoru Iguchi and directed by Chihiro Ito. Mountain Woman, from former New York City resident Takeshi Fukunaga, is a mythic tale of female oppression and liberation with Toko Miura (Drive My Car). From Taiwan there’s Marry My Dead Body: an LGBTQ+ action-comedy that foments a gender-fluid revolution with its remise of a macho cop who unwittingly marries a gay ghost. The Philipino film 12 Weeks is a tiimely drama chronicles a fiercely independent 40-year-old woman’s attempts to arrange a safe abortion in a devoutly anti-choice nation where it is illegal.

The festival, in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Center New York and Film at Lincoln Center, will host a free outdoor screening at Damrosch Park on July 21. The feature is Bong Joon Ho's renowned monster movie, The Host, which stars Song Kang-ho and Bae Doona and showcases Bong's Oscar-winning family dynamics.

More events are being added to the festival so stay tuned!

To learn more, go to: https://www.nyaff.org/

New York Asian Film Festival
July 14 - 30, 2023

Film at Lincoln Center

70 Lincoln Center Plaza #4
New York, NY 10023

Barrymore Film Center
153 Main Street
Fort Lee, NJ 07024

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