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SHIN ULTRAMAN, THE KILLER, FULL STRIKE And More New And Classic Titles Heading Up The In-Person 2022 Edition Of The New York Asian Film Festival

The 20th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival is in full swing next month as a fully in-person event launching this July, after going virtual in 2020 and taking a hybrid route last year. The first wave of the festival’s full line-up is also now online with over 60 new and classic titles, including some exciting features that have arrived this year as well.

“We’re thrilled to be back fully in person after two years, the best and only way to really have a festival, in my view,” said Samuel Jamier, Executive Director of NYAFF and President of the New York Asian Film Foundation. “We’ve been really impressed with the quality and diversity of films made during the trying times of the pandemic, and we’re especially excited that we can once again welcome guests from all over Asia to the stage at FLC, giving them the spotlight they deserve. We look forward to celebrating NYAFF’s 20th anniversary and 20 years of discovering films from half a world away, a region now universally celebrated for its great filmmaking and storytelling, with some of today’s most talented and acclaimed stars and renowned filmmakers.”

Part of the line-up of course is the opening night premiere of Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s new romantic sports comedy, Fast & Feel Love, with Thamrongrattanarit in attendance alongside the film’s star, Thai/Norwegian actress and Screen International Rising Star award honoree, Urassaya “Yaya” Sperbund.

We now have more information as the NYAFF’s South Korean lineup, in association with the Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY), will present Yoon Jong-seok’s Confession starring Kim Yun-jin and NYAFF 2009 Rising Star Asia honoree So Ji-sub, Yeom Ji-ho’s taut comedic police cadet thriller Next Door, LGBTQ documentary I Am More by Lee Il-ha (Counters, NYAFF 2018), and even Choi Jae-hoon’s hotly-anticipated actioner, The Killer, starring Jang Hyuk.

NYAFF’s Japanese lineup also comes supported by the Japan World Exposition 1970 Commemorative Fund, is led off by the U.S. premiere of Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno’s megahit Shin Ultraman, Kazuya Shiraishi’s serial killer thriller, Lesson in Murder, Hold Me Back (2021) actress Non’s feature debut, Ribbon, and the feature adaptation of Toson Shimazaki’s Broken Commandment, among others.

The festival is also delivering a round of 2021 titles from Taiwan, and is partnering with the CineCina Film Festival for a round of titles from mainland China, as well as with longtime partner the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York for its Hong Kong Panorama; Par for the course will be an outdoor screening of Wong Kar-Wai’s Happy Together (1997) in Hearst Plaza, while the Asia Society will host other landmark classics from July 30 like Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle; Alan Mak and Felix Chong’s Overheard, Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai’s Running on Karma, and the Pang Bros’ milestone horror film, The Eye.

Superstar singer and actor Josie Ho will be on hand at Film At Lincoln Center for Kim Chan’s new doc, Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice—The Director’s Cut, which Ho also co-produced. NYAFF will also be hosting a tribute to Ho with screenings of two of her key films: Pang Ho-cheung’s Dream Home and Derek Kwok and Henri Wong’s Full Strike.

The titles of course are subject to change, while second wave of titles is still forthcoming and will include the Centerpiece presentation and Closing films, as well as special guests, major awards, and exciting events. For that matter, NYAFF is hosting its first post-Covid Opening Night Market, which will have live music and Asian food stalls and so much more.

Read the first wave of titles below, and stay tuned!

FIRST WAVE OF LINEUP— more titles to be announced
(Please note the program is still subject to change.)

CHINA (co-presented with CineCina Film Festival)
All the Crows in the World | dir. Tang Yi, Hong Kong 2021 | New York Premiere
Before Next Spring | dir. Li Gen, China, 2021 | North American Premiere
Fire on the Plain | dir. Zhang Ji, China, 2021 |  New York Premiere
Manchurian Tiger | dir. Geng Jun, China, 2021 | US Premiere
Ripples of Life | dir. Wei Shujun, China, 2021 | New York Premiere
-Virgin Blue | Niu Xiaoyu, China, 2021 | New York Premiere

HONG KONG (presented with the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York)
Dream Home | dir. Pang Ho-cheung, Hong Kong, 2010
Far Far Away | dir. Amos Why, Hong Kong, 2021 | North American Premiere
Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice—The Director’s Cut | dir. Kim Chan, Dee Lam, Hong Kong, 2022 | North American Premiere
Full Strike | dir. Derek Kwok, Henri Wong, Hong Kong, 2015
Happy Together | dir. Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong, 1997 | Outdoor at Hearst Plaza
-Kung Fu Hustle | dir. Stephen Chow, Hong Kong, 2004
Legendary in Action! | dir. Justin Cheung, Li Ho, Hong Kong, 2022 | North American Premiere
Mama’s Affair | dir. Kearen Pang, Hong Kong, 2022 | New York Premiere
Overheard | dir. Alan Mak, Felix Chong, Hong Kong, 2009
-Running on Karma | dir. Johnnie To, Wai Ka-Fai, Hong Kong, 2003
Table for Six | dir. Sunny Chan, Hong Kong, 2022 | North American Premiere
The Eye | dir. Pang Brothers, Hong Kong, Singapore, 2002
We Are Family | dir. Benny Lau, Hong Kong, 2022 | World Premiere

JAPAN (presented with the support of the Japan World Exposition 1970 Commemorative Fund)

Angry Son | dir. Kasho Iizuka, Japan, 2022 | North American Premiere

Broken Commandment | dir. Kazuo Maeda, Japan, 2022 | International Premiere

Grown-ups | dir. Takuya Kato, Japan, 2022 | International Premiere

Intimate Stranger | dir. Mayu Nakamura, Japan, 2021 | North American Premiere

Lesson in Murder | dir. Kazuya Shiraishi, Japan, 2022 | North American Premiere

Offbeat Cops | dir. Eiji Uchida, Japan, 2022 | World Premiere

Ox-Head Village | dir. Takashi Shimizu, Japan, 2022 | North American Premiere

Ribbon | dir. Non, Japan, 2022 | East Coast Premiere

Shin Ultraman | dir. Shinji Higuchi, Japan, 2022 | US Premiere

MONGOLIA

The Sales Girl | dir. Janchivdorj Sengedorj, Mongolia, 2021 | North American Premiere

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Big Night! | dir. Jun Robles Lana, Philippines, 2021 | New York Premiere

Fast & Feel Love | dir. Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Thailand, 2022 | International Premiere

SOUTH KOREA (co-presented with Korean Cultural Center New York) -Confession | dir. Yoon Jong-seok, South Korea, 2022 | North American Premiere

I Am More | dir. Lee Il-ha, South Korea, 2021 | North American Premiere

Next Door | dir. Yeom Ji-ho, South Korea, 2022 | US Premiere

Perhaps Love | dir. Cho Eun-ji, South Korea, 2022 | North American Premiere

-Stellar: A Magical Ride | dir. Kwon Soo-kyung, South Korea, 2022 | International Premiere

The Girl on a Bulldozer | dir. Park Ri-woong, South Korea, 2022 | New York Premiere

The Killer | dir. Choi Jae-hun, South Korea, 2022 | Special Screening

TAIWAN (presented with the support of Taipei Cultural Center in New York)

Mama Boy | dir. Arvin Chen, Taiwan, 2022 | North American Premiere

Terrorizers | dir. Ho Wi Ding, Taiwan, 2021 | New York Premiere

The Funeral | dir. Dan-Quei Shen, Taiwan, 2022 | International Premiere

ASIAN AMERICAN

Dealing with Dad | dir. Tom Huang, USA, 2022 | East Coast Premiere

NARRATIVE SHORTS SHOWCASE Superlative short works by emerging filmmakers

– Ateh | dir. Kristie Ko, Hong Kong, 2021 | North American Premiere

– Black Goat | dir. Tang Yi, USA/Nepal, 2019 | New York Premiere

– Double Happiness | dir. Scarlett Li, China/USA, 2021 | New York Premiere

– Honekami (A Bite of Bone) | dir. Honami Yano, Japan, 2021

– Natsuko | dir. Shuna Iijima, Japan, 2020

– S.Q.A.G. (Short Quiet Asian Girl) | dir. Benedict Chiu, USA, 2022 | World Premiere

– Tank Fairy | dir. Erich Rettstadt, Taiwan/USA, 2021 | New York Premiere

– The Sea Between Us | dir. Yuga J Vardhan, Singapore, 2021

– Visitors | dir. Kenichi Ugana, Japan, 2021

– Wax and Wane | dir. Beidi Wang, USA, 2022 | New York Premiere

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