Festivals: NYAFF
New York Asian 2025 Interview: RAVENS Director Mark Gill and Star Tadanobu Asano Talk Untold Histories, Practical Creatures, Kaleidoscopic Genre
An emerging director and a singular actor discuss shining a light on the life of photographer Masahisa Fukase.
New York Asian 2025 Review: ATTACK 13 Finds Ghostly Horrors in Thailand
Real-world bullying turns to supernatural vengeance in a new high school horror film from Thailand.
New York Asian 2025 Review: RAVENS Explores the Life of Japanese Photographer Masahisa Fukase
Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Masahisa Fukase is now regarded as one of the key Japanese photographers of the past 60 years. Ravens presents a kaleidoscopic account of his life, anchored by a riveting performance by Tadanobu Asano. The film's...
New York Asian 2025 Review: THE INFORMANT, Moles Turn Double Agents in Labored Korean Crime Farce
Opening night at this year's New York Asian Film Festival featured the world premiere of The Informant, a crime comedy from South Korea. Despite engaging stars, this ride hits a lot of potholes. Key to the plot is a ledger...
New York Asian 2025 Review: LAST SONG FOR YOU, Struggling Songwriter Faces His Past
Natalie Hsu, Ekin Cheng, Ian Chan, and Cecilia Choi star; Jill Leung directed.
New York Asian 2025 Review: MA - CRY OF SILENCE, Brutal, Yet Inspiring View of Myanmar Labor Resistance
The Maw Naing's powerful drama follows a young woman working in a Myanmar garment factory, who hesitates when her colleagues strike.
New York Asian 2024 Interview: Philip Ng Talks TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN
Hong Kong's top-grossing movie of the year is director Soi Cheang's Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. Set largely in Kowloon Walled City (long since demolished), the martial arts blockbuster pits warring triads in a battle to the death over...
New York Asian 2024 Review: FOR ALICE, Quiet, Nuanced Character Sketch
An ex-con tries to find a place in the world in For Alice, a small-scale drama that premiered at this year's New York Asian Film Festival. Set largely in the endlessly photogenic Mirador Mansion, the movie shifts smoothly from film...
New York Asian 2022: FAST & FEEL LOVE Kicks Off 20th Anniversary Edition
Without getting too sentimental, I remember reading about the very first New York Asian Film Festival on a "message board," the early internet incarnation of a worldwide news site. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary edition, the New York Asian Film...
New York Asian 2021 Review: SINKHOLE, Disaster Comedy Struggles to Dig Itself Out
When a new genre catches on in Korean cinema, it tends to proliferate pretty quickly, but before audiences grow tired of it, filmmakers try to find new ways to freshen things up. Take the disaster film. A perennial favourite at...
New York Asian 2021 Review: TIME Is On The Audience's Side
When Ricky Ko's Hong Kong comedy drama Time played at the International Film Festival Rotterdam earlier this year, it nearly won the audience prize. It's a testament to how easy the film is on the eyes, though its charms never...
New York Asian 2021 Review: In ESCAPE FROM MOGADISHU, Ryoo Seung-wan Wants No Korean Left Behind
As violence erupts in the African nation of Somalia, delegates from both North and South Korea scramble to evacuate the capital city of Mogadishu in Ryoo Seung-wan's action-packed political thriller Escape From Mogadishu, which was the opening night film at...
New York Asian Winter Showcase 2020 Review: EXTREME JOB, A Tasty Cops-and-Criminals Farce
Lee Byeong-hun's police action comedy is an entertaining farce that will leave viewers hankering for fried chicken and beer in between laughs.
New York Asian Film Festival Winter Showcase 2020 Offers Tasty Pairings of Cinema and Food
For 18 years now, the New York Asian Film Festival has been an indelible fixture on the summer film calendar, bringing to audiences the endlessly varied pleasures and provocations to be found in contemporary Asian cinemas. To tide fans over between editions, last year the festival instituted...
New York Asian 2019 Interview: Ryu Jun-yeol Talks the Seduction of MONEY
One of the most captivating actors in South Korea, Ryu Jun-yeol grabbed audiences’ attention in supporting roles in films like The King, A Taxi Driver, and Believer; so much so that the New York Asian Film Festival honoured Ryu with...
New York Asian 2019 Interview: Kim Yoon-seok Talks Directing Debut ANOTHER CHILD, Plus Latest Thriller DARK FIGURE OF CRIME
After receiving the New York Asian Film Festival’s Star Asia award last year, actor Kim Yoon-seok returns, this time as the director of his first feature, Another Child, the sensitive tale of two teenagers caught in a web of domestic...
New York Asian 2019 Interview: 5 MILLION DOLLAR LIFE Director Moon Sung-ho and Producer Endo Hiroshi on What a Life is Worth
In his feature debut, director Moon Sung-ho ponders the value of a human life. 5 Million Dollar Life is a unique road trip / coming-of-age story of one Japanese teenager’s bumpy journey toward self-discovery. At the New York Asian...
New York Asian 2019 Interview: Director Park Noo-ri on Taking the Reins and Making MONEY
After years of working in the trenches as the assistant director of blockbusters like The Unjust and The Berlin File, Park Noo-ri visited the New York Asian Film Festival with her directorial debut, Money. Director Park chatted exclusively with LMD...
New York Asian 2019 Interview: WUSHU ORPHAN Director Huang Huang on Mixing Martial Arts and Bullying
A movie a decade in the making, director Huang Huang’s Wushu Orphan, is a darkly comic tale of misfits in a martial arts academy. At the New York Asian Film Festival, director Huang sat exclusively with LMD to talk about...
New York Asian 2019 Interview: HAN DAN Star George Hu on Setting Fire to the Past
The career path of George Hu has been a serendipitous one: The native New Yorker was talent scouted whilst on a family visit to Taiwan, despite being unable to fluently speak Mandarin, or Taiwanese. That didn’t stop Hu from becoming...
