{"id":30258,"date":"2025-06-13T19:02:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T23:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=30258"},"modified":"2025-06-13T19:07:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T23:07:50","slug":"nyaff-2025-first-wave-of-highlights-unveiled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=30258","title":{"rendered":"NYAFF 2025 | First Wave of Highlights Unveiled"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0New York Asian Film Foundation<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Film at Lincoln Center\u00a0announce first highlights from the 24th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF). From July 11 to July 24, FLC is proud to host 40 features of the more than 100 films featured in this year\u2019s festival, with additional films and screenings running from July 11 to July 27 at\u00a0SVA Theatre, LOOK Cinemas W57, and the Korean Cultural Center NY. This year\u2019s festival marks NYAFF\u2019s most globally expansive lineup ever. With over 75 premieres\u2014including eight world premieres\u2014and 17 directorial debuts, the 2025 program showcases its largest slate of premieres and new talent to date, bringing bold, genre-defying films from across Asia.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s theme is \u201cCinema as Disruption\u201d\u2014spotlighting films that challenge, provoke, and reimagine. From unsettling horror and feminist thrillers to cosmic punk epics and political allegories, NYAFF celebrates the power of Asian cinema to defy convention.<\/p>\n

The 2025 lineup confronts taboos and reclaims narrative power: Tokyo International Film Festival selection\u00a0Pavane for an Infant<\/i>\u00a0by\u00a0Chong Keat Aun\u00a0explores Malaysia\u2019s hidden crises; Japanese cult director\u00a0Toshiaki Toyoda\u2019s\u00a0Transcending Dimensions<\/i>\u00a0conjures an opium-dream convergence of sci-fi, metaphysics, and gangster myth; and Korea\u2019s\u00a0Lee Jong-suk\u00a0detonates social mores in\u00a0Forbidden Fairytale<\/i>, a fearless satire on sex, porn, and censorship.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s program includes bold works from across Asia, with particular emphasis on rarely seen regions. From Thailand\u2019s genre-bending blockbusters to rare dispatches from Bhutan (I, the Song<\/i>), Myanmar, and Mongolia (competition title to be announced), NYAFF 2025 highlights formal ambition and moral urgency.\u00a0MA \u2013 Cry of Silence<\/i>, winner of the New Currents Award at the Busan International Film Festival, presents Myanmar\u2019s post-coup surveillance state through a garment worker\u2019s quiet reckoning\u2014marking the country\u2019s powerful return to international cinema.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s lineup dares to confront, question, and dream\u2014exactly what cinema should do,\u201d says\u00a0Samuel Jamier, NYAFF Executive Director. \u201cWith 19 Southeast Asian films\u2014our strongest regional representation ever\u2014we\u2019re witnessing a generational shift. Beyond the curation of films, we\u2019re redrawing a cultural map that urgently needs expansion. Many festivals treat Asian cinema like it ends at the Korean border\u2014we\u2019re here to blow up that thinking. We mean business. Or chaos. Probably both.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival is presented with major support from the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO), Thailand Creative Culture Agency (THACCA), Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, Fundstrat Global Advisors, and Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY), whose partnership amplifies Asian cinema\u2019s most vital voices.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s festival celebrates cinema legends and rising auteurs through intimate post-screening Q&As and in-person appearances.<\/p>\n

Lisa Lu<\/b>, the beloved star of\u00a0The Joy Luck Club<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Crazy Rich Asians<\/i>, reflects on a groundbreaking career spanning seven decades. She will be honored with two awards\u2014the\u00a0Vanguard Award<\/b>\u00a0and the\u00a0Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award<\/b>\u2014marking the first time in the festival\u2019s history that both distinctions will be conferred upon a single individual, in recognition of a body of work that has left an indelible mark on the history of cinema, not only entertaining and inspiring audiences but also elevating the cultural and artistic profile of Asian cinema on the world stage.<\/p>\n

Star Asia Award<\/b>\u00a0recipient\u00a0Ekin Cheng<\/b>\u00a0unveils his latest reinvention in\u00a0Last Song for You<\/i><\/b>, while Japanese visionary director\u00a0Toshiaki Toyoda<\/b>\u00a0headlines NYAFF\u2019s first-ever mid-career retrospective, appearing in person for the North American premiere of\u00a0Transcending Dimensions<\/i><\/b>. In addition to his latest film, rare screenings of\u00a0Blue Spring\u00a0<\/i><\/b>(on 35mm)<\/b>,\u00a0Hanging Garden<\/i><\/b>, a collection of his best shorts,\u00a0turn the spotlight on a truly one-of-a-kind filmography.<\/p>\n

Joining them are trailblazing voices like Venice winner\u00a0Chong Keat Aun<\/b>\u00a0(Pavane for an Infant<\/i><\/b>), breakout LGBTQ+ filmmaker\u00a0Lilly Hu<\/b>\u00a0(1 Girl Infinite<\/i><\/b>), and\u00a0Screen International Rising Star Asia<\/b>\u00a0awardee\u00a0Natalie Hsu\u00a0<\/b>(remarkable in both\u00a0Pavane for an Infant<\/i><\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Last Song for You<\/i><\/b>), along with emerging headliner\u00a0Heaven Peralejo<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Mikhail Red<\/b>, the enfant terrible of new Philippine cinema\u2014collectively ushering in a new era of vivid, unfiltered Asian storytelling.<\/p>\n

More than 30 filmmakers will appear throughout July for post-screening discussions.<\/p>\n

By the Numbers:<\/b><\/p>\n