The New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center announce 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’s festival, with additional films and screenings running from July 11 to July 27 at SVA Theatre, LOOK Cinemas W57, and the Korean Cultural Center NY. This year’s festival marks NYAFF’s most globally expansive lineup ever. With over 75 premieres—including eight world premieres—and 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.
This year’s theme is “Cinema as Disruption”—spotlighting 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.
The 2025 lineup confronts taboos and reclaims narrative power: Tokyo International Film Festival selection Pavane for an Infant by Chong Keat Aun explores Malaysia’s hidden crises; Japanese cult director Toshiaki Toyoda’s Transcending Dimensions conjures an opium-dream convergence of sci-fi, metaphysics, and gangster myth; and Korea’s Lee Jong-suk detonates social mores in Forbidden Fairytale, a fearless satire on sex, porn, and censorship.
This year’s program includes bold works from across Asia, with particular emphasis on rarely seen regions. From Thailand’s genre-bending blockbusters to rare dispatches from Bhutan (I, the Song), Myanmar, and Mongolia (competition title to be announced), NYAFF 2025 highlights formal ambition and moral urgency. MA – Cry of Silence, winner of the New Currents Award at the Busan International Film Festival, presents Myanmar’s post-coup surveillance state through a garment worker’s quiet reckoning—marking the country’s powerful return to international cinema.
“This year’s lineup dares to confront, question, and dream—exactly what cinema should do,” says Samuel Jamier, NYAFF Executive Director. “With 19 Southeast Asian films—our strongest regional representation ever—we’re witnessing a generational shift. Beyond the curation of films, we’re redrawing a cultural map that urgently needs expansion. Many festivals treat Asian cinema like it ends at the Korean border—we’re here to blow up that thinking. We mean business. Or chaos. Probably both.”
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’s most vital voices.
This year’s festival celebrates cinema legends and rising auteurs through intimate post-screening Q&As and in-person appearances.
Lisa Lu, the beloved star of The Joy Luck Club and Crazy Rich Asians, reflects on a groundbreaking career spanning seven decades. She will be honored with two awards—the Vanguard Award and the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award—marking the first time in the festival’s 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.
Star Asia Award recipient Ekin Cheng unveils his latest reinvention in Last Song for You, while Japanese visionary director Toshiaki Toyoda headlines NYAFF’s first-ever mid-career retrospective, appearing in person for the North American premiere of Transcending Dimensions. In addition to his latest film, rare screenings of Blue Spring (on 35mm), Hanging Garden, a collection of his best shorts, turn the spotlight on a truly one-of-a-kind filmography.
Joining them are trailblazing voices like Venice winner Chong Keat Aun (Pavane for an Infant), breakout LGBTQ+ filmmaker Lilly Hu (1 Girl Infinite), and Screen International Rising Star Asia awardee Natalie Hsu (remarkable in both Pavane for an Infant and Last Song for You), along with emerging headliner Heaven Peralejo and Mikhail Red, the enfant terrible of new Philippine cinema—collectively ushering in a new era of vivid, unfiltered Asian storytelling.
More than 30 filmmakers will appear throughout July for post-screening discussions.
By the Numbers:
- 100+ films: 70+ features and 30 shorts
- 75+ premieres, including eight world, 41 North American, five U.S.
- 19 Southeast Asian films from six countries
- 17 first-time directors, nearly half women
- 30+ filmmaker Q&As
Hong Kong’s Renaissance in Noir: Behind the Shadows and Smashing Frank explore crime through existential dread, while Jeffrey Lam Sen and Antonio Tam’s Valley of the Shadow of Death turn personal loss into collective moral reckoning.
Taiwan’s Intimate Rebellions: Rene Liu leads leads Unexpected Courage, which redefines midlife relationships with nuance.
Southeast Asia explodes with creative energy: Thailand leads with eight films; the Philippines brings four, including Mikhail Red’s sinister slow burn horror Lilim. Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bhutan, and Mongolia round out a vibrant chorus of new and exciting voices in cinema.
Seventeen first-time filmmakers—nearly half of them women—make their mark at NYAFF. Highlights include 1 Girl Infinite, a poetic queer punk romance by Lilly Hu, executive produced by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Dune) and produced by Matīss Kaža (producer of 2025 Oscar winner Flow); and two North American premieres: Flat Girls by Jirassaya Wongsutin, and A Girl with Closed Eyes by Chun Sun-young.
Nine horror films push boundaries in fresh and bone-chilling ways. Dollhouse explores domestic dread à la Annabelle. Attack 13 unleashes a Phi Tai Hong—a vengeful Thai ghoul—onto a doomed group of high-schoolers, and more.
NYAFF is thrilled to introduce a brand-new celebration this year: the Opening Weekend Gala on July 12 at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium, featuring the presentation of the Vanguard Award to Lisa Lu and the Screen International Rising Star Asia Award to Natalie Hsu. For tickets, please visit galabid.com/nyaffgala2025.
A second wave of NYAFF 2025 announcements will be unveiled next week.
Tickets for the New York Asian Film Festival will go on sale on Wednesday, June 18 at 2:00pm ET with an early access period for FLC and NYAFF Members starting at 12:00pm ET. Tickets are $19; $16 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $14 for FLC and NYAFF Members. Premium events and Opening Night tickets range from $20–$50. See more at FLC and save with a 3+ Film Package ($17 for General Public; $14 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities); and $12 for FLC Members. Note: Opening Night and premium events are excluded.
Opening Night tickets are $25 for the General Public and $20 for FLC Members, students, seniors, and persons with disabilities. Those who wish to attend the Opening Night screening and the Night Market can get tickets for $50 for the General Public and $40 for FLC Members, students, seniors, and persons with disabilities. The film selection for Opening Night will be announced soon — stay tuned!
For information on NYAFF at additional venues visit nyaff.org.
FIRST WAVE OF LINEUP
(Includes films screening at other venues. More to be announced. All programs are subject to change.)
BHUTAN
I, the Song | dir. Dechen Roder, Bhutan/Norway/Italy/France, 2024 | East Coast Premiere
HONG KONG (presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office)
Behind the Shadows | dir. Jonathan Li, Chou Man-Yu, Hong Kong, 2024 | North American Premiere
Last Song for You | dir. Jill Leung, Hong Kong, 2024 | North American Premiere
Papa | dir. Philip Yung, Hong Kong , 2024 | Special Screening
Possession Street | dir. Jack Lai, Hong Kong 2024 | North American Premiere
Smashing Frank | dir. Trevor Choi, Hong Kong, 2024 | U.S. Premiere
Valley of the Shadow of Death | dir. Jeffrey Lam SeYn, Antonio Tam, Hong Kong, 2024 | North American Premiere
The Way We Talk | dir. Adam Wong , Hong Kong, 2024 | North American Premiere
Young and Dangerous | dir. Andrew Lau, Hong Kong, 1996 | Special Screening
INDONESIA
Gowok: Javanese Kamasutra | dir. Hanung Bramantyo, Indonesia, 2025 | North American Premiere
Perang Kota This City Is a Battlefield | dir. Mouly Surya, Indonesia/Singapore/Netherlands/France/Norway/Philippines/Cambodia, 2024 | North American Premiere
Japan
9 Souls | dir. Toshiaki Toyoda, Japan, 2003 | Special Screening
Babanba Banban Vampire | dir. Shinji Hamasaki, Japan, 2025 | North American Premiere
Blue Spring | dir. Toshiaki Toyoda, Japan, 2002 | Special Screening
Dollhouse | dir. Shinobu Yaguchi, Japan, 2025 | North American Premiere
Hanging Garden | dir. Toshiaki Toyoda, Japan, 2005 | Special Screening
Transcending Dimensions | dir. Toshiaki Toyoda, Japan, 2025 | North American Premiere
MALAYSIA
Pavane for an Infant | dir. Chong Keat Aun, Malaysia, Hong Kong, 2024 | North American Premiere
MYANMAR
MA – Cry of Silence | dir. The Maw Naing, Myanmar/South Korea/Singapore/France/Norway/Qatar, 2024 | North American Premiere
PHILIPPINES
The Hearing | dir. Lawrence Fajardo, Philippines, 2024 | North American Premiere
Lilim | dir. Mikhail Red, Philippines, 2025 | North American Premiere
Sunshine | dir. Antoinette Jadaone, Philippines, 2024 | New York Premiere
SOUTH KOREA (Co-presented with Korean Cultural Center New York)
Forbidden Fairytale. 2025 Medican, Golddog Entertainment.
Forbidden Fairytale | dir. Lee Jong-suk, South Korea, 2024 | North American Premiere
A Girl with Closed Eyes | dir. Chun Sun-young, South Korea, 2024 | North American Premiere
TAIWAN (presented with the support of Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York)
Unexpected Courage. Courtesy of Mandarin Vision Co., Ltd.
Daughter’s Daughter | dir. Huang Xi, Taiwan, 2024 | U.S. Premiere
Unexpected Courage | dir. Shawn Yu, Taiwan, 2025 | International Premiere
THAILAND (presented with the support of Thailand Creative Culture Agency – THACCA)
Attack 13. Courtesy of 13 Studio.
404 Run Run | dir. Seua Pichaya Jarasboonpracha, Thailand, 2024 | North American Premiere
Attack 13 | dir. Taweewat Wantha, Thailand, 2025 | International Premiere
Flat Girls | dir. Jirassaya Wongsutin, Thailand, 2025 | North American Premiere
Panor | dir. Putipong Saisikaew, Thailand, 2025 | North American Premiere
The Red Envelope | dir. Chayanop Boonprakob, Thailand, 2025 | North American Premiere
Shutter (4K restoration) | dir. Parkpoom Wongpoom, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Thailand, 2004 | North American Premiere
The Stone | dir. Pae Arak Amornsupasiri, Wutthipong Sukkhanintr, Thailand, 2025 | North American Premiere
U.S.
1 Girl Infinite. Courtesy of 1 girl infinite.
1 Girl Infinite | dir. Lilly Hu, U.S., 2024 | North American Premiere
Lisa Lu Plays Herself | dir. Chen Mei-Juin, U.S., 2025 | World Premiere