Launched in 2002, Subway Cinema's New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) is America's leading and most influential showcase for popular Asian cinema. Each year, the Festival selects over 30 feature films, considering only the best, the strangest, and the most entertaining of the recent titles.
To date, the Festival has presented over 130 films from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand, including the works of Park Chan-wook, Patrick Tam, Takashi Miike, Andrew Lau, Feng Xiaogang, Kim Jee-woon, Lee Myung-se, Suzuki Seijun, Johnnie To, Sion Sono, Shinya Tsukamoto, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, KIM Ki-duk, Ryu Seung-wan, Xiao Jiang, Shunji Iwai, and many others.
Then Summer Came Opens opens 2008 New York Asian Film Festival
Audience Award Winners
Each year, one film is crowned with the NYAFF Audience Award, as determined by audience ballot, keeping with the grass-roots democratic spirit of the Festival.
2002: MY SASSY GIRL (Korea)
2003: PING PONG (Japan)
2004: PLEASE TEACH ME ENGLISH (Korea)
2005: THE TASTE OF TEA (Japan)
2006: ALWAYS-SUNSET ON THIRD STREET (Japan)
2007: MEMORIES OF MATSUKO (Japan)
Festival Guests
The festival's intimate atmosphere allows for a personal and relaxed interaction between the audience and the filmmakers, which is all but lost at larger film events. Festival guests do everything from conducting Q&As, to giving away prizes and even putting on puppet shows! Past guests include directors E. J-yong (DASEPO NAUGHTY GIRLS), Shusuke Kaneko (DEATH NOTE), Sion Sono (EXTE), HAN Jae-rim (THE SHOW MUST GO ON), Omar Khan (HELL'S GROUND), RYU Seung-wan (CRYING FIST), Eiichiro Hasumi (UMIZARU, UMIZARU 2), Takashi Yamazaki (ALWAYS - SUNSET ON THIRD STREET), Hideyuki Kobayashi (MARRONIER), Bade Haji Azmi (GANGSTER), Onir (MY BROTHER NIKHIL); producers Syd Lim (OLD BOY), Eiko Tanaka (MIND GAME), and Hirotsugi Usui (BAYSIDE SHAKEDOWN, UMIZARU
Japan Cuts
NYAFF and Japan Cuts: Starting in 2007, the last weekend of NYAFF is a co-presentation with Japan Society's Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film.
About Subway Cinema
Established in 1999, Subway Cinema has played a key role in nurturing the growth of Asian film culture in the U.S. Prior to launching the New York Asian Film Festival in 2002, Subway Cinema was the first in America to recognize the works of Hong Kong directors Johnnie To and Tsui Hark with retrospectives (in 2000 and 2001, respectively), and was instrumental in establishing the New York Korean Film Festival (2001).
