The New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) marks its landmark 25th edition from July 10 to 26, 2026, bringing the best and boldest of Asian cinema to five venues across the city: Film at Lincoln Center (July 10–23), SVA Theatre (July 19–26), IFC Center, Anthology Film Archives (a heartfelt homecoming July 16–18, where the festival began in 2002), and the Korean Cultural Center New York.
What started in 2002 as a scrappy showcase for Hong Kong, Korean, and has grown into North America’s leading platform for Asian cinema — a place that consistently champions debuts, rediscoveries, genre experiments, and stories that rarely reach U.S. screens. This anniversary edition feels especially electric: over 50 filmmakers are expected for post-screening Q&As and special appearances, giving audiences rare access to the minds behind the work.
Tickets are already on sale at filmlinc.org (with early member access having opened in mid-June). Prices typically range from $15–$50 depending on membership status, with discounts for students, seniors, and persons with disabilities. Individual screenings vary, so check the full schedule early — popular titles like the Opening Night film will move fast. Opening Night on July 10 at Film at Lincoln Center includes a festive Night Market with live music and Asian street food alongside the premiere.
This year’s programming stands out for its depth and range: a dedicated Korean Horizons section with 23 films, strong Southeast Asian representation, a “Queer Unbound” focus, Hong Kong cult classics and restorations (including 20th-anniversary 4K screenings of Initial D), and plenty of North American and New York premieres. Special guests and lifetime achievement honors (including Joan Chen) add star power, while the mix of high-concept blockbusters, intimate debuts, and pure genre fun makes it one of the most exciting lineups in recent memory.
Here are three films worth prioritizing — each offering something distinct and unmissable.
Colony (군체) – Opening Night North American Premiere
Dir. Yeon Sang-ho | South Korea | 2026 | 122 min | July 10 at Film at Lincoln Center (with Q&A)
Yeon Sang-ho returns to the territory he transformed with Train to Busan — and he’s bringing something nastier, smarter, and more formally inventive. Fresh off its world premiere in Cannes’ Midnight section and a massive Korean box-office run (over 5 million admissions), Colony locks survivors inside a gleaming Seoul high-rise after a fast-mutating virus turns a biotech conference into ground zero. Authorities seal the building. Every floor becomes a new arena of betrayals, brutal calculations, and evolving horrors as the infected adapt with insect-like speed and intelligence.
Gianna Jun (Jun Ji-hyun) stars as a biotech professor forced into hero mode, joined by Ji Chang-wook, Koo Kyo-hwan, and Shin Hyun-been. This isn’t your standard zombie shuffle — it’s a “zombie movie for the AI age,” system-based, viscerally tense, and hungry for more. Yeon Sang-ho will be in attendance for the North American premiere, alongside special screenings of his earlier works (including a 10th-anniversary 4K of Train to Busan). If you want spectacle with brains and real stakes, start your festival here.
10s Across the Borders – New York Premiere
Dir. Chan Sze-Wei | Philippines/Singapore/Germany | 2025 | July 19 at SVA Theatre (with Q&A)
Voguing as survival. The runway as a battlefield. Chan Sze-Wei’s debut follows three Southeast Asian ballroom trailblazers who turn splits, drops, and ostrich feathers into a way of life. This is more than a celebration of underground ballroom culture — it’s a portrait of queer resilience across borders, where performance becomes armor, community, and quiet revolution.
In a festival full of big premieres and genre fireworks, this one cuts deep with intimacy and joy. It captures the sweat, glamour, chosen family, and daily defiance of performers who build their own stages when the world won’t give them space. For anyone who loves stories about identity, diaspora, and the power of showing up unapologetically, this is essential viewing. Expect high energy and even higher stakes on and off the runway.
4 Tigers (เสือ) – North American Premiere
Dir. Kongkiat Komesiri | Thailand | 2025 | 138 min | July 14 at Film at Lincoln Center (with Q&A)
Bullet benders. Black magic. Stolen Japanese gold. Four badass Tigers raise hell in Kongkiat Komesiri’s sexy, go-for-broke Thai spaghetti Western. This is pure cinematic adrenaline with Thai supernatural flair — a wild, stylish, over-the-top ride that blends classic Western tropes with local humor, sorcery, and unapologetic attitude.
If Colony is the smart, high-tension opener and 10s Across the Borders brings emotional and cultural depth, 4 Tigers is the glorious palate cleanser and crowd-pleaser. Expect explosive action, memorable characters, and the kind of confident genre filmmaking that reminds you why we go to festivals in the first place. Mario Maurer is among the cast/attendees adding extra star wattage. Come for the bullets and black magic; stay for the sheer fun of it all.
The 25th NYAFF isn’t just a milestone — it’s a reminder of how vital these stories and voices remain. Whether you’re drawn to horror that thinks, documentaries that move, or action that goes full throttle, this year’s lineup delivers. Grab tickets, check the full schedule at nyaff.org or filmlinc.org, and get ready for two weeks of discoveries, reunions with old favorites, and conversations that spill out of the theaters and into the night.
See you at the movies.
