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New York, NY – Film at Lincoln Center and the New York Asian Film Foundation announce the 18th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff), June 28 – July 14, 2019.

After last year’s Savage Seventeen, this year’s program is dubbed the “Still Too Young to Die” edition with five international premieres, 23 North American premieres, four U.S. premieres, and eight New York premieres, showcasing the most exciting action, comedy, drama, thriller, romance, horror, and art-house films from East Asia, and bringing close to 30 directors and nine actors from Asia.

Eighteen – Still Too Young to Die: Many will recognize the cheeky reference to Nyaff 2016 audience award winner, Kudo Kankuro’s Too Young to Die!, in which a busload of high-school students plummet to their deaths. They either end up in heaven or hell, both of which defy expectations. Graduating into adulthood, Nyaff aims to defy expectations cinematically.

With the irreverent action-comedy...

Vietnamese star Veronica Ngo to receive Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema.

Kim Yoon-seok’s Another Child from South Korea and Huang Chao-liang’s Han Dan from Taiwan are among seven entries that will vie for the Uncaged Award for best feature film in the 2019 New York Asian Film Festival main competition.

Rounding out the competition entries are: Moon Sungho’s 5 Million Dollar Life (Japan), Katsumi Nojiri’s Lying To Mom (Japan), Kenneth Lim Dagatan’s Ma (Philippines), Yi Ok-seop’s Maggie (South Korea), and Wu Nan’s Push And Shove (China). The festival runs from June...

A death by suicide is one of the hardest things to process as it sums the excruciating pain of losing someone dear, to the guilt and regret of not having done enough to stop it. Someone may think a lie is a temporary patch. Some would express their feelings in a film. Director Katsumi Nojiri has scripted and directed “Lying to Mom”, a film sadly based on the experience of his own brother’s suicide and he has bravely injected it with a gentle humour.

“Lying to Mom” is screening at Nippon Connection

Shockingly, the film opens straight with the suicide of Koichi (Ryo Kase). After a last gaze from his window to the suburban Tokyo landscape, he hangs himself in his room. Even more disturbing is that his mother Yuko (Hideko Hara) is cheerfully cooking while watching a comedy show just a floor below. But Koichi was a hikikomori...

Festival’s 31st edition built bridges to China and Southeast Asia.

French director Mikhael Hers’ Amanda was awarded the Tokyo Grand Prix at the close of this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff), while A First Farewell from China’s Lina Wang won best film in the Asian Future competition.

Amanda, about a young man who looks after his niece following his sister’s sudden death, also took the Wowow-sponsored best screenplay award. Danish drama Before The Frost took the Special Jury Prize and best actor for Jesper Christensen. Best director went to Italian filmmaker Edoardo De Angelis for The Vice Of Hope,...

The Mikhael Hers-directed drama “Amanda,” about a man who ends up caring for his seven-year-old niece when her mother is killed, was awarded the Tokyo Grand Prix at the Tokyo International Film Festival’s closing ceremony today. The film also took the best screenplay award in the festival 31st edition, which runs Oct. 25 to Nov. 3.

“Amanda” premiered in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival. But it left without a prize. It will release in Japan next year, through distributor Bitters End, the director said in a video message.

The second-place special jury prize went to Michael Noer’s “Before the Frost.” Unfolding in the 19th Century Danish countryside, the film previously screened in the contemporary world cinema section at Toronto.

Italy’s Edoardo De Angelis was named best director for “The Vice of Hope,” a drama set in the Naples sex industry. The best actress honors went to Pina Turco,...