Takashi Shimizu is a Japanese filmmaker. He is best known for being the creator of the Ju-On franchise, and directing four of its films, internationally, in both Japan and the U.S. According to film scholar Wheeler Winston Dixon, Shimizu is "one of a new breed of Japanese horror directors" who prefers to "suggest menace and violence rather than directly depict it."
The New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) is a film festival held in New York City dedicated to the display of Asian film and culture. The New York Asian Film Festival generally features contemporary premieres and classic titles from Eastern Asia and Southeast Asia, though South Asian cinema has also been represented via films from India and Pakistan.
Fantasia International Film Festival is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on niche, low budget movies in various genres, from horror to sci-fi. Regularly held in July/August, by 2016 its annual audience had already surpassed 100,000 viewers and outgrown even the Montreal World Film Festival.
Junji Sakamoto is a Japanese film director.
JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film is an annual festival of modern Japanese cinema held at New York City's Japan Society. The festival was first held in 2007, growing out of the Japan Society's popular bi-annual series, New Films from Japan. But where New Films from Japan was a series that showed, on average, ten films over the course of several months, the JAPAN CUTS festival has scheduled an average of 25-30 films, many of them premieres, over two weeks during the month of July. Screenings are held in Japan Society's 260-seat Lila Acheson Wallace Auditorium.
The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) is an annual film festival that takes place in New York City, and screens films relating to India, the Indian Diaspora, and the work of Indian filmmakers. The festival began in November 2001 and was founded by Aroon Shivdasani and the Indo-American Arts Council. About 40 films are screened, including features films, shorts, documentaries, and animated films.
Ken Kwek is a Singaporean screenwriter, director, playwright and author. His short film compendium, Sex.Violence.FamilyValues, was banned by the Singapore and Malaysian governments in 2012. His first feature film Unlucky Plaza premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. His second feature #LookAtMe premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival in 2022, to critical acclaim. He has written several full-length plays, including the #MeToo drama, This Is What Happens To Pretty Girls, which premiered in Singapore in 2019. He is also the author of several best-selling children’s books including Kelly and the Krumps, which won the Hedwig Anuar Book Award in 2020.
Lee Isaac Chung is an American filmmaker. His debut feature Munyurangabo (2007) was an official selection at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and the first narrative feature film in the Kinyarwanda language.
The Boys Who Cried Wolf, also known as The Shepherd, is a 2015 South Korean crime thriller drama film. Written and directed by Kim Jin-hwang in his first feature-length for his Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA)'s final year undergraduate film project, it depicts how a former stage actor becomes involved in a murder case.
The Swordsman is a 2020 South Korean period action film directed by Choi Jae-hoon, starring Jang Hyuk as the titular character.
The Father is a 2020 psychological drama film, directed by Florian Zeller in his directorial debut. He co-wrote the screenplay with fellow playwright Christopher Hampton on the basis of Zeller's 2012 play Le Père. A French-British co-production, the film stars Anthony Hopkins as an octogenarian Welsh man living with dementia. Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, and Olivia Williams also star.
Midnight is a 2021 South Korean psychological thriller film, written and directed by Kwon Oh-seung. The film starring Jin Ki-joo, Wi Ha-joon and Kim Hye-yoon, depicts a life-threatening hide-and-seek scenario between a psychopathic killer and a deaf woman. The film was slated to release in 2020 but its release was postponed due to the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally the film was released simultaneously in theatres and via streaming media TVING on June 30, 2021. Midnight is also available on iQIYI from 18 September 2021.
The 20th New York Asian Film Festival was held in New York from 6 August to 22 August 2021. The opening film of the festival was Escape from Mogadishu, a South Korean film by Ryoo Seung-wan. Seventy titles were screened both online, as well as in person. The 20th edition of the festival featured two world premieres, six international premieres, twenty nine North American premieres, eight U.S. premieres and nine New York premieres.
Perhaps Love is a 2021 South Korean comedy-drama film, directed by Jo Eun-ji for Next Entertainment. Starring Ryu Seung-ryong, Oh Na-ra and Kim Hee-won, the film revolves around a best selling writer named Hyeon who has been in the slumps for 7 years. Then he meets an aspiring author Yoo-jin, who brings about change in his values.
Fast and Feel Love is a 2022 Thai action comedy film written, directed and produced by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, starring Urassaya Sperbund and Nat Kitcharit, released on Wednesday, April 6, 2022.
Chilli Laugh Story is a 2022 Hong Kong comedy film co-written and directed by Coba Cheng, a debutant director. An amusing and sometimes unexpectedly poignant comedy starring Ronald Cheng, Gigi Leung, Edan Lui, and Sandra Ng, it was initially scheduled to release on 1 February 2022, the first day of Lunar New Year, but it was postponed due to COVID-19 and finally released on 14 July 2022.
Mama's Affair is a 2022 Hong Kong drama film written and directed by Kearen Pang. Starring Teresa Mo, Keung To, Jer Lau, Kaki Sham and Tang Lai Ying, the film follows a former talent manager and housewife, who discovers a new star, then she finds it difficult to balance her family and her career life. The film had its world premiere at 17th Osaka Asian Film Festival in competition section on 12 March 2022, and was released on 11 August 2022 in Hong Kong.
#LookAtMe is a 2022 Singaporean film directed by Ken Kwek. It was premiered at 2022 New York Asian Film Festival. The film was inspired by Amos Yee's 2015 vlogs that criticised Lee Kuan Yew and Christianity, and other real life events.
The 22nd New York Asian Film Festival was held in New York on 14 July with North American premiere of South Korean film Killing Romance by Lee Won-suk, who attended the screening in person. In the 22nd edition seventy eight titles were screened in person. The lineup included eight world premieres, nine international premieres, thirty-two North American premieres, three U.S. premieres, and sixteen East Coast/New York premieres. Films from various genres from Hong Kong, Japan, China, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, and the United States were screened.
Killing Romance is a 2023 South Korean musical romantic thriller film by director Lee Won-suk, starring Lee Hanee, Lee Sun-kyun, and Gong Myung. Described as "a love story, a musical, a murder plot and a million things in between," the film follows a former star actress as she teams up with her super-fan teenage neighbor in an attempt to escape her toxic marriage to a cartoonishly villainous real estate mogul.
