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 40 feature films, considering only the best, the strangest, and the most entertaining of the recent titles.

To date, the Festival presented over 170 films from China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, 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.

Audience Award

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. Audience Award winners:
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)
2008: FINE, TOTALLY FINE (Japan)

Festival Guests

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&A’s, to giving away prizes and even putting on puppet shows! Past guests include directors LEE Myung-se (M), Ryo Iwamatsu (THEN SUMMER CAME), 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).

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.

NYAFF and MSFF: With the generous support of the Korean Cultural Service in New York, NYAFF also screens some of the best Korean short genre films from Mise-en-Scene's Short Film Festival (MSFF). MSFF is one of the most prestigious short film festivals in Korea. Its main objective is to promote talented young filmmakers, and to serve as their launch pad for careers in Korean film industry.

North American Fantastic Festival Alliance: NYAFF is a member of the North American Fantastic Festival Alliance (NAFFA), which was founded by our good friends at Fantasia International Film Festival (Montreal), Dead Channels - the San Francisco Festival of Fantastic Film and Fantastic Fest in Austin.

Festival Venues: The IFC Center

323 Sixth Avenue (between 3rd and 4th Streets)

The IFC Center is the ultimate entertainment space for New Yorkers seeking out the best in foreign and independent film. Located in the heart of Manhattan’s world-famous Greenwich Village neighborhood, the IFC Center (formerly the historic Waverly Theater) opened its doors in June 2005, after a four-year renovation. This stylish juxtaposition of landmark heritage and ultra-modern amenities features state-of-the-art theaters and a chic and flexible restaurant space.

Festival Venues: Japan Society

333 East 47th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues) - Lila Acheson Wallace Auditorium

Japan Society is the premier producer of high-quality content on Japan for the United States, offering over one hundred events annually in the performing and visual arts, business and policy sector, and education fields, as well as publications and online forums. Over the course of more than a century, Japan Society has evolved into an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia.