BOOK OF FISH and SAMJIN COMPANY ENGLISH CLASS Lead 20th NYAFF Slate

The New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) is preparing to celebrate its 20th edition this summer and joining the festivities as usual will be a healthy selection of new indie and commercial films from Korea, supported by the Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY). 

Featuring in the ‘Standouts’ strand will be Lee Joonik’s period black and white film The Book of Fish with Sul Kyunggu and Byun Yohan, which recently earned the Grand Prize at the Baeksang Arts Awards, as well as Lee Jongpil’s hit 90s-set workplace drama SAMJIN COMPANY ENGLISH CLASS (2020).

Screening in the ‘Genre Masters’ section is Kwon Ohseung’s debut film Midnight, which launched simultaneously on June 30 in theatres and on the local streaming service TVING. The film stars Jin Kijoo as a young deaf woman who gets sucked into a deadly overnight cat-and-mouse chase with a deranged serial killer played by Wi Hajun.

Among the indie films to be featured at this year’s NYAFF are Fighter (2020), the second narrative film from director Jero Yun, about a North Korean defector who trains to become a boxer, Lee Seungwon’s acclaimed Jeonju Cinema Project Three Sisters (2020), a family dramedy with Moon Sori, and Lee Taegyeom’s I Don’t Fire Myself (2020), which debuted at the Jeonju International Film Festival last year, where it earned a Best Acting Prize.

More titles are expected to be announced for the festival, which will showcase a total of 60 Asian films later this month. This year’s NYAFF is scheduled to take place over August 6-22.