Celebrated actor Hiroshi Abe began his career over three decades ago. Among his most internationally recognized work are memorable roles in Trick (2002), Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Still Walking (2008) and After the Storm (2016), Chocolate (Thailand, 2008), Thermæ Romæ (2012), for which he won his first Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Actor, Thermæ Romæ II (2014), Chen Kaige’s Legend of the Demon Cat (2018), and the English-language The Garden of Evening Mists (Malaysia, 2019). He is the first Japanese recipient of the Screen International Star Asia Award.

Christian Bables made his film debut playing the transgender character Barbs in Die Beautiful (2016), for which he received a Best Supporting Actor Award at the Gawad Urian Awards. He won Best Leading Actor at the 5th Hanoi International Film Festival for Signal Rock (2018), and Best Actor for Big Night! (2022) at the Metro Manila Film Festival. He has also appeared in Finally Found Someone and The Ghost Bride (both 2017), and The Panti Sisters (2019).

David Chai is a Showrunner, Writer, and Director. He grew up in Australia and is a graduate from the University of Technology, Sydney, with a major in film. He worked at Technicolor and Deluxe in New York on many films including The Devil Wears Prada, Michael Clayton, and Taking Woodstock. He has worked on fashion videos for Calvin Klein, Gucci, Victoria Beckham and many others. His award winning first feature “Midnight Driver" (aka Siji:Driver) is distributed on Tencent in China. Most recently, he created and executive produced the police drama "A Good Cop" for NTD. David also wrote and directed all ten episodes.

Kim Chan is a Hong Kong multimedia director. In the past decade his projects have ranged from animation and commercials for TV to promotional videos and pop concerts. He served as the cinematographer of The Heavenly Kings (2006) and became a feature director with the documentary Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice.

After graduating with a degree in screenwriting from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Sunny Chan worked as creative director and coordinator at Brilliant Idea Group and Singing Horse Productions for producer Joe Ma. His screenplay of Horror Hotline... Big Head Monster (2001) helped launch the career of former indie director Soi Cheang. His versatility as a writer was also on display in hit comedies Dummy Mommy, Without a Baby (2001) and Love Undercover (2002), which launched the movie career of singer Miram Yeung (NYAFF Star Asia Awardee, 2016). He made his directorial debut with Men on the Dragon (NYAFF 2018)

Since her acting debut in Im Sang-soo’s Tears in 2000, Cho Eun-ji has become a familiar face to fans of Korean cinema. In both leading and supporting roles, she has made a lasting impression in such works as The President’s Last Bang, Driving with My Wife’s Lover, My Scary Girl, Forever the Moment, The Concubine, The Target, The Villainess, and Nailed. In 2016 she directed the short 2Nights 3Days, which screened at many film festivals and won a Special Jury Award at the Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival. Perhaps Love marks her feature directorial debut.

Choi Dong-hoon ranks as one of the most consistently successful directors working in contemporary Korean cinema, with all five of his films having become box-office hits: "The Big Swindle" (2004), "Tazza: The High Rollers" (2006), "Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard" (2009), "The Thieves" (2012), and Assassination (2015). "Alienoid", his new time-traveling sci-fi adventure, stars NYAFF 2019 Screen International Rising Star honoree Ryu Jun-yeol.

Choi Jae-hoon began his career as an art director on numerous films, including Princess Aurora (2005), Cadaver (2007), and The Outlaw (2010). He made his directorial debut in 2020 with the period swordplay film The Swordsman, starring Jang Hyuk. He followed that up with the thriller The Hypnosis (2021). The Killer, based on a popular novel, is his third feature and reunites him with leading man Jang Hyuk.

Jason Gray has worked in the Japanese film industry since 2001 as a translator, journalist and consultant. He served as Japan correspondent for Screen International from 2006-2014 and translates films for major directors and production companies. After co-founding Loaded Films in 2011 he served as a producer on Magic Kimono (2017), producer and collaborating writer on Ten Years Japan (2018), producer on Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To the Ends of the Earth (released June 2019), and producer and co-writer on 2022 Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard selection "Plan 75" (Camera d'Or Special Mention).

Shinji Higuchi began his career in special effects for Godzilla (1984) and for Shusuke Kaneko's Gamera Heisei trilogy. He made his directorial debut in 2005 with Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean, followed by Japan Sinks (2006) and The Floating Castle (2012, co-directed with Isshin Inudo), and received the Japan Academy Prize for Best Director for Shin Godzilla (2016). Shin Ultraman was written and produced by Hideaki Anno, his collaborator on the “Neon Genesis Evangelion” series.

Award-winning actress, producer, rockstar and Hong Kong culture icon Josie Ho first graced the silver screen in 1994 and has appeared in such notable films as Exiled (2006), The Drummer (2007), Dream Home (2010), and Full Strike (2015), which she also produced. Ho received a Best Supporting Actress award for Naked Ambition in 2003 at the Hong Kong Film Awards and In the Room in 2017 at the Malaysian Film Awards. She is also a prolific producer and has worked on such international productions as How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017), and Edge of the World (2019), in which she also starred.

Tom Huang is an award-winning writer and director. A Warner Bros. Sitcom Workshop graduate, he has been a staff writer for network TV sitcoms, including the critically lauded ABC show “Sons &
Daughters,” and “Still Standing” on CBS. His film Find Me (2018) won multiple awards, including Best Feature at the Atlanta Independent Film Fest, Best Screenplay at the Rhode Island International Film Fest, and the Audience Award at the Oregon Asian-American Film Fest.

Writer-director Kasho Iizuka studied film in college. His 2011 debut short, Our Future, based on his own experiences as a transgender man, won the Special Jury Prize at the Pia Film Festival before traveling overseas. His first commercial feature, The World For the Two of Us, was released in Japan in January 2022. He won the Most Promising New Talent Award at the 2022 Osaka Asian Film Festival for his feature debut Angry Son, which will be released in early 2023.

Jang Hyuk earned instant success with his first starring role in Volcano High (2001), and while maintaining an active career on TV and making music, became a box office draw. Among his many film highlights are Please Teach Me English (2003), Empire of Lust (2015) and Ordinary Person (2017). He is the recipient of the Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema for his roles in The Swordsman (2020) and The Killer (2022).

Kim Hye-yoon began her acting career on South Korean TV at age 17. She majored in film studies at Konkuk University before returning to acting full time in 2019. She was quickly recognized for her charismatic and award-winning performances, and after smaller parts in Another Child (NYAFF 2019) and Midnight (NYAFF 2021), received the NYAFF 2022 Screen International Rising Star Award for her breakout role in The Girl on a Bulldozer.

Nat Kitcharit began his career with commercials and short films before making his feature film debut with App War (2018). He won the 2020 Best Supporting Actor award from Yniverse Awards for his role in the hit two-part TV series, I Told Sunset About You and I Promised You the Moon. He has also starred in 4 Kings (2021) and Me Always You (2021).

Ken Kwek is an award-winning Singaporean filmmaker and playwright, known for his irreverent comedies and social satires. His short film anthology Sex.Violence.FamilyValues (2013) was banned in Singapore but won awards internationally. His first feature, Unlucky Plaza (2014), premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won Best Director at the Tehran Jasmine Film Festival. Kwek’s plays include "This Is What Happens to Pretty Girls" (2019), praised by The New York Times for its unflinching examination of sexual misconduct in schools and the workplace. #LookAtMe is Kwek's second feature film.

Already a successful director of commercials, Kwon Soo-kyung earned an MFA at the Beijing Film Academy before making his feature debut with family comedy Barefoot Ki-bong (2006), a box-office hit. He returned to the screen a decade later with another family comedy, My Annoying Brother (2016). Stellar: A Magical Ride is his third feature. He is also a professor of film art at Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts.

Jun Robles Lana made his writing-directing debut with Bwakaw, the Philippines’ official Oscar entry in 2012. Among other highlights of his filmography are Barber’s Tales (2013), which earned him a Best Director award from the Madrid International Film Festival; Shadow Behind the Moon (2015), which won Best Director, Actress, Netpac and Fipresci awards at Vladivostock; Die Beautiful, which won the Audience and Best Actor awards at the 2016 Tokyo International Festival, and Kalel, 15 (2019), which won Best Director at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

Anderson Le is the Artistic Director of the Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) and also serves as a program consultant for the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, and the Singapore International Film Festival. He is a member of a U.S./Vietnam joint venture called EAST Films, a transpacific media company focusing on developing genre cinema for Southeast Asian markets, series for SVOD and OTTs, and prestige films that exemplify the emerging and dynamic talent of the Vietnamese diaspora. The first production, Rom (NYAFF 2020), won the New Currents Prize at Busan, the documentary Be Water (2020) was an official selection of both the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals, and Maika (2022) was just released by Well Go USA.

Lee Il-ha was born in Korea and has lived in Japan since 2000, working with Japanese and Korean broadcasters such as NHK and MBC. His first feature documentary as director, Crying Boxers, was the opening film of the 2014 DMZ International Documentary Festival. Counters was screened at NYAFF 2017. I Am More is his third feature, and premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2021.

Dennis Liu is a Taiwanese American/Canadian director, producer, screenwriter, editor, VFX artist, and member of the Director's Guild of America diversity committee. He graduated from The Taft School and Tisch School of the Arts with a major in film. He had his first break in 2008 with the "Apple Mac Music Video". The video went on to win The People's Choice Award in the Cannes New Director's Showcase and was shown at Pixar. He has directed music videos for world-renowned artists. In 2017, he directed and wrote the 10-episode NETFLIX series "Raising Dion. He most recently directed an episode of the Disney+ family action comedy show "American Born Chinese," starring Michelle Yeoh.

Born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam, Leon Lê moved to the US at the age of 13. An accomplished actor, dancer, singer with credits including Broadway, film and TV, he always had a passion for filmmaking. As a self-taught filmmaker (writer, director, editor), his shorts Dawn and Talking to My Mother gained him attention at film festivals, garnering awards including Best LGBT short film, Best Director. Song Lang (NYAFF 2019 Audience Award winner) was Lê’s first feature, an elaboration of his interrupted upbringing in Vietnam and nostalgic tribute to his beloved Cai-luong theatrical art form. The film screened in more than 80 festivals and won 50 awards worldwide. Leon currently lives in NY and Vietnam.

Madeleine Molyneaux is an independent producer and curator based in NY and LA. Through Picture Palace Pictures, she works closely with emerging and established international artists and filmmakers to develop, produce, and represent creative documentaries, hybrid narrative fiction, artist moving image work and curatorial initiatives that often defy easy categorization. A long-standing collaboration with multiple prizewinner Kevin Jerome Everson includes 10 critically acclaimed features, and numerous award-winning shorts. Her productions and international co-productions have premiered at major international festivals and have been screened and distributed worldwide.

More majored in ballet at the Korea National University of Arts, School of Dance, and has performed in a variety of shows in Beijing, New York and Edinburgh, as well as in commercials. More is also the headliner at Seoul’s Trans club, performing as a drag queen.

Nik Amir Mustapha is a director, producer, scriptwriter and founder of Lumatic Films in Kuala Lumpur, producing feature films, TV shows and commercials. After completing film studies at Metro Screen in Sydney, Australia, he embarked on a filmmaking career in 2010. His debut featur was, Kil, which premiered at the Osaka Asian Film Festival in 2013 and won Best Film at Malaysia’s top film awards. It is available on Netflix in Malaysia. His second film, Nova, premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2014.

Mayu Nakamura earned an MFA in Film at New York University and made her feature debut in her native Japan in 2006 with The Summer of Stickleback, which premiered in competition at the Busan International Film Festival. In 2012, she directed the award-winning documentary Lonely Swallows – Living as the Children of Migrant Workers, before garnering acclaim for nonfiction films Alone in Fukushima (2015), Watch Out for the Patriot! – Kunio Suzuki (2019), and Alone Again in Fukushima (2020). She wrote the script for “Tokyo Trial,” a Dutch/Canadian/Japanese co-production that was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best TV Movie/Mini-Series. Her second fiction feature, Intimate Stranger, premiered at the 2021 Tokyo International Film Festival.

Producer Tomoya Nishino began his career with Japanese giant Toho in 2011, and has been involved in a variety of TV and film productions since 2013. A fan of Shinji Higuchi’s, he lobbied to be involved in the Shin Ultraman project, eventually becoming the film’s main producer. Among his other productions are My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday (2016), Killing for the Prosecution (2018), It Comes (2018), Fortuna's Eye (2019), and Brave: Gunjyo Senki (2021).

Pam Oei is an actor, director, singer and comedian in Singapore, where she is known as one of the Dim Sum Dollies, a popular comedy cabaret act. Her film credits include Peggy Su! (BBC Films, 1996), Forever Fever (Miramax, 1998) The Blue Mansion (2008), and Ken Kwek’s Porn Masala (2012) and Unlucky Plaza (2014). She has received multiple nominations for Best Actress at the Asian Television Awards, and won both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories at the 2001 Life! Theatre Awards.

Park Ri-woong received an MFA from the Korea National University of Arts. He directed the short films Windowsill (2003), Family (2005), Let Us Go (2007), and Good Yeounha (2008), which were honored with awards at such festivals as the Seoul International Film Festival, Filmfest Munchen, and the Jeonju International Film Festival. His feature debut, The Girl on the Bulldozer, premiered at the 2021 Busan International Film Festival and was invited to the Osaka Asian Film Festival and Far East Film Festival in 2022.

Park Sang-min majored in film direction in college and produced many short black comedies before starting his career as an assistant director. After working on several films with Jung Bum-shik, he co-wrote the horror film Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum with him. Resisting offers to make his own directorial debut with a horror title, Park decided instead to combine the idea of a short film he wrote in his 20s and the “charm” of personal internet broadcasting, which became the dark comedy I Haven’t Done Anything.

Erich is a queer American filmmaker and theater artist whose work emphasizes inclusivity and escapism. He earned a BFA in Film Production from New York University and an MFA in Writing for Screen & TV from the University of Southern California. His short film TANK FAIRY premiered at SXSW 2022 (Audience Award) and is an Official Selection at more than 35 festivals across 12 countries, including Frameline (Best Narrative Short), SIFF (Special Jury Prize), Sydney, Outfest, Fantasia and Kaohsiung Film Festivals. Erich currently resides in Taipei with his partner Tai; together, they are working to develop TANK FAIRY into a drag anthology series.

Ryu Seung-ryong began acting as a teen and made his film debut in 2004. He has played memorable characters in War of the Arrows (NYAFF 2012), All About My Wife (NYAFF 2012), Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2013), and Extreme Job (2019), and also starred in the 2019-20 Netflix period zombie series The Kingdom, further cementing his international recognition. He is the recipient of the inaugural NYAFF Best from the East Award.

One of Mongolia’s most prominent directors, with a particular affinity for depictions of contemporary youth, Janchivdorj Sengedorj has worked in both theater and cinema. Among his best-known films are Oxygen (2010), Bodliin Hulgaich (2011) and Urgeeleg (2014), both of which won Best Film at the Academy Awards Mongolia, White Blessing (2017), and Life (2018). The Sales Girl had its international premiere at the Osaka Asian Film Festival.

NYAFF’s 2022 Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award winner is Japanese writer-director Takashi Shimizu, who conceived, wrote, and directed the original Ju-on series. With Sam Raimi producing and Shimizu directing, the U.S. remake of Ju-on: The Grudge (2004) reached No. 1 at the box office, making Shimizu the first Japanese director at No. 1 in the U.S. He has also directed The Stranger from Afar (2004), Reincarnation (2005), Kiki’s Delivery Service (2014), and The Blue Hearts (2017), and worked as a producer in Japan and abroad, with titles such as Rigor Mortis (Hong Kong, 2013) and Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017).

Son of Paper (SOP) is a rapper and filmmaker from San Francisco. Representing Chinatown, SOP has performed at 90+ festivals, bars and colleges across America and was recently featured on KQED for his 2021 album “Always Autumn.” As a community activist who also attended independent schools in SF, Son of Paper loves to engage with students and spread his wisdom with music. Son of Paper chose his artist name thoughtfully. Son of Paper is a great grandson of a Paper Daughter, a term that describes the phenomena of ethnic Chinese that illegally immigrated to the U.S. during Chinese Exclusion (1882-1965). The one loophole to get around Chinese Exclusion and racial quotas was to purchase birth certificates of a U.S. citizen and claim the familial right to immigrate. Son of Paper chose this name to honor his maternal side’s painful and remarkable journey into the States.

Urassaya “Yaya” Sperbund made her TV drama debut in 2008 and gained immense popularity after she starred in “Duang Jai Akkanee” alongside her future long-term co-star, Nadech Kugimiya. The Thai-Norwegian actress is known for roles in popular TV series and films such as Witthaya Thongyooyong’s Brother of the Year (2018). She has also had a flourishing career as a model and influencer. She is the recipient of the Screen International Rising Star Award for her breakout role in Fast & Feel Love.

Hayden Szeto came to prominence in the 2016 film The Edge of Seventeen, and has since starred in Truth or Dare (2018), Come As You Are (2019), Summer Night (2019), Yes Day (2021), and Sex Appeal (2022). He is also active in television, with recurring roles on the hit series Lodge 49 and What We Do in the Shadows.

Isabella Tan is an award winning director and cinematographer from South East Asia. Born in Taiwan and raised in Malaysia, Shin found another home in New York. Her works aim to craft stories with a sense of surrealism and keen focus on conveying raw human emotions. Her narrative projects have travelled to various film festivals globally. Aside from her film work she also freelances as a fashion and portrait photographer.

Tom Teng studied at the American Film Institute, where he wrote and co-produced The Brotherhood of Legio (2007), a sci-fi thriller that was selected for the Golden Horse Film Festival His short suspense thriller Danny won Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Original Scoring at the L.A. Film Reel competition. Since returning to Taiwan, Tom has directed and won international awards for a wide variety of projects, including micro-films, documentaries, animated films, and VR shorts. Life for Sale is Tom’s feature directing debut.

Writer-director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit began making short films in college, then worked as a scriptwriter, script consultant, and film critic. He’s known for indie films that are mainstream hits, acclaimed for their unique and eccentric style. He has won many awards domestically and internationally for such films as Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy (2013), Heart Attack (a NYAFF 2016 selection), BNK48: Girls Don’t Cry (2018), and Happy Old Year (2020).

Larry Tung is an Taiwanese award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist in New York City. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Performing and Fine Arts at York College/CUNY and teaches courses in speech communication and communications technology. He holds an M.F.A. in TV Production from Brooklyn College and an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University. His films focus on social justice and human rights issues.

Rio de Janeiro-born writer-director Eiji Uchida began his career as a magazine reporter before turning to TV scriptwriting. He made his film debut as a director with Gachapon! (2004) and drew international attention in 2014 with Greatful Dead. Among his other hits are Lowlife Love (2015), Love and Other Cults (2017), Netflix’s The Naked Director (2019), and the 2020 Japan Academy Film Prize Best Picture awardee Midnight Swan.

CJ Wang earned an MFA in theater study from Taipei National University of the Arts, and began directing theater before shifting to the big screen. A self-taught writer, director, producer, and editor, she won awards and critical acclaim for her shorts Thief (2011) and Rowboat (2014). After receiving the Asian Project Market MONEFF Award at the Busan International Film Festival and receiving support from the Taiwan government film production fund, she directed her first feature, Reclaim, which reaches theaters in Taiwan this summer.

Shae Xu is a Shanghai filmmaker based in New York. Graduated from Columbia University with an MFA in Film Directing, Xu is a winner of DGA's Student Film Awards and an alumni of Talents Tokyo 2020. Her works have been selected in film festivals worldwide, including Cannes Film Festival - Cannes XR, Braunschweig IFF, Rhode Island IFF among many other Oscar and BAFTA-qualifying festivals. Currently, she is working on a medium-length art film Vanishing Shore with its principle photography set to be the end of August 2022.

Brian Yang is a narrative and documentary content producer whose credits include Late Life, the Golden Horse Best Documentary Award-nominated feature on former New York Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang; the Jeremy Lin documentary Linsanity, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival; Shanghai International Film Festival award-winning biopic Another Shot, on former NBA player Stephon Marbury's life in China; I Can I Will I Did, starring Tony Award and BAFTA nominee Mike Faist; and Snakehead (NYAFF 2021), which can now be found on Hulu. Yang has also produced documentary specials for ESPN and Fox Sports.

yao (formerly Thomas Pang) is an actor and theater director of Chinese and Filipino descent, and Best Actor winner in 2018 at Singapore’s Life! Theatre Awards. He made his film debut in Tiong Bahru Social Club (2020) and joined us for a Q&A session after the NYAFF 2021 screening. yao is currently performing at the Chautauqua Theater Conservatory in Through the Eyes of Holly Germaine, and will graduate from the MFA acting program at the Yale School of Drama in 2023.

Yeom Ji-ho graduated from the School of Film, Korea National University of Arts. His first short, Equalizer (2015), was invited to many film festivals, including the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, and his follow-up, Wait There (2016), competed in the Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival, where it won over the audience. Next Door marks his feature directorial debut.

Doris Yeung is a Chinese American queer film writer, director and producer. She was raised in Hong Kong, SAR and San Francisco, and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, American Film Institute and the Beijing Film Academy with degrees in Art History, Asian American Studies, Film and Directing. She has completed 3 feature films and documentaries: Motherland (2009) and Taxi Stories (2017) and The Ugly Model (2019) filmed in the US, Hong Kong, Beijing and Europe, as well as numerous other short films. She is the founder of CinemAsia Film Festival Netherlands.

Writer-director Yoon Jong-seok made his feature film debut with the 2009 thriller Marine Boy. He went on to develop the first two films in the Along with the Gods fantasy-action series. Confession is his masterful sophomore feature.

Zhang Ji studied cinematography at the Beijing Film Academy and worked steadily as a cinematographer on a range of festival successes, including Chen Baoxun’s Ten Acres of Land (2001), Hu Zhe’s The Orchard (2007), Ke Feng’s Letters from Death Row (2008), and Zhang Bingjian’s North by Northeast (2014), which was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 51st Golden Horse Awards. Fire on the Plain marks his directorial debut.