25th New York Asian Film Festival

July 10-26, 2026

North American Premiere

Kinki

近畿地方のある場所について

From Koji Shiraishi, the fiendish mind behind Noroi and Sadako vs. Kayako, comes a chiller adapted from Sesuji’s viral web novel that became a major horror sensation in Japan. It starts with a disappearance: an occult-magazine editor vanishes after collecting reports tied to the Kinki region: missing children, mass hysteria, haunted livestreams, scraps of rumor that feel too strange to explain. Freelance writer Chihiro Seno (Miho Kanno) and the editor’s colleague Yūsei Ozawa (Eiji Akaso) follow the trail, until the fragments, assembled into a single picture, converge on one location, and on something fundamentally wrong with it. Shiraishi works in the found-document genre he helped pioneer, crafting dread from fragments with his trademark cheeky flair. Equal parts unnerving and highly entertaining.

Director: Koji Shiraishi
Producer: Kei KUSHIYAMA
Screenwriters: Tetsuya OISHI, Koji SHIRAISHI
Cast: Miho Kanno, Eiji Akaso
Languages: Japanese with English Subtitles
2025; 104 min.; DCP
Country: Japan

SCHEDULE:

Thursday July 23, 8:45pm
Film at Lincoln Center

Intro and Q&A with director Koji Shiraishi

Koji Shiraishi
白石晃士

Born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Koji Shiraishi made his commercial film debut with Honto ni Atta! Noroi no Video: The Movie (2003) and garnered significant attention for his mockumentary-style films such as Noroi: The Curse (2005) and Occult (2008). The direct- to-video series Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi!, which he launched in 2012, achieved instant cult popularity. Known for his sharp-witted mash-ups of dark satire and jumpscare Horror with films such as Sadako vs Kayako, and House Of Sayuri, Shiraishi’s latest film Kinki, screens as part of NYAFF’s Horroscope program.