25th New York Asian Film Festival

July 10-26, 2026

Photo: © Strand Releasing

Special Screening

Spa Night

Ten years after its Sundance breakthrough, Andrew Ahn’s Spa Night still feels like a secret whispered under rising steam. David Cho is a struggling Korean American teenager in L.A.’s Koreatown, caught between his parents’ failing restaurant and the pressure to be a dutiful son. Then he takes a job at a Korean spa. In the locker rooms, among towels, tiles, and the blurred anonymity of naked men, David begins to notice what he has spent his life trying not to see: a desire without a name. Joe Seo gives a magnetic, tightly wound performance as a young man trained by silence, shame, and family expectation. Spa Night finds devastating drama in the terrain of a young life coming undone, coming awake., and the body’s stubborn refusal to lie.

Director: Andrew Ahn
Producers: David Ariniello, Giulia Caruso
Screenwriter: Andrew Ahn
Cast: Joe Seo, Youn Ho Cho, Haerry Kim
Languages: English, Korean, Spanish with English Subtitles
2016; 93 min.; DCP
Country: USA

SCHEDULE:

Saturday July 25, 4:00pm
SVA Theatre

Intro and Q&A with director Andrew Ahn moderated by actor Bowen Yang

Andrew Ahn

Andrew Ahn is a queer Korean American filmmaker from Los Angeles. His latest feature, Fire Island (Searchlight Pictures), starring Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, and Margaret Cho, streams on Hulu and received the Ensemble Tribute at the 2023 Gotham Awards. His second feature, Driveways, premiered at the 2019 Berlinale and earned two Independent Spirit Award nominations. Ahn has directed television for Netflix, FX, HBO Max, CBS, Sundance Channel, and KCET. He holds degrees from Brown University and CalArts. NYAFF will present the 10th Anniversary of his debut feature, Spa Night, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, won a Special Jury Award.