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