Aroused by Gymnopedies follows the dwindling fortunes of Shinji, a once-celebrated filmmaker whose star has waned so far that he is reduced to shooting porno quickies – not unlike this one – to make ends meet. When his lead actress quits mid-shoot, Shinji wanders from one misjudged sexual encounter to the next.

Nattawut Poonpiriya (Countdown, NYAFF 2013) places the heist-cum-thriller genre in a high school milieu for a nerve-racking joyride that plays on Thailand’s Confucian-like obsession with academic achievement. After losing a scholarship, high-school students stage a heist that will undermine the US university entrance examination system and make them baht millionaires

The band Bamseom Pirates earns fame with their savagely satirical lyrics, bizarre performances in abandoned buildings, and a growing reputation for being the most controversial band in South Korea ... until friend and producer Park Jung-geun is arrested for violating the National Security Law. Hilarity does not ensue.

The director of mind-twister The Great Hypnotist moulds a fascinating dystopian vision into another high-concept psychological thriller. When a novelist is impregnated with the memories of a serial killer, he is pitted in a race against time to identity the ghost in the machine before his own personality is corrupted.

This visually arresting, slow-burning, and semi-mystical thriller tells the intertwined stories of two innocent souls and how society tries to corrupt them. One is a cop, investigating his seniors' political cover-up, the other a farm girl who has committed an irreversible act that she isn't even aware is a crime.

After three vibrant period films, one of China's least known and most maverick filmmakers - self-trained fireman-turned-director Yang Shupeng - makes his first contemporary film, a crime drama about a computer hacker who plays a cat-and-mouse game with police and criminals, pitting one against the other in the midst of a bank heist.

When 11-year-old Tomo's irresponsible single mother leaves her on her own for the umpteenth time she turns to her Uncle Makio. Makio’s pretty girlfriend Rinko proves an excellent surrogate mother and the three form an indelible bound, but not without one complication that one might have foreseen: Rinko is transgender.

A sin-deep chronicle tracing the daily lives of three Tokyo call girls by the director of The Devil's Path and Twisted Justice. Paying tribute to the rich vein of Japanese genre classics set in the sex trade, Kazuya Shiraishi also has a statement to make about contemporary Japanese morals.

Lau Ching-wan headlines this adaptation of the incredible real-life story of Peter Chan Shun-chi, a former Triad member and drug addict who was later awarded for his tireless efforts as a substance abuse counselor. This classic tale of corruption and redemption masterfully recreates an all-but-forgotten underbelly of Hong Kong.

Channeling an unbridled angst similar to that of Tsai Ming-liang’s breakthrough debut Rebels of the Neon God, an antihero starts picking fights, leaving in his wake an apocalyptic streak of violent mayhem. It's disturbingly arresting and imbued with a refreshingly raw aesthetic that belies just how well-crafted it really is.

A mousy doctoral candidate has an an almost Faustian moment when her philosophy professor suggests she picks a random person and follows him every day. Her growing voyeuristic obsession soon gets her inextricably tangled in other people’s darkest secrets. A Double Life launches a truly original voice in Japanese cinema.

Amongst recent films about father-and-son reconciliation, Duckweed is the most playful, powered by the easy charm of two of China's most in-demand stars. Transported back to 1998, an arrogant rally driver (Deng Chao) enlists in the gang of his ne'er-do-well father (Eddie Peng) to matchmake him with his future mom.

Johnnie To’s magnum opus details the cutthroat contest to become the new number one in Hong Kong’s biggest triad gang. Simon Yam and Tony Leung Ka-fai give superlative performances as the would be dragonheads whose in-fighting and treachery reaches shockingly brutal levels. One of the greatest gangster films ever, period.

An emotionally powerful and searingly honest drama about friendship, longing and loss. Straight-A student Jonathan (Bryant Chang) is forced by his teacher to befriend rebellious underachiever Shane (Joseph Chang Hsiao-chuan). Ten years later, their friendship is tested and transformed by the return of former classmate Carrie (Kate Yeung) who secretly dates each of the high-schoolers in turn.

Uber-cop Lin Kai (Huang Xuan) goes deep undercover to take down a vicious drug cartel. The stakes are raised when he encounters psychopathic druglord Eagle (Duan Yihong), leading to a harrowing journey of forced drug addiction and time bomb pyrotechnics in China’s bionic update of classic hyperbolic HK genre films!

A champion in the gaming world, Kwon is actually an unemployed loser. Reality catches up with him when he is framed for the rape and murder of a minor. Convinced of Kwon’s innocence, his former team reunites to help their old video game partner, only to uncover an unimaginable conspiracy.

A disarmingly endearing tale of first love in an all-girls school. A naïve high school freshman finds herself cast as Juliet opposite the school heartthrob's Romeo, sparking the jealousy of an unbeknownst love rival. She quickly discovers the burgeoning new joys and pains that come with adolescence.

A gritty coming-of-age drama combining noir and gangster elements. When a teenager gets into trouble with the local bully she is sent to the big city to live with her estranged gangster father. His plans to go straight are waylaid by a duty of vengeance that will decide both their fates.

A sad sack would-be criminal pairs up with an eccentric over-the-hill cabbie for the cross-country delivery of a mysterious package to southern gangsters in this dark and irreverently comedic take on the road movie. Featuring Hong Kong comedy legend Michael Hui in a wonderfully wry star turn.

Nagase Masatoshi stars as the enigmatic Kanzaki who brings a strange electronic helmet to a somber little town. When an elderly shopkeeper tries out the device, it dredges up long lost memories of contentedness. As the townspeople line up to restore their past happiness, Kanzaki reveals his own dark agenda.

Using an abstract, circular and cryptic form of storytelling, Jane sways between fantasy and reality, and sincerity and lies. When troubled teenager So-hyun realizes her close friend Jong-ho left her, she returns to their motel room. There, she meets a transgender woman named Jane, who becomes her unlikely guardian angel.

A vibrant protest against the oppression of women, a provocative pop-art manifesto, and the improbably touching story of a gone girl whose life gains new meaning after her disappearance. Director Matsui Daigo’s agenda is as ambitious as it gets and Japanese Girls Never Die is definitely one of the past year's most audacious pieces of cinema.

Watch as two of Hong Kong’s finest filmmakers, Tsui Hark and Stephen Chow, squeeze as much visual effect wizardry as possible in two dazzling hours. Flanked by his wayward disciples, Monkey and co., Monk Tang (played by pouty heartthrob and ex K-pop idol Kris Wu) undertakes a pilgrimage to India. Tensions rise in the wild bunch, violence explodes, demons join the fray.

WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK! This omnibus of strange and harrowing stories connected by vagabond characters at various levels of moral bankruptcy is truly sick in most parts but what makes it unforgettable is the sheer talent of its director, and the ineradicable sense of profundity throughout.

Based on her own emotionally complex novel, Kore-eda Hirokazu protégée Nishikawa Miwa's new film is about the redemption of an egotistical writer and cheating husband after his wife's death. Unable to feel, he feigns grief until his encounter with another widower allows him to find his loss and finally face it.

A wild black comedy about gangs, cult religion and love in backwater Japan. Marginalized teen Ryota falls in love with fellow dropout Ai and follows her down ever deeper and seedier paths. Real delinquents acted alongside Sion Sono's regular such that the film had to be shot under police supervision.

A dramatic, heartfelt directorial debut that reinvents the tenement drama genre, it stands at the vanguard of a wave of directors transforming Hong Kong cinema. Released from rehabilitation, a former investment banker struggles with mental illness as he rekindles a relationship with his estranged father in the relentlessly upwardly-mobile city.

Miike Takashi’s most entertaining and delirious film in years thrives on three letters: W.T.F. It brings back Japan's most incompetent cop for a showdown with the Dragon Skulls, a bumptious Chinese gang in an unholy alliance with a dishonored yakuza. Sure, there’s a first part, but who cares?!

A group of alpha-bullies kidnap their very own ghoul-like monster, keeping her alive with a steady stream of vein-fresh blood, only to get buyer's remorse. Things get gorier from there. The real monsters are the humans in Giddens' cruel and subversive follow-up to You Are the Apple of My Eye.

As true as a documentary can get, Mrs B. reveals and conceals in equal measure. The eponymous Mrs B. (her name is never revealed) knows everything there is to know about crossing frontiers, operating her business trafficking North Koreans from a farmhouse on the opposite side of the border with China.

An icon of Shaw Brothers’ films, this could very well be Hong Kong actress Kara Wai's swan song for an amazing action career. Whatever the eponymous Mrs K (Wai) might have been, she isn’t anymore, until a former associate (Simon Yam) tracks her down seeking retribution for a past misdeed.

A gritty police procedural proves a fervent outcry against political corruption in this nail-biting thriller. South Korea, 1987, a time of political upheaval. A hard-boiled detective catches South Korea’s first serial killer only to unravel a web of intrigue involving a patsy, government corruption, and a scandal of epic proportions.

A breath of fresh air in indie Korean cinema, Zhang Lu's quiet suburban comedy is a heartfelt charmer. Understated actress Han Ye-ri shines as the owner of a local bar, playing muse to three misfit regulars, played by actor-directors Yang Ik-june, Park Jung-bum, Yoon Jong-bin.

One year after a gruesome murder in Tokyo, while a nationwide manhunt is still underway, three young men without a past enter the lives of three very different people. Creeping suspicion that each is the murderer destroys the lives around them. Tragic, epic, heartfelt. Rage pokes humanity where it hurts.

An exquisite yet heart-wrenching portrait of vulnerable and marginalized characters at odds with their surroundings and even each other as they strive to make it at any cost. It starts when a romance develops between a couple on the small truck that smuggles them over the Burmese border into Thailand.

Billed us "a tale of unrequited teenage love terrorized by giant animated monsters in the chaotic streets of Metro Manila", this miraculous live-action hybrid - in production for 12 years! - will appeal to fans of Japanese animation for its striking cityscapes and to everyone for its sincerity, inventiveness and penis monster.

This tale of a man fallen from grace is a beguiling elegy for an irretrievably lost past. Disgraced fund manager Kang Jae-hoon (Lee Byung-hun, NYAFF 2016 Star Asia Award) leaves his Seoul office and books a one-way ticket to Sydney, where his estranged wife Soo-jin and his son Jin-woo live.

When a cuckolded husband sets out to catch his wife having an affair, he forces her hand and the end of their ten-year marriage. A universal tale, Liu Yulin's first feature is that rare beast, a perceptive and brutally honest film about relationships and the sacrifices that hold them together.

Derek Tsang's one-of-a-kind romantic drama sinks us deep into the tale of two young women and the blaze of their friendship that burns as strong as an amorous passion. Compassionate, honest and intelligent, it demonstrates again how Chinese-language cinema is at the vanguard of exploring the modern human condition.

Part Hollywood western, part classic road movie, Soul on a String melds time-worn cinematic traditions into a unique tale of spirituality. After discovering a sacred stone in the mouth of a slain deer, a Tibetan man embarks on a mission of redemption to return it to the Buddha's holy mountain.

This gloriously irreverent mash-up of White Men Can’t Jump, Rain Man and Kingpin is a surprisingly poignant comedy-cum-sports thriller. Former bowling champion Chul-jong, now a seedy hustler, teams up with his attractive and tenacious gambling partner Hee-jin, and an autistic bowling savant to escape their literally crippling debt.

A wild, jaw-dropping fever dream of a film that must be seen to be believed. Devout Edo-period monk Ninko is tormented by his condition as the object of every woman’s sexual desire. His dilemma is personified by a forest-dwelling seductress who forces him to choose his final destiny.

Last year's Surprise Screening was one of the highlights of the festival, not to mention one of the first to sell out. This year, we're raising the stakes with a special 25th anniversary screening of a sexy classic and flying in a very special guest to present it. You won't want to miss this rare 35mm screening. It's the film that made many of you fall in love with Asian cinema.

A deliciously yet darkly funny post-apocalyptic road movie about an average Tokyo family in the wake of an inexplicable and endless blackout. Determined to maintain normality at first, they slowly realize the direness of their situation and attempt to ride across Japan to their grandfather’s farm on their commuter bikes.

Tsui Hark's take on the Chinese national epic strips out the ideology and returns it to its action roots with tiger attacks, a mountain fortress, bandits wearing black lipstick, ski attacks, a tank, a fight atop a crashing biplane, and Tony Leung Ka-fai sporting an outrageous fake nose. In 3-D.

A brilliant accident-prone chef and a foodie megalomaniac millionaire have an unfortunate yet hilarious run-in (an antagonistic antithesis of the meet-cute) that makes them mortal adversaries. An obsessive love-hate relationship blossoms - with food standing in for sex - across a non-stop series of laugh riot hi-jinks. A dish to be savored.

A complex, dark romance between a small-club magician and his female assistant, intercut with a heart-racing police procedural, The Tooth and the Nail undercuts every expectation. Set after the end of colonial rule, in the romance of 1948 Korea when anything seems possible, even magic. But new freedoms forebear tragedy.

The rape-and-murder of a schoolgirl brings unwelcome media attention to a quiet fishing village. With her classmate still missing, the forest starts revealing its mysteries including giant shadow creatures that both protect and punish interlopers. Jet Leyco's second feature is part H.P. Lovecraft, part David Lynch, and wholly original.

Irrepressible journalist Tanaka (Tsumabuki Satoshi) probes the shocking murder of a wealthy family while struggling with his own demon: A sister imprisoned for unspeakable crimes. Ishikawa Kei’s impressive directorial debut is an indictment of class warfare and more wrapped in a deceptively seductive yet ultimately perverse mystery of devastating proportions.

In Lee Kyoung-mi’s taut political thriller, co-written by Park Chan-wook, a mother takes a stand against the ruthless ambitions of men. Son Ye-jin gives a career-best performance as the wife of an aspiring politician on a lonely, frantic and desperate search for their missing teenage daughter during a crucial campaign.

A throwback to old-school Hong Kong comedies with its tongue-in-cheek attitude and casting of genre veterans. The titular government department gets a new recruit in a vampire-immune virgin only for him to fall hopelessly in love with a beautiful lady nightwalker. Now he wants to train her to be human.

Um Tae-hwa’s magical second film is both a melancholy fantasy about time and - at a deeper level - an exploration of the world of childhood. Children find a glittering egg in a cave that, according to a local folktale, contains a time-eating monster. When it's broken, their lives are changed forever.

Bursting with originality, not least in its extraordinary visual design, Chen Yu-hsun's Chinese New Year release has the darkness, silliness, and weirdness of a Stephen Chow comedy. Strange things are afoot in Desire Village when a visiting Taoist priest takes control with a magical helmet that can remove distressful memories.

Not just another twisted Korean revenge thriller: a reinvention of action cinema. Trained as an assassin from a very young age, all Sook-hee has ever known is how to stab, shoot and suffocate. After single-handedly dispatching an entire gang, she's given the chance to use her deadly skills for good.

A stream of consciousness tale of a free-spirited seductress - Mamiya Yuki in a whirlwind of a performance - who sets her sights on a reclusive playwright. What ensues is a gleefully anarchic plot that explores the human psyche through sexuality in a psychodrama that is as hilarious as it is titillating.

Andrew Wong's powerful film about juvenile delinquents centers on gang leader Fan who is sentenced to months in a youth detention center after a scuffle with a drunken cop. He enters a world worse than any adult prison, where the inmates are dehumanized by wardens who don't believe in rehabilitation.

Produced by Clement Cheng (Gallants, NYAFF 2010), this riotous crowd-pleaser is developed from director Lo Wai-lun's Zombie Guillotines, a do-it-yourself guide to weaponing-up for Z-Day with everyday objects found in a hair salon. Fans of The Walking Dead may think they've witnessed every trick in the zombie playbook. They're wrong.