Jang Won-seok began his career as a production assistant for The Adventures of Mrs. Park (1996). He proceeded step by step as a film producer going through a lot of mainstream films, including The King and The Clown. He made a successful debut as an executive producer by developing Secret Reunion(2009), and repeated the feat with War Of The Arrows (2011). In 2011 - 2012, he pumped out many films as an executive producer such as Ghost Sweepers (2012), co-produced Confession Of Murder (2012), and also contributed to the production of critically-acclaimed thriller A Hard Day (2013). In 2013, he co-executive produced Don Lee’s action film The Outlaws (2017) which led to a megahit franchise with two sequels; The Roundup (2022), and The Roundup: No Way Out (2023).

Royce Cabrera is a Filipino actor known for his roles in award-winning films such as Fuccbois (2019, Eduardo Roy Jr.), which was selected for the Cinemalaya Film Festival. He is currently starring in the Philippine adaptation of the show “Start Up.”

Chang Hang-jun graduated from the Seoul Institute of the Arts and has worked as a director and screenwriter. He entered the film industry with his script for The Adventures of Mrs. Park (1996) and debuted as a director with the feature Break Out (2002). Since then, he has made several works both as a director and writer, including the features Spring Breeze (2003), Forgotten (2017) and the TV series Sign (2011). He has continued his directing career with his latest feature, Rebound (2023), receiving the Silver Mulberry Award at the Udine Far East Film Festival.

Henry Chang is the author of the Chinese-American Detective Jack Yu series: Chinatown Beat, Year of the Dog, Red Jade, Death Money, and Lucky. He is the Executive Producer of A Father's Son, a short film based on characters from the series. A graduate of CCNY, his work has appeared in the seminal Yellow Pearl, and he has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, the Boston Globe, New Yorker Magazine, among others. He is a native New Yorker, a son of New York City Chinatown, where he resides.

Anshul Chauhan hails from north India, where he earned an Arts degree before starting his career as an animator. In 2011, he relocated to Tokyo to work on international projects for Polygon Pictures, moving on to OLM Pictures and then Square Enix, where he was involved in such large-scale productions as "Final Fantasy" and Gantz: 0. He founded Kowatanda Films in 2016 to make live-action films. His feature debut was Bad Poetry Tokyo, (2018). In 2020, his Kontora won the Grand Prix awards at the PÖFF International Film Festival, Brussels International Film Festival and Skip City D-Cinema Film Festival, as well as the Obayashi Prize from Japan Cuts in New York. December is his third feature, and was nominated for the Kim Jiseok Award at the Busan International Film Festival in 2022.

Cheuk Wan-chi is a writer, playwright, screenwriter and director. She won the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award for Best Screenplay and was nominated for several other honors for Merry-Go-Round (2002). She then collaborated with Sylvia Chang on the script for Chang’s generational women’s picture, 20 30 40 (2004), which was nominated for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. She also wrote the screenplay for Pang Ho-cheung’s controversial Exodus (2007), which was nominated for a Golden Bauhinia Best Screenplay Award. As a director, Cheuk’s debut was a segment in the omnibus film Heroes in Love (2001). She also directed Temporary Family (2014).

Rebecca Choi is the VP, Narrative Film at Archer Gray, where she manages a slate of projects from development through post-production, working in close collaboration with filmmakers and producing partners. She has contributed to films such as Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Searchlight), 20th Century Women (A24), Lost Girls (Netflix), and the forthcoming The Young Wife, which she co-produced. She has served as a mentor and workshop leader for programs such as the IFP/Blackhouse Producers Lab, Film Independent Directing Lab, Gotham/WGA Script to Screen, Tribeca Film Institute/Sloan Foundation, New York Stage and Film Filmmakers Workshop, and EFM Market Fiction Toolbox, among others. Before joining the team at Archer Gray, she worked at Sony Pictures Television. Rebecca received her BA from Wesleyan University.

Writer-director Takeshi Fukunaga hails from Hokkaido and studied filmmaking in New York City, where he lived for over a decade. His directorial debut, Out of My Hand (2015, shot in Liberia and NYC), premiered in Berlin’s Panorama section, won the US Best Fiction Award at the LA Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. His second film, Ainu Mosir (2020, shot in Hokkaido), won a Special Jury Mention at the Tribeca Film Festival and was picked up for worldwide distribution by Netflix. He recently directed episodes of the hit HBO Max series “Tokyo Vice” Season 2 and the upcoming remake of “Shogun" for FX on Hulu.

Saleem Nasir Gondal is a filmmaker based in New York. His work explores the power of conversation and sound to convey the interior lives of underrepresented communities onscreen. Saleem's work has been supported by The Black List, The National Board of Review, The Gotham, Pillars Fund, and MPAC Hollywood Bureau. He is currently in development on his debut feature TORTILLA ROTI, a drama about a Punjabi Mexican family that forms during the Great Depression. Saleem's short film SUPER SONIC has screened in five different countries. He has a BFA from NYU Tisch and MFA from Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema Brooklyn College.

Aya Hamdan is a Palestinian-Bahraini producer based in Brooklyn, NY. She is a Film Independent and Gotham/ Rotterdam Lab Producing fellow. Aya founded 10 Mils Productions to support storytellers from her communities. Her upcoming debut feature film by writer/director Karina Dandashi, Out of Water, is in development.

Quark Henares is an award-winning writer-director known for such feature films as Kaka (2003) and Rakenrol (2011). He is also a musician, fictionist, journalist, actor, DJ, host, professor and entrepreneur. As the head of Globe Studios, he has executive-produced films such as Lav Diaz’s Season of The Devil (2018), Erik Matti’s On The Job (NYAFF 2013) and Independent Spirit Award nominee Leonor Will Never Die (2022, Martika Ramirez Escobar). He is currently Head of Originals, Philippines, for Amazon Studios.

Wanweaw and Weawwan Hongvivatana are a Thai filmmaking duo who are identical twin sisters in real life, primarily known for their directing and screenwriting work in television series and music videos. Their first major work was feature-length documentary Wish Us Luck (2013), in which they documented their monthlong journey from London back to their home in Bangkok by train. They worked on two of the most popular Thai TV series, Hormones the Series (2013-2015), serving as co-screenwriters for all three seasons, and then co-wrote and directed Great Men Academy (2019). You & Me & Me (2023) is their fiction feature film debut.

A graduate of the Faculty of Music at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Satoru Iguchi is the vocalist and keyboardist for the chart-topping alternative rock band King Gnu, known for their unique “Tokyo Mix” sound. Iguchi has appeared in the films Theater (2020, Isao Yukisada), Sasaki in My Mind (2020, Takuya Uchiyama), and the popular TV series MIU404, as well as playing the lead in the YouTube drama Gossip Box (2021).

Chihiro Ito began her film career in 2000 on Jun Ichikawa's Zawazawa Shimokitazawa (aka The Whispered City). After a stint as assistant director, she became a screenwriter. In 2003, Ito was tapped to write the screenplay for Isao Yukisada's Crying Out Love in the Center of the World, which went on to become a blockbuster hit. She has since collaborated with Yukisada on many of his films as screenwriter, including Spring Snow (2005), Five Minutes to Tomorrow (2014), Aroused by Gymnopedies (NYAFF 2017), Narratage (2017) and The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese (2020). In 2006, she wrote the screenplay for Mamoru Oshii’s animated The Sky Crawlers, selected for competition at the Venice International Film Festival (2008). Ito adapted her first novel to make her feature directorial debut with In Her Room. Her second film, Side by Side, was the closing film of the 2023 Osaka Asian Film Festival.

Jeong Jin-woon made his debut as the group 2AM in 2008 and received great love from the public for the first album title track This. Since then, 2AM has established itself as a ballad group representing K-pop by successively making hits such as Confession of a Friend, Can't Let You Go Even if I Die, and You Wouldn't Answer My Calls. Jeong Jin-woon, who showed his new colors as a solo artist, has recently been a multi-entertainer in various fields such as music, acting, and entertainment, following the release of the recent films Only I Can See (2021), Brother (2021), Oh! My Ghost (2022), and I'm Here (2023), proving his stable acting skills. And through Rebound, the film that received the Silver Mulberry Award at the 25th Udine Far East Film Festival, he showed a solid move in his acting career.

Jin Ong is a renowned Malaysian film and television producer. The founder of More Entertainment Co., Ltd., he is an entertainment industry veteran, with over 20 years of experience in the record industry and artist management. He has also produced such films as The Gathering (2014), Shuttle Life (2017), The Paradise (2019), In My Heart (2019), and Miss Andy (NYAFF 2020). Shuttle Life was the first Malaysian project to win the grand prize at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Project Promotion. Abang Adik marks his directorial debut, and it won the MirrorFiction Story Award as well as the FPP Visionary Award at the Golden Horse FPP. It also swept the top Audience awards at the Far East Film Festival and won The Ecumenical Jury Award and the Audience Award at the Fribourg International Film Festival.

Mahira Kakkar is a multilingual actress and writer. Select stage credits include the premiere of Monsoon Wedding with Mira Nair, Clive with Ethan Hawke, Ms. Witherspoon with Christopher Durang and Jesus in India with Lloyd Suh. Most recently, she appeared as a lead in A Suitable Boy (BBC, Netflix India) and had a recurring role on Manifest (NBC, US). Additional TV credits: New Amsterdam, Law and Order: CI, Odd Mom Out, Orange is the New Black and others.

Lawrence Kan graduated from Vancouver Film School. His first film, When C Goes with G7 (2013), was selected for the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival. In 2021, he directed his first TV series, In Geek We Trust, whose lead actors, Ling Man-lung and Kaki Sham, were nominated for Best Rising Star and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, at Busan International Film Festival’s Asia Contents Award. Ling won the Best Rising Star. In Broad Daylight is Kan's second feature.

Gong Myoung made his acting debut in 2013 on the web series After School: Lucky or Not. Gong quickly stood out, appearing the next year in two critically acclaimed films, Futureless Things (2013), and A Girl at My Door (2014). He landed his first lead role in a commercial film with Extreme Job (2018), the police comedy that became a cultural phenomenon and the earned the highest box office gross in South Korean history ever. He also starred in the TV series Be Melodramatic (2019), Lovers of the Red Sky (2021), and the film Hansan: Rising Dragon (2022), which sold over 7.2 million tickets. His latest film, Killing Romance (2023), showcases his versatile ability to portray diverse characters.

Kim Hong-ki graduated from Sejong University’s Department of Film Arts. In 2019, his debut short film as writer-director, Desex, was nominated for the Comedy King category at the Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival. He also won the Best of Moving Self Portrait award at the same festival. In 2021, he participated as a co-writer in the OTT series Political Fever and was also nominated for the TV-Script Award at the Baeksang Arts Awards.

Kim Jae-hwa graduated from Chung-Ang University’s Theater Department. She has appeared in numerous films, dramas, and plays, in both lead and supporting roles. In 2018, she won the Independent Star Award at the Seoul Independent Film Festival for her performance in the short film Down and also won the Stella Award for Best Actor at the Catholic Film Festival. In 2021, she won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Wildflower Film Awards for her role in the film Action Hero. Extreme Festival is her third collaboration with director Kim Hong-Ki.

Actor Kim Taek signed to Namoo Actors, the same agency as Girls’ Generation‘s Seohyun, Netflix star Song Kang and actress Park Eun Bin, with whom Kim appeared in the TV period drama The King’s Affection. Rebound is his feature film debut.

Anson Kong, also known as AK, started chasing his dream to be a performer as a teenager. Training as a singer and dancer, he landed a contract and was sent to Korea where he was groomed for a singing group. He then returned to Hong Kong and worked as a backup dancer. His big break came in 2018 when he won 5th place in ViuTV’s talent program Good Night Show – King Maker. This secured him a place in the boy band Mirror, which became an overnight sensation. The following year Kong made his acting debut on television. In 2020 he released his first single as a solo singer. Kong’s music career, both in the band and on his own, has continued to boom while his popularity as an actor, including roles in various TV genres from drama to martial arts, has risen as well. Back Home marks his first starring role in a feature film.

One of Hong Kong’s biggest stars, Louis Koo has more than 100 credits to his name, including sci-fi action thriller Warriors of Future, the highest-grossing Asian film of all time in the territory. But NYAFF is according him its highest honor, the Extraordinary Star Asia Award for Exceptional Contribution to Asian Cinema, to highlight his work as a producer and philanthropist, recognizing his many exceptional contributions to the Asian film industry, including his founding of the One Cool Group in 2013, now an industry powerhouse, and his support of award-winning work both in and outside Asia. One Cool has grown into a full-service production, distribution and VFX company and the biggest local studio in Hong Kong, with more than 300 staff and a string of hits, including Warriors of Future, made with an all-local crew. In April, One Cool launched a new operation in Malaysia to develop Southeast Asian films.

Donsaron Kovitvanitcha works as a film writer, critic, and journalist for magazines and newspapers in Thailand. In 2022, he became the festival director of World Film Festival of Bangkok. He is a programmer for film festivals in Thailand, as well as the preselector of short films for Busan International Film Festival since 2020. He is also an independent film producer, and has produced Nontawat Numbenchapol's Boundary (2013), Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's The Master (2015) and Die Tomorrow (2017), Anucha Boonyawatana's The Blue Hour (2015) and Malila: The Farewell Flower (2017), and Sorayos Prapapan’s Arnold is a Model Student (2022).

After graduating from Kookmin University, Kwak majored in film at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. Beneath the Wheel (2015), her graduation thesis film, won the Women's Human Rights Film Festival's Pium Audience Award and was screened at the Jeonju International Film Festival and the Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival. After graduation, she won the Sonjae Award at the Busan International Film Festival and the Blue Dragon Film Award for Short Film with A Hand-Written Poster (2017). A Tour Guide was made at the Korean Film Academy and marks her feature debut.

Boi Kwong is a Singaporean film producer/director and seasoned educator with more than 15 years of experience. A graduate of the Curtin University of Technology, Australia, he received the Special Jury Prize at the Singapore Film Festival’s Silver Screen Awards for his debut short film Wait (2000). After a stint teaching full-time, he made his feature directorial debut with The Days (2008), which was nominated for the New Asian Talent Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival, Asian Tigers at the CPH:PIX Copenhagen International Film Festival and Best Cinematography at the Singapore International Film Festival. It was also the highest grossing independent film of 2008 in Singapore. Geylang is Boi’s second feature film and was nominated at the 59th Golden Horse Awards for Best Action Choreography, and selected for the International Film Festival of Rotterdam and the Singapore International Film Festival. As a producer, Boi’s credits include We Not Naughty (2012), Zombiepura (NYAFF 2019) and Number 1 (2020).

As a former journalist and a descendant of immigrants displaced by conflict, Eunice Lau draws on the power of the moving image to inspire transformative social change. After growing up in Singapore and earning an Honors BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics as well as an MFA in Film at New York University, she directed Through the Fire (2012), which was nominated for Best Short Documentary at the AMPAS Student Academy Awards. Her feature documentary Accept the Call screened at acclaimed film festivals such as Human Rights Watch and Woodstock before airing on PBS and Canal Plus. Her work has also appeared on Discovery Channel, Al Jazeera English and Channel News Asia, and in 2020, she was one of four filmmakers selected for Woodstock Film Festival’s inaugural Filmmakers’ Residency. She is currently working on Son of the Soil.

Lee Byeung-heon started his career in as a script editor on the hit comedy, Scandal Makers (2009). He then co-wrote Sunny (2011), a huge success that spawned remakes in Vietnam, Japan and Hollywood. Lee made his directorial feature debut with Cheer Up Mr. Lee (2013), which he also wrote. His young adult comedy Twenty (2014) proved a major box office success. He returned in 2018 with What a Man Wants (NYAFF 2018). Lee’s next film, Extreme Job, was a runaway hit and became the highest grossing film in South Korean history. He wrote and directed his latest film, Dream (2023).

Lee Hanee majored in Gayageum, the Korean traditional instrument, at Seoul National University. She debuted as a screen performer in 2009, appearing on TV series such as Partner (2009) and Pasta (2010). She continued building her acting career in the following years, appearing in many commercial films such as Tazza: The Hidden Card (2014), Fabricated City (2016) and Heart Blackened (2017). The year 2018 saw her jump to new heights, starring as a cop in the sensational hit comedy Extreme Job (NYAFF 2018), which scored the second-highest admissions ever in Korea. She was also noticed by multiple award ceremonies after starring in the TV series The Fiery Priest (2019) and One the Woman (2021). She surprised audiences with outstanding performances in her latest films, Alienoid (NYAFF 2022), Phantom (NYAFF 2023) and Killing Romance (NYAFF 2023).

Lee Seung-Ju is a South Korean writer, producer, and director. He majored in film directing at the Graduate School of Seogang University and directed short films such as Midnight Delivery (2013), Sleepless Night with Bamboo Wife (2014), and Night Shift (2016).

Lee Sol-hui graduated from the Department of Film, Television and Multimedia at Sungkyunkwan University before studying directing at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. She directed several short films that went to film festivals, including The End of That Summer (2017) and Look-alike (2020), before her graduation work, Anthill (2021), was selected for the Busan International Film Festival. Greenhouse is her first feature film.

Lee Sun-kyun made his debut on stage as Brad in the musical Rocky Horror Picture Show (2001) and after playing a number of supporting roles, earned attention on the popular TV series Coffee Prince (2007) and Behind the White Tower (2007). He then began collaborating with Hong Sang-soo on Night and Day (2008). Lee has enjoyed popularity with female audiences after appearing in the TV series Pasta (2010), and the film Petty Romance (2010). In 2012 he stormed the box office with Helpless (2011) and All About My Wife (2012). After working with Hong again for Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2012) and Our Sunhi (2012), he returned to the commercial realm as the lead of the thriller A Hard Day (NYAFF 2013). In 2019, Lee was brought to a much wider audience when he played in Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, which received the most prestigious award in the cinema world, the Palme d’Or of the Cannes Film Festival. In 2023, the two films he starred in, Sleep and Project Silence, were invited to Cannes Film Festival again. Lee Sun-kyun will present the North American premiere of Killing Romance.

Lee Won-suk served as the assistant director on the South Korean omnibus film Five Senses of Eros (2009), before making his directorial debut with the legendary romantic comedy How to Use Guys with Secret Tips (NYAFF 2013), which won the Golden Mulberry Award at the Far East Film Festival and the Bronze Prize for Best Asian Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival. He followed up with the big-budget period drama The Royal Tailor, which earned the Audience Award at NYAFF 2015. He now returns with NYAFF 2023 Opening Film Killing Romance, which he describes as ”a movie that goes against traditional romance films.”

Po Chih Leong was born in England and attended the London Film School before embarking on a philosophy degree at the University of Exeter. He began his career at the BBC in 1963 and worked on a variety of productions before leaving England for Hong Kong in 1967 to work at the new television station TVB, where he directed a number of entertainment programs, rising quickly to executive producer. He left TVB in 1969 to form his own production company. Leong's first film, Jumping Ash (HK, 1976), was one of the top-grossing films of the season. He went on to direct on average a film a year in a range of genres, from action movies to slapstick comedies and low-budget horror. Among the highlights of his storied career are Banana Cop (HK, 1984), Hong Kong 1941 (HK, 1984), and The Wisdom of Crocodiles, (UK, 1998). In recent years Leong has made films for US television.

Jacqueline Liu is an accomplished Hong Kong-based film producer of independent and commercial films. She started her film career in 2004. Her many credits include Vital Signs (2023), the popular sci-fi opus Warriors of the Future (2022) , The Way We Keep Dancing (2020), the Ann Hui documentary Keep Rolling (2020), the transgender drama Tracey (2018), Men on the Dragon (2018), and the female bonding drama, Sisterhood (2016).

Liu Siyi studied Media and Visual Arts at Tong Ji University and Film Production at the Vancouver Film School. Her short film Cadence was selected by the China Independent Film Festival. Flaming Cloud is her debut feature as writer and director. The project was in the Top 5 projects in the 4th CFDG China Youth Film Director Support Program. It also has won Most Promising Director, Genre Selection and Producers Jointly Promote Project prizes in the China Golden Rooster Film Project Market.

Nori Matsumoto is the head producer of dwarf studios (creators of Domo and Komaneko). She was one of the first producers in Japan to work with international streaming services, bringing the superior quality stop-motion techniques for which dwarf is renowned. Highlights of her recent productions include the Rilakkuma series with Netflix. Always looking for something new and interesting, she launches projects that push the boundaries of stop-motion and has worked to elevate not only dwarf but the Japanese industry as a whole.

After beginning his career as an actor, Daishi Matsunaga earned international attention for his 2011 documentary Pyuupiru 2001-2008. In 2015, his first theatrically released fiction feature, Pieta in the Toilet, received numerous domestic awards, including the Directors Guild of Japan’s New Directors Award, and was also in competition at the Jeonju International Film Festival, the Tokyo International Film Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam. He has continued to direct documentaries, as well as to participate in the Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2018 omnibus project, and to direct an adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s “Hanalei Bay” that played in competition at the 2019 Sofia International Film Festival and the Hawaii International Film Festival. Egoist world premiered at the 2022 Tokyo International Film Festival, was invited to many overseas festivals, took home a Best Supporting Actor Award at the 2023 Asian Film Awards, and will be theatrically released in North America by Strand Releasing.

Anna Isabelle Matutina is a multi-award-winning filmmaker, documentarian, and editor based in the Philippines. In 2004, she started writing, directing, producing, and editing her own short films, which have traveled around the world and won awards. Isabelle currently works as a director and editor for I-Witness, Philippines’ longest-running, multi-award-winning, television documentary program. In the 18 years she has worked on the show, Isabelle and her team have garnered multiple local and international awards including the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award in 2009 and a nomination for an International Emmy in 2013. 12 Weeks is Isabelle's first feature film. It won the NETPAC Award and the Best Actress Award for Max Eigenmann at the 18th Cinemalaya Film Festival. It was also nominated for the Asian Next Wave Best Picture at the 10th QCinema International Film Festival.

Laha Mebow is the first indigenous female director in Taiwan and an Atayal. She graduated from Shih Hsin University and began a career spanning two decades, with her focus on indigenous movies and documentaries. She has worked with collaborators in Paris, shot a music documentary in the South Pacific and worked with teams in New Zealand. Mebow’s second film, Lakah Laqi, won Grand Prize, Best Narrative Feature, Best Director, Award for Editing and Best New Talent at the 2016 Taipei Film Festival. It was also screened in nearly 20 film festivals and was Taiwan's submission for that year's Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscard. With Finding Sayun, Lakah Laqi and Gaga, Mebow completes her Atayal trilogy.

Producer Ko Mori is founding CEO of LA-based Eleven Arts Studio, which produces feature films and TV shows, as well as distributing Japanese anime in North America. He has produced titles such as Uzumasa Limelight (Ken Ochiai, NYAFF 2014 Audience Award winner), Man from Reno (2014, Dave Boyle, an Independent Spirit Award Nominee), Downrange (2017, Ryuhei Kitamura), Lords of Chaos (2018, Jonas Akerlund), Gift of Fire (2021, Hiroshi Kurosaki), Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021, Sion Sono) and the upcoming Glass Dragon (Nik Shaw).

Chieko Murata graduated from Cal State, Northridge and started her career in film at Sundance Institute as an intern for the International Filmmakers program. After returning to Japan in 2003, she worked at NHK Enterprises and was involved in several international co-production projects, including Golden Globe winner Osama by Seddiq Barmak and Cannes Camera d’Or winner Me and You and Everyone We Know by Miranda July. After holding positions at CJ Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures as SVP of local production, and Aniplex, she has just been named head of the Television & Film business at the newly formed Myriagon Studio. Chieko has also produced 50 First Kisses by Yuichi Fukuda, Door Into Summer by Takahiro Miki and Kingdom by Shinsuke Sato.

Laith Nakli is a Syrian actor/writer. He graduated from the prestigious William Esper Studio Professional Actor Training Program. Laith made his stage debut in War at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Company. Other credits include Cry of the Reed, Inana, Aftermath, Lidless, Food & Fadwa and Cyrano, at New York Theatre Workshop, Goodspeed and others. He is one of the regular characters in the Hulu series Ramy.

Vithaya Pansringarm is a Thai actor best known for appearing in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives (2013). He is also known in Thailand as "Pu Vithaya." He graduated from the New York Institute of Technology, holds a 5th-degree Black Belt in the Japanese martial art of Kendo and is President of the Thailand Kendo Club. In 2014, he won Best Actor at the Shanghai International Film Festival for his role in The Last Executioner (2014). Other hallmarks of his prolific filmography include Operation Mekong (2016), A Prayer Before Dawn (2017), Paradox (2017) with Louis Koo and Tony Jaa, and Deliver Us From Evil (2020). He will be at NYAFF with Kitty the Killer.

Peiqi Peng is a Chinese writer/director living in Los Angeles, with a BFA in Film & Post-Colonial Studies from Emerson College and an MFA in Directing from the American Film Institute. A child fantasy writer who later studied Sociology, Peiqi creates socially conscious female dramas with fantasy, gore, and absurdist elements. Her narrative shorts have been screened at many festivals, including Cleveland International Film Festival, Chinese American Film Festival, and L.A. Shorts. A semifinalist in the ScreenCraft Film Fund Competition, Peiqi has done script development work for FilmNation, Partizan, and Imagine Entertainment.

Isher Sahota was selected for a coveted place on the BBC’s New Directors Scheme in 2016 and has directed numerous TV shows, including Father Brown for BBC Studios and Grace for ITV. His 2022 short film, Goodnight Henry, was supported by the BFI and won Best Comedy at Flickers Rhode Island. He is currently developing a slate of theatrical features and television shows.

Takumi Saitoh is best known as an in-demand actor with an enormous list of credits, but he has also established himself as a filmmaker and photographer. After modeling in Japan and overseas in his teens, he made his acting debut in 2001, and has appeared in such heralded films as Takashi Miike’s For Love’s Sake (2012) Junji Sakamoto’s The Projects (2015), Eric Khoo’s Ramen Teh (2018), Last of the Wolves (NYAFF 2021), Shin Ultraman (NYAFF 2022, as the titular silver hero) and The Legend and Butterfly (2023), among many others. Saitoh has been directing short films for several decades, and made his feature debut with blank 13 (2018), which won awards at film festivals in Japan and abroad, followed by the omnibus Zokki (NYAFF 2020). Home Sweet Home marks his third feature as director.

NYAFF’s 2023 Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Awardee is acclaimed auteur Junji Sakamoto, who has just released his 30th film. Sakamoto made his directorial debut in 1989 with Knockout, taking home the Best New Director prize from the Japan Director’s Guild. In 2000, he won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Director, among many other awards, for Face. He was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival for the Japan/Korea coproduction KT, and was in competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival with Out of This World (2004). He was a guest at NYAFF in 2008 for Children of the Dark. Among other highlights of his filmography are Ernesto, starring Joe Odagiri as a follower of Che Guevara (2017), Tokyo International Film Festival Audience Award winner Another World (2019), Etsushi Toyokawa starrer My Brother, the Android and Me (2022) and Winter Rose, for which he just received Best Film at Japan’s Professional Film Awards. Sakamoto will present his new film Okiku and the World at NYAFF.

Eldar Shibanov started working in the film industry in the art department. In 2010 he began making his own independent short films with his mother Yulia Levitskaya and his brother Dias Shibanov. Eldar participated in the Berlinale Talents program and was one of 38 fellows chosen from over 300 applicants for the Asian Film Academy taught by Tsai Ming Liang at the 2016 Busan International Film Festival. His short film Sex, Fear and Hamburgers (2018) was selected by the Venice Film Festival. In 2021, together with Yulia Levitskaya, he became a finalist at the Biennale Cinema College with their Gornyi Luk project. This became his feature debut, known internationally as Mountain Onion.

Okinawa native Shogen was told by producers in Tokyo that he didn't look Japanese enough, so he traveled around the world, working as a model in Paris, Milan and London before returning to Japan in 2004 to pursue acting again. He made his film debut in 2005 with Bloody Snake Under The Sun, shown in competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival. He went on to study acting in New York and to be cast in roles overseas as well as in Japan, amassing a lengthy list of credits in such films as Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist and Death Note, before developing and starring in Brillante Mendoza's 2021 Gensan Punch. He is currently in production on Mendoza’s upcoming Chameleon.

Rasiguet Sookkarn is an award-winning production designer and filmmaker. He was born in Bangkok and holds a bachelor’s degree from Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Architecture. Rasiguet started as an art director for several commercials and became a production designer on many award-winning feature films such as Sivaroj Kongsakul’s Eternity (2010), Kongdej Jaturanrassamee’s P-047 (2011) and Tang-Wong (2012), Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s 36 (2012) and Mary is happy, Mary is happy (2013). Rasiguet received awards for his design in his homeland and was selected for the Berlinale Talents 2014. He also directed some music videos for several indie bands in Thailand. More recent films include Kirstin Tan’s Sundance award winner Pop Aye (2017) and Sorayos Prapapan’s Arnold is a Model Student (2022). Faces of Anne marks his directorial feature debut.

Jaime Sunwoo is a Korean American multidisciplinary artist from Brooklyn, New York. Her works connect personal narratives to global histories through surreal storytelling. She studied art at Yale University, and was a fellow for Ping Chong and Company and The Laundromat Project. Her work has been presented at Park Avenue Armory, Abrons Art Center, BAX, The Tank, KCCNY, Open Source Gallery, and Westbeth Gallery. She has done workshops, lectures, and panel discussions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Food and Drink, Yale University, NYU, Stony Brook University, and Mills College. Her film Equality Tea won Best Short Documentary at both DisOrient Asian American Film Festival and Indy Film Festival, and was featured in Vogue and Whetstone Magazine. She is the Producing Artistic Director of Free Rein Projects which creates visual art, theater, and film.

Ryohei Suzuki made his acting debut in 2006, receiving his first film role in 2007’s Sanjuro. He achieved superstardom in Japan on NHK’s asadora morning serial Hanako and Anne in 2014, and earned recognition in Asia for roles in popular series like the recent Tokyo MER: Mobile Emergency Room. He first received international attention for his role in HK: Forbidden Super Hero (NYAFF 2013), followed by My Love Story!! (2015), Tokyo Tribe (NYAFF 2015), Mumon: The Land of Stealth (2017) and One Night (NYAFF 2019). His performance in Last of the Wolves ( NYAFF 2021) won him Best Supporting Actor accolades at the Japan Academy Prize, among many others. He was nominated for a Best Actor Award at the AFA Awards for Egoist (2022). He has also appeared in Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai (2021), The Mole Song: Final (2021) and Tokyo MER: Mobile Emergency Room The Movie (2023).

Jon is an actor and producer. His producing work includes TV pilot Life in Black starring Liam Neeson, as well as a number of short films, several of which were funded by the Hungarian Film Institute. He was previously an associate producer at Raindance Film Festival, having produced their monthly film club as well as a cross-collaboration with the British Council in Tunisia. He now has projects in development that were selected for Film London's New Talent Strand and Film Bazaar's co-production market. His most recent work as an actor was Outlander for Amazon Prime/STARZ, Atlanta for Disney, and FBI: International for CBS. He was selected for the BAFTA Connect scheme in 2022.

NYAFF’s 2023 Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema will go to wunderkind Thai filmmaker Lee Thongkham for his outrageous action movie sendup, Kitty the Killer. After earning his bachelor’s degree in film production from Florida’s Full Sail University, Lee stayed in the Sunshine State, where he cut his teeth making commercial fare ranging from music videos to a feature film. Back in Thailand he established Thongkham Films during the throes of the pandemic and directed its inaugural feature, The Maid (2020). This gonzo horror movie became the first Thai Netflix Original Film. Next up was the Thai-Chinese kaiju movie, The Lake (2022), also directed by Lee. He then donned his producer’s hat for the insane slasher satire Night of the Killer Bears (2023). Thongkham Films has already proven a production powerhouse with several more ambitious projects in the pipeline.

A novelist, scriptwriter and director, Nate Ki has directed several horror short films that have been invited to international festivals, including Horror Short Film in Hong Kong and the award-winning Once Upon a Time in Sai Wan (2019). After winning the mm2 Movie Maker Awards in 2017, he started developing his feature debut, Back Home. The film was also selected for the Far East Film Festival Focus Asia project market.

Anastasia Tsang graduated from the Film Department of the Sorbonne University in Paris. She wrote and directed her first short film in 2011, Marriage Sans Frontières, which explored transgender issues. It was shown in the Cannes Short Film Corner and won Best Short Film at the Seattle TRANSlations Short Film Festival. Her surreal short film Marryland (2015) screened at the Udine Far East Film Festival. She recently co-directed the TV series Till Death Do Us Part (2018), which examined the complexities of married life, and wrote the script for A Journey Of Happiness (2019). A Light Never Goes Out is her feature directorial debut.

Tseng Ying-Ting graduated with a master’s degree in filmmaking from the National Taiwan University of Arts. Working primarily in television, his first feature film, Ye-Zai (2013), won the Excellent Screenplay Award and the Best Narrative Film at the Golden Harvest Awards, as well as being nominated for Best Narrative Feature at Taipei Film Festival and selected for the Asia-Pacific Film Festival. His first NYAFF appearance was in 2018, with The Last Verse. He has received the Excellent Screenplay Award three times, as well as Golden Harvest Awards for Outstanding Short Films.

Lauren Yee is an award-winning playwright and TV writer based in New York City. Her Cambodian Rock Band, with music by Dengue Fever, premiered at South Coast Rep, with subsequent productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, and others. Her play The Great Leap has been produced at the Denver Center, Steppenwolf, and others. Her TV credits include Pachinko (Apple), Soundtrack (Netflix). Her upcoming TV credits are Interior Chinatown (Hulu), Billions (Showtime), The Sterling Affairs (FX). She has developed pilots for Apple and Netflix. She has a B.A from Yale and M.F.A from UCSD.

Perry Yung’s breakthrough role was as Ping Wu in Steven Soderbergh’s Cinemax series The Knick. He has guest starred on Gotham, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, Royal Pains, The Equalizer and recently starred in Netflix’s The Three-body Problem. Film work includes The Harvest, John Wick: Chapter 2, Condemned, Jade Pendant and the voice of the Puppet Master in The Guardians Brothers. Perry played Father Jun in Cinemax’s Warrior. His acclaimed flute playing is also on the soundtrack. Perry is one of the founders of the Slant Performance Group and has been a member of the Great Jones Repertory Group since 1993.

Zhang Wei studied directing at the legendary Beijing Film Academy and cinema studies at the Chinese National Academy of Arts. His films consciously examine critical social issues, conveying powerful messages through unassuming storylines. In 2010 he made his directorial debut, Beijing Dream, followed by Shadow Puppetry of One Person (2011). His Factory Boss (2014) was shortlisted in competition at the Montreal International Film Festival and won a Best Actor Award. Ballad From Tibet (2017) won the Best Film Award at the China International Children's Film Festival. In 2018, he won the Kim Jiseok Award at the Busan Film Festival for his controversial film The Rib (NYAFF 2019). The Photographer (2019) was the opening film of the Hainan International Film Festival. In 2020, Empty Nest was nominated for Best Actress at the Golden Rooster Awards, and was released on China’s popular online platform Kuai Shou ,with over 16 million views on the first day. Zhang’s latest film, Redemption With Life, takes on machismo, morality and motorcycles in modern China and makes its world premiere at NYAFF 2023.