Malaysian drama Abang Adik scooped the top prize at the New York Asian Film Festival, which closed last night with a screening of Netflix animation The Monkey King.
Abang Adik received the Uncaged Award for best feature film, beating eight other titles from across Asia in NYAFF’s competition strand. It marks the directorial debut feature of Jin Ong and follows two orphaned brothers whose bond is tested after a brutal accident.
Director Ong was in New York to present the North American premiere of the film at the festival. Accepting the award, he said: “I should cry. It’s been an amazing journey to here and I didn’t expect this. I won, I won.”
Last month, the film became the first feature from Malaysia to win the top prize at Udine’s Far East Film Festival.
A special mention for technical achievement went to China’s Flaming Cloud, a romantic fantasy that received its world premiere at NYAFF and marks the debut of director Liu Siyi. Executive producers are renowned director Li Shaohong and actress Yao Chen from Chinese production company Bad Rabbit Pictures.
A special mention for directing went to South Korea’s Lee Sol-hui for Greenhouse, a thriller that previously won three awards at Busan International Film Festival.
The NYAFF 2023 Audience Award went to Taiwanese comedy Marry My Dead Body, an LGBTQ+ story from director Cheng Wei-hao, about a macho cop who accidentally becomes married to the ghost of a gay man who wants to take revenge on his ex.
In the shorts category, Will You Look At Me by China’s Shuli Huang won best live-action while What We Leave Behind, by South Korean writer/director Kang Nam-jin, won best animation. Special mentions went to Malaysia’s Kumbang (Bugs) for live-action and Japan’s Hidari for animation.
South Korean actress-musician Lee Hanee received the Best From The East Award at the closing ceremony, held at New York’s Film at Lincoln Center. Her recent credits include Killing Romance, which opened this year’s NYAFF, and box office hit Phantom as well as Alienoid, which closed last year’s NYAFF.
This year’s festival closed with the first public screening of China-US animation The Monkey King, introduced by Netflix Animation producer Peilin Chou, ahead of its debut on Netflix on August 18. The feature is directed by Anthony Stacchi, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2015 for co-directing The Boxtrolls.
The 22nd edition of NYAFF ran from July 14-30.
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