The 2026 New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) is celebrating its 25th edition with an impressive lineup that includes two of the most talked-about films from this year’s Cannes Film Festival: Na Hong-jin’s Hope and Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony. Widely regarded as two of South Korea’s leading filmmakers, both directors unveiled their latest projects at Cannes, where Hope became the first Korean film in four years to compete for the Palme d’Or and Colony screened in the festival’s Midnight Screenings section. Notably, Na is the first Korean director to have every one of his feature films invited to Cannes.
Next month both films will make their North American premieres at NYAFF, which runs from July 10th – 26th and will showcase works by more than 50 filmmakers across five New York venues.
Colony has been selected as the festival’s opening night film, while Hope will serve as its centerpiece selection, with directors Yeon and Na scheduled to attend in person for introductions and post-screening Q&As. The festival will also feature retrospectives dedicated to each filmmaker’s work.
NYAFF 2026 will open with Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie thriller ‘Colony’
NYAFF 2026 will kick off on Friday, July 10th with the North American premiere of Colony at Film at Lincoln Center. The fastest film to surpass 4 million admissions at the Korean box office this year, Colony marks Director Yeon’s return to the zombie genre, which he helped redefine with his 2016 blockbuster Train to Busan.
Colony follows a group of survivors as they fight to stay alive after a fast-mutating virus is unleashed at a biotech conference, trapping them inside the high-rise building. Korean superstar Jun Ji-hyun (a.k.a. Gianna Jun) plays an out-of-work professor-turned-unlikely hero who helps the survivors escape by uncovering patterns in the infected’s behavior. Ji Chang-wook, Koo Kyo-hwan, Shin Hyun-been, Go Soo and Kim Shin-rok round out the star-studded cast.
Well Go USA will be releasing the film in theaters across North America on August 28th.
NYAFF 2026 will also screen Yeon Sang-ho’s previous zombie films, including ‘Train to Busan,’ ‘Seoul Station’ and ‘Peninsula’
Aside from Colony, NYAFF will also be showing Director Yeon’s previous zombie films, including Seoul Station (the 2016 animated prequel to Train to Busan), Peninsula (the 2020 sequel to Train to Busan) and, of course, Train to Busan, the 2016 classic widely credited with launching the modern “K-zombie” genre and helping to establish South Korea as a global force in zombie storytelling.
In celebration of the film’s 10th anniversary, NYAFF will present a new 4K restoration of Train to Busan, with Director Yeon in attendance.
Well Go USA will re-release the film in its 4K version in theaters across North America on August 14th.
Here’s the schedule of Yeon’s movies that will be shown at NYAFF 2026:
- Colony (2026) – Friday, July 10, 7:30pm Film at Lincoln Center (North American premiere; includes intro and Q&A with Director Yeon Sang-ho, actress Gianna Jun and producer Ahn So-hee)
- A second screening of Colony will take place on Wednesday, July 15 at 7pm at the Korean Cultural Center New York.
- Train to Busan (2016) – Saturday, July 11, 3:15pm Film at Lincoln Center (includes intro and Q&A with Director Yeon Sang-ho)
- Seoul Station (2016) – Monday, July 13, 7:00pm IFC Center
- Peninsula (2020) – Saturday, July 25, 2:30pm Korean Cultural Center New York
Although best known for Train to Busan, Yeon has also written and directed hit Netflix series like Hellbound (which reached No. 1 in the US and worldwide in 2021) and Parasyte: The Grey.
His upcoming series Human Vapor, based on Ishirō Honda’s 1960 sci-fi film, premieres on Netflix worldwide on July 2nd.
NYAFF 2026’s Centerpiece Film will be ‘Hope’ by Director Na Hong-jin, who will also receive the festival’s Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema
Director Na Hong-jin’s Hope, which was invited to compete at Cannes this year despite the film still being in post-production, will also hold its North American premiere at NYAFF 2026 (and thankfully, the audience will be watching the final version). Hope has also been selected as the festival’s Centerpiece Film this year, with Director Na slated to receive the 2026 Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema, named after one of NYAFF’s founders who passed away in 2013.
Reported to be the most expensive Korean film ever made (with a budget of roughly $46 million), Hope is Na’s fourth feature film and his most ambitious one yet. Described as a genre mashup of horror, comedy, action and sci-fi, Hope features an all-star cast that includes Academy Award nominee Michael Fassbender, Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell (Waves, Bones and All), SAG winner Jung Ho-yeon (Squid Game) and Korean A-listers Zo In-sung (The Classic, Moving) and Hwang Jung-min (Ode to My Father, 12.12: The Day). The film was shot by the legendary Korean cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo, who also worked on Parasite, Burning and Na’s 2016 classic The Wailing.
Hope takes place in a rural village near the Korean Demilitarized Zone, where a police chief (played by Hwang) is called to investigate a mutilated animal carcass. When he realizes that a mysterious entity may be terrorizing his town, a routine local investigation quickly spirals into a bloody showdown with cosmic stakes.
Distributor NEON will release Hope in theaters across North America on September 9th.
NYAFF 2026 to screen Director Na Hong-jin’s previous films, including ‘The Chaser,’ ‘The Yellow Sea’ and ‘The Wailing’
NYAFF will also feature a retrospective of Director Na’s earlier films, including his 2008 feature debut The Chaser, a serial-killer thriller inspired by the real-life case of Korea’s infamous “Raincoat Killer”; the 2010 action thriller The Yellow Sea; and the 2016 supernatural horror The Wailing, widely considered to be one of the best Korean horror movies of all time.
The full schedule of Na Hong-jin’s movies at NYAFF is as follows:
- The Yellow Sea (2010) – Sunday, July 19, 3:30 PM Korean Cultural Center New York
- The Wailing (2016) – Sunday, July 19, 9:30 PM SVA Theatre
- Hope (2026) – Monday, July 20, 7:00 PM SVA Theatre (Centerpiece Presentation and North American Premiere; includes intro and Q&A with Director Na Hong-jin)
- The Chaser (2008, on 35mm) – Sunday, July 26, 5:45 PM SVA Theatre
What other iconic Korean films will be screened at NYAFF 2026?
In celebration of Jun’s award, NYAFF will also present a new 4K restoration of Director Kwak Jae-yong’s 2001 romcom classic My Sassy Girl—the film that catapulted Jun to international stardom and helped fuel the Korean Wave—on Saturday, July 18th at 6:15pm at Anthology Film Archives.
NYAFF is also planning a special presentation of The King’s Warden, a historical drama film based on the tragic true story of King Danjong of Joseon, who was dethroned and exiled by his uncle and later executed. Starring Yoo Hae-jin (Veteran, Exhuma), Park Ji-hoon (Weak Hero), Yoo Ji-tae (Oldboy, Healer) and Jeon Mi-do (Hospital Playlist), The King’s Warden is now the highest-grossing Korean film of all time and will be shown on Thursday, July 23rd at 7:30pm at the Korean Cultural Center New York.
For the full festival schedule and to purchase tickets to NYAFF, visit nyaff.org.
