The 13th New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) got under way at Lincoln Center with the international premiere of Overheard 3, a Hong Kong-Chinese crime thriller, on June 27.

Written and directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong, creators of the Infernal Affairs trilogy, the film stars Sean Lau, Louis Koo, Daniel Wu and Zhou Xun. Mak and Chong, along with award-winning actress Sandra Ng from Hong Kong, attended a press conference on the festival's opening day at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York.

Mak said because of Overheard 3 he has had the chance to meet American audiences. "For this movie, I hope I could let people in America know about another side of Hong Kong as a city," he said.

Ng's new movie Golden Chickensss had its premiere on the night of June 27. She said the comedy allows her to entertain US audiences.

The co-founder of the festival Goran Topalovic explained why he chose Overheard 3 as the opening film: "We've always been fans of the two directors (Mak and Chong), Infernal Affairs has always been one of the top films. If you ask Hong Kong movie fans in the US, definitely they have seen Infernal Affairs."

Overheard 3 was released on May 29 in the Chinese mainland and on June 5 in Hong Kong. It grossed $4.43 million on opening day in China, according to Film Business Asia, an industry trade magazine.

More than 20 major filmmakers and celebrities from the mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Australia participate in the festival, which runs until July 14 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

The festival will showcase 60 feature films, including 20 North American premieres, six US premieres and 11 other films making their New York City debut.

NYAFF will also feature three programs on popular Asian cinema: Hong Kong Forever!, Korean Actor in Focus: Lee Jung-jae, and Sir Run Run Shaw Tribute. The programs highlight the film legacy of East Asia and its role in today's world of movie-making.

Hailed by the New York Times as the "one of the city's most valuable events", NYAFF was launched in 2002 by Subway Cinema, a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to increasing exposure and appreciation for Asian popular film culture.

Contact the writer at readers@chinadaily.com

For China Daily

(China Daily USA 06/30/2014 page2)