Subway Cinema, Inc

Subway Cinema Inc. is a New York-based 501(c)(3) not-for-profit volunteer-run organization dedicated to the exhibition and appreciation of Asian popular cinema and preservation of America’s Asian film exhibition heritage. Founded in in New York City as a labor of love for five film fans, the organization has played a key role in nurturing the growth of Asian film culture in the U.S. by championing the works of Johnnie To, Tsui Hark, Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho, Takashi Miike, Kim Jee-woon, Ryoo Seung-wan, Seijin Suzuki, Sion Sono, and other notable directors. Subway Cinema was the first in America to recognize the works of Hong Kong genre masters Johnnie To and Tsui Hark with retrospectives and to bring wider attention to New Korean Cinema with When Korean Cinema Attacks- the New York Korean Film Festival 2001. In 2002, Subway Cinema launched the annual New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), which it produced and programmed for 17 consecutive years, establishing it as North America’s leading festival for popular Asian cinema. In 2013, in collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center, Subway Cinema put together the largest retrospective of auteur/superstar Jackie Chan's films in North America (The Jackie Chan Experience). Today, Subway Cinema’s primary focus is on retrospective programming and on the preservation of America’s heritage of Asian film exhibition. Current events include Old School Kung Fu Fest (a showcase for the best of classic martial arts films) and Hong-Kong-a-Thon!(12-hour marathons of classic Hong Kong genre films from the 80s and 90s). In 2019, Subway Cinema teamed up with Film at Lincoln Center for the largest North American retrospective of New Korean Cinema (Relentless Invention: New Korean Cinema, 1996-2003).