We’ve always said that our relationship with the films screened at the New York Asian Film Festival every year continues long after the festival proper ends. So here’s a report on some recent (and some not-so-recent) DVD releases of titles that screened at NYAFF this and last year.

Most recently, Los Angeles-based company Pink Eiga released BLIND LOVE and GROPER TRAIN: SEARCH FOR THE BLACK PEARL in DVD special editions. Screened this summer at the festival as part of the Pink Power! midnight series, the discs were released late last month and are available for sale at the Pink Eiga site and at Amazon and other retailers. GROPER TRAIN (directed by DEPARTURES Oscar winner Yojiro Takita) doesn’t have any special content specifically related to the fest (though it does include a cool interview with director Yutaka “Mr. Pink” Ikejima), but the BLIND LOVE disc is full of stuff related to us. Our intro and Q&A from the midnight screening is on there, plus newly-shot interviews with director Daisuke Goto and cinematographer Masahide Iioka from their NY trip. There’s also a commentary featuring the pair. Both are terrific discs and worth picking up—the perfect Christmas gift for open-minded friends and family!

Coming up next from Pink Eiga are the other pair of films that screened as part of our midnight double features: Takita’s comedic GROPER TRAIN: WEDDING CAPRICCIO and the gloriously filthy JAPANESE WIFE NEXT DOOR. Both come out officially on 1/24, but will be available for sale later this month directly from the Pink Eiga website.

Also out on DVD fairly recently are some titles from festival sponsor Media Blasters: NYAFF 2008 entries CHANBARA BEAUTY (released in August) and X-CROSS (released in October), and from this year’s festival, Tak Sakaguchi’s BE A MAN! SAMURAI SCHOOL (released in July), and giant monster parody MONSTER X STRIKES BACK (released in late June), which features the voice of “Beat” Takeshi Kitano!

Another longtime festival sponsor, Dragon Dynasty, released a pair of titles that screened at this summer’s festival: AN EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS and FIVE DEADLY VENOMS (in July and August, respectively).

Asian film newcomer Well Go USA released this summer’s SAMURAI PRINCESS on DVD last month, and have the HARD REVENGE MILLY pair of splatter action films lined up for release on 1/26.  Tai Seng put out DVD editions of 2009 festival entry IF YOU ARE THE ONE and 2008 audience favorite ASSEMBLY this past June, and Magnolia finally released an eagerly-awaited DVD of Hitoshi Matsumoto’s giant monster comedy DAINIPPONJIN, aka BIG MAN JAPAN (screened at NYAFF 2008) in July.

The newly-reformed Palisades-Tartan streeted 2008 discovery THE BUTCHER in October, and finally, fest sponsor Viz puts out the DVD of Japanese comic book sensation 20TH CENTURY BOYS next week, on 12/15, with Part 2 of the trilogy due on 2/16. Viz also released 2008 festival film L: CHANGE THE WORLD (part of the DEATH NOTE series) on DVD in August.

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