New York Asian Film Festival at Walter Reade Theater Indie Story New York Asian Film Festival A scene from "The King of Pigs," an animated feature directed by Yeun Sang-ho about school bullying and class in South Korean society. "The King of Pigs," an animated feature by the South Korean director Yeun Sang-ho, is a poisoned-memory play: two men who appear to be in their 30s meet for the first time in years and spend the rest of the film reminiscing about their youth. One is miserable over his stalled career as a writer, the other has failed in business and, in rage and despair, murdered his wife. The root of their malaise, they agree, is no mystery: it's middle school. At a time when bullying is a trending topic in America, even finding its way into the current presidential campaign, "The King of Pigs" paints a picture of South Korean school life that is exceptional in its brutality. Mr. Yeun's schoolboys face a totalitarian system in miniature, where beatings and intimidation are decreed by upper-grade bosses and carried out by their younger cadres. Released in South Korea in October, the film has been likened routinely to "Lord of the Flies." Mr. Yeun doesn't see his story as allegorical, however. Responding to e-mailed questions through a translator, he described the film as an essentially realistic work. "Most of the episodes from the movie are drawn from my own experiences in middle school," he said. New York audiences can compare Mr. Yuen's experiences to their own when "The King of Pigs" makes its local debut as part of this year's New York Asian Film Festival, which runs from Friday to July 15 at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center and at the Japan Society, in conjunction with its Japan Cuts festival. This year's festival is as bountiful and valuable a compendium as ever, offering more than 50 films (20 in their North American premieres) from 10 countries encompassing some of the world's most vital film industries. Within the overall event are smaller series focusing on the cinema of Taiwan and on the work of the versatile South Korean actor Choi Min-sik, the star of "Oldboy." Among the films that were available for preview, the standouts included Mr. Choi's most recent vehicle, Yun Jong-bin's "Nameless Gangster," a sprawling tale about an anonymous customs inspector who parlays a lucky accident and a tenuous family connection into a career as a crime boss. Anchored by Mr. Choi, with his malleable, hang-dog features and comic physicality - no one takes a beating better - the film tackles the perennial South Korean themes of corruption, male pride and the alternately profitable and poisonous nature of family ties. Another highlight, also from South Korea, was the romantic comedy "Couples," directed by Jeong Yong-ki, an elaborate, clockwork farce engineered to bring together a perky but shy traffic cop and the glum owner of a tea shop whose gold-digging fiancée has left him for a gangster. A more sentimental, and juvenile, take on romance is offered by the Taiwanese box-office hit "You Are the Apple of My Eye," directed by Giddens Ko, about a group of high school friends who are all in love with the same girl; the overall mood is Hello Kitty, but the plot is set in motion when one of the boys is caught taking part in a masturbation contest during class. The festival's more highly promoted offerings include the Hong Kong sex comedy "Vulgaria," the opening-night presentation, and the Chinese western "Guns and Roses" (set in 1930s Manchukuo), one of the centerpiece films. The schedule contains the usual generous helpings of martial arts throwdowns, samurai adventures and fluffy comedies, and while many of these will no doubt be distinctive and worthwhile, there is a sense of creeping familiarity about the selections as the festival enters its 11th year. In that context, "The King of Pigs" stands out for both its originality and its rarity: Korean feature-length animation is a small field, and Mr. Yeun's film is one of only three animated features being presented under the mantle of this year's festival; the other two, "Asura" and "Gyo," are part of Japan Cuts. "Asura," as it happens, is about a boy whose life is marked by violence, but it's folk-tale violence: amid a war and famine in 15th-century Japan, an abandoned baby grows into a wild-child cannibal ninja. Americans accustomed to Japanese animation may find the drawing style of "The King of Pigs" surprisingly plain - there's a little bit of a "Beavis and Butt-Head" quality to it - but it fits the harrowing story Mr. Yeun has to tell. A fairly close analogy, in style, mood and rhythm, would be the television series "Paranoia Agent" by the Japanese master Satoshi Kon, whom Mr. Yeun named as a significant influence on his work. "The King of Pigs" details an institutionalized system of violence and humiliation that is organized along class lines, with the sons of the wealthy and powerful meting out punishment to the children of the less fortunate, initiating a lifelong cycle. Eventually the action centers on a mysterious James Dean-like figure, Chul, who stands up to the bullies, with drastic consequences for everyone. "I'd been making short films about confusion and emptiness, as experienced by the individual," said Mr. Yeun, who makes his feature debut with "The King of Pigs." I felt very strongly that my feature film would have to address the origins of this emptiness. The Korean movies that make it to American theaters often feature lavish amounts of violence, but it is usually presented in the stylized forms of gangster and horror films (like "Nameless Gangster") and can register as a kind of fantasia, not quite connected to reality. Mr. Yeun is asserting that the violence is real and showing where it starts. "Many Korean men have been personally touched by violence," he said. It's a type of trauma that lingers on afterward. You can find articles about bullying everywhere in the Korean media, and what happens in the news is actually more shocking than anything in this movie. The festival runs Friday through July 12 at the Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, 212-875-5367; and July 12-15 at Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, Manhattan, 212-715-1258, subwaycinema.com. Japan Cuts runs July 12-28 at Japan Society, japansociety.org.