Presenters of the Asian American International Film Festival
Special thanks to Paul Chhorm, Robert Chau, Eng Tang, Avian Munoz, Chaiya, and Monika for sharing your stories. This wouldn’t have been possible without you. On November 2, 1984, Rolland Joffe’s “The Killing Fields” hit theaters in the UK. The film, w ...
Revisiting Early AAIFF Films and Their Modern Counterparts In curating this year's archival program, programmer Hai-Li Kong sought to explore the limitless possibilities of film as a medium, selecting works that push the boundaries of how film can be ...
Moral Grays In ‘Chaperone’ Interview sections were edited for clarity and concision. When a 17-year-old boy mistook director Zoë Eisenberg for a fellow high schooler and asked her out to a party, she replied incredulously, “I’m 30. I’m also married ...
The high stakes of Ashley Chea’s hoop dreams Through what was initially a project about the formation of Asian American basketball leagues, director Erica Tanamachi and producer Jenn Lee Smith found a contemporary story that they could intertwine with ...
KENJI TSUKAMOTO’S ‘ASHIMA’ AND HOLLY M. KAPLAN’S ‘SUNFLOWER GIRL’ As one might expect, all of our selections at the Asian-American International Film Festival cover a wide range of perspectives across various diaspora – from men and women, to the ver ...
A Korean-American teen’s coming of age “Why do you smoke?” Korean American teen, Hayoung, asks her father. He’s a man whose charisma seems to radiate effortlessly and, at times, makes him feel aloof. “It’s bad for you,” she adds, seamlessly switching from ...
When the American Dream is a Calvino dreamed by the whole world, respectively. In Mandarin, “Yi” means “one,” and “Nan” means “man.” “Many people think that my name has something to do with the one-child policy, but my mom said the name was given by a ...
Subverting Asian Stereotypes Through Art When Preston Choi popped into our Zoom meeting, he had a smile that could light up a room and a calmness that was in direct juxtaposition to the heavy topics he often covers in his plays. Forty-five minutes was not ...
A conversation between Celine Song and Jeff Yang On January 23rd, the Lila Acheson Wallace Auditorium at the Asia Society was packed with people who had come to hear a conversation between author Jeff Yang and director Celine Song. Just that morning, Song ...