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 ...
Let Freedom Ring, All Ye Who Enter Here
Big Brother is Watching What must it be like, to live in constant fear of a government you escaped from but can never truly abandon? C35 Film’s Yi Chen explores that question in her latest film to grace the film festival circuit: “Dissidents.” Chen remar ...
If On A Winter’s Night A Filmmaker: Walking With Yinan Wang
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 ...
This is a True Story
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 ...
Creating an Elite Match
A Personal Look Into Finding a Character’s Desires In many ways, filmmaking is a personal outlet for filmmakers. Since graduating from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Kathy Meng has aimed to tell stories through the medium that are personal and familiar. He ...
Dear Mother, I Meant to Write about Death
The reflections on mortality and mother-daughter relationship of Siyi Chen Siyi Chen wrote and directed the documentary “Dear Mother, I Meant to Write about Death (我们在黑夜的海上)” about the effects of her mother’s post-cancer treatment and aftermath o ...
The Fight For Our Communities: Save Chinatown
Decolonization, and the Power of Intercultural Alliances in Philadelphia The creative discussion at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, ‘The Fight For Our Communities: Save Chinatown,’ unveils a conversation that revolves around the ongoing gen ...
AAPI Stories We Can Still Enjoy in 2024
The Asian American International Film Festival is now open for submissions for its 47th annual run in August 2024! In anticipation of another stellar program, we’ve prepared a roundup of some of the gems we screened last year. What will we come up with n ...
Punk Rock, Activism, and Self-Determination Explored Above and Below the Ground
Discovering Myanmar’s struggle against the Myitsone Dam through grassroots activists and the lens of director Emily Hong Nestled between the Mali Hka and N’Mai Hka rivers lies a village once home to Hkawn Mai, Lu Ra, and Ja Hkawn. Emily Hong’s “Above an ...