Presenters of the Asian American International Film Festival
The zeitgeist of Asians in the United States is defined by questions: How do we bear the sacrifices of our families who decided to stake our futures on this land? With whom do we connect as a nationality defined by the world’s ethnicities? And as we look ...
Tackling the legacy of the greatest Asian American filmThis article contains spoilers.On October 4, 2019, the LA Times’ released an article titled “The 20 best Asian American films of the last 20 years.” And number one on their list was the 2002 crime dra ...
The Woman Who Penned 'Letters from Iwo Jima' Has Never Stopped Writing “If our children can sleep safely for one more day, it would be worth the one more day that we defend this island!” So declares General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, played by Ken Watanabe ...
Dreams, reality, folklore, and everything in between: “It’s a Mad Mad Multiverse” encompasses it all. The collection of shorts traverses unique universes but the themes are universal, covering guilt, trauma, grief, longing, nostalgia, and friendship. Here ...
A movie about filmmaking dreams in its lowest tide This article may contain spoilers. New York City – a sight that gives optimism, especially when your point of view is from the outside looking in. “No New Wave,” the debut feature film by Ziwei Yao, open ...
Coming of age in Chinatown is hardly an individual experience; it’s a family affair. “Freckled Rice,” a 1983 film directed by Stephen C. Ning, is a story about 13-year-old, American-born Joe Soo (J.P. Wing) who grows up in Boston’s Chinatown in the 1960s. ...
It's a last glimpse at some familiar faces “A Father’s Son” is Chinatown’s breathing testament to the pandemic. Patrick Xi Hao Chen began filming in 2019. Sustained by community funds, he hurtled through film shoots like he was on a ticking clock. “It’s ...
A tender glance into the life of a teenager in rural Indonesia Written by: Patricia Kusumaningtyas As the title card rolls, we hear the sound of splashing water. The first frame of the film is a girl, slowly emerging from the bathroom, wearing an all-pur ...
In her first feature film, Judy Lei offers a cathartic reflection on life in Chinatown and her journey to finding herself Written By: Eve Golecruz It’s a film about firsts: the first time our protagonist Judy gets drunk, her first time having sex, her fir ...