PAAFF'22 Program Guide

PAAFF 2022 STAFF

Did you know that PAAFF is a volunteer-run festival? Our devoted team of volunteer staff works countless hours on top of their day jobs to make each festival program a success. Thank you to all of our volunteers without whom this festival would not be possible!

Meet our team at paaff.org/our-team.

SPONSORS

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

LETTER FROM THE FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

the night, my friend and I ventured through the neighborhood in search of a quick bite to eat before the program started.

Since PAAFF’s founding, our festival programming has continued to explore and expand its understanding of Asian and Pacific Islander experiences and all of the intersecting identities within. Our program this year is no different—this year’s festival concept is aptly called “Intersections.”

When I moved back to Philly in 2017, I was a freshly college-graduated 22 year old with lots of time and no direction. Despite growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood, I always loved being Asian and talking about my Chinese identity, likely due to the fact that most of my extended family lived in Chinatown and I spent my weekends there. I was president of my high school Asian club and continued to organize for Asian American student groups in college, so the logical next step was to seek out Asian American activities in Philly. With the help of a newfound best friend that year, I found my way to PAAFF.

The first PAAFF event I attended was the retrospective screening of two films in Anna May Wong’s repertoire: Daughter of Shanghai and Piccadilly. The screening was at Fleisher Art Memorial, which sits on the block of Catherine Street between 7th and 8th. I had only ever been to this area with my parents to pick up banh mi and coffee from one of my favorite shops, Cafe Cuong, but had never explored the streets surrounding the restaurant. With the car parked in Fleisher’s lot and Cafe Cuong closed for

Arms linked, we made our way east on Catherine, toward 6th Street and Passyunk Avenue where all three streets make an immediately identifiable triangular intersection right in front of the fire-engine red facade of Square Pie. We continued south on 6th, admiring every first floor window decor from porcelain cats to blooming plants, until we found ourselves in front of Ba Le Bakery in New World Plaza on Washington Avenue. That night, I devoured a perfectly made banh mi dac biet in Fleisher’s sanctuary, illuminated by Wong’s outstanding performance and trailblazing career.

Being a part of PAAFF’s organizing team for the last four years, listening to and watching the stories of our communities, has inspired me to tell my own story and to explore and develop so many parts of who I am today. I am a Hong Kong American. I am gender fluid. I am chronically ill. I am a community organizer, leader, cat parent, partner, artist, reader… and the understanding of these parts of my adult self can all be tied back to a place, person, or event somewhere in this city that I encountered because of this festival, its staff, and volunteers.

Whether you attend PAAFF virtually, in-person, or both this year, I hope that your festival experience will give you the same opportunity it has given me to explore all the intersections of my identity and the intersections of this city I call home.

With warmth and appreciation, Selena Yip Executive Director

Welcome to the 15th Annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival!

FESTIVAL INFORMATION

PAAFF CONTENT POLICY

As we at PAAFF endeavor to showcase the best Asian diasporic films, our programming staff is sensitive to the fact that some of our official selections may have content that an audience member may find offensive or distressing. As such, we provide our patrons with film descriptions that appear on our website and in our Festival Program as a guide to a film’s specific content and themes.

We refrain from attaching specific warnings to individual films primarily because it would be impossible to identify all content that could be distressing and identifying content warnings for one sector of our audience could be inaccurate and/or incomplete for another.

Please supplement the film descriptions provided on our website and festival guide with your own research before purchasing tickets or attending a screening. We recommend watching the linked trailers, reading any online reviews, and visiting a film’s website where possible. Please feel free to contact us at PAAFF with any questions or concerns.

We thank you for your support and understanding.

ONLINE ACCESS

Films are accessible online through rentals. Once you begin watching a program, you will have 24 hours to complete it. For more information about supported browsers, availability, and geoblocking, please consult our ticketing website.

LIVE IN-PERSON EVENTS VENUE

Asian Arts Initiative

1219 Vine Street (Chinatown) Philadelphia, PA 19107

What to expect:

• Film programs and installations will be held in the blackbox theater and adjoining box office area.

• The building’s front entrance has an ADA accessible ramp.

• Genderless bathrooms are located on the first floor.

• First floor windows do not open. If you need fresh air, please exit the building.

• Festival staff, venue staff, and event volunteers are available if assistance is needed.

• Primary language spoken by festival staff is English.

PUBLIC SAFETY PROTOCOLS

In order to address ongoing and increasing public safety concerns and to provide an equitable and accessible community space, PAAFF will enforce the following protocols during inperson, indoor events:

• Proof of vaccination prior to entry (minimum 2 initial shots, +1 booster)

• Well fitting, high-quality KN95 or N95 masking required at all times.

• No eating or drinking inside the festival venue.

Anyone who does not abide by these protocols will be asked to leave and will not be issued a refund.

More public safety information can be found on our ticketing website.

SPECIAL

CREATIVE DISCUSSIONS

Throughout its history, PAAFF has provided a platform not only for Asian artists and filmmakers, but also writers, critics, academics, and activists who bring valuable insight to topics relevant to our audience and touched upon in the films we curate. As part of our ongoing series of panels and conversations, we have invited new guest speakers to share their expertise on topics such as speculative fiction, futurist movements, and how Asian Americans are represented in the U.S. political landscape. Each panelist will bring their own diverse perspective, deepening our understanding of the film industry, the power of art and media, and more.

PAPA PERFORMANCES

Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (PAPA)

is a grassroots, membership-based collective that exists to build community among, and address the lack of economic and artistic opportunities for, people of Pan-Asian descent involved in the performing arts in the Philadelphia region. Born out of a desire to support and celebrate diverse Asian theater artists in Philadelphia, PAAFF has partnered with PAPA to present two captivating performances and one installation. Each performance brings a unique artistic voice to the forefront and reflects the greater diversity of this city and its stories.

SHOWCASES

PACIFIC SHOWCASE

Every year, PAAFF presents a Pacific Showcase with the specific goal of celebrating indigenous artists with roots in the Pacific. This year, we have curated the greatest number of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander short films in our festival’s history, as well as an evocative and imaginative anthology feature in Teine Sā - the ancient ones. We aim to do our part to uplift indigenous art and artists, and advocate for education of indigenous histories and the struggle for sovereignty and selfdetermination, in the Greater Philadelphia Area and beyond.

IN-PERSON OPENING NIGHT FILM, DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM

BLIND EYE ARTIST

76 mins | Documentary | USA | English | 2022

Director: Ashwin Chaudhary

LIVE 6:30 PM

Justin Wadlington’s life was changed forever when a tragic accident left him blind in one eye at the age of 5. Growing up without parents in the inner city of Philadelphia, he struggled to survive, living in emergency shelters and group homes. As an adult, Justin re-discovered his childhood passion for art. Justin built a new identity as the Blind Eye Artist. In the tumultuous years of 2020 and 2021, Justin’s artwork reached the upper tiers of the art world. Now as an established artist, Justin seeks to inspire kids who grew up like him to believe that they can do anything if they put their mind to it. This film will be screened in-person and available for online rental. There will be an in-person Q&A with the cast and crew after the screening.

PRESCREENER: NOMAD

10 minutes | Documentary | USA | English | 2022

Directors: Aby Isakov, Faryal Khan, and Reesha Gandhi

Nomad is an anonymous Black artist who lives in Germantown and works to uplift his community through his art. Nomad has dealt with backlash and controversy surrounding his graffiti tags, like “Black is Beautiful” and “Stop Gentrifying This Jawn.” “Nomad” works to highlight his growing presence and powerful art.

IN-CONVERSATION: ASIAN AMERICANS & POLITICAL REPRESENTATION

Moderated by: Ellis Choi

What does it mean to be represented politically? This panel is inspired in part by the documentary Chosen, which follows the campaigns of five Korean Americans running for U.S. Congress in 2020. Our panelists will discuss history, policy, the possibilities and implications of political power for Asian Americans, and the role media plays in both helping and hindering us gain and maintain a voice in the American political landscape. This program will livestreamed on 11/4 at 12:00 PM EST

ELLIS CHOI

12:00 PM

(she/her) is a nurse educator and ER/ trauma nurse, additionally supporting her community through healthcare education. Ellis joined PAAFF as a programming volunteer to combine her interest in film and the Asian Diaspora, as well as to learn from and support her Asian community.

KAY KYUNGSUN YU

(she/her) was the Voter Protection Director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, and served as the Chairperson of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. In 2018, Kay received the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Diversity Award and was named Attorney of the Year by the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania.

SUNYOUNG STRAIT

(they/them) is the Organizing Director at API PA. SunYoung obtained their Master’s Degree in Negotiations, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding, spent almost 12 years in labor organizing, and led the largest successful nursing home strike campaign in PA history. They remain a passionate advocate of workers rights, racial justice, LGBTQIA issues, and mental health.

MODERATOR:

PHILADELPHIA PREMIERE

DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM CHOSEN

89 minutes | Documentary | USA | English, Korean | 2022

Director:

Joseph Juhn

In 2020, five Korean Americans of diverse backgrounds with competing political views run for US Congress. David Kim is a young, progressive, LGBTQ candidate running in Koreatown, Los Angeles with a Trump-supporting conservative church pastor, for a father. Marilyn Strickland is a half Korean, half Black, Democratic candidate running in Tacoma, Washington, while Young Kim and Michelle Park Steel, both Republicans running in Orange County, show unapologetically strong allegiance to President Trump. Then finally, Andy Kim, an incumbent running for re-election, faces an uphill battle as no Democrat has won his district twice in a row in more than 150 years.

LIVESTREAM Q&A: 11/4 at 9:00 PM EST

PANEL

ASIAN FUTURISMS

Moderated by: Mehrin Masud-Elias

Futurism can refer to the genre known as science fiction, aesthetic movements meant to liberate art from the confines of western and colonial paradigms, or speculative fiction and imagined visual realities that propose new worlds and ways of being. Asian Futurism, in turn, is a difficult movement to define, if it can be described as one movement at all. This discussion with several groundbreaking artists and writers will explore the queerness of time, the othering of Asian ways of being, the drag of history upon the present moment, and how these ideas are all depicted, addressed, and complicated in a multitude of Asian Futurisms. This program will livestreamed on 11/5 at 11:00 AM EST

MEHRIN MASUD-ELIAS

(she/her) is a poet, writer, and lawyer from Bangladesh. Her collections of experimental poetry, Natural Alien and Apocalypsia, are in the submission process for poetry prizes. She is a co-founder of Twelve Gates Arts as well as a member of the Board of Pasión y Arte. She won the 2021 Peregrine Prize and the 2022 inaugural Universe in Verse prize from UPenn’s Kelly Writers House.

NUDRAT KAMAL

(she/her) is a PhD student of Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research and teaching focuses on South Asian literature in Urdu and English, particularly in the intersections of environmental humanities, postcolonial theory, gender and sexuality studies, and science fiction and fantasy.

JARET VADERA

(he/him) is an artist and cultural producer whose work examines the ways that images, and technologies colonize vision. Vadera’s work is influenced by science fiction, post/decolonial theory, Rorschach tests, koans, and impossible objects. Vadera’s prints, collages, sculptures, videos, and installations have been exhibited and screened at venues in the US, Canada, and India.

MODERATOR:

CHING-IN CHEN

(they/them) is descended from ocean dwellers and author of The Heart’s Traffic: a novel in poems and recombinant and chapbooks to make black paper sing and Kundiman for Kin :: Information Retrieval for Monsters. Chen is co-editor of The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities and a core member of Massage Parlor Outreach Project.

MIMI MONDAL

’s (she/her) latest publication is the Dungeons and Dragons adventure “In the Mists of Manivarsha” in the anthology Journeys through the Radiant Citadel. In 2020 her novelette His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light was nominated for a Nebula Award, and her short stories have appeared in numerous magazines including Clarkesworld, Daily Science Fiction, and The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction

SHIMUL CHOWDHURY

(she/her) is a new media artist and professor of Digital Media and Creative Technology at Florida SouthWestern State College. She holds an MFA in Digital Arts and New Media from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her artwork has been featured in the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery, The Front Gallery, and The 4Most Gallery, among others. She is currently the Art Director at MIPSTERZ.

DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM THE DARK WAY

48 minutes | Documentary | Iran | Farsi | 2021

Directors: Anahid Davari

Women diagnosed with breast cancer in Iran require permission from their husbands for medical surgery, including mastectomy. Although there is no legal basis for this, some doctors avoid doing surgery on patients without permission from their husbands, and some men use this power to harass their wives. This causes many problems in marriages and the social life of patients.

LIVESTREAM Q&A: 11/5 at 1:30 PM EST

DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM

WISDOM GONE WILD

84 minutes | Experimental Documentary | USA | English | 2022

Director: Rea Tajiri

In this moving and original reflection on aging, mortality, and transformation, Rea Tajiri partners with her mother, Rose Tajiri Noda, to create a film about the final sixteen years of Rose’s life as a person living with dementia. Together, they nurture their connection through listening, art, and music. Rose performs songs from her youth, providing the soundtrack for time travel, as we witness her evolution across nine decades of living. Delicately weaving between past and present, parenting and being parented, the film reflects on the unreliability of memory and the desire to reinvent one’s own life when memories fail us.

LIVESTREAM Q&A: 11/5 at 4:30 PM EST

PRESCREENER:

FEELING ASIAN AMERICAN

25 minutes | Documentary | USA | English | 2022

Director: Janet S. Kim

An exploration of the emotional journeys of five individuals who navigated their way through their own racial reckonings in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the height of anti-Asian hate that echoes the past and while rippling outward today, they found community, connection, and self.

NOV

EAST COAST PREMIERE

IN-PERSON CENTERPIECE SCREENING AT AAI

APORIA

126 minutes | Drama | Korea, Republic of | Arabic, Korean | 2021

Director: Ju Hyoung Lee

Aporia tells the story of someone caught in the midst of cultural, religious, ethnic, and national conflict. After fleeing Syria, Haleem hopes to bring his wife and children and settle in Germany. During a layover in South Korea, he is found in possession of a fake passport. Haleem then finds himself struggling in an unfamiliar country, taking illegal and illicit work in the hopes of being reunited with his family.

PHILADELPHIA PREMIERE

NARRATIVE PROGRAM THE PROTECTOR

93 minutes | Thriller | Canada | English | 2021

Director: Lenin M.

Sivam

After being released from a correctional facility and moving to a small town, Evelyn struggles and searches for meaning but is interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious book about a powerful god who brings peace wherever he goes.

LIVESTREAM Q&A: 11/6 at 2:00 PM EST

DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM

WE DON’T DANCE FOR NOTHING –A PHOTO-MONTAGE

86 minutes | Experimental | Hong Kong English, Tagalog, Cantonese | 2021

Director: Stefanos Tai

A photo-montage love letter to the Filipina domestic workers of Hong Kong, this visual recreation of memories shared by this community of 400,000 women (millions globally) follows one woman’s plan to run away. Captured on Super-16 amidst the Hong Kong Protests, the filmmakers blend stills with motion to highlight the passionate street dancing of these marginalized women and touch upon LGBTQ+ themes, issues of workers’ rights, and Hong Kong’s changing political landscape.

CW: Violence

PHILADELPHIA PREMIERE RENTAL PAAFF 2022 24

EAST COAST PREMIERE

DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM INK & LINDA

71 minutes | Documentary | USA | English | 2020

Director: Stuart C. Paul

Ink & Linda is a feature-length documentary chronicling the unexpected friendship and collaboration between Inksap, a Vietnamese American urban artist in his 20s, and Linda, an elder stateswoman of the modern dance scene in her 70s–as they team up to form LA’s most unlikely street art duo. Crossing the boundaries between generations and cultures, their story defies the conventions of art and society, exploring what it means to be an artist in today’s world. It is the story of a young man finding his identity; a woman in the last chapter of her life starting a new one; and of finding family where you least expect it.

LIVESTREAM Q&A: 11/6 at 8:30 PM EST

LIVE 6:00 PM

Performed by: Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists Gather Together in Their Name is a citywide project led by Jungwoong Kim and Shavon Norris. In this iteration, they explore and process the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the pan-Asian community. Combining dance, comedy, theatre, and spoken word, this multidisciplinary sharing meditates on grief, mutual aid, joy, and the value of community.

PRESENTED BY:

PREMIERE

NARRATIVE PROGRAM

TEINE SĀ - THE ANCIENT ONES

60 minutes | Supernatural Horror Anthology New Zealand | English, Samoan | 2021

Directors: Matasila Freshwater, Miki Magasiva, Anapela Polota‘ivao, Mario Faumui, Mario Gaoa

The old goddesses of Polynesia are stirring, summoned into the modern world by women who get more than they bargained for in these 5 tales of the unexpected. From the legendary fire gods to the wrath of the notorious spirit woman Telesa, the power of the ancient world meets the challenges of the new as the Teine Sā walk the earth again.

LIVESTREAM Q&A: 11/11 at 8 PM EST

DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM

THE BENGALI

71 minutes | Documentary | USA | English, Bengali | 2021

Director: Kavery Kaul

Fatima Shaik embarks upon an unlikely quest when she travels from New Orleans, the city of her birth, to India, home of her grandfather Shaik Mohamed Musa. An African American writer whose family has lived in Louisiana for four generations, she travels with Kolkata-born filmmaker Kavery Kaul to a part of India where no African American (or any American) has ever gone. Her search for the past is fraught with uncertainty as she looks for her grandfather’s descendants, the land he claimed to own, and the truth behind the stories she grew up with.

LIVESTREAM Q&A: 11/12 at 1:30 PM EST

LIVE READING AT AAI PAPA: THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Reading by Playwright Priyanka Shetty

PM

PRESENTED BY:

The Elephant in the Room is a witty dark comedy about just your typical Indian metalhead and software-engineer-turned-actor who must navigate life as an immigrant arriving in Trump’s America. When Priyanka makes the bold move to defy her family by quitting her IT job and moving to the U.S. to pursue an acting career, things don’t quite turn out how she imagined. Gear up for a funny, tumultuous ride through immiscible cultures, unforgettable love, irreparable loss, and the desperation of not belonging anywhere.

In-Person: 11/12 at 2:30–4:30 PM EST at Asian Arts Initiative

IN-PERSON RETROSPECTIVE FILM AT AAI

MISSISSIPPI MASALA

118 minutes | Narrative Feature | USA | English | 1991

Director: Mira Nair

LIVE 7:00 PM

The vibrant cultures of India, Uganda, and the American South come together in Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala, a luminous look at the complexities of love in the modern melting pot. Years after her Indian family was forced to flee their home in Uganda by the dictatorship of Idi Amin, twentysomething Mina (Sarita Choudhury) spends her days cleaning rooms in an Indian-run motel in Mississippi. When she falls for the charming Black carpet cleaner Demetrius (Denzel Washington), their passionate romance challenges the prejudices of both of their families and exposes the rifts between the region’s Indian and African American communities.

CW: sexual content

This film will be screened in-person.

IN-PERSON CLOSING NIGHT FILM AT AAI

RICOCHET

76 minutes | Documentary | USA | English | 2022

Directors: Jeff Adachi and Chihiro Wimbush

When a young woman is shot by an undocumented immigrant on Pier 14 in San Francisco, the incident ignites a political and media furor that culminates in Donald Trump’s election as president of the United States. In the eye of this storm, two public defenders fight to reveal the truth.

This film will be screened in-person and available for online rental. There will be an in-person Q&A with the cast and crew after the screening.

PRESCREENER: EXPANDING SANCTUARY

20 minutes | Documentary | USA | English, Spanish | 2022

Director: Kristal Sotomayor

Expanding Sanctuary covers the ordinary, extraordinary transformation of an immigrant worker, Linda Hernandez, who yearns for her mother’s presence at the dawn of her new marriage and new life. In her quest to bring her mother to the United States, what begins as a perfunctory but necessary step in order to obtain her mom’s visa, changes the character’s life and world-view entirely. The film documents this shift as she becomes a passionate organizer and emerges with her newfound voice, power, and agency. This journey, which started simply as a woman’s wish to be close to her mom on her wedding day, gives her renewed purpose in life. Now, the goal she hopes to obtain is no longer solely for her, rather her work, in solidarity, benefits the entire community of immigrant laborers that surrounds her.

NARRATIVE PROGRAM

BLACK SNOW

Director: Stepan Burnashev

Gosha is a self-employed trucker, who delivers goods to remote parts of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). His services are expensive, and he supplies fake low-quality vodka to his native community. After one trip, he exchanges vodka for meat and fish – the only currency the locals can use to pay him. His greed lures him into driving back to the city without a partner-driver. During the journey, his truck breaks down. He is stuck in the middle of nowhere and the only living soul for hundreds of kilometers.

Director: Tetsuichiro Tsuta

An omnibus film about bicycles and bicycle races. A Japanese rural town by the sea and people there are vividly depicted by the up-and-coming director Tetsuichiro Tsuta.

IN-PERSON INSTALLATION AT AAI PAPA MINI-RESIDENCY: LIBRA MOON

Performed by: Messapotamia Lefae

PRESENTED BY:

Libra Moon is a series of autobiographical contemporary dance pieces about identity, queerness, and compassion that combines devised fictional autobiographical storytelling, contemporary dance, immersive surrealist installation art, and projected animations. In this latest iteration, the audience will be immersed in the Filipino folklore of the Aswang through a contemporary dance film, which will explore family estrangement, identity, and myth. Presented as a part of the Philadelphia Asian Performing Artist Mini Residency Program.

Lead artist and performer: Messapotamia Lefae

Choreographer: Cameron Lussier

In-Person: 11/3–13 at Asian Arts Initiative

ONLINE

SHORTS PROGRAM

TOGETHER: FAMILY SHORTS

50 mins |

Curated by: David Tanh

The world can be a big and scary place, especially for those who feel lost or alone. A few kind words, a hug, or a helping hand can do a lot to help a person get through the day. Through animation and live action, scenarios both real and fanciful, this collection of short films reminds us of the importance of community and inspires us to support one another.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

AKI

Director: Wanci Hua | Taiwan | English | 2022

Aki, a beginner chef, must make a delicious meal for the emperor’s banquet. When things don’t go as planned, he turns to his friends for support.

COLD LUNCH

Directors: Insun Park, Jin Pei Lua | USA | English | 2022

Nari is a Korean American girl who wants to enjoy her lunch just like her friends, but her noodles are far from being American. Her noodles take the form of a dragon and seek her attention. Afraid of judgment from her peers, she tries her best to contain the noodle dragon.

A MORNING WITH AROHA

Director: Nicholas Riini | New Zealand | English | 2021

Aroha wants to share her creativity with her neighbors. Her imaginations come to life for everyone to enjoy.

REYNA

Director: Jenielle Ramos Salarda | USA | English, Tagalog | 2022

Vina, Queen in the Santacruzan festival, struggles to get ready after hearing negative comments about her appearance. Supportive sister Joy encourages Vina to embrace herself as she is by discussing the historical context and origin of these harmful comments before leading the festivities.

PERFECT RESTAURANT

Directors: Aiken Chau | Canada | Cantonese | 2021

A fly wreaks havoc on a family’s dinner at a restaurant.

PAPER UFOS

Directors: Sharon S. Park | USA | English | 2022

When an Asian American film student goes on a trip with her emotionally-distant immigrant father to visit her mother’s gravesite, she makes a shocking discovery about her father’s abandoned past.

A FLEETING MOMENT

Director: Allyanna Demafeliz | USA | 2021

An animated short film that follows the journey of two raindrops, and how they come to terms with what it means to be alive.

HI, AGAIN

Director: Sung Eun Park | USA | N/A | 2022

A woman is paid with a surprise visit when she ends up in the afterlife.

SIDEWAYS DREAMING

71 mins |

Curated by: Kacia Huynh

We grow up wishing for dreams to come true – dreams for ourselves, dreams for others, and even dreams for the world. Some dreams are warmly embraced while others are frantically pushed away, and in the hopes of chasing one dream, we can discover another. This collection of short films looks at the various dreams we face in the pursuit of finding ourselves along the way.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

DE CLOSIN NIGHT

Director: Shicong Zhu | USA | English, Mandarin | 2021

Siyi, a Chinese student in an American theater school, is on the brink of losing the first role she gets in college because of her accent. To win back her closing night, she is determined to get rid of her accent no matter what it takes.

SEASONS

Directors: Gabriella Canal, Michael Fearon | USA English, Korean, Spanish | 2021

A matriarchal Korean family farm navigates an uncertain future.

PACO

Director: Kent Donguines | Canada English, Tagalog | 2022

While keeping a secret from his family overseas, Paco struggles to uphold his responsibilities and aspirations.

PLUM TOWN

Director: Kelly Yu | USA | Mandarin | 2021

A young land developer returns to his childhood home in the countryside for the first time in a decade to convince his father to sell a failing plum orchard. When the two find themselves unable to understand one another, they turn to the dusty old karaoke machine in search of a common language.

WHEN LIFE CHANGES

57 mins

|

Curated by: Eric Hung and Ellis Choi

Whether we are adolescents, young adults, middle-aged, or older adults, life is constantly changing. Much of the time, these shifts take place so slowly that we barely register them. These short films capture moments when characters realize that life has suddenly changed, and that their identity, thoughts, and actions must also be altered. Be prepared for wild twists, the discovery of superpowers, the breaking of generational divides, and facing ghosts from the past.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

WHITE NOW PLEASE

Director: Kyle Lau | USA | English, Cantonese | 2021

Twelve-year-old Asian American Bryan Chen wants to be a hero, so he tries to become the thing he knows all heroes need to be… white.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE…

Director: Urvashi Pathania | USA | English | 2021

When a stern immigrant father catches his daughter kissing a girl, he makes a drastic choice.

UNFAMILIAR FAMILIAR

Director: Hae-Sup Sin | Switzerland | Korean | 2022

A middle aged Swiss-Korean woman flies to Korea during the pandemic after receiving news of her mother’s death. Due to restrictions, she spends her obligatory quarantine in her abandoned parental home. There, she gets confronted by a familiar, yet unfamiliar feeling from her past and present.

FAMILY DYNAMICS, HEALING CONNECTIONS

83 mins | Curated

by: Chetana R. Narasimha Jois

Families can be the source of our highest highs and deepest pains, and they profoundly shape our life experiences. These shorts dramatize families of multiple Asian identities, in 4 countries, and across 3 continents. As we journey with them through family celebrations, chance encounters, daily life, and a burglary, we are reminded of the strength and joy that families bring to our own lives.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

LAST FLIGHT

Director: Tianyi Jiang | China | Mandarin | 2022

On Chinese New Year’s Eve 2019, a young journalist receives the opportunity to report on COVID-19 in Wuhan, but her mom refuses to let her go.

TRICYCLE

Director: Kwang Min Lee | USA | Korean | 2022

An immigrant youngster from South Korea tries his best to make friends in a new environment. While spending the day with his friend, an unexpected encounter with his father on the street leaves him with a dilemma.

BAAHAR (OUTSIDE)

Director: Prakshi Malik | USA | English, Hindi | 2020

Disaster brews when Seher gets accepted to a boarding school—a dream come true—on the evening of a big family dinner.

DISRUPT

Directors: Jennifer Te Atamira Ward-Lealand New Zealand | English, Maori | 2021

When a burglary goes wrong, a meth addict must choose between his family and his next fix.

WHERE NO ONE LIVES

Directors: Li Anne Liew | USA English, Mandarin | 2022

One night, three lonely neighbors find themselves in search of connection, forgiveness, and company in an old apartment building.

WE’VE ONLY JUST BEGUN

Directors: Meneka Das | United Kingdom English, Hindi | 2022

Thirty-something Indian sisters Rumi and Nina journey to London in pursuit of their musical dream, but working at an Indian takeaway wasn’t part of the plan.

DIFFERENT

THAN BEFORE

Director: Mayumi Yoshida | Canada English, Mandarin | 2022

Sarah is celebrating her engagement with her sister Amanda, her parents, fiancé, and friends at a Chinese restaurant. When a group of racist hecklers shout rude comments and racial slurs at them during karaoke, Father (Baba) must decide what is best for his family.

BEING HUMAN

78

mins

|

Curated by: Christy Choo

Mental illness, addiction, and depression can leave us feeling vulnerable. By diving into love, loss, and grief, these shorts explore some of our most difficult experiences and intense emotions - in doing so, they also remind us of what makes us human.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

SURRENDER

Directors: Jess Dang | USA | English | 2022

A recovering compulsive gambler responds to her past trauma after 100 days of abstinence.

VIRUS

Director: Yuri Sapre | USA | English | 2022

A depiction of the filmmaker’s experience being mentally ill, exploring both the good and bad sides of neurodivergence for viewers that don’t understand how it feels, those that do, and those that experience it.

HEY THERE

Director: Kitty Hu | USA | English | 2022

As we grow older, we can better connect with our inner child and understand memories, triggers, and emotions. Over time, this can give us a softer version of ourselves and grant us more agency in the narratives we create about ourselves.

DISCONNECTED

Director: Maruia Jensen | New Zealand English, Maori | 2021

When a construction worker from South Auckland loses the last connection he has with his dead Mum, he spirals into a state of depression, prompting an intervention from beyond the grave.

BREEZE IN THE SEA

Director: Jingtao Xu | China | Mandarin | 2022

The story of a man and a black cat.

SHORTS PROGRAM IDENTITY IN STRUGGLE

54 mins |

Curated by: Klyde Breitton

How is identity shaped in times of political struggle? Pan-Asian Americanism was created as a project of resistance from protest movements during the turbulent 1960’s-70’s. Whether forced upon by others or self-created, our identities are in constant flux as the weight of historical moments push us to examine who we are. These shorts look at characters who negotiate their identities during political conflict and emerge forever changed.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

KALAM

Director: Prabin Kumar Rawat | Nepal | Nepali | 2019

Set during the outset of the Nepali civil war, “Kalam” follows a teenager who remains in his village to play in a football tournament. As people flee, the violence brewing throughout the country reaches his village. Based on a true story, “Kalam” is about childhood, migration and lost dreams.

MURDER TONGUE

Director: Alil Sohail Jaura | Pakistan | Urdu | 2022

May 1992. The state sanctioned “Operation” has put Karachi at unrest. Abdul Aziz Ansari is awakened by his daughter-in-law because his son hasn’t returned home. A knock on the door summons them to the hospital. What they witness is known today as the most brutal chapter of the city’s history.

BEAUTY QUEEN

Director: Myra Aquino | Philippines | Tagalog | 2021

In The Philippines during World War II, a young woman struggles to find purpose after losing her father.

TOGETHER, WE RISE: LGBTQ+ SHORTS

72 mins | Curated

by: Eric Hung and Wren Lee

Throughout history LGBTQ+ people have found strength in their communities. From the ball culture in New York City in the 1980s, to families both given and found, to friends and spiritual leaders, community can provide unconditional love, acceptance, and allyship. From a comedic science fiction take on the coming-out story to a film about embracing your gender identity, this showcase explores how community and connection empower LGBTQ+ people across the globe.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

BEAST

Director: Urvashi Pathania | USA | English, Hindi | 2022

A non-binary South Asian teenager uses Bharatanatyam dance to explore their gender identity.

UNITY MOSQUE

Director: Nicole Teeny | USA | English | 2020

Forced to hide their relationship while making the Hajj, El-Farouk, a gay imam, and his husband Troy co-founded Unity Mosque in Toronto, one of the first queer-affirming and gender-equal mosques. Despite death threats, the mosque forges on, playing a lifesaving role in the lives of its members.

VEILS

Director: Erika Nakayama | Japan | Japanese | 2021

Ayumi and Sayaka are a closed lesbian couple living together in Japan. They are looking forward to having a wedding photo shoot on their five-year anniversary, but it’s not easy finding a photo salon that serves LGBTQ couples equally.

COMING OUT WITH THE HELP OF A TIME MACHINE

Director: Naman Gupta | USA | English | 2021

When coming out to his traditional and god-fearing parents, Sid uses his time machine to reset the day trying to make sure everything goes perfect.

LUV, ME

Directors: Nicolas Jara, Yen Dinh | USA | English | 2021

Tiffany, a K-drama fanatic and Thanh, an anime and gaming nerd, are roommates fresh out of college. Hoping to help her roommate put themself out in the romantic world, Tiffany secretly makes Thanh a dating profile. Thanh must decide whether to speak up or let Tiffany walk all over them.

FIRECRACKER

Director: Caroline Guo | USA | English, Mandarin | 2021

On the night of their first anniversary in Beijing, a young Chinese woman is confronted with a lifechanging decision: whether she should keep herself and her Asian American girlfriend hidden from her traditional family with the upcoming Chinese New Year, or live out her dream as her true self.

SHORTS PROGRAM

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

64 mins | Curated by: David Tanh and Kelly Conrad

Are you a night owl, or perhaps someone seeking thrills, chills, and dark desires? Either way, this collection of shorts—with everything from man-eating dinosaurs to incessant nose bleeds to a stranded whale—is bound to keep you up through the night and leave you with more questions than answers.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

KAGEBOSHI

Director: Ken Ochiai | Japan | English, Japanese | 2021

In the 1930s, a Japanese American father and daughter must play a deadly game of shadow tag to escape from a demon child, Kageboshi.

UMBILICAL

Director: Pavit Panag | USA | N/A | 2022

A short film that deals with loss and a metamorphosis of self following the act of letting go—featuring a woman looking to revive her lover by sealing a deal with a creature.

RAJASAUR

Director: Sreejith Nair | USA | English | 2022

A father and daughter living in prehistoric times embark on a dangerous mission to return the lost egg of a Rajasaur, India’s most dangerous dinosaur.

DRIFT WHALE

Director: Moe Katakura | USA | N/A | 2022

A boy meets a stranded whale at the beach.

THE EVILEST MAN

Director: Kangming Li | China | Chinese | 2022

In order to escape the bionic crisis, a group of people flee to a village and live in seclusion for decades. One day, a few homicides occur and villagers believe there may be an android in the village. Two people are elected to uncover who the android is.

JAL-JINAE/SPEND YOUR LIFE WELL

Director: Janice Chi | USA | N/A | 2022

A girl with chronic nosebleeds takes an especially long bathroom break.

I CAN’T FORGET HIM

Director: Kevin Kai Wing Yiu Hong Kong | Cantonese | 2022

In a fantasy rom-com that marries traditional Hong Kong superstition with local queer culture, young rentboy GaGa goes on vacation with his drug dealer best friend. The trip goes haywire when he goes on a date with a mysterious legendary poet from 2000 years ago, Qu Yuan.

SHORTS PROGRAM MOMENTS OF TIME

76 mins | Curated

by: Kacia Huynh

History is anchored and remembered by big events we cannot ignore, but it’s the smaller moments that help us to move forward. Rewind the clock through this collection of short films and glimpse how individual challenges and intimate circumstances can both haunt and guide us toward a better future.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

EUREKA

Director: Miida Chu | USA English, Cantonese | 2021

3-13

A young, indentured Chinese prostitute must overcome her toxic dependency on the brothel madam on the eve of the 1885 anti-Chinese riot in Eureka, California.

442 THE NISEI SOLDIERS

Director: Ryosuke Hoshiyama | USA English, French, German | 2021

Chased by a fanatical Nazi officer, two Japanese American soldiers seek refuge in the woods of Bruyères, only to find themselves in the home of a French widow.

BAYARD STREET

Director: Cindy Chu | USA Mandarin, Cantonese | 2022

Two Chinese restaurant workers find love while chasing their American dreams in 1980’s NYC.

LAST HAWAIIAN SUGAR

Directors: Deja Cresencia Bernhardt | USA English, Hawaiian, Samoan | 2021

Nua, a twelve years-old, Samoan, is the product of the immigrant camp that “Big Sugar” brought to work the sugarcane fields. Nua’s story is both a metaphor for the effects of industrialized farming and a rare look into the final days of commercial sugar production in Hawaiʻi.

PAAFF PICKS

82

mins | Curated by: PAAFF Programmers

EYES AND HORNS

NOV 3-13

Director: Chaerin Im | Korea, Republic of | N/A | 2021

Inspired by Picasso’s Vollard Suite, the transformation of the masculine Minotaur leads to the destruction of the boundaries between sexes.

KĀHULI

Director: Chris Johns | USA | English | 2021

A cinéma vérité documentary that offers a glimpse into this largely unknown and complex world through the eyes of cultural and scientific experts, each of whom guide us through what stands to be lost if Hawai‘i’s snails go extinct.

LIVING THE SILENT DREAM

Director: Deddy Raksawardana | USA | English | 2022

A film about the history of the Indonesian community in Philadelphia, “Living the Silent Dream” tells the story of the struggles faced by the Indonesian community in achieving the American Dream.

DUET

Directors: Shae Xu | China | Mandarin | 2020

After they’ve long since drifted apart from each other, a high school music teacher meets an old colleague. When they decide to perform together as piano-duet partners, unspoken feelings inevitably resurface.

SPIDER

Directors: Minami Goto | Japan | Japanese | 2021

A young woman descends upon a household seeking revenge for her sister’s attack, and is presented with two possible targets. Both protest their innocence once the battle commences.

CYMK (COLORS YOU MAY KNOW)

Directors: David Chai | USA | English | 2021

Inspired by the terrible killings, hatred, and division of 2020, here’s a friendly reminder from your besties at House of Chai to embrace our differences and love one another.

NHPI: COMING HOME

92 mins | Curated by:

Sunny Huang

These films by Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander filmmakers explore what it means to come home, whether by exploring their heritage, protecting their homes, or returning to their people.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

A JOURNEY HOME

Director: Catherine Killough | USA | English | 2022

An animated short honoring the many meanings of home: as Arkansas, as the Marshall Islands, and as Earth that needs to be protected for the next generation.

TAPA: THE CLOTH THAT BINDS US Director: Nancy Thompson | USA | English | 2022

A journey through the life of a young Pasifika woman as she learns the traditional practice of making tapa cloth, passed down through generations. She incorporates the core values of this process into her existences in the modern world.

KÅNTAN HERERU - A BLACKSMITH’S SONG

Director: Sean Aguon Lizama | Guam | English | 2021

Guam’s only living master blacksmith shares the importance of his craft to daily life in the past and tries to find a place for it in a modern landscape.

KE KAHEA: AN INVITATION INTO SACRED SPACE

Directors: Justyn Ah Chong | USA English, Hawaiian | 2022

After receiving a kahea (calling) from ancestral lineages to create kapa for unearthed iwi kūpuna (skeletal remains), Aʻiaʻi Bello extends the calling to women in the community. Those that step forth learn to transform the wauke plant into sacred kapa and find themselves changed in the process.

RAIDS

Directors: Jade Jackson | New Zealand English, Samoan | 2021

Based on the treatment of Pacific Island families during the New Zealand Dawn Raids of the 1970’s, this short takes an intimate look into a police raid, as told through the eyes of a young girl Losa and her father Lupematasila.

PILI KA MOʻO

Directors: Justyn Ah Chong | USA | English | 2021

The Fukumitsu ʻOhana (family) of Hakipuʻu are native Hawaiian taro farmers whose land remains a kīpuka (oasis) of traditional knowledge. They are tossed into a world of complex judicial proceedings when a large settler-owned corporation destroys their familial burials to make way for development.

KA HOʻI – THE RETURN

Director: Mitchell Merrick | USA English, Hawaiian | 2021

An aging Hawaiian war veteran grapples with the nightmares of his past and fears of being forgotten as the world around him changes. One night, he hears a familiar voice calling him from the beach, and what he encounters is beyond anything he could have imagined.

SHORTS PROGRAM REALMS OF REMEMBRANCE

47 mins | Curated by:

Arzhang Zafar

Ghosts of half-forgotten places, blips of hidden history, and echoes of inner lives all swirl and dance together in this collage of experimental shorts tied together by their focus on dreams, memory, and longing for what’s been lost. Through captured sound and moving image we can perhaps hold onto those fleeting moments and thoughts, however real or unreal they may be.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

THE WALK HOME

Director: Chenjing Liaw | USA | English | 2021

On a walk through the city, a woman reflects on the route she frequently traveled as a child.

NANAY CLEO’S DREAM

Director: Jon Cuyson | Philippines | Tagalog | 2021

Envisioning her seafarer son in danger, Nanay Cleo, a visually impaired Babaylan – a pre-colonial Filipino shaman – summons her power to protect him at all costs.

REFLECTIONS ON CAPTURED MEMORY

Director: Brandon Vanbach | USA | English | 2021

A personal rumination on the relationship—or lack thereof—between a Vietnamese immigrant mother and her American-born son.

THE FEELING OF BEING CLOSE TO YOU

Director: Ash Goh Hua | Singapore English, Mandarin | 2022

Documenting an attempt at healing the trauma of touch between mother and child.

EMPIRE OF MY MELODIOUS MIND

Director: Jeannette Louie | USA English, Mandarin | 2022

In the space of a moment, inside a cabinet, perception embarks on an epic journey through the terrain of memories that form the identity of an American-born Asian.

STATE OF BEING

Director: Ouree Lee | USA English, Korean | 2021

A reflection on growing up in Kentucky as a Korean American woman.

VISIONS & VOICES OF IRANIAN WOMEN

87 mins | Curated by:

Arzhang Zafar

This collection of disparate shorts—each unique in its own right— is held together by the glue of Iranian women filmmakers at the helm. Whether documentary or fiction, personal or universal, their stories represent the visions and voices of those demanding to be seen and heard.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

SUITE NIGHT

Director: Mahtab Pishghadam | Iran | Farsi | 2022

Yasi and Raha are two girls rejected by everyone and everything. Raha, trapped in solitary confinement, fears the possibility that her virginity will be taken by a man more than she fears death. Meanwhile, Yasi does everything in her power to prevent her girlfriend from being executed.

FUTILITY SEASON

Director: Hoda Sobhani | USA | Farsi | 2021

An attempt to revive a friendship that has faded away due to circumstances that imprisoned one and forced the other to emigrate.

THE DOLL (AROUSAK)

Director: Elahe Esmaili | Iran | Farsi | 2021

After consulting with his relatives, a 35-year-old father consents to the marriage of his 14-year-old daughter. As individuals with differing perspectives, their family members grapple with the decision.

WORLD CUP

Directors: Maryam Khodabakhsh | Iran | Farsi | 2021

On the night of a couple’s migration, the child of their friend who has been entrusted to them gets lost, and then a secret is revealed...

THIS WOMAN’S WORK

61 mins |

Curated by: Kelly Conrad and Wren Lee

While historic decisions like the reversal of Roe v. Wade often make headline news, the day-to-day labor performed by women to adapt to a world that often feels unsuited to them is rarely publicized by the media. Whether attempting to leave an abusive relationship or navigating the loss of her young child, this showcase highlights the uphill battles faced by women across the globe—struggles with the power to create connection and resistance.

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

REMOVABLE

3-13

Director: Shu-Ying Chung | USA | English | 2022

An immigrant struggles with guilt after calling the police on her abusive husband, which results in his deportation.

LIN

Director: Lillian Xuege Li | USA English, Mandarin | 2021

How can a woman become herself when she has been shaped by and taught to sacrifice for the gaze of others? Lin (Lan Zhong) has many roles: a mother, a wife, a waitress, an immigrant. She is also a woman with a secret, who finally decides to rebel.

STILL ROLLING

Director: Liang-Chun Lin | USA | Mandarin | 2021

A rookie filmmaker on a TV production tries to survive a constraining environment where people don’t respect her boundaries. During the wrap party, she begins to process what she experienced.

GRAVEYARD

Directors: Ali Daraee | Iran | Farsi | 2022

A young mother loses her baby due to negligence. But since the presence of the father is required for burial permission in Iran, the young mother strives to find her missing husband and becomes more involved in diverse and serious issues.

CONTEMPORARY VIDEO ART EXHIBITIONPRESENTED BY 12G AND PAAFF

49 mins | Curated by: Ayesha Ali Ahmed, Jenna Hamed, Mir Masud-Elias, Bhairavi Mehra, Atif Sheikh, Anula Shetty, Ayesha Syed, Jaret Vadera, and Arzhang Zafar

Pre-recorded Q&A available with rental.

MILES & KILOMETRES

Director: Sonali Gulati | USA | N/A | 2021

A lingering haiku of migration, separation, dislocation, and exile.

30/900

Director: Shirin Maleki | Iran | English, Farsi | 2022

A poetic exploration of the fragmented experiences of an immigrant going through liminal otherness of temporary residencies.

COOKBOOK OF GESTURES

Director: Sarah K. Khan | USA | N/A | 2018

An homage to the embodied knowledge of women cooks and farmers.

AL ATLAL (THE RUINS)

Directors: Raed Rafei | Lebanon | Arabic, English | 2021

A drawing of an ancient bathhouse sparks a visual poem inspired by the Arab poetic tradition of “standing by the ruins.” (CW: sexual content, nudity)

IMAGINING PALESTINE

Director: Iman Jabreh | USA | Arabic | 2021

In this abstract short film, collection of Palestinian keffiyehs and various scarves create an abstract landscape..

CLENCH MY FISTS

Directors: Sarah Trad | USA | Arabic, English | 2020

Using footage from Lebanese films and audio from archival Lebanese funeral laments, this video collage explores growing up in an Arab family affected by death and grief.

IN A SINGLE THOUGHT

Directors: Darshika Singh | India | N/A | 2020

In the stasis of time, every moment passes in the dual thesis of examination and observation.

THE RIPTIDE

Director: Nazanin Noroozi | USA | N/A | 2021

Handmade cinema is used to transform personal and public archives into a narrative told by others addressing trauma and displacement.

OCCUPYING A CHAIR

Director: E Rady | USA | N/A | 2022

“Occupying a Chair” puts the subject in a scene resembling an interrogation. But with solidarity, no evil can hide.

RAŚMI/RAY

Director: Sarker Protick | Bangladesh | N/A | 2022

”Raśmi” (“a ray of light” in Bangla) is an arrangement of images and soundscapes that explores ideas of personal truth and fiction.

JURIES

NARRATIVE JURY

ROY WOL (he/him) is a 2022 Cannes Producer Network fellow, SXSW mentor, twotime IFP fellow, PGA mark-holding filmmaker. Roy Wol is a third culture kid (TCK) and the co-founder of the critically acclaimed production company, Studio Autonomous. His productions include SXSW winner “The Garden Left Behind” staring trans Latina Carlie Guevara; 2022 MPAC Award winner “Americanish” starring Palestinian American comedian Mo Amer; Academy Nominee Milcho Manchevski’s “Bikini Moon” starring Condola Rashad, amongst others.

ARAM SIU-WAI COLLIER (he/him) is a filmmaker, educator, and film festival programmer. He is currently the Artistic Director at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. His feature, documentary, and experimental films have played festivals across North America and internationally. Aram is a mixed-race Asian Canadian/American (Chinese and English/Dutch/German) originally from San Francisco native and now based in Toronto, Canada.

HANNA HUANG (she/her) is a 1.5 gen Taiwanese American who grew up along the Texas-Mexico far away from the comforts of bubble tea shops. Along with being a producer behind the new mini-documentary series Stories Within, she is the Executive Director of Austin Asian American Film Festival, Mayoral appointee to the City’s Austin Asian American Quality of Life Commission, and longtime AAPI cultural arts and educational programs professional. She finds herself very fortunate to be able to tell her parents that her undergraduate Asian American studies degree is one she makes use of every day.

DOCUMENTARY JURY

NADINE PATTERSON (she/her) is a filmmaker and media arts activist who works at the crossroads of narrative and documentary cinema. She earned her Master of Arts in Filmmaking at London Film School. She operates the production company, Harmony Image Productions (HipCinema), with her mother Marlene G. Patterson. She is a co-founder of SIFTMedia 215 which supports the career growth of Women of Color in film. She is currently developing a dramatic series on the Black inventor/ engineer Lewis Latimer.

ANULA SHETTY (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker and new media artist. She is a 2020 CAAM (Center for Asian American Media) Fellow and a recipient of a Pew Fellowship. She was previously awarded three Media Arts Fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and was nominated for a USA Artist Fellowship. She received a Project Involve Fellowship, two Independence Foundation Fellowships and a Leeway Foundation Transformation Award for her art and social change work. Anula received her MFA in Film & Media Arts from Temple University.

JURIES

ELLISON SHIEH (they/them) is a multi-disciplinary artist, filmmaker, and organizer based in the unceded ancestral lands of the Duwamish tribe (also known as Seattle). They are deeply committed to exploring human connections through mixed media, and uplifting the stories and voices of historically excluded communities. By day they work at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, and by night they are the Festival Co-Director of the Seattle Asian American Film Festival.

SHORTS JURY

SARAH TRAD (she/her) is a Lebanese-American artist, curator, and cultural critic based in Philadelphia. Working in fibers, video, and computer art, she focuses on themes of how Arab identity intersects with queerness, mental health, memory, and future alternate realities. She is the Co-Director of Programming for the MENA Film Festival in Vancouver. Sarah’s work has been screened at the Gimli Film Festival, Toronto Arab Film Festival, Antimatter Media Art Festival, Rendezvous With Madness Festival, Everson Museum of Art, and Currents New Media.

CATCHING ON THIEVES (she/her) is a multimedia artist who creates to both understand what is to be & to stay alive. She writes of spies & prophets, Y2K conspiracies & the relationship between abstraction, perception & interoception. She was resident at the Queer Materials Lab, Translab, The Performance Intensive, PAPA, PAAFF, & the upcoming Session 9 of the Raw Materials Academie hosted at the ICA in Spring 2022. She is founding a church devoted to the worship & study of art called The Church of the Quarter-Closed Eyes

AYESHA SYED (she/her) is the Social Media Manager at Twelve Gates Arts. She is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Textile Design at Jefferson University.

PECO AARG

David Cheung

BCG

Shannon Zhan PA Dept of Drug & Alcohol Programs

Hepatitis B Foundation

Independence Public Media Foundation

Philadelphia Cultural Fund PA Council on the Arts

Asian Mosaic Fund Asian Arts Initiative Dave Kyu

Anne Ishii

Rodney Camarce Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists Cat Ramirez Joseph Ahmed Chantal Vorobei Thieves

InterAct Theatre Cambodian Association of GP Sarun Chan Laos in the House Catzie Vilayphonh WHYY

Ann Letizi-Beatty

Philly Asian and Queer

THANK YOUS

National Federation of Filipino American Associations

Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival Nancy Nguyen VietLead Aleks Martray Big Picture Alliance Sarah Mueller Kristal Sotomayor cineSPEAK Rana Fayez YallaPunk Indonesia Diaspora Network

Modero Dance Company Asian Am. Chamber of Commerce Samip Mallick SAADA Asian Americans United PAACH Councilwoman Helen Gym Sharon Pinkenson

Joan Bressler

Nicole Shiner Greater Philadelphia Film Office

Djung Tran, Esq. APABA-PA Lailanie Gadia

A-Doc Phuong Nguyen

The Womens Film Festival

Scott CHOPS Jung

Kris Mendoza Lexi Morrison Chisom Chieke

Maestro Filmworks PhillyCAM Kris Mendoza

Lexi Morrison Maestro Filmworks John Chin PCDC Wynton Wong Brett Kodama

Anna Zeng

Center for Asian American Media

Francis Cullado Eseel Borlasa Abe Ferrer

Visual Communications Kayla Wong Asian Cinevision Ellison Shieh Andrew Koh Victoria Ju Seattle Asian American Film Festival Susan Chinsen

Boston Asian American Film Festival

Brian Hu

San Diego Asian Film Festival

Hanna Huang

Austin Asian American Film Festival Debbie Chen

HAAPIFest

Melissa Bisagni DC APA Film Festival

Maori Holmes Imran Siddiquee Sara Zia Ebrahimi

Blackstar Film Festival Marangeli Mejia Rabell Kristal Sotomayor

PHL Latino Film Festival

Aram Siu Wai Collier

Toronto Reel Asian Louis Massiah Alexia Chororos

Scribe Video Center

Atif Sheikh

Aisha Khan

Ayesha Syed

Twelve Gates Arts

Fariha Khan

University of Pennsylvania Asian American Studies Program

THANK YOUS

Jeannie Wong

Queen & Rook Cafe

Asian Pacific Fund

Give In May The Rounds

Anna Perng Alexander Chan Tanya Tran Cat Ramirez Clem Cheung Jade Song Kenneth Eng Yue Wu Daniel Park Justin Ricafort Indah Nuritasari Al’n Duong Jian Yu Carol Wong Jacqui Sadashige Serena Chan Jeff Wang Helen Ly Tyler Wan Walter Tsou

Thu Tran

William Lai Beverly Thompson Andrew Toy Jacqueline Hom Betty Litsinger Tina DeAngelis

Frances Nan Shobha Sharma

Glenn Hing Catherine Shaw Tricia Coonrad

Ayoung Lee Brad Baldia Catherine Hawkes Geraldine Wang Heather Nguyễn Don Kajioka

Caren Hosansky

PAAFF Staff Volunteers PAAFF Event Volunteers PAAFF Advisory Board

Celebrate Asian American Film & TV

Minari