Centerpiece Film: Aporia

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…

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.

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.

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.

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.