Official Selections: 2nd-8th LA Asian Film Festivals
Congratulations to our accepted filmmakers!
Films are listed in alphabetical order, index to the left.
Scroll Down to learn more about each film
Call for Cassie
World Premiere
Short
On her birthday, a Chinese mother and masseuse Cassie is dumped by her married lover. When her lover's wife comes for a massage, Cassie battles between her conscience and her desires.
Director: Jiwon Lee
Producer: Ciao Xinyu Zhao
Writer: Jiwon Lee
Cast: Christine Liao, Randy Oppenheimer, Tracy Dye
Cinematographer: Aaron Pham
Editor: Jiehan Mercury Song
- Best Indie Short Film in Indie Short Fest November 2022
- Award of Commendation at Canada Shorts Film Festival
Instagram: @callforcassie
Closed
Short
This is about a guy whose dick closes.
Director: Dan Marmor and Tim O'Hanlon
Producer: Dan Marmor, Tim O'Hanlon, Ryan Herzich
Writer: Dan Marmor
Cast: Ryan Herzich, Pernell Celestine, Anya Krawcheck
Best Short Screenplay
Desert Dream
Short
A young Korean foreign exchange student gets expelled and decides to spend his last day living the American Dream.
Director: Dante Jiayu Liu
Producer: Junho Park, Yuky Shen
Writer: Junho Park, Daniel Cubitt Cast: Sean Choi, Thérèse Azzara, Newton Kaneshiro, Scott Subiono
Cinematographer: Guanting Du
Editor: Qiyan Li
Website: desertdreamthefilm.com
Dirty Laundry
Los Angeles Premiere
Kayla Mak Harrison aspires to become a filmmaker, but she faces additional stigma regarding her mental health. As a Chinese person, her culture dictates she must suppress emotions to achieve harmonious relationships at all costs. This documentary examines the roots of this deep-seated shame, how it affects family relations and its consequences on the individual and the community.
Director: Florence Hwang
Producer: Florence Hwang
Writer: Florence Hwang
Cast: Kayla Mak Harrison, Cymone Lee, Ahlay Chin, Ren Yuan and Serina Hsu
Cinematographer: Brent Gilbert, Ethan Butterfield, Kayla Mak Harrison, Florence Hwang
Editor: Florence Hwang
Nominee at Yorkton Film Festival, Nominee at Regina Film Festival, Best Student Short Film at Uruvatti International Film Festival, Best Short Documentary at Boden International Film Festival, Best Student Short/Feature at Gully International Film Festival, Finalist at Directors Cut Int'l Film Festival, Official Selection for DisOrient Asian Film Festival of Oregon.
DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon for Short film in 2022.
Website: florencehwang.com
Instagram: media_gal
Twitter: shutter_grl
Facebook: Florence Hwang
Fresh Peaches
Los Angeles Premiere
Circa 1977, America. When his grandmother is falsely accused of stealing a tube of lipstick, a Vietnamese boy named Binh must try to diffuse the rising, heated altercation.
Director: Lana Nguyen
Producer: Cameron Kostopoulos
Writer: Lana Nguyen
Cast: Tiffany Rothman, Tom Dang, JC Henning, Andy Pessoa, Venessa Verdugo
Cinematographer: Daphne Daniels
Editor: Daphne Daniels
As a filmmaker, my goal with Fresh Peaches was to tell a Vietnam War story that was about the Vietnamese, for the Vietnamese. On a personal note, it was also a way for me to connect with my grandmother, who passed away before I was born, but who I had always heard about through stories and anecdotes. She is by far the greatest person I’ve never known. Currently, Fresh Peaches has screened at festivals across the globe, including CAAMFest and DC Asian Pacific Film Fest.
Website: lananguyenfilm.com
FilAm
World Premiere
Short Film
“FilAm” tells the story of a young Filipino American named JP, a boy on the cusp of adulthood who’s struggling to figure out his place and the world, and who he really is. Is he Filipino enough? Is he really American? And why does any of that even matter?
Director: Tony Marquez
Producer: Allison Reyes, Stephanie Aristei, Laurel Pierce
Writer: Micah McFarland
Cast: (comma separated, i.e. John Leguizamo, Viola Davis, Bowen Yang) Nikolai Bazan, Carlin James, Coel Mahal, Raphael Louis, Tyler Sopland, Linda Augustin, Napoleon Highbrou
Cinematographer (if applicable): Mannon Butt
Editor: Zach Griffin
- Award Winner Hollywood Blvd Film Festival
- Finalist Canadian Cinematography Awards
- Honorable Mention Hollywood New Directors
Website: filammovie.com
Instagram: @filammovie
Twitter: @filamthemovie
Facebook: fb.com/filamthemovie
First Born
The short film revolves around Arthur, a young boy with a passion for Kung fu. However his younger sister, Aurora, has a natural talent for the sport. As a result, she received most, if not all the praise from their father. So in an attempt to prove his worthiness, Arthur must put on a near perfect performance at the upcoming competition.
Director and Writer : Justin Bruce Lee
Art Director : David Diba
Animation Supervisor and Writer: Aerik Bertulfo
Producers: Aerik Bertulfo, David Diba, Justin Bruce Lee
First Born was selected in 39 film festivals including Chinese American Film Festival and Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. From those festivals, the film was able to win awards from Independent Shorts Awards, Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards, Urban Action Showcase International Action Film Festival, San Francisco IndieFest, and San Francisco Another Hole in the Head Film Festival.
Website: inbetweensjsubfa2020.org/student-projects/firstborn
Instagram: @firstborn_film
Facebook: @firstborn.jaedhouse
Call(The)Girl
West Coast Premiere
Sang Min, pure at heart is lonely. Covid 19 won't end soon and his writing is getting slow.
Moreover, he had a fight with his longtime girlfriend and decided not to see her for some time. He even moved and didn't tell her the new address.
Today is his birthday and he is so lonely. He accidentally finds out about the call girl site but has no intention to actually reserve the girl. But when he happened to drop the cell phone after writing the request, the message was sent and there was no return. Finally the time comes and when he opens the door, he sees his girlfriend on the other side of the door.
Fantasy rom com begins with an accident and that accident leads to another accident.
Director: Hee Chul Kwon
Producer: Jung Ho Han
Writer: Hee Chul Kwon
Cinematographer: Sung-kook Lee Sung-kook
Editor: Hee Chul Kwon
Hollywood Just 4 Short - Comedy Winner
Hang On To Your Short NJ - Best Long Film
CKF International Film Festival - UK Best Director, Best Film Of the Month
Top Indie Film Festival- Tokyo, Japan BEST Narrative Short
Oniros Film Festival -Best Comedy
DAEBU (Godfather)
Short
6 years removed from his once violent life, ex mob boss James will be pulled back in for one night to tie up loose ends... for good.
Director: Al Chang
Producer: Al Chang
Writer: Al Chang
Cast: Kang Kim (James), Hayden Won (Park), Al Chang (Min), Michael Chang (Ando)
Cinematographer (if applicable): Marco Luna
Editor: Al Chang
Won BEST ACTOR (Kang Kim) at the Los Angeles Asian Film Awards.
Instagram: @4lcfilm
Dragon
Los Angeles Premiere
Short
A Chinese-American college student struggles to respond to a letter from his estranged father.
Director: Matthew Chang
Producer: Matthew Chang
Writer:Matthew Chang Cast: Matthew Chang, Eva Francesca, Jenny Cheng
Cinematographer: Daniel Huang, Hannah Tsai Kim
Editor: Matthew Chang
Instagram: @mc.hang
Extra Credit
Los Angeles Premiere
This is an auto-biographical stop-motion animation about Angel Yau’s experience with school and learning as a shy and awkward kid. School was hard for her mentally, socially, and emotionally. She just wanted to be validated and be special in someone’s eyes.
Director: Angel Yau
Producer: Angel Yau
Writer: Angel Yau
Cast: Angel Yau
Cinematographer: Angel Yau
Editor: Angel Yau
"Extra Credit" has been accepted to 10 film festivals so far.
Angel Yau was recently on a short BBC doc featuring her stop motions and reflecting about mental health as an Asian- American comedian and artist.
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08mr7k6/the-hurtful-truth-i-never-told-my-parents
Website: www.angelyau.com
Instagram: @ yauangel
Twitter: @ angelyau
Facebook: facebook.com/angelyaufan
Fugetsu-Do
Los Angeles Premiere
"We had to live the American Dream twice."
This short documentary is a portrait of Fugetsu-Do, a candy store that has been an anchor for the Japanese-American community in Little Tokyo since 1903, centered at the heart of Downtown LA for over 115 years. This family-run business is one of the oldest in Los Angeles and its history is emblematic of the immigrant experience in America. It hasn’t been easy to keep going and yet, as its owner Brian Kito says, “the shop itself has an overwhelming desire to exist - it wants to survive.”
The ingredients of the brightly-colored pieces of mochi-gashi that line Fugetsu-Do's wood-paneled cases include so much more than rice flour and sweet bean paste. Mixed inside are stories of joy and pain, tradition and racism, legacy and loss. Survival is never easy; it’s complicated and messy, full of contradictions and surprises. In the three generations that the Kito Family has been running Fugetsu-Do, the store has become a memory bank for the community and the stories that line its walls could not be more relevant in today's America.
Director: Kaia Rose
Producer: Kaia Rose
Featuring: Brian Kito
Cinematographer: Eric Mann
Editor: Kaia Rose
The film premiered at Boston Asian-American Film Festival in October of 2020 and is currently making the festival rounds.
Website: kaiarose.com/
Facebook: fb.com/FugetsuDoFilm
Twitter: @kaiaderose
Instagram: @_kaia.rose_
Press Kit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rhq6FM_aYbS8OTHsLHwPUXiSgYR8EvG9GmgnjUO50hY/edit?usp=sharing
Chinatown: Our Only Home
Our Only Home explores the passing down of Chinese traditions across generations in Manhattan Chinatown by examining the evolution of the Chinatown community told through intimate stories of two multiple decades-old family businesses and the new generation of young people working to rebuild the neighborhood during the Covid-19 pandemic. The reasons behind Chinatown's resiliency and permanence are due to the community's conviction toward traditional values and Chinese culture and their willingness to help each other. To the subjects in the film, Chinatown is a place that encapsulates their childhood and generations of memories and hard work. "Chinatown is representation" to its community members because of their deep-rooted love and appreciation for a place that has become an inseparable part of their identity. Chinatown is "our only home”.
Director: Tony Wang
Producer: Miranda Manganaro
Writer: Tony Wang
Cast: Ken li, Zhong Ming Liu, Alice Kayi Liu, Victoria Lee, Jennifer Tam, Loe Lee, Patrick Mock, Nail Tom
Cinematographer: Tony Wang
Editor: Tony Wang
Awards: New York Los Angeles International Film Festival Best Short Documentary
Director’s instagram and website:
@tonyntwang
www.tonywang.space
Dear Dad
Peter Dario’s entrepreneurial journey grew out of unimaginable loss.
Director: Red Gaskell
Producers: Amy Schacter, Jasmine Blackmon, Nick Dimichino
Writer: Nick Dimichino
Cast: Peter Dario, Terrace Plant Shop
Cinematographer: Derrick Chen
Editors: Jocelyne Chaput, Yuko Inatsuki, Carl Sturgess
Dear Vanessa
Los Angeles Premiere
Short
Amidst a night of heartache and longing, two Asian girls, Lucy and Vanessa seize an opportunity to get closer through laughter, tears, and shared dreams. As their connection deepens, Lucy must navigate her hidden feelings toward Vanessa while exploring the possibility of a profound and unexpected love. Lucy reveals her desire to create a story about their journey, and the film becomes the realization of her deepest aspirations.
Director: Roku Jingwen Long
Producer: Emily Xiaoyue Ruan, Liz Shaodan Ji
Writer: Liz Shaodan Ji, Roku Jingwen Long
Cast: Jueun Kang, Isabel Yun-ru Chen
Cinematographer: Leon Chongpo Liao
Editor: Lana Stepanova
- Official Selection - 35th NewFest New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival
Instagram: @dear_vanessa_film
Friends From Home
"Friends From Home" is an animated short film that follows the stream of consciousness of a third-generation Asian American college student as she holds conversations about generational differences over Zoom with her California-based friends and family. As the multi-faceted complications within race, identity, and upbringing are gradually unpacked, a much more hidden and disturbing issue is suddenly revealed.
Director: Alyssa Huang
Producer: Alyssa Huang
Writer: Alyssa Huang
Cast: Friends, Family
Cinematographer: Alyssa Huang
Editor: Alyssa Huang
Nominee for Best Animated Film Award for the 24th Arpa International Film Festival
Website: tapninjatap.wixsite.com/alyssahuang/friendsfromhome
Force 136: Chinese Canadian Heroes
West Coast Premiere
In 1944, approximately 150 Chinese Canadians were recruited and dropped behind Japanese enemy lines. We meet 4 of the surviving soldiers to hear how they fought for their country even while they were denied the full rights of Canadian citizens, and how their actions helped pave the way for the right to vote.
Director and Producer: Melinda Friedman
Editors: Melinda Friedman and Jordan Bosch
DOPs: Craig Cross and Peter Planta
Cast: Catherine Clement, Dr. Henry Yu, Ronald Lee, Charles Lee, Neill Chan, Tommy CG Wong