From July 21 – 30, Asian Cinevision presents the Asian American International Film Festival (“AAIFF16”), the country’s oldest and longest running Asian interest film festival, with screenings and events at multiple venues in Manhattan and Queens.
This year’s festival offers eleven documentary features, over a dozen narrative films, and roughly fifty shorts, including the delightful Fairy Tale and exotically named Fata Morgana, in eight themed programs from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Iraq, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam. Some works bring attention to local and global issues important to Asians and the Asian Americans and give them a voice to tell their stories from their perspective. Individuals who overcome adversity and challenge an unfair system are celebrated in films like Right Footed and Under Construction celebrate individuals for overcoming adversity, and films like 1000 Hands of the Guru and Tyrus recognize unsung heroes who preserve and contribute to artistic culture. They’re not all cerebral films. A number of comedies, horror films, and mysteries are there simply to entertain.
As the United States and Asian countries change, the demographics of immigrants shift, diasporic communities evolve, and people’s understanding of and experiences with Asia and Asia America expand, discussions of topics long explored by filmmakers of Asian descent — personal identity, acceptance, social justice, and political rights — adapt to follow sentiments and priorities and to lead conversations and shape opinions. The Asian American International Film Festival is in many ways a barometer of contemporary Asia and Asian America. We interviewed Asian CineVision Executive Director John C. Woo last year about the festival and its relationships with the community and its audience.
Filmmakers of Chinese descent are well-represented at this year’s festival, reflecting growing number from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States who are learning about and active in media and entertainment. From Chinese languages films made in Asia to films by Chinese Americans about Chinese in America to a bounty of short films (click the links to jump to the section listings below), their works reflect an incredible diversity of backgrounds and interests.
Following last year’s watershed year for LGBTQ rights in the United States, AAIFF16 brings the spotlight to the Asian LGBTQ community by including six short films about this overlooked group and selecting two feature-length films as the opening and closing films.
In addition to films, the festival, now in its 39th year, continues its commitment to showcasing the diversity of Asian and Asian American filmmakers and supporting this ever growing community of creators and audiences. Panel discussions which include the New Media Panel, Mayor’s Office Presents: Master of None Panel with Golden Globe-nominated Netflix series co-creator Alan Yang and cast member Kelvin Yu, and the Storming the Writers’ Room Writers Guild of America Panel focus on the presence and roles of Asian Americans in media and entertainment. Screenings and workshops like the 72 Hour Shootout which premiers the top 10 films conceived and completed within a lightning marathon of 72 hours during Asian American Film Lab‘s filmmaking competition this past June, the Work in Progress workshop, and the SAG-AFTRA Screenplay Reading engage local and emerging filmmakers and provide them with opportunities
The festival also reaches out to the Asian communities in Flushing with free screenings of three eclectic films, including a documentary made by the first Korean American filmmaker given official permission by the North Korean government to film inside the country, and a showcase of shorts by senior filmmakers who participated in the TWN Senior Media Workshop Showcase.
The complete line-up of films and events can be perused here, and festival trailers can be seen on the AAIFF YouTube page. Beyond Chinatown readers can use discount code BCaaiff16 for 25% off tickets. Festival trailers can be seen on the AAIFF YouTube page.
Films from Asia
Six Chinese language feature films explore culture, history, and society in unusual ways or through personal profiles. A number of films from China playing at Anthology Film Archives are listed in the line-up but are not officially part of AAIFF16.
A Tale of Three Cities – AAIFF16’s centerpiece film is a historical drama based on the true love story of Jackie Chan’s parents (played by stars Sean Lau (刘青云) and Tang Wei (汤唯)) during the tumultuous times of the Second Sino-Japanese War through the early days of the People’s Republic.
Saturday, July 23, 3 PM
Village Cinema East
Director Mabel Cheung, who has won awards at Hong Kong Film Awards, Taiwan Golden Horse Award, and Berlin Film Festival, will participate in a talk-back co-presented with Asian American Women Media Makers.
Saturday, July 23, 12 PM
Museum of Chinese in America
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The Dog – Director Lam Canzhao leads a small film crew as they shoot a film about a stray dog in the streets of Guangzhou, leading the viewer into an unpredictable, peculiar and incredible journey. Shot documentary-style while employing characteristics of hybrid cinema, The Dog’s low-tech, casual style reveals a wealth of stories that reflects both the authenticity and occasional absurdity of the living situations of migrant workers and of those who otherwise live “below the line.” As the debut feature film directed by Lam, The Dog reads more like a lonely rebel’s exploration and revelation to the world.
The director will be in attendance for a post-screening panel.
Dir. Canzhao Lam
2015, China, 88 min.
Cantonese with English Subtitles
Sunday, July 24, 6 PM
Village East Cinema
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In the Room – One of the most transitory lived spaces, the hotel room, becomes the vehicle that transposes a sprawling tapestry of stories in Eric Khoo’s vision of the history of Singapore. The film is anchored as a posthumous tribute to Singapore writer-musician Damien Sin, also the scriptwriter for Khoo’s first feature Mee Pok Man.
Starting off from the advent of Singapore’s occupation in 1942, two men meet for the last time in the hotel room before the Japanese arrive. In the ‘70s, a band celebrates New Year’s Eve fiercely in an orgiastic drug fueled party. Decades pass as stories unfold within the same hotel room. Reflecting Singapore’s history as an entrepôt, characters of diverse backgrounds and nationalities find themselves in the hotel room, as a spirit watches on, drawn to the suffering and tragedies expressed within it.
In the Room contains all the hallmarks of Eric Khoo’s oeuvre – a distilled nod towards his love for horror, an empathetic approach towards cruelty, and the constant search for the transitory moments of human tenderness. It is perhaps his most ambitious and personal feature film, and the perfect bookend to a year of jubilee celebrations.
Among the documentaries are those that bring attention to local and global social issues important to Asian and Asian American communities; while others and will profile individuals who have overcome personal adversity or made contributions to society or their artistic crafts.
Dir. Eric Khoo
2015, Hong Kong, Singapore, 90 min.
Cantonese, English, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mandarin, Thai with English subtitles
Saturday, July 23, 8:15 PM
Village East Cinema
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Jolin – Dongguan, simultaneously the manufacturing hub and inadvertent sex capital of China; it is home to 1.7 million female factory workers, 300,000 of which comprised of former factory girls turned sex workers. Since the government crackdown on prostitution in 2014, an increasingly growing number of women seek to flee Dongguan – and the stigma associated with it. It is here that 22-year- old country girl, Jolin, has worked for the past five years, and where her story begins.
The documentary focuses on a former factory girl, 22-year- old Jolin, who is the only child of her family and has found work as a stripper in Dongguan. She undergoes risky plastic surgery to look more ‘sexy’ and tries to find her estranged father for reasons that go beyond healing her fractured family. She hopes to leave Dongguan behind and become a famous actress in Shanghai. Jolin’s story depicts a young girl’s “Chinese Dream” and the sadness of China’s loneliest generation.
Dirs. Siyan Liu and Danni Wang
2016, China and United States, 67 min.
Chinese with English subtitles
The directors will be in attendance for a post-screening panel.
Saturday, July 29, 6:30 PM
Village East Cinema
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Singapore Minstrel – Roy Payamal is the wildest busker of a country ranked the world’s most emotionless society. An old-time pioneer of the local scene, dubbed ‘Silver Man’, he creates mind-boggling acts, taking his undermined profession as a serious art- but is his faith impossible idealism or an admirable conviction?
Unraveling the nation’s bureaucratic reaches, a discourse on culture and expression plays out, co-starring Roy’s eccentric street colleagues. Flowing kaleidoscopically from interviews and fantasy sequences, to Roy’s handphone footage of his everyday life, Singapore Minstrel is an invitation into his beautiful mind, a magical, trying universe where art and life dialogue in a tropical dream.
Dir. Ng Xi Jie
2015, Singapore, 87 min.
Chinese, English with English subitles
Sunday, July 24, 8:15 PM
Village East Cinema
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TPE-TICS – Huang Dawang (黃大旺), an extravaganza from Taiwan sound/ performance art scene, is also known as Black Wolf or Yingfan-Psalmanazar. He has developed a distinctive style of improvisation and electronic noise, and has a unique performance – the “Black Wolf Nakashi” show. This film follows him in the city, from sound to body, from bedroom to ruins.
Dir. Jessica Wan-Yu Lin
2015, Taiwan, 68 min.
Mandarin with English subtitles
Friday, July 29, 9:15 PM
Village East Cinema
Chinese in America
Three documentaries and one fictional film about Chinese in America that you might not have heard about.
Breathin’: The Eddy Zheng Story – A documentary feature about a Chinese immigrant who became the youngest prisoner at San Quentin State Prison and later one of the nation’s most recognized leaders on prison reform and youth violence prevention. Eddy entered the criminal justice system at 16 years old with limited understanding of the English language or the U.S. judicial system. After spending time in the California Youth Authority, he was transferred to San Quentin State Prison as soon as he turned 18. While in prison, Eddy learned English, earned his college degree, published his poetry, and transformed into a nationally recognized leader—inspiring youth, activists, and politicians on issues of prison reform and youth violence prevention. As an advocate for Ethnic Studies in the prison college curriculum, Eddy was sent to solitary confinement for 11 months, where he garnered support from community activists and leaders. Even as Eddy fought systemic injustices, he continued to fight an internal battle. Spending nearly two decades in prison left a physical and mental toll on him, an all-too-common phenomenon for the incarcerated. What is more, Eddy had to reconcile with his family, for whom the shame and stigma of prison caused a lifetime of secrets and lies. Despite being released from immigration custody in 2007, Eddy has been ordered deported to China and awaits the final court decision. With the looming possibility of deportation, Eddy must negotiate what it means to “live freely”—attempting to rebuild a family, reconcile with his victims, and make a lasting change in society at large.
Scott “Chops” Jung, the film score composer, will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A.
Dir. Ben Wang
2015, United States, 58 min.
English
Friday, July 22, 7:30 PM
Village East Cinema
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Front Cover – The closing night film tells the story of Ryan Fu, a gay Chinese American who detests his Asian heritage and through talent and hard work, has attained his dream job as a celebrity fashion stylist.
One day Ryan’s boss assigns him to style Ning, an actor who has just arrived from Beijing for a top magazine photo shoot. Ning dismisses Ryan’s initial Western styling and demands Ryan creates an image for him which represents the power of the new China. Their egos and opinions clash resulting in a strained and difficult working relationship.
Over the following days, they slowly discover that they have a lot in common, and a mutual attraction begins to develop. As they become closer, Ryan reveals that he rejects his Chinese heritage because he is ashamed of his impoverished upbringing. Ning opens up and confesses that he is in the closet.
After a night out on the town together, a Chinese tabloid magazine exposes Ning as gay. Terrified of the impact it will have on his career, Ning implores Ryan to help him deny the story. Ryan must now decide to help Ning or stay true to himself.
Director Ray Yeung, Actor James Chen, and members from the cast and crew will be in attendance for a post-screening panel.
Dir. Ray Yeung
2015, United States, Chinese, 87 min.
English with English subtitles
Saturday, July 30, 8 PM
Museum of the Moving Image
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Made in Flushing: Bright Sun Mansion – Legendary Peking Opera master, Yuling Fang, emigrates to New York where he works in a nail salon. Realizing there is no one to inherit his legendary skills, he decides to mount an amateur production in order to keep alive the vanishing world he loves.
Dir. Haitao Guo
2015, China and United States, 78 min.
Chinese with English subtitles
The film is preceded by the TWN Senior Media Workshop Showcase.
Wednesday, July 27, 8 PM
Flushing Town Hall
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Tyrus – Pamela Tom’s tour-de-force documentary shares the life of 105-year old Guangzhou-born, L.A. based visual artist, Tyrus Wong, and his breathtaking scope of work across multiple artistic mediums and his personal and professional journey navigating racial bigotry in 20th century America.
Seventeen years in the making, Tom’s film makes meticulous use of Tyrus Wong’s exquisite art, archival footage, illuminating interviews and commentary from Wong himself to document how his unique style, melding Chinese calligraphic and landscape influences with contemporary Western art, helped the Disney animated film, Bambi (1942) specifically, and early Hollywood in general establish their signature visual styles.
Tyrus makes a critical contribution to the documentary tradition and to American society in correcting a historical wrong by spotlighting this seminal, but heretofore under-credited figure.
Writer, director, and producer Pamela Tom will be in attendance for a post-screening panel.
Dir. Pamela Tom
2015, United States, 77 min.
English
Sunday, July 24, 6:30 PM
Village Cinema East
Shorts Programs
The five films of We Are Beautiful cherishes human aspirations and ponders our vulnerabilities.
Post Screening Panel:
Veena Rao, Director/Producer, Mumbai Mornings
Weronika Mliczewska, Director, Speechless in Japan
Milton Liu, Director, I Hate Big Phony
Friday, July 22, 7 PM
Village Cinema East
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Behind the Schoolbag – In this animated short, a Hong Kong youth, weighed down by a miserable childhood, navigates the pressures of the city to find his inner salvation.
Dir. Ho Chun-yu Nic
2015, Hong Kong, 10 min.
English
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Fairy Tales – Fairy Wang may be a working-class girl from rural China, but she thinks she’s the next Coco Chanel. After posting her eccentric designs on Weibo, China’s largest social media site, Fairy becomes an overnight internet celebrity. But fame comes at a price for the misunderstood fashion misfit. Filmmaker Rongfei Guo befriends Fairy and walks in the unlikely designer’s very first fashion show. (NYU Doc Fest)
Dir. Rongfei Guo
2015, China and United States, 30 min.
Chinese with English subtitles
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I Hate Big Phony – Navigating in between cultures, the soulful Korean singer-songwriter-guitarist Bobby Choy discusses his emotionally moving music and performs some of it too, lending insight into his life journey and what’s next for him.
Dir. Milton Liu
2016, United States, 33 min.
English
Filmmakers, all under 21, from five countries tackle natural disaster, disease, war, job security, gender inequality, and religious conflict in For Youth By Youth.
Post Screening Panelists:
Roshnee Desai, Director, Cover Up
Aditya Khadka, Director, Dhartiputra
Saturday, July 23, 2 PM
Museum of Chinese in America
Be With the Mountains – In response to increasing leprosy outbreaks during the 1950s, China relegated its sickly to remote villages. This short transports us to the once-quarantined Luosongdi Village, documenting its residents’ inability to overcome their residual fears of social stigma in the hopes that one day, they may reunite with their families.
Dir. Baoming Song
2016, China, 30 min.
Chinese with English subtitles
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Mommy Goodbye – 17-year-old Ding struggles with identity and loyalty in a family broken by marital strife and infidelity. This film challenges the general perception of what a “standard” Chinese family is and complicates our own understanding of familial relationships and adolescent development.
Dir. Hongzhi Liu
2016, China, 15 min.
Chinese with English subtitles
Roots: Removals and Returns honors parents who have nurtured and sacrificed for their children.
Post Screening Panel:
Shingo Usami, Director, Riceballs
Trevor Zhou, Director, The Waltz
Ruth Coughlin, Actor/Producer, The Urn
Masayuki Kusaka, Producer, Harry on the Clouds
Saturday, July 23, 4:30 PM
Village Cinema East
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Alice’s Mirror – Ai Li is a transnational Chinese adoptee living in Paris, France. With just an address and a name scribbled onto the back of an old photograph, she flies to Shanghai in search of her birth mother. Her journey demonstrates that you don’t have to know where you came from to know who you are.
Dir. Benoit Lelievre
2015, France, 18 min.
Chinese with English subtitles
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Fata Morgana – Inspired by true events, this film paints an honest, intimate portrait of two grief-stricken Chinese parents as they organize the funeral rites for their only child. Up against cultural differences and unresolved tension from the past, the couple struggles to process their loss.
Dir. Amelie Wen
2016, China and United States, 20 min.
Chinese with English subtitles
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Midnight Dance – After being fired from her job, Qin-Qin, a young beer girl, wanders the fishing harbor drunk in search for some meaning. As the night continues, she hopes to find fish soup, her deceased father’s specialty. She encounters a chef, his sleepy daughter, and an upbeat restaurant owner.
Dir. Mian Mian Liu
2015, Taiwan, 26 min.
Chinese with English subtitles
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The Waltz – A take on the importance of family and the immigration experience, this short film follows a middle-aged mother, attempting to reclaim her life and marriage. When she takes up dance lessons, she discovers how the “one-two-three” rhythm that’s required on the dance floor translates to her.
Dir. Trevor Zhou
2015, United States, 11 min.
English
Six tales spun in the Big Apple are Made in NY.
Post Screening Panel:
Julian Kim, Director/Writer, Call Taxi
Yun Jeong, Actor, Call Taxi
Dawn Han, Director/Writer, Cork Man
Jennifer Betit Yen, Writer/Producer, The Opposite of a Fairy Tale
Nikole Marone, Actor, The Opposite of a Fairy Tale
Randy Yang, Director/Writer, Video
Jonah Einstein, Director, A Jew and a Hindu Meet the Pope
Saturday, July 23, 7 PM
Village Cinema East
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The Opposite of a Fairy Tale – When Celeste, a kind social worker, meets Josephine, an elderly patient in a nursing home, the two develop a close friendship. Soon, her family comes to visit and it becomes apparent that Josephine has fallen victim to one of America’s hidden epidemics: elder abuse.
Dirs. Jennifer Betit Yen, Youn Jung Kim, and Conor Stratton
2016, United States, 23 min.
English
Writer, Producer, and Director Jennifer Betit Yen and actor Nikole Marone will join the post-screening panel.
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Video – Shot in a single long take, this film captures a heated interaction between a white woman and two black teenage girls who’ve captured her racist rant directed toward a homeless black man on video.
Dir. Randy Yang
2015, United States, 15 min.
English
The LGBTQ Shorts Program includes six films that explore the various ways the LGBTQ+ and Asian American communities intersect.
Post Screening Panel:
Vicky Du, Director, Gaysians
Jazmin Jamias, Director, I Hate the Color Red
Larry Tung, Director, Coming Full Circle: The Journey of a Transgendered Korean Adoptee
Pauline Park, Subject, Coming Full Cifinding lovercle: The Journey of a Transgendered Korean Adoptee
Sunday, July 24, 1 PM
Village Cinema East
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Ballot – Christine, a young Chinese American woman is out with her friends but not with her family at home. She fights with her conservative mother about Proposition 8 in California, a ballot proposition created by same-sex marriage opponents in 2008. This conflict pushes both mother and daughter to confront their own fears, spotlighting the irony of being in denial.
Dir. Hai Chin Hsu
2015, United States, 13 min.
Chinese with English subtitles
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Coming Full Circle: The Journey of a Transgendered Korean Adoptee – Nearly half a century after she was adopted, a transgender activist named Pauline Park, currently based in New York City, finally makes her first visit to her native Korea. Compelling and powerful, this documentary short follows Park as she reconnects with her birth country, attempts to find answers, and participates in the Korea Queer Festival.
Dir. Larry Tung
2015, South Korea, 24 min.
English
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Gaysians – In this illuminating patchwork documentary, five queer and trans Asian Americans explore their relationships with their family and culture. Living an authentic life can be one of the most difficult things to do and these subjects offer a vibrant snapshot of how each has accomplished that, sharing their processes in doing so.for you
Dir. Vicky Du
2015, United States, 13 min.
English
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Heart Station – In a waiting room, a man hears his name called out. This coming-of-age drama features a gay man’s infatuation with a straight actor. Eventually, he enrolls in his crush’s acting classes where his true feelings can pass as a convincing performance. When he receives a scary potential diagnosis, his life begins to take a turn.
Dir. Tao Jia
2015, Australia, 17 min.
English
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Like Hope – A Chinese foreign exchange student in America falls in love with his straight friend and, during a few fleeting moments of pure, unedited honesty, he dares to hope for what cannot be.
Dir.Oates Yinchao Wu
2015, United States, 14 min.
English
Six unconventional stories of romance and heartache make up Finding Love.
Post Screening Panel:
Julia Chang, Director, 3 Minutes
Glory Ngim, Actor, That Loving Feeling
Sunday, July 24, 8:45 PM
Village Cinema East
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3 Minutes – At a local speed-dating event, Ron meets Jessie. Over the course of their three-minute encounter, the pair begins to get to know one another, eventually offering up all-too-honest assessments of each other. With levity, this short film comments on the current state of love and how it’s sustaining itself in the 21st century.
Dir. Julia Chang
2016, United States, 6 min.
English
Director Julia Chang joins for the post-screening panel
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Cronos – On a sunny beach, a vacationing man must resist the dangerous hallucination that continues to taunt him: that his girlfriend and his son are having an affair behind his back. The ultimate paranoia tale, tension between the characters quickly escalates when he’s forced to confront his worst nightmare.
Dir. Chieh Yang
2015, United States, 11 min.
English
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Metamorphosis – When a 1990s woman accidentally kills her cheating, alcoholic, and abusive husband in self-defense, she finds a unique way to dispose of the evidence. With themes of karma and retribution, this short warns of what happens when weakness is mixed with suffering. Hint: It’s not a pretty picture.
Dir. Elaine Xia
2015, United States, 15 min.
Cantonese with English subtitles
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That Day – With raw dialogue and cinematography, “That Day” shares a real depiction of an unhealthy and abusive relationship.
Dir. Xiaolu Hu
2015, United States, 20 min.
Chinese
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That Loving Feeling – Similar to Singapore’s historical declaration of independence from Malaysia, Ena attempts to burst out of her mother’s overprotective arms to take control of her own life once and for all. To do this, she attends her first social, despite hearing the critical voice of her mother in her head.
Dir. Li Lin Wee
2014, Singapore, 11 min.
English
CUNY Asian Film Festival Showcase presents six works from students from City University of New York schools Brooklyn College, Hunter College, and NYC College of Technology.
Wednesday, July 27, 5 PM
The Martin Segal Theatre, CUNY Graduate Center
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An Ill-fitting Coat – A family memory affects three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to deal with separations in their lives. Lao Taitai’s husband died in a foreign land, leaving her a coat with his property. She never remarries since. In the local folklore, a woman is imprisoned and her grievance becomes the clouds in the mountains. This film mixes non-fiction and fiction storytelling through visualizing ancient Chinese poetry and cultural symbols, and a voiceover transcending time and space to express the grief of parting.
Winner, Best Fiction 2016
Dir. Lingyun Zheng
2016, United States, 10 min.
Chinese with English subtitles
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Tai Chi at Sunset Park – On a typical Brooklyn morning, you’ll meet a man who’s carrying on the Chinese cultural tradition of teaching Tai Chi. GuoPing Li, who about nine years ago started practicing in Sunset Park, has by now amassed quite a following.
Dir. Hui Su
2016, United States, 4 min.
Lead image: Still from Fata Morgana
The post has been updated to include our interview last year with Asian CineVision Executive Director John C. Woo and an explanation of why some Chinese films on the AAIFF page are not listed on our page.