Film Club

Join us for our first Film Club meeting of 2022! We’ll be starting out with a discussion on Sandi Tan’s 2018 documentary Shirkers. A recent revelation in the genre of movies about movies, Shirkers tells the decades-spanning story of a group of friends attempting to make an independent feature with help from a mysterious stranger. Our March PAAFF Film Club meeting is scheduled for March 20 at 1PM ET. Shirkers is available through Netflix subscription. Make sure you join the PAAFF Film Club Discord server if you’re interested in continuing the conversation outside of our monthly meetings! Sign up for our Film Club newsletter below! *Please make sure to check the "PAAFF Film Club" box when signing up!

For April’s Film Club we will be traveling back in time to 1935 and discussing a classic of Indian cinema: Pramathesh Barua’s Devdas. One of several adaptations of Sarat Chatterjee’s novel, originally published in 1917, Devdas tells the story of two lovers kept apart by class. Considered highly influential in its time, it is particularly remembered for its critique of India’s feudalistic society and caste system. Our April PAAFF Film Club meeting is scheduled for April 10 at 1PM ET. Devdas (1935) is available on Prime Video through Eros Now subscription. Make sure you join the PAAFF Film Club Discord server if you’re interested in continuing the conversation outside of our monthly meetings! Sign up for our Film Club newsletter below! *Please make sure to check the "PAAFF Film Club" box when signing up!

A collaboration between directors Becs Aharanga, Amberley Jo Aumua, Matasila Freshwater, Dianna Fuemana, and Miria George, Vai is a portmanteau feature made by women about one woman seen through different but united cultural lenses, and filmed on seven Pacific Islands. Join us for May’s PAAFF Film Club as we talk about it! Our May Film Club meeting will be on May 15 at 1PM ET. Vai is available for free on Tubi and Prime Video. Make sure you join the PAAFF Film Club Discord server if you’re interested in continuing the conversation outside of our monthly meetings! Sign up for our Film Club newsletter below! *Please make sure to check the "PAAFF Film Club" box when signing up!

June means Pride! Andrew Ahn’s 2016 feature Spa Night explores the intersection of LA’s Korean-American and LGBTQ communities, through the eyes of one young man who straddles both worlds. Join us as we discuss the film’s place in both Asian American and queer cinema, and much more! Our June PAAFF Film Club meeting is scheduled for June 12 at 1PM ET. Spa Night is available to rent on iTunes and Vudu Make sure you join the PAAFF Film Club Discord server if you’re interested in continuing the conversation outside of our monthly meetings! Sign up for our Film Club newsletter below! *Please make sure to check the "PAAFF Film Club" box when signing up!

July’s PAAFF Film Club will be centered around our first animated feature: Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. A 2007 adaptation of her graphic novel of the same name, Persepolis is an inventive expressionist coming-of-age story about one girl’s journey into womanhood during and following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Our July PAAFF Film Club meeting will be on July 10 at 1PM ET. Persepolis is available for rent on Vudu and iTunes. Make sure you join the PAAFF Film Club Discord server if you’re interested in continuing the conversation outside of our monthly meetings! Sign up for our Film Club newsletter below! *Please make sure to check the "PAAFF Film Club" box when signing up!

We’re finishing up this year’s PAAFF Film Club with something a little different: Nobuhiko Obayashi’s cult horror classic Hausu (1977). Known for its wild visuals and campy tone, Hausu/House is an iconic haunted house story about seven schoolgirls contending with violent supernatural forces in a country home. A precursor to later J-horror, a surprising influence on contemporary experimental film, or just a singularly bizarre B-movie? Let’s talk about it! Our August PAAFF Film Club meeting is scheduled for August 7 at 1PM ET. Hausu/House is available through HBO Max subscription and for rent on Vudu. Make sure you join the PAAFF Film Club Discord server if you’re interested in continuing the conversation outside of our monthly meetings! Sign up for our Film Club newsletter below! *Please make sure to check the "PAAFF Film Club" box when signing up!

Join us for our first Film Club meeting of 2023! We’ll be starting out with a discussion on Martika Ramirez Escobar’s debut feature Leonor Will Never Die. Once again, we are starting out our season with a movie about movies–specifically, the way they shape and are shaped by our unconscious minds. Escobar’s madcap action dramedy tells the story of a struggling former filmmaker in the Philippines who ends up in a coma which transports her into her own unfinished screenplay. The result is a melding of many genres, an exploration of an artist’s psyche, and a totally unique cinematic experience. Our March PAAFF Film Club meeting is scheduled for March 16 at 6PM ET. Leonor Will Never Die is available through Vudu, Google Play, and Amazon. Make sure you join the PAAFF Film Club Discord server if you’re interested in continuing the conversation outside of our monthly meetings! Sign up for our Film Club newsletter below! *Please make sure to check the "PAAFF Film Club" box when signing up!

For April’s Film Club we will be looking at one of Akira Kurosawa’s lesser known films, Dersu Uzala. This Soviet-Japanese co-production, and Kurosawa’s only non-Japanese-language film, tells a moving story about cultural exchange, friendship, and loss, all taking place within the visually stunning wilderness of the Russian Far East. It is a film all about the unexpected but inevitable intersections of geography, untamed nature, and humanity. Our April PAAFF Film Club meeting is scheduled for April 20 at 6PM ET. Dersu Uzala is available to stream via Criterion Channel subscription, and to rent on Amazon. Make sure you join the PAAFF Film Club Discord server if you’re interested in continuing the conversation outside of our monthly meetings! Sign up for our Film Club newsletter below! *Please make sure to check the "PAAFF Film Club" box when signing up!

May’s Film Club will be a discussion on Edward Yang’s The Terrorizers. Considered a pivotal film in the era of New Taiwanese Cinema, The Terrorizers presents a startling look into urban life in the form of a tangled narrative web, complicated by changing perspectives and puzzling timelines. It is a story not only of Taipei in the 1980s, but of the modern city in general, what it does to people and the many ways they manage to exist within its confines. Our May PAAFF Film Club meeting is scheduled for May 18 at 6PM ET. The Terrorizers is available to stream via Mubi subscription, and to rent on Amazon. Make sure you join the PAAFF Film Club Discord server if you’re interested in continuing the conversation outside of our monthly meetings! Sign up for our Film Club newsletter below! *Please make sure to check the "PAAFF Film Club" box when signing up!

June’s meeting will be focused on a film from PAAFF’s own history: Sasie Sealy’s Lucky Grandma. Tsai Chin stars as the titular character–a chain-smoking, gambling grandma in New York City’s Chinatown–in Sealy’s debut feature, a darkly funny crime story that subversively highlights the role of elders in an immigrant community. This discussion will coincide with The Free Library of Philadelphia’s “One Book, One Philadelphia” watchlist, also featuring Lucky Grandma. Our June PAAFF Film Club meeting is scheduled for June 15 at 6PM ET. Lucky Grandma is available to rent on Vudu, Google Play, and Amazon. Make sure you join the PAAFF Film Club Discord server if you’re interested in continuing the conversation outside of our monthly meetings! Sign up for our Film Club newsletter below! *Please make sure to check the "PAAFF Film Club" box when signing up!