Next month will be our last Film Club meeting of the year! We’ll be closing out our season with A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Ana Lily Amirpour's award-winning debut. With hints of homage to Iranian New Wave cinema, the film is more art film than vampire flick. Residents of an Iranian ghost-town, Bad …
The Rail Park
North & Noble Streets, Philadelphia, PA
Curious to know what's in our festival program this year? Join us at The Rail Park! PAAFF’s Annual Preview Party will be held outdoors at The Rail Park on 10/7 at 7PM. Come catch a glimpse of what we have in store for our 14th Annual Film Festival, connect with the community, enjoy the fresh …
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
PAAFF 2021 kicks off with a limited-capacity in-person screening of our Opening Night film Americanish ! In Jackson Heights, Queens, sisters Maryam and Sam and their newly-immigrated cousin Ameera navigate the sometimes conflicting demands of romance, culture, work, and family. Serving both as a lighthearted but critical reimagination of the classic romantic comedy, Americanish tackles …
Centerpiece Documentary: Wuhan Wuhan Unfolding at the height of the pandemic, Wuhan Wuhan offers unprecedented access into the peak of the pandemic lockdown and focuses on the human side of the mysterious virus. Comprising five compelling stories, Wuhan Wuhan follows a soft-hearted ER doctor and an unflappable ICU nurse; a volunteer psychologist at a temporary …
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (PAPA) is putting on dancing shoes for our latest showcase! These past 20 months have been wild and heavy - I mean, how is it already almost 2022?? It's time for a collective breath and a collective stretch with some of our favorite dance and movement artists. Have You Heard the …
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
PAAFF 2021: PAPA Mini-Resident Joseph Ahmed uses physical theater, storytelling, and circus techniques to explore the childhood narratives and social structures that led him to self-identify as white for most of his young life. Animorphs, Ender's Game, and Harry Potter form the cornerstones of his identity until a loss in the family forces him to …
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Come join us in-person for an interactive screening of Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As a part of PAPA’s mini-residency, Chantal Vorobei Thieves’ ongoing project, Memory, Vein: The Collected Tapes—where personal memories are shared in connection to specific scenes from various films—invites members of the audience to narrate their own personal memories over the …
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
PAAFF’s Asian Music Showcase is back and in-person at Asian American Arts Initiative! This year’s showcase features an entirely local artist lineup and a variety of music genres: Filipino singer-songwriter and producer Joshua Bation; Marina Murayama, blending synthesized electronic textures and lush orchestral soundscapes; Filipino-American artist and producer Lucas Geniza, aka Lukey; and electronic music …
Center Narrative: Waikiki In this cinematic allegory of love and loss, a hula dancer fights for survival and her sanity in the shadows of Waikiki. This feature-length narrative offers an unflinching glimpse into paradise where there remains hope through human connection and reconnection to ʻaina (nature). Directed by Christopher Kahunahana Produced by Connie M. Florez …
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
PAAFF 2021 comes to an end with a limited-capacity in-person screening of our Closing Night film A Sexplanation ! Like with many American youth in the 90s, Alex was taught that sex before marriage was wrong. Because he knew he was gay, these tactics worked to suppress his sexuality.Now in his 30s and out of …
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
PAAFF invites you to a celebration of love, culture, and family with an exclusive community screening of The Fabulous Filipino Brothers! Dante Basco and Darion Basco will be in attendance for a filmmaker Q&A as well as a post-screening meet & greet. The screening will be held in-person at the blackbox theater at Asian Arts …
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. …
Càphê Roasters
3400 J Street, G1, Philadelphia, PA
A film screening presented by Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival and Philly Solidarity in celebration of Women's History Month Due to COVID-19, only water is allowed during the event. Food and drink will not be served. ‼️ COVID-19 Protocols ‼️ 🔖 Proof of COVID-19 vaccination with photo ID is required. 💉 At least 3 doses …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
12 Gates Art Gallery
106 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Twelve Gates Arts and PAAFF invite you to attend The 4th Annual Contemporary Video Art Exhibition on August 28th, 2022. The Experimental Video Art Exhibition is a platform for South Asian (SA), Southwest Asian, and North African (SWANA) experimental video artists whose work stretches beyond the unconventional. This year’s exhibition centers on three themes: Censorship …