12-5pm | Asian Arts Initiative Lead Artists: Aizhanneya Carter and Claris Park Welcome to the Department of Judgement Zoning. We invite you to navigate the bizarrely familiar world of The …
East Coast Premiere Director: Steven de Castro 120 mins | Documentary | Philippines | English Revolution Selfie expands the horizons of documentary storytelling while broadening our understanding about the lesser-known …
Documentary Program—Revolution Selfie: The Red Battalion Read More »
Get Tickets Things are changing on the Tibetan Plateau. With diminishing grasslands, falling livestock prices, smaller families, and a rise in the number of children going to school, the nomads …
Curators: Sara Zia Ebrahimi & Lila Yomtoob Asian Arts Initiative | 64 mins Having a hyphenated identity is more than just being between worlds and fixed identities. It includes the …
Shorts Program—Iran Hyphenated: Short Films of the Iranian Diaspora Read More »
East Coast Premiere Director: Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, and Kumu Hina Wong-Kalu 70 mins | Documentary | Tonga | English Leitis in Waiting is the story of Joey Mataele and …
US premiere Director: Kenichi Omori 91 mins | Documentary | Japan | Japanese As part of the celebrations to commemorate the 450th anniversary of Mihara Castle’s construction, the youth from …
Director: Henry Koster 133 min | Musical, Comedy, Romance | USA | English In this adaptation of the 1958 Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical, Chinese immigrant Mei Li (Miyoshi Umeki) …
Asian Arts Initiative | 81 mins This program of six narrative shorts explores a variety of perspectives on queer-ness, coming out, and embracing one’s identity both overseas and amongst the …
Shorts Program: Intergenerational & Overseas Perspectives on Queer Idenitity Read More »
Director: Prakash Angdembe 105 mins | Documentary | Bhutan, India, Nepal | Nepali Desh Khojdai Janda’s film documents the more than 120,000 forgotten Nepali-speaking Bhutanese citizens from Bhutan who spent …
East Coast Premiere Director: Kulap Vilaysack 106 mins | Documentary | Laos | English, Lao In her directorial debut, actor/writer/podcaster Kulap Vilaysack explores her tangled family tree to find out …
Director: Stephen Tringali 81 mins | Documentary | USA | English Get Tickets The image of the American hero is challenged in this heartfelt portrait of 9/11 Pentagon first-responder Isaac …
Philadelphia Premiere Director: Dianne Fukami 60 mins | Documentary | USA | English Get Tickets A son of immigrants forced into a U.S. World War II concentration camp as a …
Closing Night Documentary—An American Story: Norman Mineta & His Legacy Read More »
You are cordially invited to PAAFF Dine-In Theater, our newest virtual fundraiser. Join us for dinner and a movie, PAAFF style! We’ve paired the ultimate all ages, feel-good documentary with your choice of Dinner for 2 from two of Philadelphia’s acclaimed Asian-owned restaurants. Choose a curated meal from either bāo•logy or Hardena/Waroeng Surabaya. Bao-logy showcases …
Dine-In Theater featuring Go Grandriders, Bao-logy, and Hardena Read More »
This year PAAFF will be livestreaming our Preview Party, and you’re invited! So kick off your shoes, slip into your sweats, pour yourself a glass of something special, and tune into our Facebook, Youtube, or Twitch channels on Thursday October 8, at 6:30PM ET for an exclusive sneak peek at our festival lineup. If you’re …
PAAFF is hosting this brunch with our Queer Asian family: Queer Asian Social Club, Philly Asian and Queer, hotpot! Philly, and Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists Continuing our new tradition of Queer Brunch-ing during our festival, we are inviting everyone in our queer-identifying, Asian diasporic, film-loving community to join us in this virtual space to connect …
Join us for the inaugural meeting of our new PAAFF Film Club. We'll be discussing Wayne Wang’s feature debut Chan is Missing (1982).
For our April meeting, we will be discussing Surname Viet Given Name Nam (1989). Vietnamese-born Trinh T. Minh-ha's profoundly personal documentary explores the role of Vietnamese women both historically and in contemporary society. Using dance, printed texts, folk poetry, and the words and experiences of Vietnamese women in Vietnam—from both North and South—and the United …
Spring is in the air! And what better way to celebrate than with a romantic comedy? For the May meeting of PAAFF Film Club, we’ll be talking about writer-director Alice Wu’s 2004 debut Saving Face. Reviewing the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, David Rooney of Variety described the film as a “warmly observed, …
After moving from Calcutta to New York, members of the Ganguli family maintain a delicate balancing act between honoring the traditions of their native India and blending into American culture. Although parents Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu) are proud of the sacrifices they make to give their offspring opportunities, their son Gogol (Kal Penn) …
Before Jo Jo Rabbit and the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, Taika Waititi wrote and directed Boy, the focus of our July PAAFF Film Club meeting. Part The 400 Blows, part Slumdog Millionaire, a pinch of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and all New Zealand, Boy offers a nostalgic coming-of-age narrative that seems made for summer viewing. …
