Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival

Blasian Narratives

Asian Arts Initiative 1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Live Performance Blasian Narratives is a multi-media “Docu-Theatre” project that explores the intersectional identities of mixed-race Black & Asian individuals through an integrated live performance and film screening. The project began as a collaboration between Morehouse and Spelman College students documenting peoples of mixed Afro-Asian heritage, colloquially known as “Blasians.” Illustrating the complex relationships between two historically polarized communities of color, this grassroots project aims to develop identity awareness and build solidarity. Film subjects will be present to perform live excerpts in conversation with the film. Tickets Festival Pass  

$10

Cardinal X

Asian Arts Initiative 1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Directed by Angie Wang Based on the life of filmmaker Angie Wang, this film dramatizes the true story of a Chinese American chemistry student who became the largest supplier of ecstasy on the West Coast in the early 1980s. After losing her scholarship to a prestigious college in San Francisco, Angie continues manufacturing and selling the party drug to make ends meet. Angie hides her dangerous secrets from everyone in her life, but when the consequences of her double life come to a head, she finds herself tumbling out of control. Starring Annie Q (HBO’s The Leftovers) and Francesca Eastwood (of ABC’s Heroes Reborn), writer/director Angie Wang is expected in attendance for a post-film Q&A. Preceded By Monday Dinh Thai - 19 mins Kwan is a small-time hustler who provides contraband to whomever needs it. Tickets Festival Pass

$10

Sex Sells

Asian Arts Initiative 1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

This FREE shorts program explores the concept of sexual commerce and body commodification. Subjects include prostitution and emotional transactions related to sex. Filmmakers expected in attendance. MATURE CONTENT, VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED. Cake Director: Anne Hu | 9 mins | USA A bisexual woman tries to explore her sexuality with her husband Thomas by surprise ordering a seemingly human female sex robot. But the sex robot is not the cure-all she had hoped for. I am JUPITER Director: Matthew Victor Pastor | 15 mins | Australia, Philippines Jupiter is a visual narrative about the silence of my people in post-colonial Philippines. It’s a tense thriller without any spoken dialogue showing the harsh realities currently present in the motherland. Hierarchy of Needs Director: Ryan Michael Connolly | 5 mins | USA A gay Filipino American named Jonathan is in a financial dilemma; but his troubles run much deeper than his pocketbook. Dear Mother Director: Matthew Kaundart | 4 mins | USA A Korean adoptee named Kayla Tange lives in LA, where she works as an exotic dancer and performance artist. After plans to meet her birthmother fell through, Kayla created this visual letter in the hopes it will bring her some sort of peace. Please Hold Director: Jerell Rosales | 15 mins | USA When a condom breaks during a random hook-up with a stranger, Danny gets an HIV test and an unexpected new friend. Tickets Festival Pass

Free

A Whale of a Tale

Asian Arts Initiative 1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Directed by Megumi Sasaki After a documentary film denouncing Japan’s longstanding whale and dolphin hunting practices called The Cove wins an Academy Award in 2010, the sleepy fishing town of Taiji suddenly awakens to find itself in the global spotlight. Almost overnight, Taiji transforms into the go-to battleground for international anti-whaling activists. The camera delves into the lives of local whalers, global activists, and an American journalist in the “whale and dolphin killing town” and suggests that not everything is as black and white as it might seem. Filmmaker Megumi Sasaki is expected to be in attendance for a post-film Q&A. Tickets Festival Pass

Free

Paris, Ni Hao

Asian Arts Initiative 1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Directed by Zixuan Deng Immigrants in France. Through their specific experiences, the film gives an intimate look at the rise of a new generation of French Chinese who identify with two cultures, speak two languages, and demand acceptance within contemporary French society. Filmed in French and Chinese with English subtitles, this film reveals the resilience of the Chinese community in Paris, but also underscores the universal complications and shared immigration histories across the Chinese diaspora. Filmmaker Zixuan Deng expected in attendance for post-film Q&A. Tickets Festival Pass

$10

Closing Night: The Soul of the Tiger

Asian Arts Initiative 1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Directed by Francois Yang After his brother suddenly dies, dies, Alex, a thirty-something man of French Chinese descent, returns to Paris in search of an explanation. Torn between two cultures and caught in a love triangle with women who represent both sides of his heritage, Alex must come to terms with his family’s past as he tries to uncover the truth behind his brother’s death. Produced by the same team who brought us PAAFF15 film alumni Mooncake, this feature film is a landmark achievement for the Francophone Asian diasporic community, and highly relatable to the Asian American experience. Tickets Festival Pass

$10

Tailored To Fit Film Screening at Chinese New Year Celebration

Penn Museum 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

ABOUT THE FILM: Tailored To Fit (Qipao) is about a young immigrant filmmaker who discovers a generation gap as she explores her love-hate relationship with China's iconic Qipao dress. Director Xin Li Runtime 21 mins Screening @ 1pm Check the link below for a schedule of the day's activities. ABOUT THE CELEBRATION: Get ready to call in the Year of the Dog at the Penn Museum’s 37th Annual Chinese New Year Celebration! This family-friendly day features traditional Chinese music and dance, contemporary Asian film, tangram workshops, tai chi and kung fu martial arts demonstrations, storytelling, calligraphy, family crafts, a Year of the Dog Photo Contest, and much more—closing with the grand finale drums and the roar of the lion dance and parade. Activities are held in the Museum’s Rotunda, which houses one of the finest collections of monumental Chinese art in the country, and throughout the international galleries of the Museum. The Chinese New Year Celebration, one of Philadelphia’s oldest, is free with General Admission.

Tiger Style! – PAAFF Fundraiser w/PAPA

InterAct Theater 302 S Hicks Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Star students and squabbling siblings Albert and Jennifer Chen used to represent the pinnacle of adolescent achievement. But when it comes to adulthood, theyre epic failures. Alberts just been passed up for promotion and Jennifer's been dumped by her loser boyfriend. So they do what any reasonable brother and sister would do and go on an Asian Freedom Tour! Travelling from California to China,TIGER STYLE! by Mike Lew is a raucous comedy that examines the successes and failures of tiger parenting from the point of view of a playwright who's actually been through it. Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (PAPA) has been making waves in the citys theatre community for the past 3 years by tirelessly galvanizing, growing and promoting Phillys Asian American talent through performance series, national forums (Beyond Orientalism, September 2016), and workshop opportunities.  As our first full production, TIGER STYLE! marks a momentous occasion as we assert ourselves as a Philadelphias hub for Asian American Theatre. Featuring: Richard Chan Arlen Hancock Anita Holland Daniel Kim Stephanie N. Walters Directed by Jeff Liu Wednesday     January 24, 2018      7:00 PM               **First Preview** Thursday         January 25, 2018      8:00 PM               **Second Preview** Friday              January 26, 2018      8:00 PM               **Opening Night** Saturday         January 27, 2018       8:00 PM Sunday            January 28, 2018      7:00 PM Wednesday    January 31, 2018       7:00 PM Thursday        February 1, 2018        8:00 PM Friday             February 2, 2018        8:00 PM Saturday         February 3, 2018       8:00 PM Sunday           February 4, 2018        7:00 PM               **Closing Night**

$15 – $25

PAAFF Animated Shorts: Lunar New Year 2018

International House Philadelphia 3701 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

PAAFF will be showing animated shorts at International House's Lunar New Year 2018: The Year of the Dog event. Bring the family! Get Tickets! FILM SCREENINGS TIMES: • 7:30PM - Zodiac Run • 8:20PM - Lion Dance ABOUT THE EVENT: The Lunar New Year is also known as the Spring Festival and is a time to wish one another luck and prosperity for the upcoming year. International House Philadelphia will welcome the Year of the Dog with our annual celebration that has typically seen sell-out crowds and is among our most popular and sought after events. The evening includes an exhilarating Lion Dance and show of traditional music and dance performances and martial arts demonstrations, followed by a reception featuring tastings of traditional Chinese cuisine and cultural activities. Held in the Ibrahim Theater and Galleria FEATURING: • Philadelphia Suns • Chinese Arts Center in Philadelphia • Great Wall Chinese School Little Mulan Dance Troupe • Qin Qian & Kathryn Woodard • Siu Lum Academy • Short films from Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival • Activities by Asian Arts Initiative and The Franklin Institute SUPPORTED BY: • Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia • Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival • Asian Arts Initiative

$5 – $10

Artist Bash: Heartache

The Barnes Foundation 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA, United States

PAAFF is partnering with the Barnes to present Artist Bash: Heartache—Art inspires, but a broken heart creates! Join us for the third Artist Bash as we welcome performers who transform heartache and pain into beauty. The evening brings Van Gogh to life and welcomes the creative stylings of Kingsley Ibeneche; the vocal skills of Bethlehem, Laurin Talese, and Daniel de Jesus; shadow puppetry by Hua Hua Zhang; and a dance party with DJ Sonny James. You bring the ache—we’ll provide the heart. Tickets

$10

Gardaab Film Screening

12 Gates Art Gallery 106 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Set in Karachi, Pakistan, Gardaab (Whirlpool) is an intimate portrait of a city, rife with ethnic & class divisions, and turf wars. In this pulsating cityscape blooms a tender romance between a boy and girl from warring factions. Gardaab is a story of this romance and the violence that surrounds it. Gardaab also lays bare the cyclical nature of an environment, where a constant flow of young recruits, feed this violence. Gardaab Trailer from Harune Massey on Vimeo. Harune Massey’s restrained direction takes real life stories and anecdotes, and turns them into a compelling meditation on the fragility of human life. *Post-film discussion with filmmaker. **Film screening is FREE RSVP

Free

Screening: I Am Parmalim

Philadelphia Praise Center 1701 Mckean Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Carles Butar Butar (17 years old) is a Parmalim teenage boy who has two major roles in life, as a son who helps his family economy by working in the fields and an ordinary teenage boy who tries to fullfill his dream as a policeman. He may not be able to achieve his dream, due to his family economy condition, but he has his own way to deal with this situation. He continues to try and stick to his religion teachings that he believes in. How did Carles manage those major roles in his life? What was Malim Religion’s teaching that he believed in? What was his effort to fulfill his dream? Ahu Parmalim's Film Screening & Discussion A documentary film by Cicilia Maharani 5pm - Film Screening and Q&A 6pm - Dinner reception with the Director and Producer Sky Cafe will be offering a sampling of three dishes that are regional specialties of Northern Sumatra, where the film is set. We are proud to collaborate with Kampung Halaman Foundation, Lovethewoods, Philadelphia Indonesian Diaspora Network, Philadelphia Praise Center, and M+M on this event. RSVP

Free

Documentary Program: Prison Food

Reading Terminal Market 12th & Arch Streets, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Free Screening Director: Aditya Thayi 44 mins | Documentary | Philippines, Indonesia | Indonesian, Tagalog Who says prison food needs to be boring? In this series, Filipino-American Chef Johneric Concordia heads to some of Asia’s most notorious prisons to see what’s cooking behind bars. He meets inmates running the prison kitchens and discovers a hotbed of human ingenuity with food. After exploring the inner workings of the prison and its kitchen, Johneric cooks a meal for the inmates from the limited resources available to him in an attempt to bring a different flavor to prison food. But will he succeed in liberating the taste buds of hardened criminals? Chef Demo to follow.

Free

Music of Asian America Workshop: Word To Your Motherland

Institute of Contemporary Art 118 S 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

A Hip-Hop Exploration of South Asian American Identity with Seti X CHAIR: Annar Desai-Stephens (Eastman School of Music) Join Los Angeles born, South Asian American Sikh Recording Artist SETI X for this workshop exploring Hip-Hop Culture and its relationship with South Asian American youth and their development of self-identity. As a co-founder of India’s First All Hip-Hop Collective, SETI X has travelled the world representing South Asian American Hip-Hop for the last 10 years. Participants will be able to hear music and watch videos of the development of this scene from the early 80’s onwards. In this workshop we will explore the trajectory of artists who have pioneered this space, as well as the current musical landscapes of South Asian American artists reclaiming their culture and expressing themselves through Hip-Hop Music. We will explore influences that have crossed over from the “Asian Underground” Movement in the UK, as well as explore ideas of cultural pollination across the world from the US to India.

Free

In the Life of Music

Lightbox Film Center 3701 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Opening Night Film, Narrative Program OPENING RECEPTION 9-11:00pm | Lightbox Film Center Director: Caylee So and Sok Visal 92 mins | Drama | Cambodia | Khmer, English Get Tickets The Life of Music is a story told in three chapters. It tells the story of how one song, “Champa Battambang,” a song made famous by Sinn Sisamuth (the King of Khmer Music), plays a role in the lives of three different generations. It is a powerful intergenerational tale that explores love and war as it depicts the lives of people whose world is inevitably transformed by the emergence of the Khmer Rouge. Watch Trailer Director Caylee So, Co-Producer praCh Ly, and other members of the Cast & Crew are expected in attendance for a post-film Q&A.

Music of Asian American Conference: Asian Musics, Transplanted

12 Gates Art Gallery 106 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

In partnership with Music of Asian America Research Center and University of Pennsylvania Asian American Studies Program, we present the third annual PAAFF Conference. This year’s three-day conference explores the Music of Asian America through a series of paper presentations and interactive workshops that will run parallel to festival film programming, punctuated by two live musical showcases on Friday and Saturday nights during Opening Weekend. Bringing together filmmakers, academics, and other creatives - the PAAFF Conference presentations include many of the leading scholars on these subjects and top performing artists in their field. All conference programs are FREE and open to the public, RSVP advised due to limited seating capacity. Check guide listing for location information since the conference will be traveling between venues. CHAIR: Jennifer Jones Wilson (Westminster Choir College) The musical traditions of Asia survive, thrive and are transformed in the United States for a wide variety of reasons.  This panel explores the journeys that Indonesian, South Indian and Chinese musics have taken when they entered the halls of academia, were employed as a part of youth identity formation, or became a site of memory and entertainment for seniors. PANELISTS: Elizabeth Clendinning (Wake Forest University) Gamelan Chameleon: Cultural Representation and Academic Asian American Ensembles The Indonesian American community is small; however, Indonesian gamelan (percussion orchestra) ensembles have gained an outsized presence within American academic music programs in the past six decades since the first two academic gamelan ensembles were founded at the University of California-Los Angeles. Based on nearly a decade of research within American gamelan communities, this paper examines how gamelan communities have approached the task of representation. Rachel Schuck (University of Miami) Carnatic Music Transplanted to America:  Innovations of Youth in “Sustaining Sampradaya” As Carnatic music’s education system shifts and develops, performance practices and live venues reflect the impact of this music’s migration to the U.S. In this paper, drawing on ethnographic observations of the 2018 Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival and interviews with organizers and participants, I demonstrate that the performance spaces and community accessibility provided through the festival’s education program reveal the globalization of this tradition and contribute to the re-formation of South Asian identity in American education and music performance contexts. Lydia Huang (Temple University) Songs of China(town): Music, Memory, and Identity This paper examines the musical practices of Chinese seniors (age 60 and over) in weekly singing classes in Chinatown, Philadelphia. These seniors are a special group within the Chinese diasporic community, as many have lived under Mao’s regime and through the reform era. In turn, they have experienced periods where music was used as an educational tool, as a political weapon, and as products for consumption. Given their varied experiences with music, what does music making look like for them in Philadelphia?

Music of Asian American Conference: Militarism & the music of Asian America

12 Gates Art Gallery 106 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

In partnership with Music of Asian America Research Center and University of Pennsylvania Asian American Studies Program, we present the third annual PAAFF Conference. This year’s three-day conference explores the Music of Asian America through a series of paper presentations and interactive workshops that will run parallel to festival film programming, punctuated by two live musical showcases on Friday and Saturday nights during Opening Weekend. Bringing together filmmakers, academics, and other creatives - the PAAFF Conference presentations include many of the leading scholars on these subjects and top performing artists in their field. All conference programs are FREE and open to the public, RSVP advised due to limited seating capacity. CHAIR: Ricky Punzalan (University of Maryland) From the annexation of Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines to the Asian theater in World War II and subsequent Japanese occupation, and from the Korean War to the Vietnam war and the illegal, covert bombings of Cambodia and Laos, U.S. military policy has—since the late 19th century—changed the fates of Asians along the Pacific Rim, and led many to immigrate to North America. This panel explores how U.S. militarism has affected the creation, dissemination and reception of the music of Asian America. PANELISTS: Christine Bacareza Balance (Cornell University): We are Here Because You Were There:  U.S. Militarism & the Musics of Asian America While social and cultural histories of the early Asian American movement account for its simultaneously domestic and transnational concerns—the wars in Southeast Asia as well as the civil rights struggles fought “at home”—what has not yet been addressed in a direct or sustained manner is how “Asian American music” has been constituted by over 100 years of militarized relations between the U.S. and its Asian counterparts. My paper addresses the role of U.S. militarism by listening in on primary musical examples and surveying secondary sources that evidence how U.S. war, occupation, and military bases in the Asia/Pacific are the conditions of possibility for what we can call “Asian American music.” Elaine Kathryn Andres (UC Irvine) Typical Finesse: Bruno Mars and the Training of Race in U.S. Empire No stranger to charges of cultural appropriation, Filipino Puerto Rican American pop star, Bruno Mars is a key subject in debates on blackness and the mainstream. This paper examines Mars’ racialized reception to ask how the Asian American performing body mediates perceptions of race, place, and the political in U.S. popular music. Specifically, I examine Mars’ training and labor as an Elvis impersonator to trace the contours of the militourism entertainment complex in the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Hawaii and to situate his framing as an unthreatening and apolitical multicultural figure in U.S. popular music within deflected processes of U.S. militarism and the tourism industry’s coeval logics of imperial amnesia.

Music of Asian American Conference: Tour of “American Peril”

12 Gates Art Gallery 106 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

In partnership with Music of Asian America Research Center and University of Pennsylvania Asian American Studies Program, we present the third annual PAAFF Conference. This year’s three-day conference explores the Music of Asian America through a series of paper presentations and interactive workshops that will run parallel to festival film programming, punctuated by two live musical showcases on Friday and Saturday nights during Opening Weekend. Bringing together filmmakers, academics, and other creatives - the PAAFF Conference presentations include many of the leading scholars on these subjects and top performing artists in their field. All conference programs are FREE and open to the public, RSVP advised due to limited seating capacity. Rob Buscher (Exhibit Curator and PAAFF Festival Director) “American Peril: Imagining the Foreign Threat” displays more than 40 original prints of anti-Asian propaganda in the United States from the 1870s to the present day. It is in four sections: (1) Chinese Exclusion and Propaganda Supporting the Annexation of the Philippines, (2) Anti- Japanese Propaganda during WWII, (3) Japan Bashing in the 1970s and 1980s, and (4) Anti-Muslim and Post-9/11 Islamophobia. This exhibit and the associated programming aim to educate the public about the complex history of Anti-Asian racism in the US and encourage audiences to think critically about contemporary political rhetoric.  By placing prints from close to a 150-year span together, we hope to show both continuities and changes in U.S. racial politics. The audience will recognize how the exclusion logic, which was first applied to people of Chinese descent, came to be employed for people of Japanese descent in the early-mid 20th century and people of Middle Eastern origins in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. They will also realize how malleable the concept of an “inassimilable alien” is, as they will see the term applied to everything from “coolies” to “model minorities” and from Buddhists to Muslims.

Free

Narrative Program: Moving Parts

Lightbox Film Center 3701 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Philadelphia Premiere Director: Emilie Upczak 77 mins | Drama | Trinidad and Tobago | English After the death of her father, Zhenzhen leaves China to be with her brother, who works construction on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. Although she gets a job at a restaurant, she is forced into a compromising position when the smuggler demands more cash. Her brother promises to pay her debt, but he is unsuccessful in getting an advance from his employer, leaving Zhenzhen desperate. She asks her boss for the money. He agrees but makes Zhenzhen promise she will work it off. Help comes unexpectedly from Evelyn, who runs an art gallery in the neighborhood. But the contrast between the dark rooms above the restaurant and the blindingly white gallery calls everyone’s innocence into question. Get Tickets

Documentary Program: Surviving Bokator

Lightbox Film Center 3701 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA, United States

US Premiere Director: Mark Bochsler 91 mins | Documentary | Cambodia | Central Khmer, English What started as a genocide survivor’s dream to revive an ancient sport becomes an inspiring mission to heal a nation. Surviving Bokator is a heartfelt story about reclaiming cultural identity and building bridges between generations. Filmed over five years, the film is told through the struggle of an elder genocide survivor to resurrect the ancient Cambodian martial art of Bokator and preserve it in the nation’s youth. Through their journey, the film reaches the very core of the generational fracture happening in Cambodian communities around the world today—a fracture between genocide survivors determined to revive and maintain traditional ways and Cambodia’s youth looking to forge ahead. Filmmakers are expected in attendance for a post-film Q&A. Get Tickets