Shows & Events
Boston Asian American Film Festival – 2024

Past Event

Oct 17—27, 2024

Boston Asian AmericanFilm Festival

New England's Largest Asian American Film Festival

The Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF) empowers Asian Americans through film by showcasing Asian American experiences and serving as a resource to filmmakers and the Greater Boston Community. BAAFF is a co-production of Asian American Resource Workshop and ArtsEmerson.

In person

Shorts (Virtual)

Interior Chinatown

Info

Venue

Emerson Paramount Center
OCT 17–OCT 27

On Demand Streaming (Shorts Blocks)
OCT 18 @ 7:30 PM – OCT 27 @ 7:00 PM
Viewing window ends OCT 28 @12:00PM

Dates

Oct 17, 2024 - Oct 27, 2024

Special Offers

All-Access Festival Pass: $150
(All 2024 ArtsEmerson Film Programs with exception of Special Presentation, Interior Chinatown)
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Shorts Pass: $65
Watch all 6 Film Shorts Programs
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Details

$15 - $30 per film

IN PERSON AT EMERSON PARAMOUNT CENTER OCT 18–OCT 27

Viewing window for virtual films closes Oct 28

Thursday, October 17 (Brattle Theatre) @ 7:00PM OPENING NIGHT All That We Love

For additional filmmaker or Opening Night information, visit baaff.org

Films

Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement

Preceded by Stop Asian Hate Love One Another with Musical Introduction by Judo Club
CENTERPIECE | Documentary | Directed by Tadashi Nakamura, Quyên Nguyen-Le

55 mins | English | $15

Fri, Oct 18 @ 6:00 pm

NOBUKO MIYAMOTO: A SONG IN MOVEMENT is a sweeping documentary that follows the life of 84-year-old artist-activist Nobuko Miyamoto and her work that changed Asian America forever.

After decades of groundbreaking cultural work that unites communities and sets the bar for Asian American storytelling, Miyamoto reflects on a life that has bridged coasts, industries, families, and history. Featuring rare archival footage, NOBUKO MIYAMOTO: A SONG IN MOVEMENT is a story of a changing community told through the singular life of one of its most beloved storytellers.

Co-Director Bios:

TADASHI NAKAMURA is an Emmy-award winning filmmaker and the Director of the Watase Media Arts Center, a production company of the Japanese American National Museum. Tadashi was named CNN’s “Young People Who Rock” for being the youngest filmmaker at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Now with over 20 years of filmmaking experience, his films include MELE MURALS (2016), JAKE SHIMABUKURO: LIFE ON FOUR STRINGS (2013), A SONG FOR OURSELVES (2009), and PILGRIMAGE (2006). He is currently working on THIRD ACT, about his pioneering filmmaker father, Robert A. Nakamura, and his current battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

QUYÊN NGUYEN-LE (they/them) is a daytime emmy nominated queer vietnamese filmmaker born to refugee parents where Chumash and Tongva lands meet (San Fernando Valley, Los Ángeles). Quyên’s film work focuses on the ways histories are deeply felt in the quotidian everyday. Quyên’s work has been supported by Kartemquin Films, Points North Institute, Center for Asian American Media, the National Multicultural Alliance’s Producer Lab, Visual Communications, and the California Arts Council.

Stop Asian Hate Love One Another

Directed by Perry Yung
Shorts | 8 mins | English

A musical journey into a remedy for hate.

Director Bio:

Perry Yung is an American actor and musician from Oakland, CA. He plays Father Jun in Cinemax’s Warrior, produced by Justin Lin, Shannon Lee (Bruce Lee’s daughter) and Jonathan Tropper (Banshee show creator). He was fan favorite Ping Wu on Steven Soderbergh’s The Knick and has guest starred on Gotham, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods and was Top of Show on The Equalizer. Principle roles in films include The Harvest, Condemned, Jade Pendant and John Wick:Chapter 2. Perry is a member of La Mama Theater’s Great Jones Repertory Company of New York City.

Q&A with filmmakers follows films

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Oh, Queer

Shorts Block

72 mins | $15

Fri, Oct 18 @ 8:30 pm

A staple in every BAAFF season, Oh, Queer is self-expression and identity beyond orientation.

Q&A with filmmakers follows films

1. Entre Mudos y Estatuas1. Really Good Driver

Directed by Alex Song-Xia
8 MIN | English | Subtitles

An Asian American mom teaches her grown-up child how to drive, forcing both to confront parts of the car, and themselves, they never have before.

Director Bio:

Alex Song-Xia is a writer, actor, and comedian who grew up in Millburn, NJ. They have written for TV shows including Rick and Morty (Adult Swim), Praise Petey (Freeform), Exploding Kittens (Netflix), Little Demon (FX), and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC). As an actor, they can be seen in The Week Of (Netflix), starring Adam Sandler and Chris Rock, High Maintenance (HBO), Helpsters (Apple TV+), and Dimension 20 (Dropout). Really Good Driver is their first short film.

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2. hi ading

Directed by Dinaly Tran
2 MIN | English/Vietnamese | Subtitles
“hi ading” is a poetic short that provides a glimpse into a love story. Speaking to their parents’ past selves, Dinaly asks and hopes that these past versions might help them realize that the decisions they may not understand are still made out of love.

Director Bio:

Dinaly Joyce Tran is a queer, trans, nonbinary Filipinx-Vietnamese community organizer, and artist. They aim to create spaces and tell stories that empower and uplift folks with similar identities. They are always hoping to make things that feel homey, in their art, their organizing, and on their Animal Crossing island.

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3. Fish Boy

Directed by Christopher Yip
10 MIN | English/Cantonese | Subtitles

FISH BOY is a lyrical meditation on faith and queerness through the eyes of an Asian American teenager. When 16-year-old Patrick (played by Ian Chen, Fresh Off The Boat) questions his love for God and his sexuality, his self-discovery manifests in his skin.

Director Bio:

Christopher Yip (he/him) is a queer Chinese Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto whose works examine religion, family, and sexuality through a distinct diasporic lens.

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4. sub-

Directed by Nicole Tay
16 MIN | English/Chinese | Ages 13+ | Subtitles

Content Warning: Language, sexual harassment, sexual situations, drug use

In sub-, a professional dominatrix comes out to her new boyfriend about her work. Things take a turn when he surprises her for dinner… at a weed restaurant. sub- is a meditation on the intersection of kink and queerness, where we can find healing through play and compassion. The story is based on Lucy Sweetkill’s lived experiences as a pro domme and Nicole’s perpetual bad weed trips.

Director Bio:

Nicole Tay is a queer nonbinary woman and award-winning director based in NYC. They have two purposes in life: first, is to experience and create as much joy, love, and connection as possible in their blip of existence. And second, is to tell really f*cking good stories. This is her 4th film as writer and director.

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5. It was Love to Me

Directed by Raza Rizvi
16 MIN | English | Ages 13+
Content Warning: Sexual situations

A complex, intimate relationship brews between a 15 year old tennis player and the 18 year old prodigy he looks up to.

Director Bio:

Born to Pakistani-British parents, Raza Rizvi immigrated with his family to the United States at a young age. Throughout his childhood, he consistently moved across the country, attending 8 different schools before going to Columbia College Chicago where he graduated in the class of 2020, and then received his MFA in Film and TV Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2023. Raza tries to use his unique upbringing to diversify his work.

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5. Wouldn’t Make it Any Other Way

Directed by Hao Zhou
20 MIN | English
Content Warning: Mild language, brief sexual inference

Having built a colorful queer life in an American prairie town, an aspiring costume designer visits their island homeland of Guam to make costumes for a children’s theatre and reconnect with distanced parents.

Director Bio:

Hao Zhou is a filmmaker from rural China. Zhou’s work centers on marginalized voices and spaces, with a focus on LGBTQ+ themes. An alum of the Cannes Résidence and Berlinale Talents, Zhou wrote and directed a no-budget indie feature, THE NIGHT (Berlinale Panorama, Hong Kong, Sarajevo). Zhou’s 2021 short documentary FROZEN OUT won a Gold Medal at the 48th Student Academy Awards and screened at BFI Flare, Frameline, and NewFest. In 2023, Zhou’s short doc “Here, Hopefully” was distributed by PBS, won Best Short at Doc10, and screened at Big Sky, Outfest, CAAMFest, BlackStar, Indie Memphis, Cleveland, and others.

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BRIDGING TWO WORLDS

Shorts Block

81 mins | $15

Sat, Oct 19 @ 1:30 pm

Bridging Two Worlds delves into relationships that transcend geographical, generational, and communal boundaries, uniting us in shared universal truths.

Q&A with filmmakers follows films

1. Seoul Switch

Directed by Liann Kaye
13 MIN | English | Subtitles

When an insecure, Korean American boy meets an International K-Pop Star who looks just like him, they decide to switch identities.

Director Bio:

Liann Kaye is a Chinese American filmmaker based in NYC. Her award-winning mini-series “The Blessing” premiered at festivals across the country. The pilot was awarded “Best Comedy” at the New York Short Film Festival and a grant of 20K from the NYC Women’s Fund to serialize it. All six episodes premiered on Youtube this February, promoted by a successful Tiktok campaign.

2. BALIK/ BAYAN

Directed by Paula Kiley
7 MIN | English

A balikbayan box company owner explores the ways in which balikbayan boxes shaped his perception of the U.S., shedding light on the sacrifices made in pursuit of the “American dream” and the intangible losses that accompany it.

Director Bio:

Paula Kiley (she/her) is a multimedia journalist and documentary filmmaker who strives to tell stories that connect and empower people with information, the truth, and most importantly — one another. She most recently worked on a feature documentary titled Body Parts, a Sundance-selected film that explores the evolution of desire and “sex” on-screen from a female perspective — allowing women to reclaim the parts of themselves that have been objectified and exploited for decades.

3. What is the Criteria?

Directed by Aneesa Khan

11 MIN | English

A Pakistani-American woman’s life changes when a pair of magical glasses help her reevaluate what it means to find real love and happiness in her world.

Director Bio:

Aneesa Khan is a Pakistani-American Filmmaker, Writer, Producer, Media Manager, Editor, and Film Critic. She directed and wrote the period short film, “The Girl With Anklets” (“Woh Ghungroo Wali Larki”). This film was awarded Best Cinematography at the Pakistani Film Festival Australia 2021 and was officially selected at six film festivals all around the world.

4. Kneading Love

Directed by Jonathan Lue

19 MIN | English

A mental health therapist & a stay at home mom become Portland’s most unique Pizzaiolos. As the Truong family navigates through the challenges of opening a restaurant, Aaron soon discovers why he left his private counseling career to begin a new one creating pizzas.

Director Bio:

Jonathan Lue is a rising filmmaker out of Portland, Oregon. Originally from Huntington Beach, California, he moved to Portland to direct his first short documentary called Kneading Love.

5. Confused Blood

Directed by James Cutler

15 MIN | English, Korean | Subtitles

Content Warning: Some flashing lights

CONFUSED BLOOD (혼혈) explores the dichotomous reality of navigating belonging for mixed-race people. The short film details the experience of a half-Korean (Richard) living in Seoul and his search for belonging within Korea’s society and culture.

Director Bio:

James Cutler is a half-Korean director, cinematographer, and composer. His work focuses on exploring identity and origin through surreal, narrative fiction.

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Kowloon!

Directed by Mona Xia, Erin Ramirez

16 MIN | English

As the biggest Chinese restaurant in the US, Kowloon is a fantasyland that represents the Wong family’s American Dream come true. However, as third-generation owner Bobby Wong and his brothers approach their seventies, they consider the weight of their family and community legacy.

Director Bio:

Mona Xia is a Chinese-American, former studio executive turned documentary filmmaker. She grew up between Beijing and Los Angeles and received a BA in Cinema Studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Initially, she worked in scripted development and moved into production on Netflix studio films like The Irishman. Mona then discovered her passion for nonfiction stories and transitioned to the documentary series team as a creative assistant and eventually became a creative manager.

Erin Nene-Lee Ramirez is a Chinese-Jamaican and Dominican filmmaker originally from New Hampshire. His work (which explores themes of identity, immigration, and race) investigates the dualities and contradictions within society, with the intention to form a more liberated and collective future. His non-fiction and narrative projects oftentimes center queer characters and their experiences and employs both social realism and cinema verité styles to bring audiences closer to their protagonists.

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Future Date

Narrative | Directed by Stanley Wong

81 Mins | English | Ages 13+ | $15

Sat, Oct 19 @ 5:00 pm

Trailer

Content Warning: Strong language

Starring Stanley Wong (THE BIG SHORT), Shuang Hu (star/producer/co-writer of the Amazon original FIVE BLIND DATES) and Johnny Pemberton (Amazon’s hit series FALLOUT), FUTURE DATE is an offbeat sci-fi rom-com about the importance of human connection even when the world outside is less than ideal.

It’s far in the future. The climate is unlivable, no one can go outside, and nearly everyone is forced to live alone in tiny rooms. It sucks. Thirty-something strangers Ry (Stanley Wong) and Ria (Shuang Hu) are two of those people. Lonely and lovelorn Ry just wants to find The One, while frustrated workaholic Ria simply wants to live in a house. But both are struggling. Aside from eating nutritionally optimized chicken-shaped cake and staring out their fake windows, there’s not a lot of hope for them.

Then Ry and Ria are selected to participate in a first-of-its-kind contest, where they will spend the weekend in a real, old-fashioned house with each other. If they prove to be compatible, and thus win the contest, they get to stay in the house together forever.

Q&A with filmmaker follows film

Director Bio:

Stanley Wong is a Chinese American writer, director, and actor from the New Orleans area. His short film DELIMERENCE was featured at the Asian American International Film festival. The short, HAND FART, won the Audience Award at the Oscar-qualifying Nashville Film Festival and earned the coveted honor of being a Vimeo Staff Pick. He produced and co-wrote the feature film STEVE CHONG FINDS OUT THAT SUICIDE IS A BAD IDEA, which won the AIFF Audience Award. He was selected for the Armed with a Camera Fellowship, and also directed numerous viral videos, amassing more than 10 million views. He is also a character actor best known for his memorable turn as “The Quant ” in the Oscar-winning THE BIG SHORT. He also played Roman in the blockbusters 21 & 22 JUMP STREET. A veteran at playing side characters, Stanley puts a specific focus on bringing these roles into the lead.

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New Wave

Preceded by No More Sad Songs
Documentary | Director/Writer/Producer: Elizabeth Ai

101 mins | English/Vietnamese | Subtitles | $15

Sat, Oct 19 @ 8:30 pm

Mile-high hair. Synthesized sounds. Teenage rebellion.

Filmmaker Elizabeth Ai embarks on a project to tell a story of joy and youthful defiance as she explores a musical phenomenon in the 1980s known to Vietnamese American teens as new wave. As she delves into the lives of family members and icons of the new wave scene, she uncovers much more than just music and fashion. In the heart of Orange County, California, this counterculture movement takes the youth by storm, becoming a sanctuary for rebellious teens. The fun Euro-synth dance beats and punk/goth aesthetics mask deep traumas—broken dreams and unfulfilled expectations that have shaped her community.

Director Bios:

Elizabeth Ai produces branded content for companies such as National Geographic, ESPN, and VICE. Additionally she produces independent features such as documentaries: DIRTY HANDS: THE ART & CRIMES OF DAVID CHOE (2008) and A WOMAN’S WORK: THE NFL’S CHEERLEADER PROBLEM (2019); as well as feature narratives, SAIGON ELECTRIC (2011) and BA (2024). During her tenure at VICE, she created a cannabis cooking show, BONG APPÉTIT (2014). She and her films are supported by Berlinale, Better Angels Society, Center for Asian American Media, Cinereach, Film Independent, Firelight Media, Ford Foundation, Sundance Catalyst, Sundance x Adobe Women to Watch, Sundance x NEH Humanities Fellowship, Women in Film, and the Wyncote Fellowship.

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No More Sad Songs

Directed by Trace Le
Short |11 mins |English/Vietnamese

A Vietnamese rising pop star and her diva mother prepare for the big show while navigating their relationship.

Director Bio:

Trace Le is a second-generation Vietnamese American artist, writer, and emerging filmmaker from Orange County who calls Los Angeles her home. A writer since she could remember, her career started as a Managing Editor for a quarterly publication, working with writers and their stories alongside the art department. Trace found a dream job where she could curate stories and the vision to accompany them. With this first dream came a lot of growth and revelations and so in 2015, with a lot of fear and hope, she decided to pursue music. As a storyteller, Trace commits to using her voice as a catalyst for those who may feel, look, and or simply relate to her. She hopes to create worlds with her words for others to feel safe, heal, and indulge in, and to give language to what it looks like to return to one’s self, all by just feeling everything and in turn maybe feeling a little less alone.

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Ashima

Documentary | Directed by Kenji Tsukamoto

86 Mins | English/Japanese | Subtitles | $15

Sun, Oct 20 @ 1:30 pm

Trailer

Content Warning: Smoking

ASHIMA is an intimate portrait of elite rock climber Ashima Shiraishi as she travels to South Africa to try to become the youngest person in the world to climb a V14 graded boulder problem. Accompanying Ashima is Poppo, an eccentric, hermit-like, retired avante garde dancer, who also happens to be her father. Emotional and rooted in character, ASHIMA is a love letter not only to climbing, but to immigrant parents and the realization of the American Dream.

Q&A with filmmaker follows film

Director Bio:

Born in Fukushima, Japan, Kenji moved to America as a child where his family relocated frequently across the country. Having been immersed in various cultures both in the United States and Japan during his formative years, Kenji offers a distinct point of view in his storytelling. As a third culture kid, Kenji found a kindred spirit in the world renown climber Ashima Shiraishi, who became the subject of his first feature film.

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And So it Begins

CLOSING NIGHT FILM
Director, Writer, Producer: Ramona Diaz

115 Mins | Documentary | English/Tagalog | $20

Sun, Oct 15 @ 4:00 pm

Trailer

In a decades-long nonfiction saga of the Philippines, director Ramona Diaz presents the latest chapter on her homeland as the despotic reign of President Rodrigo Duterte is coming to an end. And So It Begins proffers unbridled access to all the key players in the months leading up
to the country’s 2022 presidential election. With her keen observational eye and deepknowledge of the socio-political history and landscape, Diaz continues to find her own forms of storytelling as political disruption.

Taking place in the thick of the Covid pandemic, And So It Begins is a shape-shifting story of the raucous collective act of joy expressed in a quirky resistance movement that pits itself against the haunting specter of increasing autocracy. Weaving together multiple narratives against the backdrop of a gloves-off campaign for the most powerful office in the land, what emerges is a dazzling cinematic portrait of a beleaguered nation fighting for its very soul.

Q&A with filmmaker and Closing Night Reception follows film

Director Bio:

Ramona S. Diaz / Director, Writer, Producer Ramona S. Diaz is a Peabody, Gotham, IDA, Emmy award-winning, PGA and Independent Spirit award-nominated Asian American filmmaker best known for her compelling character-driven documentaries that combine a profound appreciation for cinematic aesthetics and potent storytelling. Ramona’s films have demonstrated her ability to gain intimate access to the people she films – be they rock stars, first ladies, dissidents, mothers, teachers, or journalists – resulting in keenly observed moments and unforgettable nuanced narratives.

Her films have been screened and won awards at Sundance, Berlin, Busan, Tribeca, SXSW, IDFA, HotDocs, and many other top-tier film festivals. Ramona’s feature-length independently-produced films— Imelda (IL, 2004), The Learning (POV,2011), Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey (IL, 2012) and, Motherland (POV, 2017), A Thousand Cuts (Frontline, 2020)—have been nationally broadcast on PBS, Arte, and the BBC amongst others.

Ramona is both a Guggenheim Fellow and a USA Fellow – prestigious awards given to artists with singular visions who have significantly contributed to the arts in the United States. She was recently named the inaugural McGurn Family Trust Resident in Film by the American Academy in Rome. Ramona is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Producers and Writers Guilds of America. In 2017, she received a Women at Sundance Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, and a Chicken & Egg Pictures Filmmaker Award. For the past ten years, Ramona has served as a film envoy for the U.S. State Department’s American Film Showcase in partnership with USC and, more recently, for Film Independent’s Global Media Makers program. Ramona is a graduate of Emerson College and holds an MA from Stanford University.

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