The Boston Asian American Film Festival: Shorts Program
Film
Oct 18—27, 2024
The Boston Asian American Film Festival Shorts Program
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.
A staple in every BAAFF season, Oh, Queer is self-expression and identity beyond orientation.
1. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A potent mix of horror and comedy, “Don’t Tell Your Parents” will have you screaming with laughter!
1. Stitched
Directed by: Lorena Lourenco 15 mins | English, Hindi, Tamil with Subtitles
Content Warning: Blood, gore
A South Asian diasporic woman, tired of dating people who can’t keep up with her mutable cultural identity, decides to “frankenstein” together the ideal partner.
Lorena Lourenço is a proud Latina immigrant and an award winning writer-director from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is a USC School of Cinematic Arts alumna and her latest short has been licensed by HBOmax as well as selected for competition at LALIFF (where it screened as best of fest), Outfest, Inside Out, Out On Film, Official Latino Film Festival, and several others. She was selected for The Orchard Project’s episodic lab, where she workshopped her series “Sula and I.” That same series has Diane Guerrero attached to star and has received initial support from Mark Duplass.
2. SHÉ (Snake)
Directed by: Renee Zhan
15 mins | English, Mandarin with subtitles
Content Warning: Some violence
Fei Li is the top violinist in her elite youth orchestra. When another Chinese violinist arrives to challenge her place, Fei’s internalized racism and anxieties grow to take monstrous physical form. They whisper to her, urging her to be the best, no matter the cost.
Director Bio:
Renee Zhan is a Chinese-American director and animator from Houston, Texas. Renee graduated with an BA from Harvard University and an MA in Directing Animation from the National Film and Television School. In her films Renee is primarily interested in exploring topics of female identity, nature, and sexuality – all things beautiful, ugly, and squishy. She is an alumnus of the Sarabande Foundation, BAFTA crew x BFI Network and Berlinale Talents and her short films have screened and won awards at festivals internationally including Annecy, Locarno, TIFF, SXSW, an Annie Award nomination, BAFTA LA shortlist, and the Jury Prize for Animated Short at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
3. Lullaby
Directed by: Chi Thai
15 mins | Vietnamese with subtitles
Created by award winning British Vietnamese filmmaker & Screen International Screen Star of Tomorrow, Chi Thai. Her recent directing credits includes adaptation of the award winning New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year, The Promise, by Nicola Davies & Laura Carlin for the BBC which played at over 30 top international festivals
4. Learning English
Directed by: Jean Liu
11 mins | English, Mandarin with subtitles
Content Warning: Ages 13+ | Strong sexual language, mature themes
Hannah’s first week in the US isn’t going as expected. Rejected by everyone she meets, it seems nobody has time to practice English with her. When she is propositioned by a couple looking for a phone sex participant, she uses the conversation as an opportunity to expand her vocabulary.
Director Bio:
Jean Liu is a British-Chinese filmmaker based in LA. Too well-adjusted to be a stand-up comedian, and too ADD to be a full-time writer, Jean has instead decided to channel her comedic energies into directing and producing. With a background in documentary, Jean favours telling grounded stories full of observational details.
5. A Family Guide to Hunting
Directed by: Zao Wang
14 mins | English/Korean with subtitles
When Eva, a doomsday prepper, takes her uptight Korean-American parents and all-American boyfriend on a bonding hunting trip, things go from bad to grisly.
Born into a family of filmmakers in Beijing, China, Zao Wang’s journey took a turn when his family emigrated to Mississippi at the age of 14. There, he immersed himself in American TV to master the English language. Zao was chosen by J.J. Abrams as his only Directing Fellow at Bad Robot. He is a part of the Sony Diverse Directors and NBCUniversal Emerging Directors Programs, Directing Fellow at HBO Access, and most recently, the WB Access Directing Workshop.
6. Mosquito Lady
Directed by Kristine Gerolaga
13 mins | English/Tagalog with subtitles
Content Warning: Ages 16+ | Mature themes of horror, gore, abortion, terror
Terrified of telling her parents that she’s pregnant as restrictions to abortion access worsen, a desperate teenager seeks the help of a reclusive neighbor who her parents warned her about.
Kristine Gerolaga is a Filipina American filmmaker and actor. She currently resides in Los Angeles where she writes and directs genre films, drama, and a ton of sketch comedy (but honestly, she loves it all) with her longtime filmmaking collaborator, Steven Krimmel. Her work was featured by The United Nations Population Fund, WhoHaha, TIFFxInstagram Shorts Fest, NYXHorror’s #13MinutesOfHorror, ATTN, Amazon Fire TV, ALTER, Shudder, and Vulture.
Esther (or Es to their friends), was born in South Korea. They immigrated to the US with their family at 8 years old. They graduated from NYU Tisch’s School of Drama in 2021, and soon began working as an actor, writer, and director in New York City. As a non-binary, queer, Asian American immigrant artist, their work often explores the human experience through the lens of these identities.
2. The Quingming Kid
Directed by: Austin Chen
11 mins | English, Chinese with subtitles
Content Warning: Sexual content, mild language
A Chinese American boy wants to celebrate his birthday, but as a part of the Qingming Festival, must instead follow tradition and pay respects at the graveyard to his grandfather who he’s never met.
Austin Chen is a writer, director, and producer from Fort Lee, New Jersey. He is currently a Producing Fellow at AFI and graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2019 with a major in Film & Television and a minor in computer science. He most recently interned in the Narrative Film department at Ryan Coogler’s production company Proximity Media
3. Freddie
Directed by: Maya Chang
4 mins | No Dialogue
An insecure gazelle searching for his lost hat finds something even more valuable: self-acceptance.
Maya Chang is from Staten Island, New York and currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Growing up as an Asian American woman with a birth defect, Maya has learned to navigate life from a unique perspective. From a young age, drawing has been used as a means to express herself from the inside out, and to find confidence through various artistic mediums. Maya is a recent graduate from Emerson College with a BFA in Visual and Media Arts.
4. For Roy
Directed by: Vivian Cheung
12 mins | English
Content Warning: Some themes of death and grief
Inspired by true events, an imaginative Asian-Canadian girl attempts to fold a thousand cranes as she learns to lose her father during his final days in the hospice.
Vivian Cheung is an up-and-coming Chinese-Canadian first-time director born and raised in Vancouver, BC. She stepped onto her first film set in 2022, when her pitch was selected as one of the Top 8 Finalists for MAMM17 (Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon), an annual competition with the Vancouver Asian Film Festival where finalists are given 10 days to make a 10-minute short. Through MAMM17, her debut film, ‘For Roy’, earned two awards: Best First Time Director and People’s Choice Best Short. As a MAMM17 winner, the film made its festival premiere at the 2022 Vancouver Asian Film Festival and continues to win and screen at festivals around the world.
5. re: connection
Directed by: Kristina Tran
8 mins | English
Content Warning: Some themes of death and grief
A 3D animated short film about a mechanic, her robot companion, and the path they take to reconnect their relationship.
Kristina Tran is a Vietnamese- and Chinese-American filmmaker from Sacramento, California. She attended San Jose State University for her BFA in Animation/Illustration and graduated in 2024. “re:connection” is her final thesis film, which was completed as part of her degree.
6. The Unreachable Star
Directed by: Sharon S. Park
15 mins | English
Inspired by the grand tales of Don Quixote, a brother and sister set off in search of adventure to escape their own wartime reality, but ultimately find that the greatest act of heroism is the imagination they lend to each other.
Sharon Park (Director, Producer) is an award-winning, LA-based, NY-born filmmaker from Seattle. She received her MFA in Film & Television Production at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, where she was hand-selected to direct high-profile productions by faculty. Sharon is also an honorable recipient of the prestigious Mary Pickford Scholarship, the Muller Family Scholarship, and a finalist at the Emmy’s Television Academy Foundation for Television Directing.
Bridging Two Worlds delves into relationships that transcend geographical, generational, and communal boundaries, uniting us in shared universal truths.
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.
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.
James Cutler is a half-Korean director, cinematographer, and composer. His work focuses on exploring identity and origin through surreal, narrative fiction.
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.
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.
Coinciding with BAAFF’s 16th anniversary, discover “Bittersweet 16,” an inspiring collection of films that reflect the trials, tribulations, transformative experiences and yes…growing pains of young adults.
1. Coconut
Directed by Carthy Ngo
8 mins | English, Vietnamese
A young woman is doing her best to tend to her ailing father’s increasing needs, as well as her feelings around them. She attempts to chop a coconut for the first time, in hopes that the refreshing treat will lift his spirits.
Carthy Ngo is a Vietnamese-Chinese emerging filmmaker from Toronto, Canada who wrote and directed her first short film in 2023. She is inspired by the stories of love and loss that she has come across through her work and in life, and hopes to provide audiences comfort with her art.
2. MIKE
Directed by Duc Anh Nguyen
15 mins | English, Vietnamese with subtitles
Content Warning: 13+ Strong language, themes of discrimination
Set within the first day of school, Hiep Nguyen is an exuberant Vietnamese student going on an exchange program at a Christian high school in South Dakota. At the school, Hiep stumbles into the challenge of conforming to an environment of all-white, very religious Midwesterners. As he finagles his way through obstacles emerging from intense cultural clashes, Hiep will have to ask himself: Should you accept yourself wholly, or should you change in order to connect with others in this school?
Duc Anh Nguyen is a writer/director, producer & editor from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He is an MFA graduate in the Film & TV Production program at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. As a writer/director, his films have been featured at Beverly Hills Film Festival & DisOrient Film Festival. As an editor, he has worked on award-winning shorts and documentaries that were featured at the Cleveland International Film Festival, NewFilmmakers LA, FilmQuest Festival, and more. As a producer, Duc Anh has worked on narrative shorts, corporate marketing content, and music videos in Washington, DC and Los Angeles.
3. When I Die
Directed by Syuen Chia
11 mins | English
After fixating on a lifeless body at an open-casket funeral, Lianne’s world turns upside down as she grapples with the fragility and unpredictability of life. Convinced that certainty will rid her of her paralyzing fear, she sets out on a journey to figure out her after-life plans, inscribing it into her own version of a will. As her uncertainty surrounding death grows with every additional question, she begins to lose sight of her surroundings as well as push away her loved ones. Ultimately, it is the thought of losing someone she loves dearly that leads her to realize that the beauty of living lies in the relationships we form and our shared experiences.
Syuen is a Malaysian Writer/Director based in Los Angeles who enjoys exploring different mediums of filmmaking to portray the unique complexities in the worlds of everyday people from all over the world. In her work, she highlights the intimacy of human connection while shining light on the barriers that keep us apart. As she continues her lifelong journey with storytelling, she hopes to amplify underrepresented voices by bringing light to their stories, cause ripples of positive change, and have fun in the process of making art with her loved ones.
4. 29 Hour Famine
Directed by Etzu Shaw
16 mins | English
Content warning: Death and grief themes
Jenny, a stubbornly devout and headstrong rising leader in her church’s youth group is the organizer of this year’s 30 Hour Famine fasting event to raise awareness for global hunger.
Etzu Shaw is a Taiwanese-American filmmaker whose narrative interests tend to dwell within the intersection of all things female, queer, and Asian-American. She is a recent graduate of the Columbia University Film MFA program where she received the Alfred P. Sloan Screenplay Award for her thesis feature script Killing Jar, which continued on to be a Sloan Grand Jury nominee as well as a SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship awardee. Vivienne is also the recipient of the 2023 Reel Sisters Microbudget Fellowship for her comedic short film 29 Hour Famine.
5. Marahoro
Directed by Sofía Rodríguez Pizero
16 mins | Spanish with subtitles
Content Warning: Some smoking scenes
“Marahoro” is the amusing and heartwarming coming of age story of 15-year-old Marahoro’s typical summer routine in his island home, Rapa Nui. Having a rough time balancing his father’s wishes for him to become a rapa nui folk artist and his own calling from the voices of the sea, the spirited young boy finds the strength in an ancient rapa nui holler to challenge his father’s harshness, showing him that his son can find his own place in the world and honor his culture in his own way.
Sofía Rodríguez is a Chilean filmmaker who lives in Villarrica. She studied Filmmaking and Communications at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She worked as Assistant Director in “Patu, the legend”, shot in Easter Island. In the year 2018 she was selected to attend the Aotearoa Script Lab in New Zealand with the script of the short film Marahoro. Marahoro was finished in February 2024, and premiered in March 2024 at Maoriland Film Festival (New Zealand). It is the first film written and directed by her. Sofía is keen on social and cultural projects, and specially indigenous themed projects that work as a contribution to communities.
5. Dive into the Blue
Directed by Ge GAO
19 mins | English with subtitles
15-year-old Chinese girl Lan undergoes a spinal surgery that traumatizes her physically and emotionally in the US. Being in a foreign country, the conflict between Lan and her mother, Wenli, intensifies during her rehabilitation. By chance, she meets Olivia, a Chinese-American girl adopted by an American couple, and the two girls quickly become close friends.
Graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Film Production, and from New York University with a Graduate Degree in Arts Administration, Ge Gao is currently a producer at Beijing Ultra Comedy Culture Communication Co. Her produced short film “One Afternoon” was shortlisted for the Student Academy Award and has won multiple awards at over 10 international film festivals. She is also the executive producer of “White Dew”, a musical short film co-produced by several colleges in the Boston area, and has made several award-winning short films.
Not Your Model Minority showcases compelling tales of Asian Americans courageously standing up to challenge injustice.
1. Asian Bitches Speak
Directed by Janet Chen Ma
16 mins | English/Chinese with subtitles
Content warning: Mature themes: Discussions of anti-Asian hate, depression, self-harm and intergenerational trauma and healing
After generations of cultural silence, years of pandemic anxiety, and one anti-Asian hate crime, queer filmmaker Janet takes her retired single mom Diana on a mental health discovery road trip. Along the way, they spill the tea about their own family history, and start the journey to healing.
Janet Chen Ma (she/her) is a film and multimedia director, producer and educator. Her films, including “Phoenix Bakery: Sweets for the Sweet,” and multimedia projects, including “Building History 3.0,” have been featured in film festivals and community events nationally. Janet was the assistant director for the UCLA Center for EthnoCommunications, where she managed and co-taught a social documentary program with director and professor Renee Tajima-Peña. She is a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia, and she was the founding manager for A-Doc (Asian American Documentary Network). Janet holds a B.A. in Film Studies from UC Irvine and a M.F.A. in Film & Digital Media: Social Documentation from UC Santa Cruz.
2. VS
Directed by Jole Sanchez
11 mins | English/Tagalog with subtitles
Content warning: Ages 13+ | Strong language
Set in 1992, a Filipino kid working at his father’s liquor store seeks community through the arcade game Street Fighter II, but finds himself clashing with a local bully and ultimately at odds with his father.
Content warning: Ages 13+ | Strong language
A young Chinese-American baseball player must confront his internalized racism after his overbearing father comes to his rescue.
Alan He is a writer, director and an award-winning producer based in New York, NY. He has produced several films with White Rhino Productions, such as ‘Sonder’, ‘Red Skies’, and most recently ‘Evergreen’, having garnered selections and awards at NFFTY, the London International Film Festival, Short of the Week, and more.
Born and raised in Westchester, NY, Alan’s work combines the films he and his family assimilated through and the coming-of-age stories of Asian Americans growing up in modern-day America. Alan recently graduated from New York University Tisch School of the Arts.
Taking from his baseball and sports background, Alan’s writer and directorial debut film “Ān-dé-lǔ” is entering the festival circuit.
4. The Well
Directed by Philip Miles Orduna, Sarah Young
15 mins | English
Content warning: Ages 13+ | Strong language and references to sexual abuse
An Asian-American man drives from his home in Chicago to a small lake town in rural Iowa, to confront a bar owner with whom he shares a traumatic childhood experience. What ensues is a tension-filled night where two men must find the courage to be honest and vulnerable with each other.
Director Bios:
Philip Miles Orduña is a mixed, Filipino-American, New York-based playwright and screenwriter who tells complicated, poignant stories about place, love, family, and identity through the lens of his mixed Filipino heritage and unique upbringing in San Francisco, Syracuse, and Des Moines, IA . Sarah Young believes in powerful, transformative storytelling through radical empathy and curiosity. She is an award-winning director and filmmaker, whose work challenges societal norms.
Sarah Young believes in powerful, transformative storytelling through radical empathy and curiosity. She is an award-winning director and filmmaker, whose work challenges societal norms.
5. Fighting Back
Directed by Xiaoying Su
11 mins | English
FIGHTING BACK follows Jessica Ng, a first-generation Hong Kong Chinese American and internationally recognized Muay Thai fighter. Her self-defense classes empower Asian American and Pacific Islander women at a time of an alarming rise of Anti-Asian hate crimes in New York City. FIGHTING BACK explores themes of love, energy and growth as Jessica navigates her identity, public responsibilities and newfound motherhood.
Xiaoying Su, known as Echo Su, is a documentary filmmaker based in New York focused on women’s rights and social justice. She actively engages with social justice organizations and the AAPI community. Using visual storytelling to drive positive impact and spark essential conversations on social justice is her passion. As the Director of Women in NAAAP-NY, Echo leads efforts to empower and educate Asian American women, encouraging their success and meaningful contributions to their communities and cultures.
6. Buzz Cut
Directed by Kiersten Villanueva
11 mins | English/Tagalog with English subtitles Content warning: 13+Strong language, violence
Union City, CA 2013. During a student march to rename a middle school after Filipino labor leaders, a disillusioned transfer student enters a barbershop and asks for a buzz cut.
Kiersten Villanueva is a Filipino-American independent filmmaker born and raised in the Bay Area. Through his time earning a BFA at Chapman University, his short film Shabu was featured in several notable film festivals, including Asian World Film Festival, Glendale International Film Festival, Chicago South Asian Film Festival, and Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival during its run from 2018 to 2019. He’s since gained industry experience, particularly script coverage and administrative skills, from internships at James Wan’s Atomic Monster and Trevor Noah’s Day Zero Productions. Kiersten lives in Los Angeles and works as a Writer’s PA on CBS’ show So Help Me Todd.
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1. Really Good Driver
Director Bio: 
3. Fish Boy
4. sub-
5. It was Love to Me
1. Stitched
2. SHÉ (Snake)
3. Lullaby
4. Learning English
5. A Family Guide to Hunting
1. Blue Hour
2. The Quingming Kid
3. Freddie
4. For Roy
5. re: connection
1. Seoul Switch 
2. BALIK/ BAYAN
3. What is the Criteria?
4. Kneading Love
5. Confused Blood
Kowloon!
1. Coconut
2. MIKE
3. When I Die
4. 29 Hour Famine
5. Marahoro
1. Asian Bitches Speak
2. VS
3. Ān-dé-lǔ
4. The Well
5. Fighting Back
