The year 2024 will be remembered as a time of change and transition, both for CAAM as an organization and also for our society at large. As reach the year’s end, we’re reflecting on the work we have accomplished together as a creative community. Join us in looking back at the past twelve months to celebrate our achievements and to draw inspiration for the work we have yet to do.
Media Fund
Funding documentaries and distributing them through public media are some of the most impactful ways we shine light on stories from Asian America.
Building Bridges Documentary Fund
In early 2024, we launched the Building Bridges Documentary Fund, an ambitious three-year initiative, supported by the Doris Duke Foundation, to support films about U.S. Muslims. Announced at the Muslim House at Sundance, we built out the program this year, hiring Leila Abu-saada as our Building Bridges Documentary Fund Manager and accepting applications for first round of grantees. We are looking forward to announcing the inaugural cohort of grant recipients in 2025.
Documentary Fund
This year, we’re proud to fund five new documentary films for public television through our cornerstone Documentary Fund, generously supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Those films are:
- Far East L.A., directed by Rubén Guevara III & Jun Shimizu, produced by Rubén Guevara III & Natsu Furuichi, exploring the history of Little Tokyo and Boyle Heights
- The Gas Station Attendant, directed/produced by Karla Murthy and produced by Rajal Pitroda, follows a daughter’s exploration of her South Asian immigrant father’s life
- I Love You More Than My Life, directed/produced by Indira Somani and produced by Erin Ploss-Campoamor, documents a woman’s struggle to care for her aging mother
- The Other Side of Memory, directed by Nick Capezzera and produced by Jiefei Yuan, follows an adoptee’s lifelong quest to find his birth parents that ultimately transforms his relationship with his adoptive family
- What Happened to Danny, directed by ManSee Kong and produced by Lorraine Ma and Jennifer Ngo and edited by Sam Rong, dives into a personal story of identity and justice
CAAM-Funded Films in the Spotlight
It’s been a banner year for CAAM-funded films at the awards! In September, Free Chol Soo Lee won an Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary. And Angel Dose took home a Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmy. Then in December, A Town Called Victoria won Best Limited Series at the IDA Awards. And we close the year with the news that three CAAM-funded films—And So It Begins, New Wave, and Nurse Unseen—became eligible for Documentary Oscars in 2025, and Union by 2021 CAAM Mentor Steve Maing made the shortlist. These recognitions are reminders of how impactful our stories can be to viewing audiences.
Talent Development
Fellowship
This March, we marked five years of the current CAAM Fellowship with a celebration at Abaca Restaurant in San Francisco, which brought together past and current participants and introduced the cohort of 2024 CAAM Fellows, Rafael Bitanga, Colette Ghunim, and Linghua (Lily) Qi and the CAAM Mentors Tadashi Nakamura, Bhawin Suchak and Diane Quon. Wrapping up their year of learning, these three up and coming makers pitched their works-in-progress to a panel of judges, with Rafael taking home $10,000 in funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Filmmaker Summit and Industry Hub at CAAMFest
This year, our annual Filmmaker Summit was combined with the CAAMFest Industry Panels, welcoming all attendees to an Industry Hub at Four One Nine in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. For two days, the creative community took part in two days of learning, including panels sponsored by NBCU and WBD Access, as well as collaborations with A-Doc, Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience, Firelight Media, WORLD Channel, AmDoc, ITVS, FILM SF, and SFFILM.
Broadcast and Streaming
One of the most far-reaching ways we share Asian American stories is through our partnership with public media, which allows our films and programs to be broadcast or streamed to viewers across the nation. Our public media broadcasts and streaming programs in 2024 included:
- Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story which focuses on the work of the “unofficial, undisputed Asian American photographer laureate” was broadcast to PBS viewers nationwide in May for Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
- Reel South This digital partnership with PBS North Carolina added new depth to stories from the American South, including the short documentaries Boca Chica (also screened at CAAMFest), by Ai Vuong and Samuel Diaz Fernandez and The Only Doctor by Matthew Hashiguchi.
- Roots of Comedy – This joint project with PBS SoCal and our fellow National Multicultural Alliance (NMCA) organizations featured a diverse group of up-and-coming comics, including Sierra Katow, a young Chinese and Japanese standup comedian from LA.
- Lucky Chow In its sixth season, CAAM presented this series by Danielle Chang tracing the deep roots of Asian food culture in America.
- PBS Short Film Festival This year, CAAM had two selections in this annual online showcase:
- Take Me Home directed by Liz Sargent features a cognitively disabled woman and her estranged sister learning to communicate after their mother’s death.
- Eid Mubarak directed by Manoor Euceph charmed judges with its pastel-saturated story of a young girl and her goat, winning the 2024 Jury Award
- APIA Vote Presidential Town Hall CAAM produced an in-person and streaming event featuring many Asian American and Pacific Islander civic leaders, including Vice President and 2024 Presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Events
CAAMFest 2024
This year, we celebrated the Opening Night of CAAMFest at the Palace of Fine Arts, with a screening of the documentary Admissions Granted, which focused on the run-up to the landmark Supreme Court case pitting Asian American plaintiffs against Harvard University. Over the span of 11 days, the festival included over 38 programs, including documentary, narrative, and short films, as well as chef dinners featuring Damansara x Dabao Singapore and Komaaj, a live concert by Thao at Yerba Buena Gardens, and other live events. Notable and CAAM-funded films at this year’s festival included:
- And So It Begins
- Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement
- Home Court
- A Great Divide
- Extremely Unique Dynamic
Other In-Person Events
Larry the Musical The CAAM-funded stage production featuring the life of farm labor activist Larry Itliong packed the house at the Brava Theater in San Francisco this spring.
Throughout the year, CAAM also co-presented or provided many opportunities for our community to take part in other live cultural events and exclusive advance screenings, such as a showing of Sean Wang’s Dìdi (弟弟) featuring a live Q&A with Sean and actress Joan Chen.
Engagement
Memories to Light
Our home movie archive initiative, Memories to Light, received a boost this year, through a special program through the Mellon Foundation Nonprofit Finance Fund, which will help equip CAAM and others doing this vital grassroots work, to sustain our efforts for the future.
Social Media
We’ve reached over 12.3K followers on Instagram, and Facebook also continues to be an active platform for many in our community. But we’re always looking for new ways to be in conversation with filmmakers and Asian American thought leaders, and have also joined Threads and Bluesky this year.
Executive Director Transition
Finally, as 2024 draws to an end, we are saying goodbye to our outgoing Executive Director Stephen Gong, who is retiring after leading CAAM for 18 years and serving on its board for decades. Our current and past staff and board, filmmakers, and supporters gathered to celebrate Stephen’s impact within our organization and to the Asian American and filmmaking communities at large – and to reconfirm our commitment to greater representation and more empathy through storytelling.
Looking to the Future
As we enter into 2025, we know the next year will bring change and challenges – as the nation’s cultural winds are shifting. We remain firm in our mission that Asian American stories are integral to our understanding of the United States, and that our stories are for everyone, for those within our community longing to see themselves reflected and for those looking in, hoping to gain a better understanding of our shared experiences. One thing that won’t change is the power of the moving image to move hearts and minds, no matter what comes our way.
