Join us for SFIAAFF’s largest event, FESTIVAL FORUM, a FREE outdoor showcase of lively artists, performers and media makers in San Francisco’s historic Japantown Peace Plaza! Featuring a tremendous line-up of acts, including NYC-based dance-rock band, PaperDoll! This year’s event will feature commemorative programs to mark the one-year anniversary of the March 11 Japanese tsunami and earthquake.
From electronic pop to new school hip-hop, Directions In Sound 2012, delivers a genre-bending showcase featuring emerging artists and established vets. Join us on a trip through the future-forward music scene that’s blowing up the Asian American underground. Don’t blink…You might miss the next big thing!
As Hollywood rolls out the red carpet for Oscar Sunday, we here at CAAM know exactly which film we’re rooting for: Academy Award Nominee for Best Short Doc, THE TSUNAMI AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOM, which makes its Bay Area Premiere at SFIAAFF30. The first screening of this documentary will be part of our FESTIVAL FORUM, our largest event, bringing a FREE showcase of artists, performers and media makers to SF’s historic Japantown Peace Plaza. This year’s event commemmorates the one-year anniversary of the March 11 Japanese tsunami and earthquake.
Although innovations in storytelling are taking media in exciting, new directions, 30 Years of SFIAAFF wouldn’t have been possible without the pioneers and icons that have shaped the Asian American media landscape today. Join us for a series of events that honor just a few of these legendary figures – Joan Chen, Cherylene Lee, and The Nakamura Family – through cast reunions, live conversations, readings, and retrospectives.
As our friends in New Orleans recover from the party of the year, clearing away the vibrant masks and beads to make way for the more sobering period of Lent, we’d like to draw your attention to a less visible figure coming out of the Big Easy: Representative Joseph Cao, the first Vietnamese American member of the U.S. Congress, and the only non-white Republican Congressman. Watch the World Premiere of the CAAM-produced documentary MR. CAO GOES TO WASHINGTON at SFIAAFF30!
Happy Tibetan New Year! Or as they say: Tashi Deleg! At SFIAAFF30, there will be screenings of movies created by and for Tibetans: Tibet In Song, Sun Beaten Path, and Himalayan Youth Voices Project. Buy your tickets now!
For the first time ever, SFIAAFF is proud to present a WEB SERIES as our Closing Night Gala Presentation. Inspired by the 2009 Youtube sensation, the “Dancing Inmates of Cebu,” PRISON DANCER is an original, interactive musical web series featuring a cast of Youtube stars and some of the hottest, rising Filipino musical talent in North America. This special “performative cinema” event will include video, live performances by cast members, and maestro-led audience participation. A once-in-a-lifetime program, this unprecedented experience rethinks what media is and can be.
Due to high demand, the world premiere of MRS. JUDO: BE STRONG, BE GENTLE, BE BEAUTIFUL will now be playing at the Castro Theatre on Sunday 3/11. See the remarkable journey of one woman’s struggle against sexism in a male-dominated sport and how she is being honored today.
Do you know the way to San Jose? We sure hope so because you don’t want to miss our official San Jose Launch Party on Thursday, February 16 at Koji Sake Lounge! One month later, on Friday March 16, SFIAAFF packs up and heads down to the South Bay with KNOTS, our breezy, island-set San Jose Opening Night Feature by renowned director, Michael Kang.
At SFIAAFF, Valentine’s Day isn’t only one day: it’s spread out during the entire festival! With films like My Wedding and Other Secrets, Yes We’re Open, Saving Face, and the This Is Not Love shorts program, there’s something for everyone.
What’s the connection with Jeremy Lin, a rising NBA basketball phenom, and the 30th SFIAAFF? It turns out, Emily Tay, the FEMALE Asian-American Harvard basketball rock star of the documentary, NO LOOK PASS, was friends with Jeremy Lin at Harvard, and her inspirational story can be seen at this year’s Festival!
Drumroll please… the 30th SFIAAFF is here! The Festival’s 30th anniversary program celebrates the past, present, and future – not only honoring pioneers in Asian and Asian American media-making, but also new directions in digital and interactive media, sound and youth culture, culinary arts and gaming.