About
Established in 1978 by Asian CineVision, the Asian American International Film Festival is the nation’s first and longest running festival of its kind and the premier showcase for the best independent Asian, Asian diaspora and Pacific Islander cinema. AAIFF is committed to film and media as a tool for social change and to supporting diversity and inclusion in the media arts.
Asian CineVision (ACV) is a 501(c)(3) media arts nonprofit devoted to the development, exhibition, promotion, and preservation of Asian and Asian American experiences through storytelling. Our mission is to nurture and grow the community of makers and enthusiasts of Asian and Asian American independent film, television, and digital.
History
The first annual Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) opened in 1978 at the Henry Street Settlement in New York City’s Lower East Side. Since then, AAIFF has screened films from all over the world, representing 20-plus countries.
AAIFF has provided the U.S. premieres of acclaimed film directors including Wayne Wang, Mira Nair, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, and Ang Lee. We’ve hosted films from well-known filmmakers to emerging artists. Even as it has grown in size, AAIFF remains true to its core mission of representing stories and storytellers from the Asian diaspora. Join us, this year, as we bring these powerful stories to the screens in your home in our first online edition of the film festival.
Board & Staff
Board of Directors
Daniel Chen
Judy Lei
Cecilia R. Mejia
Wynn Salisch
John Woo
Emeritus Board Member
Philip Lam
Leadership
ACV Executive Director
ACV Associate Directors
Administrative Consultant
Legal Manager
John Woo
Kayla Wong
David Rances
Christopher Gultiano
Catherine Gumarin
Administration
Administrative Director / National Tour Coordinator
HR Manager
Elizabeth Bigelow
AJ Sita
Development & Community Partners
Development Director / Corporate Sponsor Lead
Development Manager
Development Consultant
Development Associate
Grant Writer
Corporate Sponsor Coordinator
Community Partner Coordinators
Sponsorship Coordinators
Young Chen
Lily Chu
Paolo Bitanga
Anita Yung
Jillian Lin
Nidhi Kalva
Amy Sun
Peter Tan
Helen (Fangda) Cao
Joyce Chan
Kate Chen
Yanyan Huang
Operations
Operations Director
Operations Manager
Operations Associates
Production Manager
Box Office Coordinators
Guest Services Coordinators
Print Traffic Coordinators
Events Coordinators
Production Assistants
Tiffany Bai
Michael Mejia
Tyler Chen
Dayoung Lee
Nicole Yap
Jihyun Paik
Imani Ballard
Samantha Lam
Ashley Sinha
Maya Jacobs
Brian Lau
Shannon Urabe
Phyllis Chee
Yutong “Jas” Wang
Aidana Dauletiyarova
Weevon Ly
DJ Satoda
Dasom Sohn
May Brigham
Jiyeon Kim
Vincent Tsang
Marketing & Public Relations
Marketing & PR Manager
PR Coordinator
Marketing Associate
Marketing Data Analyst
Email Marketing & Newsletter Coordinator
Social Media Lead
Social Media Coordinators
Siena Koh
Claire Su
Claire Gu
Natasha Sum
Chen-Yi Wu
Anson Li
Rick Bai
Kim Hernandez
Lina Hoang
Sadia Sharif
Yu Hai Shen
Creative
Creative Director
Lead Designer
Graphic Designers
Graphic Designer / Photographer
Motion Graphic Designer
Photo / Video Lead
Photographers
Videographers
Video Editors
Trailer Editor
Murielle Hsieh
Ben Dumond
Annette Cho
Judy Huang
Emily Wu
Steven Lew
Siwen “Candy” Sui
Elena Dagan
Junaid Arif
Wonsik Choi
Melanie Hyde
Kyle Lui
Theresa Shim
Cyrus Choi
Anny Liu
Leydn McEvoy
Hannah Lau
Yena Oh
Raymond Tisch
Web
Web Manager
Lead Software Engineer
Website Data Entry Assistants
Web Developers
UX Designers
Jenny Xing
Dennis Hu
Christina Duan
Haley Tamtoro
Genn-Hong Lin
Alisa Promthep
Linh Tran
Emily Yu
Qashka Rulino
Matthew Thien
Mieko Tominaga
Editorial
Editorial Manager
Copyediting Assistants
Wendy Chen
Jeanine Huang
Justine Kaneda
Cindy Li
Programming
Programming Director
Programming Coordinator
Programming Captain – Documentary/Narrative Shorts
Programming Captain – Documentary Features
Programming Captain – Narrative Features
Programmers
Screenplay Programmer
Special Exhibition Programmer
Kris Montello
Nehha Jain
Jackson Lee
Henry Thong
Charlotte Wittmann
Aalisha Jaisinghani
Seyoung Kim
Suzanne Knop
Dayoung Lee
Umi Marshall
Michael Mejia
Samantha Toy Ozeas
Yebin Park
Manasvi Sharma
Sally Tran
Peggy Tseng
Rengu Zhang
Scarlett Wang
Anson Li
Wendy Chen
Hai-Li Kong
CineVue
Interim Editor-in-Chief
CineVue Contributors
Leezum Regensburg
Isabella Tecson
Shay Santos
Helen He