Shorts
October 01
The 2020 72 Hour Shootout: Top Ten Selection
12:00 AM | 60 minsThe 72 Hour Film Shootout is a worldwide competition in which filmmakers have 72 hours to write, shoot, and edit a short film.
The 2020 CUNY Shorts Showcase
12:00 AM | 62 minsThe CUNY AAFF helps to promote the artistic visual talents of and stimulate communication among CUNY students who are separated by the campuses.
[SHORTS] A Fighting Chance
12:00 AM | 109 minsThe fighters in these short films show us gumption, persistance and deceit.
[SHORTS] Crush or Be Crushed: Love Stories
12:00 AM | 102 minsThese stories present us love through more than just rose-tinted shades. Romance finds a way.
[SHORTS] In The Moment
12:00 AM | 99 minsJoin us as we intimately experience fire breathing on the hawker-lined streets of Saigon, the waters of Manila amidst the Philippines' drug war, and F
[SHORTS] Lost & Found
12:00 AM | 100 minsThese films are about the physical and emotional distance that can be necessary to cross as a result of emigrating from home.
[SHORTS] Made in NY
12:00 AM | 102 minsA diverse cross section of New York City presented by NY-based storytellers.
[SHORTS] Ones to Watch: Filmmakers Under 21
12:00 AM | 89 minsA collection of short films by talented filmmakers under 21.
[SHORTS] Parental Guidance
12:00 AM | 96 minsParenthood is equally as demanding as it is enriching. These films don’t shy away from some of the more difficult aspects of parenting.
[SHORTS] Special Delivery: Shorts that Spark Joy
12:00 AM | 112 minsThis section of shorts will have you laughing, smiling, and crying tears of joy. From Bollywood superstars, Canadian celebrities, and notable Asian fi
[SHORTS] Through Practice: Documentary Shorts
12:00 AM | 114 minsThe individuals in these documentary shorts show us how practice shape their lives and professions.
[SHORTS] Truth and Realness: Queer Shorts
12:00 AM | 95 minsA selection of shorts that celebrates queer Asian storytelling and expression.
[SHORTS] Uncharted Waters: VR & Digital Shorts
12:00 AM | 28 minsBring your virtual reality headsets if you’ve got ‘em! Virtual and digital shorts.
October 10
AAIFF43 Presents: Music Night Out
7:00 PM | 120 minsA night of musical performances and music videos highlighting the amazing collaboration of API musicians and filmmakers.
Short Films
Sorejya Taka
11 minsAfter an unexpected crisis, a woman phones her friends for solace while wandering the streets of Tokyo.
Keep Me At Bay
18 minsAfter finding her father’s old coat in a storage box, Snow remembers the day he came home from military service and the childhood trauma that led her to emotional distance from others.
Things We Carry
17 minsA closeted Korean woman returns home to a small fishing village for her father's funeral and uncovers a secret that reconnects her with her grandmother, a traditional deep sea diver.
Ephemeral
16 minsA juxtaposition of life before 1975 and life during the fall of Sai Gon – a matter of life or death, the Vietnamese people took a leap of faith to escape their homeland, in search of finding a better life for themselves and their children.
A Trip with Mom
28 minsWhile struggling to take care of his 80-year-old disabled mother, middle-aged Xia Changming loses his job and must answer to multiple external pressures.
Gay As In Happy: A Queer Anti-Tragedy
3 minsAn award-winning experimental autoethnographical documentary about queer joy, resistance, and resilience in the face of abuse, trauma, and transphobia.
Basurero
17 minsA Filipino fisherman, desperate for some quick cash, turns to dumping bodies into the sea for the current Philippine "Drug War".
We Need to Talk About The Ring
30 minsThough same-sex marriage is now legal in her hometown in Taiwan, Xin risks both her family and lover as she is forced to own up to her true feelings.
Were You Gay In High School?
13 minsTwo queer women recall their awkward, closeted high school days of kissing boys and straight girl crushes.
Stay Awake, Be Ready
14 minsOn a street corner a mysterious conversation among three young men at a street stalls.
Ikebana
5 minsA Japanese Canadian elder recalls her experiences growing up in Vancouver and shares her love of Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement.
Idols Never Die
17 minsWhen Korean pop idol “N.D.” tragically dies, a dysfunctional group of high school fan girls discover a hidden message in his music.
Overshare
11 minsThere are some things Hazel’s rideshare driver needs to know… And there are some things he does not.
Daughters
8 minsAdopted immigrants open up about their experiences trying to find identity whilst redefining the typical American family.
In Loving Memory
15 minsAn apathetic young woman attends her dad's wake, 20 years after he abandoned her family.
A Glimpse (Ek Jhalak)
18 minsCan a man fall for a woman he has never met? And what if she is not who he imagined her to be?
Three Fish
4 minsAfter announcing her pregnancy to her volatile partner, a Vietnamese woman completes a grocery store trip by herself.
Aye Ko
22 minsStranded on a Southeast Asian country road with a headstrong goat as her sole companion, 12-year-old Aye Ko must find her way home in time for her sister's wedding.
Idol
21 minsSingle mom Miyabi relies on her child idol daughter Kasumi as her only source of income and ticket to future stability. When Kasumi is replaced in the group by a more popular girl, Miyabi takes drastic measures to get her back in the lineup
...Izakaya
11 minsOne summer day, Takuya is invited by his girlfriend to go to an izakaya (a Japanese tavern) during lunchtime.
Three Wishes
2 minsA mother and her 11-year-old daughter wait for a bus. To pass the time, they play a game: If you could wish for anything in the world, what would you wish for?
Between the Notes
15 minsFour students on the cusp of adulthood, hailing from different corners of the world, congregate at the first ever Taipei Music Academy & Festival, where they are pushed to reckon with their insecurities preparing for a risky career in music
Frat House
15 minsThe sleepy city of Garden Grove, California was once home to over 15 gay bars. Frat House is the last.
How She Moves
40 minsHOW SHE MOVES is a documentary short about the spirited Indu Mitha, a 90-year-old dance teacher in Pakistan, as she prepares for her final dance recital.
Lucky Girl
11 minsOn the anniversary of her adoption, 9-year-old Esther confronts the duality of her identity when she learns that the food at the Chinese buffet might not be "real” Chinese food.
Oniden
2 minsAn uptight health inspector bites off more than he can chew when he inspects a noodle restaurant run by demons.
An Object of Merit
23 minsWhat makes an ordinary bowl beautiful? Korean-Canadian ceramic artist Minjae Lee explores the influences on his functional wares, searching for purpose in his art.
The Other Side
17 minsSet against the Ethiopian abandoned children crisis, two orphan brothers are faced with the reality of never being adopted.
Noodles & Incense
20 minsChinese American cook Amy Chang wants to move to LA with her girlfriend Megan. However, she's held back by unfinished business with her late grandma.
Standing Above the Clouds
15 minsSTANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS follows Native Hawaiian mother-daughter activists as they stand to protect their sacred mountain, Mauna Kea, from the building of the world’s largest telescope.
Love, Isabelle
5 minsA Chinese adoptee’s letter to her biological parents after 22 years of being apart.
My First Sessions
8 minsFor a Chinese college student adjusting to life in the U.S., anger and sadness feel like dark secrets, but the idea of seeing a therapist is daunting.
The SoHo Memory Project
14 minsTHE SOHO MEMORY PROJECT documentary is a story about the neighborhood of SoHo in New York City and its transformation from once warehouse artist district during the 1960s to a now commercialized upscale hub of fashion, retail, and food.
Yai Nin
13 minsNinlawan Pinyo is the matriarch of a Thai American family, who hustled for her fortune by founding a naem (pork sausage) factory in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Farming Slowly
8 minsA passionate farmer builds a lifestyle and community around the philosophy of taking time to grow organic foods.
Unconditional
9 minsA character-driven short documentary that explores a mother’s life with her disabled daughter and how she learns a meaningful lesson.
Academy
10 minsTrapped in a school full of familiar creatures, young soldiers and students must work together to make it out alive.
Kaddish
14 minsThe emotional journey of a young Ashkenazim who attempts to visit his mother's grave on Yahrzeit during the Holocaust.
ALIENATION SOGAI
12 minsNeither a language barrier nor physical distance is the reason behind this man and his father’s estrangement.
Second Parent
16 minsA non-biological lesbian mother struggles when her daughter shows signs of favoring her wife, who's the birth mom. Her fears deepen when her brother, who's also their sperm donor, comes to visit from Asia.
Sorejya Taka
11 minsHaunt
17 minsReza is a gambling addict who loses his wife during a game without knowing it. When he comes back home, he looks for a way to escape...
Coby and Stephen Are in Love
30 minsDespite dissimilarities in culture and age, an artist and a former Chinatown nightclub dancer find unlikely love in each other through handmade outfits, dance, and collage.
Super Sonic
15 minsWorried that his hearing aids will fail him, Wahid must find a new language to keep his budding romance with Samar alive.
The Undocmented
15 minsAfter being fired from a job, a desperate undocumented immigrant takes up a new gig that seems straightforward but leads to unforeseen consequences.
Bidyoke
27 minsPortrait of a beloved Filipino karaoke-restaurant in National City, California, that has since closed its doors.
Cupcake Dad
14 minsRealizing how much he has neglected his 6-year-old son, a smug Korean-American businessman races to deliver cupcakes in time for his son’s class birthday party.
Way Back Home
32 minsWAY BACK HOME tells the story of a group of Chinatown stowaways. Yu comes to New York to make money for her sick son; however, in the frustrations of life and work, she finds that there is no way back.
(t)here
17 minsRhea, a young Indian girl living in the U.S., is struggling to make a decision that impacts her life and dreams when a chance encounter with an immigrant grocery store manager leads to an unexpected bond between the two.
Black Ghost Son
11 minsEddie is Chinese and his son, Troy, is Black. Together they navigate the spaces between ethnicity and identity and confront their own prejudices.
Adam
19 minsTired of his turbulent family life, Adam seeks out an alternative arrangement in hopes of finding his place.
The Pregnant Ground
24 minsAfter a traumatic stillbirth, a woman starts to believe the ground below her apartment is pregnant.
Mom Fight
12 minsTwo moms seek the hottest toy this holiday season at the local store. The problem is there's only one left.
Dancing On My Own
14 minsDANCING ON MY OWN is a hybrid documentary/narrative love letter to the queer Asian experience, inspired by New York's radical dance party Bubble_T.
Cha
9 minsWhile Bibi teaches her granddaughter Simran how to make Cha, they are pulled into Bibi's memories of one fateful day in Delhi in 1984.
Ruwatan
15 minsSri accompanies her blind mother to undergo alternative therapy each week, but today might be their last visit.
MELT
11 minsWhen Little Jia is asked to read his essay about Women's Day out loud in class, he hides the truth that he has only shared with his friend Dong.
Bitter Melons
25 minsA tough female line cook is tasked with delivering bitter melons to her estranged father.
Shades of Jade
13 minsA young girl must bond with a new father figure in order to help her mother pass their fake green card marriage.
Shadow of the Moon
17 minsAn orphaned teenage girl may have to betray her morals when presented with an opportunity to leave her village.
Kneeling Sheep
15 minsA Mongolian single mother fights to save her son, who is about to be executed, only to discover that the absence of justice is crushing her life.
Becoming Eddie
16 minsA Korean American boy in the 1980s struggles to fit in with his classmates, so he makes the only logical wish—to become America’s most famous foulmouthed comedian.
Jasmine Lane
21 minsIn the early 1960s, Loan, a young Vietnamese woman, and Pierre, her Eurasian husband, are relocated to a village in Auvergne under a resettlement program for French nationals from Indochina.
Why Don’t You Eat More?
4 minsA quiet, up-close reflection on masculinity and the meaning of the word "skinny.”
1056 Metres
17 minsLing needs a kidney. She leaves Malaysia and crosses the 1056-meter-long causeway at the border to Singapore to see her younger brother, who now lives there, to seek this desperate favor. Will her last hope eventually save her?
The Untitled Portrait of Red
32 minsA young Chinese student meets a free-spirited girl obsessed with the surrealist René Magritte and promptly falls in love with her, challenging the conservative values of his family and father.
Wednesdays
15 minsDongbok, a human rights activist and a former sex slave of the Imperial Japanese Army, has been petitioning for 27 years for both reparations and an apology.
72 Hour Shootout: Top Ten Selection
60 minsThe 72 Hour Film Shootout is a worldwide competition in which filmmakers have 72 hours to write, shoot, and edit a short film. The projects in the Top Ten Selection are based on the theme “Going Viral” and the mystery prop “Toilet Paper.”