Shorts

The 72 Hour Film Shootout is a worldwide competition in which filmmakers have 72 hours to write, shoot, and edit a short film.

The CUNY AAFF helps to promote the artistic visual talents of and stimulate communication among CUNY students who are separated by the campuses.

The fighters in these short films show us gumption, persistance and deceit.

These stories present us love through more than just rose-tinted shades. Romance finds a way.

Join 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

These films are about the physical and emotional distance that can be necessary to cross as a result of emigrating from home.

A diverse cross section of New York City presented by NY-based storytellers.

A collection of short films by talented filmmakers under 21.

Parenthood is equally as demanding as it is enriching. These films don’t shy away from some of the more difficult aspects of parenting.

This section of shorts will have you laughing, smiling, and crying tears of joy. From Bollywood superstars, Canadian celebrities, and notable Asian fi

The individuals in these documentary shorts show us how practice shape their lives and professions.

A selection of shorts that celebrates queer Asian storytelling and expression.

Bring your virtual reality headsets if you’ve got ‘em! Virtual and digital shorts.

A night of musical performances and music videos highlighting the amazing collaboration of API musicians and filmmakers.

Soo is having a hard time adjusting to being a new mom to her newborn child.

After an unexpected crisis, a woman phones her friends for solace while wandering the streets of Tokyo.

After 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.

SACH looks at the Bay Area drag scene and appreciates its intersectionality and flavor.

A 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.

A 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.

While 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.

An award-winning experimental autoethnographical documentary about queer joy, resistance, and resilience in the face of abuse, trauma, and transphobia.

A Filipino fisherman, desperate for some quick cash, turns to dumping bodies into the sea for the current Philippine "Drug War".

Though 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.

Two queer women recall their awkward, closeted high school days of kissing boys and straight girl crushes.

On a street corner a mysterious conversation among three young men at a street stalls.

Jessica can't sleep. The internet can help.

A Japanese Canadian elder recalls her experiences growing up in Vancouver and shares her love of Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement.

When Korean pop idol “N.D.” tragically dies, a dysfunctional group of high school fan girls discover a hidden message in his music.

A boy dreams of one day flying in an airplane.

Silence is the most beautiful thing that exists in the universe.

There are some things Hazel’s rideshare driver needs to know… And there are some things he does not.

A fading dialect becomes the key to rebuild relationships

Adopted immigrants open up about their experiences trying to find identity whilst redefining the typical American family.

An apathetic young woman attends her dad's wake, 20 years after he abandoned her family.

Can a man fall for a woman he has never met? And what if she is not who he imagined her to be?

After announcing her pregnancy to her volatile partner, a Vietnamese woman completes a grocery store trip by herself.

Stranded 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.

Single 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

One summer day, Takuya is invited by his girlfriend to go to an izakaya (a Japanese tavern) during lunchtime.

FLY IN POWER conveys the urgent issues of migrant Asian massage and sex workers.

A 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?

Four 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

The sleepy city of Garden Grove, California was once home to over 15 gay bars. Frat House is the last.

HOW 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.

On 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.

An uptight health inspector bites off more than he can chew when he inspects a noodle restaurant run by demons.

What makes an ordinary bowl beautiful? Korean-Canadian ceramic artist Minjae Lee explores the influences on his functional wares, searching for purpose in his art.

Set against the Ethiopian abandoned children crisis, two orphan brothers are faced with the reality of never being adopted.

Chinese 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 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.

A Chinese adoptee’s letter to her biological parents after 22 years of being apart.

For 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 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.

Ninlawan 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.

A passionate farmer builds a lifestyle and community around the philosophy of taking time to grow organic foods.

A character-driven short documentary that explores a mother’s life with her disabled daughter and how she learns a meaningful lesson.

Trapped in a school full of familiar creatures, young soldiers and students must work together to make it out alive.

The emotional journey of a young Ashkenazim who attempts to visit his mother's grave on Yahrzeit during the Holocaust.

Neither a language barrier nor physical distance is the reason behind this man and his father’s estrangement.

A 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.

A Japanese grandmother has a coming-of-age experience later in life.

Reza 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...

Despite 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.

Worried that his hearing aids will fail him, Wahid must find a new language to keep his budding romance with Samar alive.

After being fired from a job, a desperate undocumented immigrant takes up a new gig that seems straightforward but leads to unforeseen consequences.

Portrait of a beloved Filipino karaoke-restaurant in National City, California, that has since closed its doors.

Realizing 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 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.

Rhea, 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.

Eddie is Chinese and his son, Troy, is Black. Together they navigate the spaces between ethnicity and identity and confront their own prejudices.

Tired of his turbulent family life, Adam seeks out an alternative arrangement in hopes of finding his place.

After a traumatic stillbirth, a woman starts to believe the ground below her apartment is pregnant.

Two moms seek the hottest toy this holiday season at the local store. The problem is there's only one left.

DANCING 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.

While Bibi teaches her granddaughter Simran how to make Cha, they are pulled into Bibi's memories of one fateful day in Delhi in 1984.

Sri accompanies her blind mother to undergo alternative therapy each week, but today might be their last visit.

When 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.

A tough female line cook is tasked with delivering bitter melons to her estranged father.

A young girl must bond with a new father figure in order to help her mother pass their fake green card marriage.

An orphaned teenage girl may have to betray her morals when presented with an opportunity to leave her village.

A 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.

A 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.

In 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.

On his way to meet his father, a young man recounts his family's troubled history.

A quiet, up-close reflection on masculinity and the meaning of the word "skinny.”

Ling 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?

A 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.

Dongbok, 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.

The 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.”