Schedule of Events

May 8, 2025

1:00 pm - READY, SET, PITCH! at KOHO Creative Hub

120 mins

The 2025 CAAM Fellows Sue Ding, Manish Khanal and Angad Singh will have eight minutes to present their documentary pitches to a jury of representatives from funders like Independent Television Service (ITVS), Catapult Film Fund, American Documentary (AmDoc/POV) and SFFILM. The winning pitch will be announced on Friday, May 9. The winner will receive a $10,000 grant from CAAM supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The Pitch will be followed by an opportunity to Meet & Mingle hosted by A-Doc.

12:30 PM REFRESHMENTS
1 PM READY, SET, PITCH!
3 PM MEET & MINGLE with A-Doc

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6:30 pm - OPENING NIGHT: THIRD ACT at AMC Kabuki 1

Directed by Tadashi Nakamura

Tadashi Nakamura (Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement, Mele Murals) has known since he was a kid that he’d have to make a documentary about his father. Robert A. Nakamura, now in his late 80s, is a legend in Asian American independent film circles. His 1972 short documentary, Manzanar, and 1980 feature, Hito Hata, were some of the earliest films about Japanese American incarceration.

An accomplished documentarian himself, Tadashi splits his father’s life into three acts. First, as a young boy in Manzanar, Robert wished he was anything but Japanese American. Second, as an aspiring filmmaker, he “left a lucrative photography career to find fulfillment in documenting the emerging Asian American political movement. And third, the aging “Godfather of Asian American Cinema” faces his inevitable decline, after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Tadashi also represents the third act of his family’s American immigration story, and Third Act grapples with how he can keep his grandfather’s and father’s stories alive for future generations.

The CAAM-funded film, co-executive produced by Spencer Nakasako (a.k.a. Don Bonus, Refugee), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and this is the Bay Area premiere. Director Tadashi Nakamura is expected to attend as well as Executive Producer Diane Quon (New Wave, Home Court), producers Eurie Chung (Asian Americans, Mele Murals) and Ursula Liang (9-Man, Down a Dark Stairwell), and Editor Victoria Chalk (Ashima, A Decent Home).

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9:30 pm - OPENING NIGHT GALA at Asian Art Museum

After our Opening Night screening, head over to the Asian Art Museum for the social event of the season! Sample bites and beverages from some of the Bay Area’s most exciting emerging restaurants and pop-up chefs and explore the captivating, globe-spanning galleries of the Asian Art Museum, including Yuan Goang-Ming: Everyday War, a critically acclaimed multi-media exhibition that represented Taiwan at the 60th Venice Biennale.

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May 9, 2025

9:30 am - FILMMAKER SUMMIT at KOHO Creative Hub

The Summit space will feature CAAMFest filmmakers and industry partners in conversations that uplift storytelling practices across our many communities, and support one another in a shifting media and cultural landscape.

9:30 AM Registration & Welcome
Grounding Ceremony led by Reverend Rodney Kano

10:15 AM Unpacking Courageous Conversations

11:30 AM Lunch & Learn

12:15 PM Navigating Participant Care & Impact In partnership with A-Doc

1:15 PM Behind the Scenes with Our Roots, Our Power

2:30 PM Coffee Break with Roaming Bean

3:15 PM A-Doc Impact Showcase: AAPI Stories for our Movements followed by A-Doc Breakout Sessions: AAPI Stories of Legacy In partnership with A-Doc

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5:00 pm - A TRAVELER'S NEEDS at Roxie Theater

Yeohaengjaui pilyo
Directed by Hong Sang-soo

Iris (Isabelle Huppert), a woman who finds herself adrift in Seoul and without any means to make ends meet, turns to teaching French, albeit via a very peculiar method. As she navigates a series of encounters, details of Iris’ situation slowly emerge—but the mysteries surrounding her only deepen. Acclaimed Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo’s latest film premiered at the 29th Busan International Film Festival. This is his third collaboration with Huppert, following 2012’s In Another Country and 2017’s Claire’s Camera.

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7:00 pm - BOAT PEOPLE at Roxie Theater

Tau ban no hoi
Directed by Ann Hui

One of the preeminent works of the Hong Kong New Wave, Boat People is a shattering look at the circumstances that drove hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees to flee their homeland in the wake of the Vietnam War, told through images of haunting, unforgettable power. Three years after the Communist takeover, a Japanese photo­journalist (George Lam) travels to Vietnam to document the country’s seemingly triumphant rebirth. When he befriends a teenage girl (Season Ma) and her destitute family, however, he begins to discover what the government doesn’t want him to see: the brutal, often shocking reality of life in a country where political repression and poverty have forced many to resort to desperate measures in order to survive. Transcending polemic, renowned director Ann Hui takes a deeply humanistic approach to a harrowing and urgent subject with searing contemporary resonance.

Plays in
HONG KONG CINEMA SHOWCASE
With support from the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco, CAAMFest 2025 presents the best…

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8:00 pm - CHINATOWN CHA-CHA at AMC Kabuki 3

Directed by Luka Yuanyuan Yang

In Chinatown Cha-Cha, director Luka Yuanyuan Yang (Coby and Stephen Are in Love) unearths black-and-white beach footage of a troupe of 1940s Chinese American women dancers, shedding their traditional Chinese opera costumes for modern American swimsuits. These were San Francisco Chinatown dancers who made the City's nightclubs a notorious tourist destination. One of the owners of the Forbidden City, the famous nightclub that inspired the musical Flower Drum Song, was Coby Yee, a burlesque dancer known as the “Daring Chinese Dancing Doll.”

Cut to 60 years later, 92-year-old Yee – still decked out in sequins, feather and lace – receives a standing ovation after a performance with the Grant Avenue Follies, former nightclub dancers who continue to perform in San Francisco. The documentary follows this troupe of seniors, led by Cynthia Yee, as they embark on a tour around China, Cuba and the U.S. It celebrates these vibrant elderly Chinese American women, still sparkling with the spirit of their youth.

Chinatown Cha-Cha had its world premiere at the 2024 Pingyao International Film Festival, and is played in Chinese theaters nationwide. This is the Bay Area premiere.

Director/Producer Luka Yuanyuan Yang, Producer Lou Wang-Holborn, and the Grant Avenue Follies will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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8:30 pm - YEAR OF THE CAT at AMC Kabuki 1

Year of the Cat follows filmmaker Tony Nguyen on an extraordinary quest to solve the mystery of his father, lost in the chaos of the fall of Saigon 50 years ago. Told as an investigative home movie, this powerful documentary weaves together moments of humor and heartache, offering an intimate look at how the children of refugees are shaped by war and loss. As Tony delves into his family's history, the film reveals the emotional lengths we go to in confronting the ghosts of the past—and the possibility of healing as we reclaim and transform our futures.

Director Tony Nguyen will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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9:00 pm - SHORTS PROGRAM: LET IT OUT at AMC Kabuki 4

How do we process the messy feelings of grief, loss, loneliness, or regret? In shades of animation, documentary, and narrative, these films explore the raucous ways difficult emotions spill out along the path to healing.

Director Yang Hu (Grandma), Producer Meg Indurti (Mango Chile Pie), Writer Kyle Casey Chu (After What Happened at the Library), Director M.G. Evangelista (To Dance Again), and Director Pacqui Pascual (Awit Natin) will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

GRANDMA
Directed by Yang Hu
Through charcoal-drawn animation, a grandmother's life unfolds through a rapidly evolving family portrait.

MANGO CHILE PIE
Directed by Karan Sunil
On the anniversary of their mother's death, three estranged sisters get stuck in their family fire station, where…

SPLASH BACK
Directed by Yufei Xiao
A young masseuse recognizes her client as a childhood friend and enters a flashback of a withheld memory.

AFTER WHAT HAPPENED AT THE LIBRARY
Directed by Syra McCarthy
In the wake of a terrifying encounter, an overwhelmed drag queen struggles under the weight of public attention.

TO DANCE AGAIN
Directed by M.G. Evangelista
After an unprecedented tragedy for the Asian American community of Monterey Park, ballroom dancing offers an unexpected path…

ON MY ROAD TO DHARMA
Directed by Yihuan Zhang
A monk who has been teaching meditation for ten years in California prisons shares his story and motivation…

AWIT NATIN (OUR SONG)
Directed by Pacqui Pascual
When their father dies during their mother's hospitalization, a Filipino family bands together and goes ridiculously far to…

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May 10, 2025

10:00 am - TEA HOUSE SALON at KOHO Creative Hub

Storyline Partners and CAAM are piloting a revolving tea salon inspired by cultures and traditions from West Asia to East and Southeast Asia, where, historically, these third spaces housed conversations and cultural discourses in their times. A space where we highlight industry partners that are leading the charge in developing dynamic content and elevating creatives in front of and behind the camera.

10:00 AM Welcome In partnership with Storyline Partners

10:15 AM Japanese Tea Ceremony

11:00 AM The Bitterroot Case Study

1:00 PM Paging the Comedy Ward: A Dose of NBC's "St. Denis Medical"

In partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal

2:30 PM Japantown Art Activations

Origami | Get Mossy | Shadow Puppets

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12:00 pm - MISTRESS DISPELLER at Roxie Theater

Directed by Elizabeth Lo

In China, a new industry has emerged devoted to helping couples stay married in the face of infidelity. Wang Zhenxi is part of this growing profession, a "mistress dispeller" who is hired to maintain the bonds of marriage — and break up affairs — by any means necessary.

Offering strikingly intimate access to private dramas usually hidden behind closed doors, Mistress Dispeller follows a real, unfolding case of infidelity, as Teacher Wang attempts to bring a couple back from the edge of crisis. Their story shifts our sympathies between husband, wife and mistress to explore the ways emotion, pragmatism, and cultural norms collide to shape romantic relationships in contemporary China.

Director Elizabeth Lo will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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12:00 pm - TO BE CONTINUED at AMC Kabuki 3

Directed by Dora Choi, Haider Kikabhoy

The convenient, tired and vapid "East-meets-West" is a cliché that has for decades been used to sell the Hong Kong story to the world. Yet in the forgotten legend of Harry Odell, Hong Kong's first impresario, a rediscovery of the city's soul awaits.

Flamboyant and cigar-chomping, Odell was a Cairo-born, Shanghai-bred Russian Jew who stamped his mark on the cultural life of post-war Hong Kong. His hopeful, if chronically loss-making, adventures pushed the cultural frontiers of his adopted home, capturing the open, dynamic and inclusive spirit of a bygone era to leave a legacy that resonates to this day.

What began as a grassroot conservation campaign to save the iconic State Theatre in Hong Kong morphed into five years of research and interviews with those who witnessed Odell in action. The result: a film that is as much a study of one indomitable pioneer as it is a soul-searching journey of what defines Hong Kong.

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12:30 pm - BETWEEN PICTURES: THE LENS OF TAMIO WAKAYAMA at AMC Kabuki 4

Directed by Cindy Mochizuki

Between Pictures: The Lens of Tamio Wakayama tells the epic journey of the late Japanese Canadian photographer Tamio Wakayama who decides to join the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the deep south during the 1960's American civil rights movement. Learning the art of dark room photography along the way, this transformative moment in time allows him to confront his own identity and return "home" to the West coast of Canada to begin a body of photographic work that continues to celebrate, re-present and document the spirit of Japanese Canadians who resided in the former Paueru Gai/Powell Street neighborhoods.

The documentary features nine artists, activists, and friends who speak about the significant legacy of Wakayama's black and white photography.

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12:30 pm - CENTERPIECE: YOUR TOUCH MAKES OTHERS INVISIBLE at SFMOMA

Rajee Samarasinghe's debut feature documentary, Your Touch Makes Others Invisible, premiered at the 2025 International Film Festival Rotterdam. Sri Lanka ranks among the highest in the number of enforced disappearances in the world, and most of the disappeared are Tamils. Samarasinghe has spent the last decade creating short films that examine sociopolitical conditions in Sri Lanka.

Fusing allegorical magic realism and investigative documentary, and made collaboratively with impacted locals clandestinely in a region still occupied by the military, Your Touch Makes Others Invisible is a lyrical examination of these missing persons through 26 years of civil war in Sri Lanka. The nonfiction elements in this film are structured by a fictional narrative thread which tells the surreal tale of a mother who loses her son to a supernatural entity plaguing her community—a nod to the actual disappearances in the region. This is a CAAMFest Centerpiece Documentary presentation.

Director Rajee Samarasinghe will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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1:00 pm - SLUMLORD MILLIONAIRE at AMC Kabuki 1

Directed by Ellen Martinez, Steph Ching

Directors Steph Ching and Ellen Martinez (After Spring) were inspired to make a documentary about the housing crisis after hearing stories of New York landlords refusing to fix basic repairs and provide a liveable space for their tenants. Activists explain that this is a tactic to pressure their rent-stabilized tenants into moving out, so the landlords can turn their property around for a higher profit. But what is the human cost of real estate profit and gentrification? 

This CAAM-funded film follows four community members' stories. The Bravo family helped pass the statewide "Asthma Free Housing Act", when their landlord refused to remove toxic mold in their bathroom. Former supermodel Janina Davis, who wanted to help create more affordable housing, lost everything when she fell victim to a deed theft scam. Ren Ping Chen, a Manhattan Chinatown resident and advocate fights the construction of new 100-story glass luxury towers that will displace his working-class neighbors. And Bangladeshi American activist Moumita Ahmed runs for city council to hold corrupt landlords accountable, only to become the target of a smear campaign funded by real estate developers.

Director Steph Ching and Producer Nicole Tsien will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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2:30 pm - BECAUSE OF YOU: A HISTORY OF KILAWIN KOLEKTIBO at Roxie Theater

Directed by Barbara Malaran, Desireena Almoradie

This archival documentary traces the history of Kilawin Kolektibo, a pioneering collective of Filipnxs who came together in NYC in the mid-nineties. Having experienced marginalization in Filipino culture because of their queerness, as well as in mainstream gay culture because of their race, language, and gender, the members of the group sought political empowerment and increased visibility. But above all, they sought to create a space of friendship and safety for those who found themselves suspended between cultures and identities.

Directors Desireena Almoradie and Barbara Malaran will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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3:00 pm - SHORTS PROGRAM: THROUGH CHILDREN'S EYES at AMC Kabuki 4

These films highlight the unique perspectives of the youngest members in our communities. With whimsical reimaginings of hard-hitting realities and the unfiltered emotions only children are brave enough to show, these shorts help us see familiar narratives anew.

Writer/Producer Joy Regullano (Te Seguiré a la Oscuridad), Director Nick Hartanto (Daly City), Director Anthony Ma (God & Buddha Are Friends), and Director Sharon Park (The Unreachable Star) will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

GOD & BUDDHA ARE FRIENDS
Directed by Anthony Ma
A young boy finds himself at the crossroads of faith when his Buddhist mother goes head to head…

TE SEGUIRÉ A LA OSCURIDAD
Directed by Nicholas Luciano
A driven high school sophomore obsessively studies Spanish all year, so she can test up a level into…

DALY CITY
Directed by Nick Hartanto
An Indonesian boy and his mother attend a church potluck and lie about their dish.

CHATURANGA
Directed by Sidartha Murjani
A young girl must unlock her late father's final message by beating a humanoid AI in a game…

THE UNREACHABLE STAR
Directed by Sharon S. Park
Inspired by the grand tales of Don Quixote, a brother and sister set off in search of adventure…

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3:00 pm - CU LI NEVER CRIES at SFMOMA

Directed by Pham Ngoc Lan

A woman tries to cling onto dimming links to her past after inheriting a pygmy slow loris from her long-estranged husband. Meanwhile, her niece prepares for marriage, as the young couple ponders their uncertain future together. The present and the complex echoes of Vietnamese history intertwine with a contemplative and poetic perspective.

Ph?m Ng?c Lân's first feature-length film was inspired by the multiple Vietnamese meanings for cu li — an unskilled laborer, a primate, a golden chicken fern plant — that evoked different allusions to his homeland. It also tells the story of Lân's aunt, who was part of the groups of Vietnamese laborers, students and specialists that were sent to East Germany under socialist cooperation agreements prior to 1990.

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4:00 pm - MAKING WAVES at AMC Kabuki 1

Directed by Jon Osaki, Josh Chuck

Making Waves is a timely, thought-provoking documentary about how ethnic studies – and specifically Asian American Studies (AAS) – dramatically influenced and empowered a generation. They leveraged their heightened awareness of history to build community organizations, political power, and collaboration.

Helmed by Bay Area filmmakers Jon Osaki (Not Your Model Minority, Alternative Faces: The Lies of Executive Order 9066) and Josh Chuck (Chinatown Rising), the CAAM-funded film follows a group of youth who travel to the Texas state capitol to fight for Asian American Studies in the deep South. This type of activism harks back to the Bay Area-based ethnic studies movement of the 1960's, and the film highlights recent efforts by youth to address anti-Asian hate and learn Asian American history.

Director Jon Osaki will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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4:30 pm - CENTERPIECE: CHARACTERS DISAPPEARING at Roxie Theater

Directed by Connor Sen Warnick

For his visually rigorous debut feature, director Connor Sen Warnick crafts a meditative portrait of young people grappling with disillusionment and failure as they navigate collective and individual desires. He brings Asian American movement building to life through Mei (Yuka Murakami), a radical leftist activist, Chris (Warnick), her mixed-race Chinese American cousin, and her partner Leonard (Dylan Breaux). 

After Mei and Chris' grandfather goes missing, Chris becomes obsessed with following the teachings of a 250-year-old monk their grandfather once knew. As more people disappear, the film focuses on the ways that politics and grief affect young people's personal lives. These characters' struggles, divisions and attempts at solidarity linger like ghosts as the film unfolds ambiguously between the 1970s and the present.

The world premiere of Characters Disappearing will be preceded by the short film, ping pong ping pong ping pong ping pong ping pong, another portrayal of Asian American youth in 1970s Cold War New York.

Director Connor Sen Warnick will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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4:30 pm - BLOSSOMS UNDER SOMEWHERE at AMC Kabuki 3

Directed by Riley Yip

Ching, a high school girl who was born with a stutter, runs a used lingerie business online with her best friend, Rachel. Ching wears an outgoing persona on the Internet that is the opposite of her real introverted self. Buried in the unethical business, she gradually embellishes the relationship with her buyers, gaining the attention and bonding she has always longed for, only to be failed and left heartbroken. Produced by renowned Hong Kong director Fruit Chan and featuring Gen Z star Marf Yau, screenwriter-turned-director Riley Yip's heartful debut presents an unordinary spring story that offers unforgettable life lessons.

Director Riley Yip will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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5:00 pm - SHORTS PROGRAM: COMING OF AGES at AMC Kabuki 4

Directed by Vera Brunner-Sung

Coming of age is not simply about transitioning from childhood to adulthood. It represents a process of growing into oneself.

Producer Yen Sen (Clementine), Director Marion Hoang Ngoc Hill (Spring Will Come), Director Angeline Gragasin (Myself When I Am Real), and Director Suhashini Krishnan (Legends) will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

CLEMENTINE
Directed by Sally Tran
A late-blooming trans woman, with the help of her besties, navigates the complexities of a life-altering dilemma, as…

ZARI
Directed by Shruti Parekh
American teen Neelu feels like a fish out of water amidst preparations for her sister's wedding in Delhi,…

SPRING WILL COME
Directed by Linh Dan Phan Nguyen, Marion Hoang Ngoc Hill
Two women are struggling to end their relationship, when a strange woman shows up to free the spirit…

MYSELF WHEN I AM REAL
Directed by Angeline Gragasin
On MiniDV tape, a single mother and her teenage daughter struggle to make friends and find belonging at a Filipino Christmas party in suburban Wisconsin.

LEGENDS
Directed by Suhashini Krishnan
When a mistake from the admissions office grants Mahira a full ride dance scholarship to college, she's forced…

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7:00 pm - CENTERPIECE: BITTERROOT at AMC Kabuki 1

Directed by Vera Brunner-Sung

Vera Brunner-Sung's second feature, after 2014's Bella Vista, stars a predominantly Hmong cast and crew and offers a rare glimpse into Missoula's Hmong community against the breathtaking backdrop of Montana's vast landscapes. Lue (Wa Yang) is a recent divorcee caretaking for his aging mother, a refugee from Laos, while helping her harvest and sell mushrooms from their family farm. His mother's incisive critiques are quiet but pack an emotional punch, and without an emotional outlet, he copes by singing dramatic ‘80s power ballads at karaoke. Lue's sister May is played by NBC Bay Area news anchor/reporter, Gia Vang.

The community-supported film features both Hmong and English dialogue and was inspired by Yeej, the film's Hmong American film producer who'd grown up in Missoula and yearned for a second-generation story like his onscreen.

Bitterroot premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and this Centerpiece Narrative presentation is the Bay Area premiere.

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7:30 pm - SHORTS PROGRAM: INHERITANCES at AMC Kabuki 4

While inheritance may invoke histories of those who came before us, these films bring nuance to the ways these histories reach us in the present. Community responsibilities, cultural practices, and even running jokes shape the ways we understand ourselves and relate to others.

Director Shane Chung (Check Please), Director Alfred Bordallo (Daughter of Guam), Director Julia Nacario (Painted Ones), Director James Chung (Import Models), Director Reina Bonta (Maybe It's Just the Rain), Director Evelyn Hang Yin (Rising), and Director Kirthi Nath (Paramita) will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

CHECK PLEASE
Directed by Shane Chung
Dinner for two turns deadly when a Korean and a Korean American escalate a fight over who gets to pay the bill — and who gets to walk out the restaurant alive.

DAUGHTER OF GUAM
Directed by Alfred Bordallo
Contemplating the inherited burden of her island's collective loss, a young woman learns to navigate her responsibility to her island's collective healing.

PAINTED ONES
Directed by Julia Husain Nacario
An Oakland based Bisaya tattoo artist rediscovers and unlocks indigenous Filipino histories through ink.

IMPORT MODELS
Directed by James Chung
Three generations of Asian American women who shaped Import Car culture discuss their struggles, successes, and overall reflections on the impact of modeling.

MAYBE IT'S JUST THE RAIN
Directed by Reina Bonta
The journey of the first winning Filipino soccer team becomes an intimate diasporic return.

RISING
Directed by Evelyn Hang Yin
The little known history of China Alley in California's Central Valley unfolds through four generations of the Wing family.

PARAMITA
Directed by Kirthi Nath
Over the course of a 25-year coming out process, Prajna connects with Buddhist practices and nature as gateways…

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9:00 pm - FUCKTOYS at Roxie Theater

Directed by Annapurna Sriram

Annapurna Sriram's first feature film is a lush 16mm fever dream that reimagines The Fool's Journey in the Tarot through the story of AP, a sanguine young woman seeking salvation from a curse. AP is promised by not one but multiple psychics that, for a cool $1000 and the sacrifice of a baby lamb, the curse can be lifted. So she sets out to find the cash in the only way she knows how: working the uncouth underbelly of Trashtown.

Dark, irreverent, and sexy, AP stumbles upon new characters and absurd situations, each more unhinged than the last. Fucktoys is a campy romp that explores the intersection of intimacy, exploitation, and class in a pre-millenium alternate universe.

The film won the Special Jury Award for a Multi-Hyphenate at SXSW.

Director Annapurna Sriram and Producer Tim Petryni will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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May 11, 2025

12:00 pm - CENTERPIECE SHORTS at Roxie Theater

The first time short films have been a festival Centerpiece in CAAM's recent memory, this program highlights ambitious, bold short films that experiment with narrative and documentary form and share new perspectives from Asian and Asian American filmmakers.

Director Chheangkea (Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites), Xiaolu Wang (at the bamboo green), Director Angbeen Saleem (Billo Rani), Director Birdy Wei-Ting Hung (A Brighter Summer Day for the Lady Avengers), Director Hao Zhou (Correct Me If I'm Wrong), and Director Kiran Koshy (Kumar Kumar) will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

GOLDEN DRAGON
Directed by Boren Chhith
When Vicheka wakes up in a hospital in the coastal town of Sihanoukville, he tries to piece together…

GRANDMA NAI WHO PLAYED FAVORITES
Directed by Chheangkea
During her chaotic family's Qingming visit, dead Grandma Nai sneaks away from her peaceful afterlife after overhearing that her queer grandson is about to get engaged to a woman.

AT THE BAMBOO GREEN
Directed by Xiaolu Wang
A one-take recording of a family's visit to the bamboo green at the foot of the Helan Mountains.

BILLO RANI
Directed by Angbeen Saleem
When a 12-year-old girl is made aware of her unibrow at Islamic Sunday School in a lesson on…

Asian woman eating watermelon slice
A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY FOR THE LADY AVENGERS
Directed by Birdy Wei-Ting Hung
Taiwan, 1980s. Hot summer day, watermelon juice, and a teenage girl's sexual awakening with her celluloid fantasies. Shot on 16mm.

CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG
Directed by Hao Zhou
A filmmaker undergoes a series of home remedies and spiritual interventions as their family attempts to purge their…

KUMAR KUMAR
Directed by Kiran Koshy
Alone on his birthday, a man is on the brink of ending it all when an unexpected message…

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12:00 pm - THE MOTHERLOAD at AMC Kabuki 4

Directed by Van Tran Nguyen, Alex Derwick

An imaginative telling of the story of a Vietnamese American mother-daughter duo who, in their attempt to heal the rift between them, reenact and satirize scenes from celebrated Vietnam War films while depicting a diasporic reality. Conflict among the mother-daughter duo arises when Jessca (Tran Nguyen) embarks on a quest to find a home that once belonged to her mother's family during pre-war Vietnam. Kim (Jessca's mother, played by Tran Nguyen's mother), happy in her new but precarious position in America, fights to stay stateside. As their desires cause them to grow apart they are faced with old myths about the motherland, depicted in a public-broadcasting television show. With a cast consisting only of two Vietnamese American women re-enacting and satirizing scenes from celebrated Vietnam War films while depicting a diasporic reality, this movie takes a closer look at what has been lost in war, what we find in the rubble, and how to hold on to what remains. Two inventive storylines complicate The Motherload to levels of absurdity.??Both of these glide in and out beneath the narrative backbone of Jessca and Kim's personal story, and reflect the stunning disconnect between the Vietnamese diaspora and the world's understanding of their presence.

Directors Van Tran Nguyen and Alex Derwick, and Key Cast member Sang "Sandy " Tran will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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12:00 pm - WHAT ABOUT CHINA? at SFMOMA

Directed by Tr?nh T. Minh-hà

Feminist scholar Trinh T. Minh-ha explores China through multiple perspectives in this documentary, blending 1990s rural footage with poetry and folk traditions from provinces Anhui, Hubei, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangxi. She examines the process of "harmonising" rural China, focusing on women's voices and communal spaces, offering a journey into the wealth of China's traditional architecture while exploring the hinterlands of self and other in their encounter.

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12:30 pm - TE PUNA ORA (THE SOURCE OF LIFE) at AMC Kabuki 3

Directed by Virginie Tetoofa

The Source of Life (Te Puna Ora) is an artful telling of a burgeoning environmental movement in French Polynesia. The film follows three indigenous women–a community leader, a spearfisher and a teenage activist–as they cultivate an alliance at the front lines of climate change.

Inspired by the myths and rituals that shape their nature-based culture, these unlikely leaders move beyond bureaucracy and toward ground-up empowerment. Together, they oppose overdevelopment, take back indigenous land, and ultimately demand recognition from international leaders. The film starts and finishes with scenes of reenactment from the legend of goddess Hina while she, like them, sails through the South Pacific, faces a storm and finds purpose. This is a story of how a small community can give hope for global change.

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2:00 pm - CENTERPIECE: LOVE, CHAOS, KIN at AMC Kabuki 1

Directed by Chithra Jeyaram

An unexpected pregnancy compels an Indian immigrant mother to help her adopted twin daughters reconnect with their White birth mother—grappling with life's challenges—and estranged Native American father, exposing raw class divides while transforming their understanding of identity and belonging.

The CAAM-funded film emerged from director Chithra Jeyaram (Foreign Puzzle) and her desire to adopt. The film weaves together observational scenes, animated sequences, and reflective thoughts. It also unpacks the concept of open adoption, revealing the persistent ongoing effort needed to build authentic relationships between the children, birth, and adoptive parents regardless of race, class, or geographic location. This is a CAAMFest Centerpiece Documentary presentation.

Director Chithra Jeyaram will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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2:30 pm - SOFTSHELL at Roxie Theater

Directed by Jinho Myung

Softshell, Jinho Myung's debut feature captures the awkwardness of early adulthood as two siblings stumble through tangled, quiet lives. Shot on grainy 16mm film, this dramedy captures the rhythm of life in New York as we follow Thai American siblings Jamie (Caledonia Abbey) and Narin (Legyaan Thapa) carving out new paths after their mother's death. Their sharp, tender banter brings life to a relationship brimming with unspoken understanding, while their experiences with fetishization and cultural identity reveal unsettling truths about the world they inhabit.

With its Mumblecore aesthetics and shaky handheld camera movements (by DP Rhys Scarabosio), Softshell brings a unique perspective to the American indie landscape, balancing surreal, offbeat humor with deep moments of melancholy. The film's vivid, at times grotesque imagery — like the siblings' connection to a pet chameleon or a whale shark — adds layers of symbolic weight to a story about the tense spaces between people and the quiet moments that define connection.

Softshell won the Belfort International Film Festival Grand Prix Janine Bazin Juried Prize.

This film contains graphic content in the form of violence toward animals.

Director Jinho Myung will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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2:30 pm - THE GROCERY LIST SHOW at AMC Kabuki 4

Directed by Emily Strong

Hosted by former Top Chef contender, Chrissy Camba, The Grocery List Show is a delicious cooking documentary series exploring cultural grocery stores in the U.S. Each episode highlights a store and Chrissy's grocery shopping adventure with friends and special guests.

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3:00 pm - AGAINST AMNESIA: Screening & Seminar at AMC Kabuki 3

This program, in partnership with the Islamic Scholarship Fund, explores the intertwined histories and ongoing realities of displacement, colonial violence, and resistance in Palestine and Bangladesh. Through a narrative short about a Palestinian grandmother uprooted from her home and a documentary on the forgotten 1970s genocide in Bangladesh, the program highlights the the ways in which historical violence shapes mundane aspects of everyday life. A facilitated discussion will follow, connecting past and present to foster collective understanding and solidarity.

BENGAL MEMORY
Directed by Fahim Hamid
A Bangladeshi American undertakes a journey to learn about Bangladesh's liberation war and his family's immigration to America,…

MAQLUBA
Directed by Mike Elsherif
Laila, a Palestinian-American drummer, visits her grandmother in her new apartment during a powerful storm under the guise…

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3:00 pm - NEW WAVE at SFMOMA

Directed by Elizabeth Ai

The New Wave that exhilarated Vietnamese American teens in the 1980s, funnily enough, wasn't actually what most people think of as New Wave. It was Eurodisco that Chinatown record stores had put in the same bin as the Depeche Mode and OMD albums. But to a generation born to Vietnamese refugee parents in California, neither the categorization, nor the sometimes nonsensical lyrics mattered. The new sounds of synthesizers and drum machines became symbols for their rebellious futures.

2021 CAAM Fellow Ai's first feature New Wave (which won Special Jury Mention at the Tribeca Film Festival) follows her childhood. She was raised by her party-music-obsessed teenage aunts and uncles, while her absent parents struggled with financial insecurity. In addition to honoring her Aunt Myra, Ai interviews popular New Wave cover singers including Linda Trang Dai, known as the "Vietnamese Madonna," and Ian "DJ BPM" Nguyen. It also delves into why and how these wild-haired Gen X-ers needed an escape from the trauma of the refugee experience.

The film's producers include So Yun Um (Liquor Store Dreams), Diane Quon (Minding the Gap, Bad Axe) and Shang-Chi star Simu Liu.

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5:00 pm - STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS at AMC Kabuki 1

Directed by Jalena Keane-Lee

Standing Above the Clouds is a feature-length documentary that follows three families of Native Hawaiian mother-daughter activists, standing to protect their sacred mountain Mauna Kea from the building of the massive Thirty Meter Telescope. Directed by Jalena Keane-Lee (Tracing History, The Construct: Female Laborers and the Fight for Equality), Standing Above the Clouds was expanded from her 2020 short film of the same name.

The film premiered at Hot Docs 2024 where it won the Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary. It also won Special Mention for Best International Director at Doc Edge 2024 and Best International Cinematography at Film Ambiente 2024.

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5:00 pm - SHOWCASE: PALESTINIAN LANDSCAPES at Roxie Theater

Palestinian Landscapes brings together two powerful films exploring empire, ecology, and resistance. Razan Alsalah's A Stone's Throw evokes dreamlike cycles of displacement and return across fragmented geographies shaped by resource and labor economies. In Foragers, Jumana Manna traces the criminalization of foraging in Palestine, revealing how colonial legal systems regulate access to land and tradition. Together, these films offer poetic and political meditations on landscape as both a site of control and a ground for resilience. Through intimate gestures and expansive visions, Palestinian Landscapes asks: who defines the land and who belongs to it?

Director Razan Alsalah will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

A Stone's Throw
Directed by Razan Alsalah
Amine, a Palestinian elder, is exiled twice, from land and labor, from Haifa to Beirut to a Gulf…

Foragers
Directed by Jumana Manna
‘Foragers' depicts the dramas around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine/Israel with wry humor and a…

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5:30 pm - MADE IN ETHIOPIA at AMC Kabuki 3

Directed by Max Duncan, Xinyan Yu

When a massive Chinese industrial park lands in rural Ethiopia, a dusty farming town finds itself at the new frontier of globalization. The sprawling factory complex's formidable Chinese director Motto now needs every bit of mettle and charm she can muster to push through a high-stakes expansion that promises 30,000 new jobs. Ethiopian farmer Workinesh and factory worker Beti have staked their futures on the prosperity the park promises. But as initial hope meets painful realities, they find themselves, like their country, at a pivotal crossroads.

Filmed over four years with singular access, Made in Ethiopia lifts the curtain on China's historic but misunderstood impact on Africa, and explores contemporary Ethiopia at a moment of profound crisis. The film, which won a Special Jury Mention at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, throws audiences into two colliding worlds: an industrial juggernaut fueled by profit and progress, and a vanishing countryside where life is still measured by the cycle of the seasons. And its nuance, complexity and multi-perspective approach go beyond black and white narratives of victims and villains. As the three women's stories unfold, Made in Ethiopia challenges us to rethink the relationship between tradition and modernity, growth and welfare, the development of a country and the well-being of its people.

Director Xinyan Yu will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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6:00 pm - MONGRELS at AMC Kabuki 4

Directed by Jerome Yoo

In rural Canada in the 1990s, a Korean family – a widower, his teenage son, and young daughter – attempts to find their way in a new land, while navigating the darkness of their grief. Sonny (Jae-Hyun Kim), a huntsman, is enticed by an old friend to immigrate to Canada, where he is hired to eradicate the feral canines plaguing their town in exchange for shelter. Hajoon (Da-Nu Nam) navigates what it means to be a man, and young Hana (Sein Jin), missing her mother, dreams up ways to make her return.

This is Korean Canadian filmmaker Jerome Yoo's first feature film, and the title Mongrels also represents the many complex emotional layers existing within immigrant communities.

Director Jerome Yoo will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

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8:00 pm - CLOSING NIGHT: YELLOW FACE at AMC Kabuki 1

Directed by Annette Jolles

The Broadway play from Roundabout Theatre Company follows DHH (Daniel Dae Kim), a fictionalized version of playwright David Henry Hwang, as he joins Asian American protesters speaking out against the casting of white actor Jonathan Pryce as the Eurasian lead of Miss Saigon – a real-life controversy in the 1990s – only to find that when it comes time for him to cast his next play, he makes the same mistake by casting a white actor (Ryan Eggold) as his lead, thinking he is multiracial Asian. Francis Jue plays DHH's immigrant Chinese father targeted by the U.S. government, a role Jue originated for the 2007 world premiere. The play was filmed on Broadway by Great Performances on PBS.

Daniel Dae Kim, Francis Jue, and Shannon Tyo are expected to be in attendance for the screening and Q&A.

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Date: May 8-11, 2025

Location: Various Venues in San Francisco, CA 94103.

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