{"id":36618,"date":"2025-07-24T15:11:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=36618"},"modified":"2025-12-02T12:56:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T17:56:52","slug":"asian-american-international-film-festival-aaiff-celebrating-48th-fest-from-july-31-to-august-10-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/asian-american-international-film-festival-aaiff-celebrating-48th-fest-from-july-31-to-august-10-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) Celebrating Its 48th Fest from July 31 to  August 10, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8lRB-l2HXuA?si=eI6ftEMaidTuWjxk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-36630\" src=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF-poster-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF-poster-240x300.jpg 240w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF-poster-560x700.jpg 560w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF-poster-260x325.jpg 260w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF-poster-160x200.jpg 160w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF-poster-768x960.jpg 768w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF-poster.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Established in 1978 by Asian CineVision, the Asian American International Film Festival says it is the nation\u2019s 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 \u2013 a primary reason this editor-reviewer support AAIFF.<\/p>\n<p>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. It&#8217;s mission is to nurture and grow the community of makers and enthusiasts of Asian and Asian American independent film, television and digital. <strong>The 2025 Film Festival runs from July 31 to August 10, 2025 <\/strong>with screenings, panels, and community events held across New York City and online.<\/p>\n<p>AAIFF is the nation\u2019s first and longest-running film festival dedicated to works by and about Asians and Asian Americans. Since 1978, the festival has been a platform for diaspora storytelling, identity exploration, and bold artistic experimentation, building a legacy that continues to thrive across generations.<\/p>\n<p>For its 48th edition, AAIFF says it will honor the beauty of repair and transformation \u2014 examine how personal and collective fractures can be reassembled into something stronger and more radiant than before. Drawing inspiration from Kintsugi \u2014 the Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with gold, this year\u2019s theme asks how storytelling, dreaming, and creation can guide the community through rupture into renewal: A celebration of resilience, imagination, and the radical act of envisioning a future shaped by the truths of the past.<\/p>\n<p>This year marks a major milestone: The 50th anniversary of Asian CineVision, the nonprofit behind AAIFF. To commemorate this legacy, AAIFF48 will showcase special presentations including ACV 50 Retrospective Screening \u2013 Fruit Fly and Captain America: Albert Pyun Cut. Additional tributes, filmmaker panels, and community events will be announced in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the 50th anniversary of our organization, AAIFF is harkening back to our underground origins by highlighting scrappy young AAPI filmmakers from New York and beyond. We are also showcasing a legacy of unsung and &#8220;sung&#8221; indies in our special presentations of Albert Pyun&#8217;s recently unthawed Captain America director&#8217;s cut and festival alum H.P. Mendoza&#8217;s 2009 musical Fruit Fly.<\/p>\n<p>We hope to continue being NYC&#8217;s number one festival for nurturing and celebrating the next generation of Asian American and Pacific Islander filmmakers\u201d \u2013 Kris Montello, AAIFF Programming Director<\/p>\n<p>Tickets now available to the general public. Visit\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaiff.org\/program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.aaiff.org\/program<\/a> for full program details.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-36626\" src=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF48-Logo-Black.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"271\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF48-Logo-Black.jpg 1000w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF48-Logo-Black-560x152.jpg 560w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF48-Logo-Black-260x70.jpg 260w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF48-Logo-Black-160x43.jpg 160w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF48-Logo-Black-300x81.jpg 300w, http:\/\/hunterword.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pub-AAIFF48-Logo-Black-768x208.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Select Highlights Below<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Featured Films<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Opening Night \u2013 Slanted (New York Premiere) &#8211; Directed by Amy Wang<br \/>\nAn insecure Chinese-American teenager undergoes experimental surgery to appear white, hoping to secure the Prom Queen title and peer acceptance.<\/p>\n<p>Closing Night \u2013 Moloka&#8217;i Bound (New York Premiere) &#8211; Directed by Alika Tengan<br \/>\nA wayward man recently released from prison struggles to reconnect with his son and Hawaiian heritage.<\/p>\n<p>Centerpiece \u2013 Transplant &#8211; Directed by Jason park<br \/>\nA motivated surgical resident pushes himself to extreme lengths while training under a legendary heart transplant surgeon obsessed with protecting his perfect reputation.<\/p>\n<p>Full list of Feature Films can be found on aaiff.org\/program.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Special Programs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To celebrate 50 years of Asian CineVision, AAIFF will host a series of industry panels and events, as well as a retrospective spotlighting landmark works from its archives such as:<\/p>\n<p>ACV 50 Retrospective Screening \u2013 Fruit Fly &#8211; Directed by H.P. Mendoza<br \/>\nBethesda, a Filipina adoptee, moves into an artist commune in San Francisco, where she discovers queer family, artistic inspiration, and startling clues about her biological mother\u2019s whereabouts. For its 15th anniversary release, Fruit Fly returns in a special song-along version.<br \/>\nCaptain America: Albert Pyun Cut<br \/>\nA rare screening of the late cult filmmaker\u2019s never-before-released version of CAPTAIN AMERICA. Frozen in the ice for decades, Captain America is freed to battle against arch-criminal, The Red Skull. This is Albert Pyun\u2019s legendary lost cut.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Short Programs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>NYC Shorts: Sounds of the City<br \/>\n\u25cb Back on the street, a chorus of languages coalesce into collective musing. In the city that never sleeps, nothing is ever silent.<br \/>\n\u25cb Titles include: One Day I\u2019ll Open My Fist, Babel, Ice Cream, Ice Queen, Soma, \u00c9nouement, VISA<br \/>\nOnes to Watch: Filmmakers Under 21<br \/>\n\u25cb Celebrate the future of AANHPI filmmaking as they take you on a coming-of-age journey through the modern conditions of youth and young adulthood.<br \/>\n\u25cb Titles include: Silence, Son-Mat, Fool\u2019s Gold, Forever My Boy, Pianissimo<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mythbusters<\/strong><br \/>\n\u25cb Step out of the model minority myth and into the experiences and expectations of a generation of Asian Americans who walk the roads less traveled.<br \/>\n\u25cb Titles include: Better Life, This is All You Are, Byway, Cherry-Colored Funk, Kumar Kumar, Kitchen Dialogue<br \/>\nThe Kids Turned Out Fine<br \/>\n\u25cb Questions of faith, mortality, grief, stability, and coming-of-age take center screen in this celebration of the next generation of talent.<br \/>\n\u25cb Titles include: SOUR CANDY, Single Residence Occupancy, Once Upon a Time There Was a Mountain, Paper Swords, God &amp; Buddha Are Friends, Sorry For Your Cost<br \/>\nThis World &amp; the Next<br \/>\n\u25cb Films which explore the intermediate, indeterminate spaces between one another, the world around us, and even the worlds beyond.<br \/>\n\u25cb Titles include: Vox Humana, Funeral of the Earth, Vic and his Naynay, Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites, We Used to Take the Long Way Home, Across the Waters<\/p>\n<p><strong>For the Boys<\/strong><br \/>\n\u25cb Dissecting the Asian American crisis of masculinity in all its forms through the medium of cinema.<br \/>\n\u25cb Titles include: Puberty for Humans, Walk on Water, TAL (mask), Five Star, A Thing About Kashem<br \/>\n<strong>Love, Girls, Sex-cetera\u2026<\/strong><br \/>\n\u25cb Join us for a journey through femininity in all its forms, from the tenderness of youth to the antics of young womanhood and beyond.<br \/>\n\u25cb Titles include: They Call Me The Tattoo Watch, Rooftop Lempicka, Zari, Clementine, OK\/NOTOK, Sex, Baseball, and All Pussibilities<br \/>\n<strong>The Warrior\u2019s Journey<\/strong><br \/>\n\u25cb This shorts block brings together the best of elaborate fight choreography, stunning animation, and a whole lot of style to the 48th edition of AAIFF.<br \/>\n\u25cb Titles include: Check Please, No Trouble, Flavor of the Month, Chinatown Cowboy, Blacky the Metal Arm Cat<\/p>\n<p><strong>Films on Films (Documentary Shorts)<\/strong><br \/>\n\u25cb With these short documentaries, go behind the curtain of some of the most famous films ever made.<br \/>\n\u25cb Titles include: Paris to Pyongyang, Searching for Kurosawa, Goodbye Fiesta Twin Cinema, We Were the Scenery<\/p>\n<p><strong>CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK Shorts Showcase<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u25cb The CUNY AAIFF helps to promote artistic visual talents and stimulate communication among CUNY students who are separated by different campuses.<\/p>\n<p>\u25cb Titles include: Revolving Door, In this Corner of the City, It Happened in August, Home, Murphy&#8217;s Law, We Both Went to School: Experiences of Student-Parents<\/p>\n<p><strong>About AAIFF:<\/strong> The Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) is proudly known as &#8220;The First Home to Asian American Cinema. Organized by Asian CineVision, it&#8217;s the first and longest-running festival dedicated to showcasing the moving image work by media artists of Asian descent for and about the Asian diaspora experience. The Festival takes place in New York City, the second-largest Asian-American market in the U.S. Every year, AAIFF attracts audiences from all five boroughs of New York City, the tri-state region, and around the world.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About Asian Cinevision:\u00a0 <\/strong>Asian CineVision (ACV) is a 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 lovers of Asian and Asian American independent film, television, and digital.<\/p>\n<p>Films submitted and screened at the festival are eligible to participate in our National Tour program, bringing Asian diaspora stories to broader audiences across North America through a rental service for cultural and educational institutions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Sponsors<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Asian American International Film Festival is made possible with support from the Mary Li Hus Charitable Trust, Color Congress, The Asian American Foundation, SAG-AFTRA, Library of Congress, Asian\/Pacific\/American Institute at NYU, Final Draft, The Mayor&#8217;s Office of Media and Entertainment, Tamiment Library and Robert F Wagner Labor\u00a0 Archives, NYU Special Collections, Asia society, CUNY AARI, CUNY Graduate Center, and the Many Friends of ACV.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow AAIFF<\/strong><br \/>\nInstagram \/ Twitter \/ Facebook: @asiancinevision<br \/>\nWebsite: https:\/\/www.aaiff.org<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) is proudly known as &#8220;The First Home to Asian American Cinema. Organized by Asian CineVision, it&#8217;s the first and longest-running festival dedicated to showcasing the moving image work by media artists of Asian descent for and about the Asian diaspora experience. The Festival takes place in New York City, the second-largest Asian-American market in the U.S. Every year, AAIFF attracts audiences from all five boroughs of New York City, the tri-state region, and around the world. <\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/asian-american-international-film-festival-aaiff-celebrating-48th-fest-from-july-31-to-august-10-2025\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":36630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36618"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36638,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36618\/revisions\/36638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}