Where there was nothing, nebulae coalesce and universes burst forth. Harnessing the spectrum of mediums and mechanisms, 2025’s lineup of animated films pull, hold, touch, move and break us. We invite you to lean in close, our creators this year have something to say.

Conference for Creative Content brings together AANHPI media professionals in film, streaming, television, digital, and new media to create a dialogue about our media industry, share best practices, and celebrate a collective vision for our community. It’s our goal to dive in and hear from the foremost advocates of this rapidly evolving landscape.

Nonfiction films allow us to deeply connect to each other through stories built on shared experiences. Deeply rooted in community, these intimate stories reflect authentic spaces and places. Join us in a cinematic learning experience to better understand each other.

Fiction is where hearts are told to live on sleeves. It crafts conflict and resilience to it in the details. It builds worlds, plank by plank. This year’s lineup is filled with films born out of diverse spaces, but all created to have you maybe wonder, giggle, and cry. You might go to lean on the person next to you. Take a seat. The fire is waiting.

In our fortified commitment to amplify Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities, Pacific Cinewaves programming celebrates stories and storytellers emerging from the Kingdom of Hawai’i, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Cook Islands, Tahiti (French Polynesia), Guåhan (Guam), Samoa, and throughout the Pacific region.

Our Shorts Programs chart stories of loss, faith, loss, fantasy, and family. Short films tend to be a focused experience of emotional storytelling, savvy editing, and heart. Through our robust range of narrative, animated, and documentary shorts, join us in journeys to places near and far — in the hopes that we can feel a little closer to ourselves. It is our honor to continue carving out space for emerging and veteran artists.

As one of the first film festivals on the continent to center Asian and NHPI storytelling, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival has become a champion for Asian and NHPI storytellers, serving as a beacon for Industry professionals who are looking for emerging talent. As such, we have become nimble with our programming to work with artists and filmmakers to carve out programming that serves campaign needs to enrich outreach to the Asian American and NHPI communities.

VC’s legacy is built upon what sets us part and what we do best: and that is our VC Archives and our Filmmaker development programs dedicated to emerging voices (AWC) and our beloved elders (Digital Histories).