VC Online | Weekend 1

A CAPSULE FOR ROBIN

Directed by Lalithra Fernando

An optimistic host’s dinner party goes awry when her husband reveals he doesn’t want to have kids in the face of humanity’s impending extinction.

ANCESTORS

Directed by Emilio J. Virata, Jr.

Reflections on Ancestry are expressed in this poem put to film.

ART21: CHRISTINE SUN KIM

Directed by Chiemi Karasawa

A portrait of artist Christine Sun Kim and her practice.

BORN IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP

Directed by David and Mark Kuroda

I was the first baby born in the Amache Concentration Camp, Colorado.

BUCKETS CITY

Directed by Dave Quion

The trials and tribulations of two best friends playing streetball against neighborhood bullies throughout their lives.

CHRONICLES OF A SANSEI ROCKER

Directed by Cory Shiozaki

Former musician and 3rd generation Japanese American, fulfilling an item on his “bucket list” writing a book of his memoirs of the coming of age during the tumultuous 60’s and 70’s. 

CITIZEN SOLDIER

Directed by Cathy Uchida

Documentary of a Japanese immigrant’s journey to Vancouver, Canada and the French front lines of WWI

EAT SLEEP POOP AND PASS GAS

Directed by Fran Ito

January 2024 Fran Ito celebrated her 92nd birthday. It’s a miracle that she is still here on earth enjoying life with family and friends in the midst of life threatening health issues. God is good!

THE FABULOUS ROCKY FELLERS

Directed by Florante Ibanez

Retired Librarian/Archivist, 1970s-80s KDP community activist, currently Adjunct Professor at Pasadena City College of Asian Pacific American Studies, Cofounder of UCLA Samano and UC Irvine Kababayan, served on various Community non-profit organizations. Appointed to California State Library Services Board (2014-2022).

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

Directed by Camila Sagyntkan

After the death of his love, a middle-aged man tries to find a new sense of life against all changes in the country.

HOMESTEAD

Directed by Justin Pascua

A local farmer Liane works on her Japanese cucumber farm with only the help of her grandson Aiden, and her husband Boun, with hopes to return to her home in Laos and reunite with her children after 20 years.

I LOVE YOU, YOUR KAMO

Directed by Isaac Kau

A 93-year old Taiwanese widow recounts her love story with her late husband and the sacrifices they made for their children while 6,891 miles apart.

I WOULD’VE BEEN HAPPY

Directed by Jordan Wong

An attempt to map a fraught relationship through the use of intricately coded pictographs and schematic abstractions applied onto glazed ceramic tiles and quilted cyanotype fabric. The aesthetics of architectural language are used to reconstruct memories of my family’s domestic spaces in the hope to uncover logic to a broken home.

INTO THE EMERALD SEA

Directed by Asuka Lin

Suzu emerges from the ocean after a long disappearance, reuniting with their grandmother – who has reincarnated into a sea turtle.

ISLAND IN BETWEEN

Directed by S. Leo Chiang

A personal, poetic look at the uneasy peace on the frontline between Taiwan and China.

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO LIVE YOUR DREAM

Directed by Tracy Quan-Nichols

Meet artist Parker Dean and see how it’s never too late to follow your dream.

JIM MATSUOKA WILL NOT BE RUSHED

Directed by Robert Shoji

In this remembrance of Los Angeles-based activist Jim Matsuoka, watch his powerful testimony at the 1981 Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians hearings.

KAI HALIʻA (SEA OF MEMORY)

Directed by Angelique Kalani Axelrode

Through layers of space, time and memory across the ocean and ʻāina (land) on Maui, a diasporic Kānaka (Hawaiian) remembers how to connect back to themselves, their family and their lover.

KOWLOON!

Directed by Erin Ramirez, Mona Xia

As the biggest Chinese restaurant in the US, Kowloon represents the Wong family’s American Dream come true. However, as third-generation owners Bobby Wong and his brothers approach their seventies, they consider the weight of their family and community legacy.

KŪKINI

Directed by Mitchel Merrick

In 1790 Hawaiʻi, an elite warrior must leave his family behind when sent on a deadly mission to report on the bloody war waged by Kamehameha against Maui.

LET LOVE FLOW – AN OH MYH DATING HELL STORY

Directed by Ryan Fukuda

A woman past her prime age of marriage, seeking to find her perfect match, goes blindly into a date using a new app, only to find it’s someone a little too close to
home.

LOVE WITHOUT WORDS

Directed by Bryan Takeda

Upon reflection, a son expresses his gratitude and love for his father without words.

LULLABY/EKO

Directed by Shin Kawasaki

A visual synopsis of my grandmother’s life, a nonagenarian who immigrated to Japan-occupied Manchuria, fled at the end of WWII to return home and raise four children alone in the chaos of post-war Japan.

MADINA

Directed by Aizhan Kassymbek

Madina, a single mother whose day-to-day routine is a battle for survival with lack of confidence in the present and lack of hope in the future.

NEVER GO HUNGRY AGAIN!

Directed by Bernice Ng

A daughter uncovers her mother’s tumultuous past in China, inspiring a collaborative book detailing survival, resilience, and triumph in America.
 

NUSA INA

Directed by Anne Jan Sijbrandij

More than 60 years after their refuge to the Netherlands, Loey Tamaëla and his family are still hoping to one day return to a free Moluccas.

OF SILENCE AND SONG

Directed by Dai Leyi

A pregnant single mother grapples with revealing the truth to her family as she navigates a world embroiled in a crisis over women’s bodily autonomy.

PERFECT CITY: THE BRAVEST KID

Directed by Shengwei Zhou

Chased by a knife hand, a paper boy gradually finds out his biggest fear is the same as his hope.

QUEERFULLY DEPARTED

Directed by Trent Nakamura

A beyond the grave love story between a patient and her gynecologist.

ROCK THE CRADLE

Directed by Asis Sethi

When the grips of postpartum depression engulf a new struggling South Asian mother, she must learn to stay afloat without drowning in her own darkness.

SEE YOU, DEN

Directed by Don Bannai

Playing music is playing from the heart. Alan Furutani, the groups Visions and Fujazz have provided a soundtrack for us for fifty years.

SLOW DOWN – ALANMICHAEL FEATURING DAWN RICHARD

Directed by Vanessa Marzaroli

Slow Down transports us to a distant realm, offering a visual journey of resilience and self-discovery, portraying a captivating struggle between light and dark through stunning imagery and dance.

SO, THAT HAPPENED

Directed by Neha Aziz

Sheila and Imran haven’t seen each other since college, but when Imran moves back to Austin, an opportunity arises for the pair to get acquainted once more.

SPECIAL CAMP

Directed by Teresa Takaki Matsushima

Special Camp, for the Asian American developmentally disabled, celebrates its 50th year in 2024.

SQUEEGEE BOY

Directed by Chung-Wei Huang

On a quest for belonging and acceptance, a trans teenager yearns to become part of a tight-knit group of squeegee boys in Baltimore city.

STAYING PUT: STORIES OF CHINATOWN’S RESISTANCE

Listen as voices from the 1960s to present day chronicle Philadelphia Chinatown’s history of community and resistance to external forces of development, gentrification, and erasure.

STORIES TOLD, SECRETS KEPT

Directed by Patty Fong

The appearance of mysterious documents revealed a Leong family history that was never discussed.

THANK YOU NEVER COME AGAIN

Directed by Bryan Sih

During the pandemic, and before the BLM uprisings, a Chinese son searches for his father, who he fears has been displaced due to unpaid rent at his barbershop and rent–an exploration of erasure, gentrification, and father-son dynamics.

THE CARRY ON STORY

Directed by Mitchell Matsumura

Carry On was a garage band in Los Angeles during the Asian American dance era 1965-1985. The era was a right of passage and undoubtedly the best times of our lives. Carry On was the most popular band of the era. They performed at hundreds of dances held at dance halls and ballrooms. This is their story.

THE QUEEN’S FLOWERS

Directed by Ciara Leinaʻala Lacy

A magical take on a true story, THE QUEENʻS FLOWERS is an animated short adventure for kids that follows Emma, a Native Hawaiian girl in 1915 Honolulu, as she makes a special gift for the last monarch of Hawai`i, Queen Lili`uokalani.

UNDOCUFORCE BY SOULTREE

Directed by Josef Akira

Expressions of Asian Pacific Healing and Martial Arts weave and dance beautifully between the artist, Soultree, and their community telling the story of the “UndocuForce”.

WAKHRI

Directed by Iram Parveen Bilal

A widowed school teacher becomes a viral sensation overnight when she accidentally unleashes her unabashed opinions on social media. This newfound fame comes with its own challenges as she must navigate archaic mindsets and secret identities.

WINDHORSE

Directed by Sunil Gurung

Sonam and his estranged son Karma journey to ancestral monasteries in the mountains to light butter lamps in memory of Sonam’s deceased wife.