Skip to Content
Menu
Close
About
Welcome
About Our Art
Festival Renewal
Programmers
News
How To Fest
Venues
Accessibility Information
Community Agreements
Schedule
Programs
All Films & Events
Festival Sections
Free Programs
C3:CONVERSE
Pacific Cinewaves
Parties & Afterhours
Get Involved
Donate
Funders
Contact
0
CART
$0.00
Country
USA
A Hurt Like Mine
Film
A Hurt Like Mine
Directed by Kahea Kiwaha
A young boy, haunted by a child-like apparition, struggles to support his mom and baby sister as they…
A Rhythm of Our Own
Film
A Rhythm of Our Own
Directed by Zaynah Waseem
A Rhythm of Our Own follows the journey of Pakistani-American Kathak artist, Farah Yasmeen Shaikh as she creates…
A Song for Gracie
Film
A Song for Gracie
Directed by David R. Liu
Gracie and her injured lover Amir stop at a rundown gas station in the high desert. The lines…
After the Storm
Film
After the Storm
Directed by Sungbin Moon
A filmmaker calls her now-sober mom, who lives halfway around the world, to confront their traumatic past.
Awit Natin (Our Song)
Film
Awit Natin (Our Song)
Directed by Pacqui Pascual
When their father dies during their mother's hospitalization, a Filipino family bands together to hide the truth.
Documentary Features
BETWEEN GOODBYES
Film
BETWEEN GOODBYES
Directed by Jota Mun
When a queer Korean adoptee visits her original mother in Seoul, long-held regrets and cultural misunderstandings come to…
Narrative Features
Bitterroot
Film
Bitterroot
Directed by Vera Brunner-Sung
Reeling from a failed marriage and seeking solace and a new perspective, a Hmong man cares for his…
Bobo in Bliss
Film
Bobo in Bliss
Directed by Vivian Ip
Confronted with a visit by her traditional parents and younger sister to her boarding school, a Singaporean teenager…
Broken Mosaic
Film
Broken Mosaic
Directed by Alexandra "Lexie" Orr
In this punk music video, two mixed Asian-American siblings are always the topic of gossip, but they decide…
Pacific Cinewaves
CHamoru A Lost Language
Film
CHamoru A Lost Language
Directed by Brian Muna
Brian Muna discovers self-identity through CHamoru language revitalization efforts.
Charlie Can Talk
Film
Charlie Can Talk
Directed by Oliver Evangelista
A faith-healing debt collector crosses paths with a stutterer.
CHECK PLEASE
Film
CHECK PLEASE
Directed by Shane Chung
Two headstrong Koreans can't agree on who's treating who to dinner, causing their casual restaurant outing to spiral…
Creatures of Chaos
Film
Creatures of Chaos
Directed by Asavari Kumar
When emotional turmoil takes physical form, four strangers learn their new companions refuse to stay hidden
Daly City
Film
Daly City
Directed by Nick Hartanto
An Indonesian boy and his mother attend a church potluck and lie about their dish.
Pacific Cinewaves
DEAR ALOHA
Film
DEAR ALOHA
Directed by CRIS ROMENTO
Dear Aloha is a heartfelt story about the meaning of aloha through the lives of Diasporic Hawaiians in…
Dear Watsonville
Film
Dear Watsonville
Directed by Sondy Lucille
“Dear Watsonville” is a mixed-media documentary offering an intimate glimpse into the lives of the manong generation, the…
Eighth Dimension
Film
Eighth Dimension
Directed by Haneol Lee
Preparing for the mandatory Korean military service, Joseph, a Korean-American, stores his belongings in a church attic with…
Empathy
Film
Empathy
Directed by Ty Sanga
After one young man’s choices lead him to years of incarceration, Tien Nguyen discovers meditation to confront his…
Endling
Film
Endling
Directed by Kelly Yu
A documentary crew interviews the man in charge of taking care of the last goldfish on earth.
FLIGHT 182
Film
FLIGHT 182
Directed by Rippin Sindher
Amid rising political tensions, a devoted wife fights to protect her husband from boarding a flight that could…
Documentary Features
FROM OKINAWA WITH LOVE
Film
FROM OKINAWA WITH LOVE
Directed by Hiroshi Sunairi
In the 1970s, Okinawan photographer Mao Ishikawa worked as a barmaid for African American GIs and published an…
Fruit Tart
Film
Fruit Tart
Directed by Caitlyn Phu
While embarking on a lonely journey home after missing her train, a girl's insecurities manifest in the form…
Gaku: One Last Round
Film
Gaku: One Last Round
Directed by Taige Shi
Gaku Takahashi, a veteran professional Japanese boxer, is fighting to get back into the ring after a horrendous…
God & Buddha Are Friends
Film
God & Buddha Are Friends
Directed by Anthony Ma
A young Taiwanese American boy falls into an existential crisis when a charismatic Christian pastor comes between him…
Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites
Film
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…
Grandpa’s Beef Stew
Film
Grandpa’s Beef Stew
Directed by HaiTao Wu
Grandpa's Beef Stew follows a young protagonist's emotional journey as he grapples with his grandfather's Alzheimer's, uncovering the…
Documentary Features
,
VC Archives Presents
Grassroots Rising
Film
Grassroots Rising
Directed by Robert C. Winn
GRASSROOTS RISING, directed by Robert C. Winn, explores the re-emergence of Asian Pacific American labor activism in Los…
Growing Up
Film
Growing Up
Directed by Ann Sun
We all have that moment when we suddenly realize: we're the same age as our parents when they…
GYOPO
Film
GYOPO
Directed by Christina YR Lim
A family goes to great lengths to protect a 10-year-old aspiring violinist from discovering the truth about her…
Hail, A Taxi Home
Film
Hail, A Taxi Home
Directed by Jay Liu
Against the erosion of culture in Hong Kong, a Hong Konger filmmaker questions why a 1.5-generation Hong Konger-American…
Pacific Cinewaves
Healing Lahaina
Film
Healing Lahaina
Directed by Laurel Tamayo
After losing their multigenerational home in the 2023 Lahaina wildfire, a family recounts a year of healing following…
Shorts Programs
Home-land: Hmong American Women
Film
Home-land: Hmong American Women
Directed by Pader Xiong
This short film explores the identities, pursuits, and making of Home-land across various Hmong American Women.
Documentary Features
,
VC Archives Presents
Kites and Other Tales (4K Restoration)
Film
Kites and Other Tales (4K Restoration)
Directed by Alan Ohashi
Kites and Other Tales showcases modern kitemaker Tom Joe's efforts to preserve the traditional craft of kite making and…
Pacific Cinewaves
KÜĪ
Film
KÜĪ
Directed by Kahu Kaiha
In the face of her mother's absence and her father's alcoholism, 12 year old girl, Küī, rises above…
KUMAR KUMAR
Film
KUMAR KUMAR
Directed by Kiran Koshy
‘Kumar Kumar’ is a dark comedy about loneliness in a hyper-connected world.
Documentary Features
,
Special Presentations
Lee Soo Man: King of K-Pop
Film
Lee Soo Man: King of K-Pop
Directed by Ting Poo
From the traditional town of Jeonju, South Korea came the man that changed the world with music. Lee…
Documentary Features
Light of the Setting Sun
Film
Light of the Setting Sun
Directed by Vicky Du
A Taiwanese-American filmmaker questions her family's silence around the cycles of violence that have persisted since the Chinese…
Pacific Cinewaves
,
Shorts Programs
MĀHŪ: A Trans-Pacific Love Letter
Film
MĀHŪ: A Trans-Pacific Love Letter
Directed by Lisette Marie Flanary
MĀHŪ: A Trans-Pacific Love Letter is a short documentary about an innovative theater production by master hula teacher, Kumu…
Documentary Features
Making Waves: The Rise of Asian America
Film
Making Waves: The Rise of Asian America
Directed by Jon Osaki, Josh Chuck
Making Waves documents stories of Asian American activism and efforts to lift-up ethnic studies as a strategy to…
Mannequin
Film
Mannequin
Directed by Mark Tran
A sleep-deprived father forms an eerie bond with a mannequin, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.
Maybe It’s Just the Rain
Film
Maybe It’s Just the Rain
Directed by Reina Bonta
In their debut, an underdog group of young women become the first Filipino team in history to win…
Memory Palace
Film
Memory Palace
Directed by Steven Gong
After college, Steven revisits the places that defined each era of his life: early adolescence in the suburbs,…
Narrative Features
Molokaʻi Bound
Film
Molokaʻi Bound
Directed by Alika Tengan
A Hawaiian man recently released from prison, struggles to reconnect and reconcile with his son and heritage.
Mr. Corruption
Film
Mr. Corruption
Directed by Simeon Hu
Father and son chase buried millions in Ojai's wilderness. One needs escape from Chinese authorities, the other from…
My Only Friend is a Robot Named Beans
Film
My Only Friend is a Robot Named Beans
Directed by Anika Kan Grevstad
Ruby finds her lonesome routines disrupted when she makes an unlikely new friend: a mail-order robot.
Myself When I Am Real
Film
Myself When I Am Real
Directed by Angeline Gragasin
Set in the year 2000, a single mother and her teenage daughter struggle to make friends and find…
NANI
Film
NANI
Directed by Mainak Dhar
On her yearly trip home for Eid, Maisha rebels against family expectations to give her grandmother a fleeting…
Newbies
Film
Newbies
Directed by Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence, Megan Trufant Tillman
Two broken strangers wrestling with their queer identities meet on the subway just after midnight. A poignant, poetic…
Pacific Cinewaves
Not A U.S. Citizen
Film
Not A U.S. Citizen
Directed by Gabby Alafagamalufilufi Faʻaiʻuaso, John Niko Pātū
The film follows the perspectives of American Samoans, who navigate the complexities of being "non-citizen nationals" of the…
On My Road to Dharma
Film
On My Road to Dharma
Directed by Yihuan Zhang
A documentary follows De Hong, a monk who has been teaching meditation in California prisons for ten years,…
ONLY IN THIS WORLD
Film
ONLY IN THIS WORLD
Directed by Dorothy Xiao
When an empty nester loses her ability to summon her daughter back from the afterlife, she is forced…
Plane Crash
Film
Plane Crash
Directed by Isaac Kau
Stuck in a windy dystopian field reminiscent of All About Lily-Chouchou, two girls are left with nothing but…
Prematho
Film
Prematho
Directed by Harshith S. Kotni
When a perfectionist teenage Bharatanatyam dancer is denied her Arangayram (recital), she must realize that impeccable technique alone…
Puberty for Humans
Film
Puberty for Humans
Directed by Wester Demandante
In an educational video preparing students for cybernetic bodily changes, Linus learns that everything will be okay... for…
RECOLLECTORS
Film
RECOLLECTORS
Directed by Ran Ran Wang
Two strangers work to determine what is worth remembering while language, and memory, deteriorates.
Rising
Film
Rising
Directed by Evelyn Hang Yin
RISING traces the history of China Alley in Hanford, California and how four generations of the Wing family…
Rooftop Lempicka
Film
Rooftop Lempicka
Directed by Hang Luong Nguyen
While her mother is expecting their second child, young Thi befriends club waitress Ngoc who has just moved…
Roots That Reach Toward The Sky
Film
Roots That Reach Toward The Sky
Directed by Jess X. Snow
When her immigrant mother’s Chinese Traditional Medicine shop gets vandalized, Kai, a young botanist is thrust in between…
Ruya
Film
Ruya
Directed by Nicole Mairose Dizon
When a T’boli dreamweaver goes into a coma, her anxious, insomniac daughter must dream and communicate with Fu…
Saint Vegas
Film
Saint Vegas
Directed by Samantha Herrera
A young woman adopts a new life in Las Vegas following the loss of her mother.
Say to You
Film
Say to You
Directed by Nuodi A
A sweet love story between two puppies.
Sex, Baseball, and All Pussibilities
Film
Sex, Baseball, and All Pussibilities
Directed by Aimee Pham, Kai Sampadian
Two horny best friends, desperate to make a friday night count, go through all the sexual preparation for…
Narrative Features
Softshell
Film
Softshell
Directed by Jinho Myung
Following the death of their mother, a Thai-American brother and sister from Queens navigate life in the city…
Documentary Features
,
Pacific Cinewaves
Standing Above the Clouds
Film
Standing Above the Clouds
Directed by Jalena Keane-Lee
When the massive Thirty Meter Telescope is proposed to be built on Mauna Kea, an uprising of kiaʻi…
Sunchong
Film
Sunchong
Directed by Yoontaek Hong
An 89-year-old Korean immigrant volunteers at a senior center and reflects on his life’s journey with his beloved…
Narrative Features
Surrender
Film
Surrender
Directed by Jess Dang
Triggered and wanting to escape her past trauma, Naomi, a young Asian American female, falls into the world…
Surrija – Nothing Love
Film
Surrija – Nothing Love
Directed by Clarence Deng
Music video for "Nothing Love" by Surrija, where the artist is trapped in a liminal space manifested from…
Swimming Lessons
Film
Swimming Lessons
Directed by Meloddy Gao
Swimming Lessons is a personal, reflexive film that follows a daughter of Chinese immigrants who yearns to understand…
Tasting Heritage
Film
Tasting Heritage
Directed by Emily Strong
Tasting Heritage is a nourishing coming of heritage story of a Korean-adopted woman named Emily Flynn.
Documentary Features
,
Pacific Cinewaves
Te Puna Ora (The Source of Life)
Film
Te Puna Ora (The Source of Life)
Directed by Virginie Tetoofa
As privatization threatens the very fabric of Moorea Island, three Tahitian women embark on a sacred journey to…
The Grocery List Show Ep 1: Seafood City
Film
The Grocery List Show Ep 1: Seafood City
Directed by Emily Strong
Host Chrissy Camba, former Top Chef contender, and guests visit international grocery stores across the U.S. and cook…
The Grocery List Show Ep 2: Labay Market
Film
The Grocery List Show Ep 2: Labay Market
Directed by Emily Strong
Host Chrissy Camba, former Top Chef contender, and guests visit international grocery stores across the U.S. and cook…
The Grocery List Show Ep 3: La Placita de Brooklyn
Film
The Grocery List Show Ep 3: La Placita de Brooklyn
Directed by Emily Strong
Host Chrissy Camba, former Top Chef contender, and guests visit international grocery stores across the U.S. and cook…
Documentary Features
Third Act
Film
Third Act
Directed by Tadashi Nakamura
Generations of artists call Robert A. Nakamura “the godfather of Asian American media,” but filmmaker Tadashi Nakamura calls…
Timeless Voices
Film
Timeless Voices
Directed by Christine An
In the deep mountains of Southern China, the indigenous Dong chorus sings the struggles, resilience, and spiritual healing…
To Dance Again
Film
To Dance Again
Directed by MG Evangelista
After an unprecedented tragedy for the Asian American community of Monterey Park, ballroom dancing offers an unexpected path…
Narrative Features
Transplant
Film
Transplant
Directed by Jason Park
A motivated surgical resident pushes himself to extreme lengths while training under a legendary heart transplant surgeon obsessed…
U-turn
Film
U-turn
Directed by Mahin Sadri
It's about a middle aged woman who wants to try another shape of life but she is a…
Pacific Cinewaves
Vahaʻa | The Distance Between
Film
Vahaʻa | The Distance Between
Directed by Pingi Moli
After his mother’s death, a boxer struggles with grief and a strained relationship with his father, who coaches…
Vic and His Nanay
Film
Vic and His Nanay
Directed by Jillian Janairo
While he’s trapped in his apartment recovering from COVID, an exasperated Vic tries to evade a nosy apparition of his late mother.
Documentary Features
Voices of Deoli
Film
Voices of Deoli
Directed by Lulu Men
Voices of Deoli is a poignant documentary that follows the lives of survivors of the Deoli internment camp,…
Vox Humana
Film
Vox Humana
Directed by Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan
An eccentric biologist interrogates a wild man who was found in the forest after an earthquake hit a…
Pacific Cinewaves
Waters of Puʻuloa
Film
Waters of Puʻuloa
Directed by Tiare Ribeaux
Waters of Puʻuloa chronicles the transformation of the ʻEwa District on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, and the area now known…
We Were The Scenery
Film
We Were The Scenery
Directed by Christopher Radcliff
The story of Hoa Thi Le and Hue Nguyen Che, who, in 1975, after fleeing the Vietnam War…
Who Are You, Nanu?
Film
Who Are You, Nanu?
Directed by Anjini Taneja Azhar
After her Nanu's (meaning 'grandfather' in Hindi) ceremonial cremation brings her to the Holy Ganges River in India…
Wild Animal
Film
Wild Animal
Directed by Tianyun Lyu
In the Mongolian wilds, a hunter's heir,
With his father, a bond so rare.
Kindness within, 'midst nature's…
Witness
Film
Witness
Directed by Radha Mehta, Saif Jaan
A revered small-town imam faces a crisis of faith when he must choose between upholding the values of…
Words of Her
Film
Words of Her
Directed by Charlene Xu
A distressed woman’s soliloquy.
“That woman” comes to her city for a short stay, bringing her the rain season…
Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way
Film
Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way
Directed by Hao Zhou
Having built a colorful queer life in Iowa, an aspiring costume designer visits their island homeland of Guam…
Documentary Features
Year of the Cat
Film
Year of the Cat
Directed by Tony Nguyen
YEAR OF THE CAT follows filmmaker Tony Nguyen on an extraordinary quest to solve the mystery of his…
Yú Cì (Fish Bones)
Film
Yú Cì (Fish Bones)
Directed by Kevin Xian Ming Yu
Bowen, a nonbinary Asian-American from Queens, tries to connect with their estranged father and help him deal with…
Zari
Film
Zari
Directed by Shruti Parekh
Amidst preparations for her sister’s wedding in India, young American Neelu forges an unexpected connection with Zeyb, a…
×