Section

Documentary Features

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.

Documentary Features

A FLY ON THE WALL

Film A FLY ON THE WALL Directed by Nilesh Maniyar, Shonali Bose An intimate personal journey in which a filmmaker is tasked with shooting the physician assisted suicide of her…

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…

Documentary Features

CHINATOWN CHA-CHA

Film CHINATOWN CHA-CHA Directed by Luka Yuanyuan Yang The 92-year-old previous nightclub dancer Coby Yee decides to get back on stage again after joining the senior…

Documentary Features

FOREVER WE ARE YOUNG

Film FOREVER WE ARE YOUNG Directed by Grace Lee, Patty Ahn FOREVER WE ARE YOUNG delves into the heart, soul, and surprising evolution of one of the most passionate…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Documentary Features, VC Archives Presents

MANZANAR

Film MANZANAR Directed by Robert A. Nakamura Created by Robert Nakamura as a graduate student in UCLA’s Ethnocommunications Program, Manzanar is a lyrical and pensive…

Documentary Features

MISTRESS DISPELLER

Film MISTRESS DISPELLER Directed by Elizabeth Lo Desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover and break up…

Documentary Features

NEW WAVE

Film NEW WAVE Directed by Elizabeth Ai Mile-high hair. Synthesized sounds. Teenage rebellion. Elizabeth Ai was on a mission to excavate an untold story of…

Documentary Features, Special Presentations

OH, SAIGON: A WAR IN THE FAMILY

Film OH, SAIGON: A WAR IN THE FAMILY Directed by Đoan Hoàng Curtis One of the rare Vietnam War documentary films made by a Vietnamese-born director, Oh, Saigon gives a Vietnamese…

Documentary Features

ON HEALING LAND, BIRDS PERCH

Film ON HEALING LAND, BIRDS PERCH Directed by Naja Phạm Lockwood ON HEALING LAND, BIRDS PERCH is a short documentary that tells the remarkable stories behind one of the…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

Documentary Features

WHERE THE LIGHT ENTERS YOU

Film WHERE THE LIGHT ENTERS YOU Directed by Hemal Trivedi, Matt Alesevich In the wake of personal loss, an unexpected sisterhood unites an ambitious New York med student with a…

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…

Documentary Features

YONSEI

Film YONSEI Directed by Jeff Mizushima, Rachel Michiko Whitney In an effort to write a screenplay about her mother's Hollywood acting career, Rachel, a fourth generation Japanese…