Asian American Film Festivals

Congrats to Michael Ogasawara and James Sereno for getting their shorts into the grandaddy of Asian American film festivals: New York's upcoming 28th Annual Asian American International Film Festival. James's "Silent Years," which has already had an impressive run on the fest circuit, and two of Mike's films, "Cause & Defect" and "Do Not Disturb," will be showing at the fest.

Since the majority of Hawaii's population is Asian American or Pacific Islander, I thought it might be useful to highlight some of the festivals that celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander films. Please note that people often confuse "Asian" (that is, from Asia--China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, etc.) with "Asian American" (from the U.S.A.). The fests below focus on the latter.

Asian American International Film Festival (New York)
28th Annual - July 2005

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
23rd Annual - March 2005

VC Filmfest: The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
21st Annual - Apr/May 2005
(Asian American + Asian Films)

Chicago Asian American Film & Video Showcase
10th Annual - Apr 2005

Vancouver Asian Film Festival
9th Annual - Nov 2005
(North American Asian Films)

DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival
6th Annual - Oct 2005

San Diego Asian Film Festival
6th Annual - Sep/Oct 2005

And by virtue of Hawaii's population mix, our own film festivals end up being heavy on Asian American and Pacific Islander content:

Hawaii International Film Festival
25th Annual - Oct 2005

Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival
16th Annual - May 2005

Cinema Paradise
4th Annual - June 2005

GiRL FeST Hawaii
2nd Annual - Sep 2005

Ohina Short Film Showcase
(links to Honolulu Advertiser article; Ohina site under construction)
October

Pacifika Film Festival: New York Hawaiian Film Festival
2nd Annual - May 2005

Many of these festivals accept submissions through Withoutabox, a semi-automated online submission service for tons of different film festivals. Make sure to research each festival you submit to, and be wary of the two-bit money-making/idea-stealing operations posing as film fests. Happy submitting, and good luck!