Visual Communications Announces Lineup for The 36th Annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival



Narrative Features include:

A BEDSORE - North American Premiere
Director: Shim Hye-Jung
South Korea, 2019 - Korean with English subtitles
Gang Chang-sik lives with his wife who was struck by a cerebral haemorrhage, and her caretaker, a Korean Chinese woman and illegal immigrant.

DEATH OF NINTENDO - West Coast Premiere
Director: Raya Martin
USA, Philippines 2019 - Tagalog
Set in 90's Manila, four friends go on a journey of self-discovery together as they play videogames and wrestle with new dilemmas.

GOODBYE MOTHER - Los Angeles Premiere
Director: Trinh Dinh Le Minh
Vietnam, 2019 - Vietnamese with English subtitles
A Vietnamese bachelor returns home from the U.S. with a Vietnamese American boyfriend, attempting to come out to his widowed mother.

I'LL MEET YOU THERE - West Coast Premiere
Director: Iram Parveen Bilal
USA, 2020 - Urdu, English with English subtitles
A Muslim cop goes undercover at his estranged father's mosque while his daughter hides her passion for a forbidden dance, uncovering a shocking family secret.

KIM JI-YOUNG, BORN 1982 -  Los Angeles Premiere
Director: Kim Do-young
South Korea, 2019 - Korean with English subtitles
Kim Ji-young, an ordinary woman in her 30s, suddenly shows signs of being inhabited by others such as her late mother and older sister, and the stories of the people connected to her.

LEGEND OF BARON TO'A
Director: Kiel McNaughton
New Zealand, 2019
A young Tongan man grappling with his wrestling superstar father's legacy follows in his deceased father's footsteps by fighting for the return of his dad's stolen championship belt.

ONE MEAL - World Premiere
Director: Yuechen Hao
USA 2020 - Mandarin with English subtitles
A woman dreams of being a chef, but when her father plans to pass down the restaurant to her brother, she has to reevaluate her dream.

THE GIRL WHO LEFT HOME -  World Premiere
Director: Mallorie Ortega
USA 2018 - English
After finally breaking into a lead role on stage, Christine's father suddenly passes away, leaving her responsible to save her family restaurant from shutting down.

THE LONG WALK - West Coast Premiere
Director: Mattie Do
Laos, 2019 - Laos with English Subtitles
An old Laotian hermit discovers that the ghost of a road accident victim can transport him back in time fifty years to his mother's death.

THE MISEDUCATION OF BINDU
Director: Prarthana Mohan
USA, 2019 - English, Hindi, Spanish with English Subtitles
When a bullied Indian teen forges her mother's signature to test out of high school, she discovers she must pay a test fee by the 7th period, leaving her no choice but to turn to the students she desperately wants to leave.

THE PAPER TIGERS - U.S. Premiere
Director: Bao Tran
USA 2019, English
A deadbeat dad, insurance scammer, and MMA coach must avenge their Kung Fu master's death, right after they call in sick to their day jobs.

WAIKIKI - West Coast Premiere
Director: Christopher Kahunahana
USA, 2020
When a hula dancer on the run crashes into a broken spirit of a man, they begin a journey into a hidden world, developing a connection through humanity, nature, and culture.

WHAT ISN'T THERE (ANG NAWAWALA) - Retrospective Screening
Director: Marie Jamora
Philippines 2012, Tagalog
In this lyrical exploration of love, music and expression, a self-imposed mute returns home for Christmas and the anniversary of his twin brother's accidental death.


Documentary Features include:

76 DAYS
Director: Hao Wu, Weixi Chen
United States, 2020 - Mandarin with English Subtitles
Raw and intimate, this documentary captures the struggles of patients and frontline medical professionals battling the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan.

A THOUSAND CUTS
Director: Ramona S. Diaz
United States, 2020 - Tagalog and English with English Subtitles
Nowhere is the worldwide erosion of democracy, fueled by social media disinformation campaigns, more starkly evident than in the authoritarian regime of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Journalist Maria Ressa places the tools of the free press—and her freedom—on the line in defense of truth and democracy.

ACCEPT THE CALL - Los Angeles Premiere
Director: Eunice Lau
USA, 2019 - English, Somali with English Subtitles
A father seeks to understand why his son is accused of terrorism, as they journey to repair their relationship after breaking each other's hearts.

BECAUSE WE ARE GIRLS
Director: Baljit Sangra
Canada, 2019 - English, Punjabi with English Subtitles
A conservative Indo-Canadian family comes to terms with a devastating secret: three sisters were sexually abused by an older relative during their childhood years.

CURTAIN UP! - Los Angeles Premiere
Directors: Hui Tong, Kelly Ng
USA 2019 - English, Mandarin with English Subtitles
Asian American kids break stereotypes and discover their identities as they break a leg putting on a national debut production of "Frozen Kids."

DOWN A DARK STAIRWELL - West Coast Premiere
Director: Ursula Liang
USA, 2020
A Chinese American police officer kills an unarmed black man in a dark stairwell, igniting a complicated fight for accountability and justice.

FAR EAST DEEP SOUTH - Los Angeles Premiere
Director: Larissa Lam
USA, 2020 - English, Cantonese with English Subtitles
A Chinese American family's search for their roots leads them to Mississippi, where they stumble upon surprising revelations and uncover their racially complex history in America.

FINDING YINGYING - Los Angeles Premiere
Director: Jiayan "Jenny" Shi
USA 2020 - English, Mandarin with English Subtitles
A Chinese family travels to the U.S. for the first time to look for their daughter, an international student who vanished from a university campus.

FIRST VOTE 
Director: Yi Chen
USA 2020 - English, Mandarin Chinese with English Subtitles
FIRST VOTE is a vérité look at Asian American voters in battleground states.

GEOGRAPHIES OF KINSHIP - Los Angeles Premiere
Director: Deann Borshay Liem
USA, 2019 - English, Korean with English Subtitles
Four adoptees return to their country of birth and reconnect with their roots.

KA HUAKA'I: THE JOURNEY TO MERRIE MONARCH
Director: Gerard Elmore
USA, 2020 - English
A dancer, a kumu hula (teacher of hula), and a former Miss Aloha Hula go on a journey to the annual Merrie Monarch.

NOODLE KID - North American Premiere
Director: Ning Huo/Gary Shih
Taiwan, China 2019 - Chinese with English subtitles
For want of maternal love, 14-year-old Ma Xiang makes the very first major decision in his life to leave his mountainous home to become an apprentice at a noodle shop in a strange city a thousand kilometers away.

PATUTIKI: THE GUARDIANS OF THE MARQUESAN TATTOO - International Premiere
Director: Heretu Tetahiotupa, Christophe Cordier
French Polynesia, 2020 - English, Marquesan with English Subtitles
With tattoo declared illegal by church & state, the last of the "black-skinned" Marquesan elders find clever ways to guard their dying people's Polynesian history.

SKY BLOSSOM: DIARIES OF THE NEXT GREATEST GENERATION
Director: Richard Lui
USA, 2020
A raw, candid look at today's teens and millennials caring for a disabled parent.

THE CELINE ARCHIVE - World Premiere
Director: Celine Parreñas Shimizu
USA, 2019
Adulteress, traitor, heroine, or prey? In 1932, Celine Navarro was buried alive by her community in Northern California. This film digs up herstory.

THE DONUT KING
Director: Alice Gu
USA, Cambodia 2020 - English, Chinese, Cambodian with English Subtitles
Everything you thought you knew about the donut begins with Ted Ngoy. This is the unlikely story of a Cambodian refugee arriving in America in 1975 and building a multi-million-dollar empire baking America's favorite pastry, the donut.

THE PARADISE WE ARE LOOKING FOR - Los Angeles Premiere
Director: Norbert Shieh, Quyên Nguyen-Le, Joseph Mangat, R.J. Lozada
USA, 2019 - English, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog with English Subtitles
Four stories about immigrant cultures, self-expression, and living between borders and the military, as seen through the eyes of Asian Americans in San Diego.

TOKYO HULA - West Coast Premiere
Director: Lisette Marie Flanary
USA 2019 - English, Japanese, Hawaiian with English Subtitles
TOKYO HULA explores the explosive popularity of the hula dance in Japan from both Native Hawaiian and Japanese perspectives.

WHEN WE WALK - Los Angeles Premiere
Director: Jason DaSilva
English - USA 2019
Filmmaker Jason DaSilva explains the national healthcare crisis as he tries to be closer to his son who lives 2,000 miles away.


The full LAAPFF schedule will be released on Tuesday, September 15.

For more information, please visitfestival.vcmedia.org

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