Asian American International Film Festival

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) in New York City is the first and longest-running festival in the United States to showcase Asian and Asian American filmmakers and media artists. It happens every summer and presents a wide range of films from around the world, along with filmmaker talks, workshops, and networking events. Opening night has featured notable titles, such as Amigo directed by John Sayles.

Origins and growth: In the 1970s, activists started Asian CineVision (ACV) in New York’s Chinatown to promote Asian and Asian American media. In 1978, ACV organized the first Asian American Film Festival, a three-day event screening 46 films at Henry Street Settlement. Since then, the festival has moved to many venues around New York City, including NYU, the Rosemary Theater, the French Institute, and the Asia Society, among others.

What it does: AAIFF aims to present the latest work in Asian and Asian American independent media to broad audiences—about 100 short and feature films each year. It creates spaces where artists, scholars, and fans can meet, share ideas, and push creative boundaries, highlighting the diversity of Asian and Asian American experiences.

Venues and reach: The festival uses satellite venues around the city and is part of the National Festival Tour, which helped inspire many other Asian American festivals nationwide. Films come from more than 20 countries, including Canada, China, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Australia, Germany, and more. ACV also ran programs like Videoscape and the Children’s Film Festival, plus training workshops and a media archive.

Website: aaiff.org