Discover who we are and where we are headed often begins with understanding where we came from. These films explore journeys of self-discovery through the connections and experiences of family and community.

Twenty years after their adoption, two Chinese Americans attempt to reconcile their ethnicity with their experiences. Director Biography - AJ Johnson <a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/086/609/original/00a888835e-headshot.jpg?1759286665" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/086/609/thumb/00a888835e-headshot.jpg?1759286665" style="border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative;" width="140"></a> AJ Johnson is a Philadelphia-based producer, director, and writer from Maryland and recent graduate of the University of Central Florida Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Documentary Production program. She is passionate about the role stories have in our lives: to connect, to educate, to inspire, and to explore. Recently, she co-produced Jewel of Parramore: The Wells’Built Hotel, which was awarded a 2023 SunCoast Student Production Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the category of Non-Fiction: Long Form. She has worked on numerous narrative student shorts and hopes to continue to make films with compelling stories at their center.

Threading the Needle

On the night of his 21st birthday, a Korean-American son burdened by years of silent sacrifice spirals through Koreatown haunted by the fear of becoming the father who left, and desperate to know if letting go is the only way to finally keep his promise to stay. Director Biography - Nicolas Chae <a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/585/749/original/264d6540d9-headshot.jpg?1756755205" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/585/749/thumb/264d6540d9-headshot.jpg?1756755205" style="border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative;" width="251"></a> Nicolas Chae is a Korean-American writer-director based in Los Angeles. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Film &amp; Television Production at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. His work explores themes of cultural identity, generational conflict, and the Korean-American experience through a visually-driven, emotionally grounded lens.Drawing from personal history and lived experience, Chae’s filmmaking is rooted in nuanced character studies that reimagine immigrant narratives through a contemporary lens. His artistic vision is shaped by his upbringing in a first-generation Korean household, and he is committed to telling stories that expand representation and speak to the emotional complexity of diasporic life.

Elias

In the countryside of Panamá, Layla, a young Chinese-Panamanian woman, struggles after childbirth while mourning her mother’s passing. Postpartum anxiety leaves her unable to nurse and as her mind fractures, she is haunted by a ghostly Woman intent on taking her child. When her baby’s life is threatened, Layla must confront the apparition—and the matriarchal legacy she was taught to suppress—to save both her child and herself. Director Biography - Bryan Cheng <a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/954/519/original/44338c3fda-headshot.jpg?1782793988" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/954/519/thumb/44338c3fda-headshot.jpg?1782793988" style="border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative;" width="171"></a>﻿Bryan Cheng is a filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist of Cantonese heritage, born and raised in Panama City, Panamá. Living between two cultures inspired his passion for storytelling and his desire to create films that connect people across identities, languages, and traditions.He earned a B.F.A. in Film and Television from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), where he directed projects spanning narrative, documentary, music videos, fashion, beauty and fragrance, and experimental films while collaborating with artists across disciplines, including fibers, fashion, and design.Bryan strives to craft visually immersive stories that celebrate the human experience, amplify underrepresented voices, and inspire greater understanding between cultures.

Matriarchal

A Chinese girl adopted by white evangelical American parents in the South grows up striving to blend in as one of them. But after meeting the mom of a newly transferred Chinese student in her high school, she begins to confront the hidden pieces of her identity she's long avoided. Director Biography - Lingxi Li <a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/358/602/original/20cbd020a9-headshot.jpg?1751300584" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/358/602/thumb/20cbd020a9-headshot.jpg?1751300584" style="border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative;" width="210"></a> Lingxi Li is a Chinese writer-director who graduated from Emory University. With a background in sociology and a deep interest in cross-cultural identity, Lingxi’s work explores themes of family, displacement, race, and power through an unflinching realist lens. Her honors thesis short film, Blood and Water, which tells the story of a Chinese adoptee raised by White Christian American parents, received Highest Honors at Emory University and was praised for its emotional depth and cultural sensitivity.Lingxi’s filmmaking is shaped by her own experience as an international student navigating the tensions between two worlds. She strives to tell stories that humanize systemic issues and amplify voices often left on the margins. Currently, she is developing a feature-length adaptation of Blood and Water and writing a new film exploring Sino-American relations through the lens of international student life.

Blood and Water

This documentary follows young filmmaker, Kristine, as she gathers her family to learn more about her paternal grandmother, Má Má, who suffers from late-stage dementia. Director Biography - Kristine Liang <a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/818/642/original/931a361d1c-headshot.jpg?1780022847" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/818/642/thumb/931a361d1c-headshot.jpg?1780022847" style="border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative;" width="188"></a> Kristine Liang is a documentary filmmaker based in New York City. With a bachelor’s degree in film from Tulane University, she has supported independent productions through development in assisting Academy Award–nominated producer Josh Penn at The Department of Motion Pictures/SERENADE, an independent production company based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Liang’s personal film endeavors center on reflexive storytelling informed by her lived experiences and intersectionality in praxis. She also has experience developing communications strategies for arts and nonprofit organizations, including Grow Dat Youth Farm, The Idea Village, and New Voices New Orleans, with a focus on storytelling campaigns and public relations initiatives. Liang is passionate about the impact of storytelling and aims to further explore generational influences, cultural identity, and underrepresented relationship dynamics in her future work.

Má Má & me

When Richard's grandfather falls ill, he and his sister are left with the financial burden of the treatments for the man that raised them. Having only recently learned of his grandfather's experience in the Japanese Canadian Internment of WWII, Richard dwells on how his family was wronged, and what their lives could have been. To save his grandpa, Richard and his cousin David devise a plan to steal the money they need from the ones that stole from their family. They decide to rob a local government post office, despite their grandfather's wishes to leave the past in the past. Director Biography - Michael Hitoshi Maddeaux <a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/753/536/original/a6a0d4f3fb-headshot.jpg?1787157057" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/753/536/thumb/a6a0d4f3fb-headshot.jpg?1787157057" style="border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative;" width="152"></a> Michael Hitoshi Maddeaux is a Toronto-based filmmaker. He received his BFA in Film Production from York University where he specialized in directing and cinematography. As a 4th generation Japanese-Canadian director, Michael focuses on telling personal stories that explore topics such as intergenerational trauma and cultural identity. His work as a director has had the opportunity to screen in festivals such as Hot Docs and the Toronto Buffer Festival, and at venues such as the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Nikkei Heist

Two Japanese-Canadian teens rob a local government post office to help their family.

In search of an escape, Manu joins his childhood friend Vish on a spontaneous trip to a lakeside cabin. As they rekindle their friendship, buried tensions and repressed feelings begin to emerge.

My Brother, My Friend

A Filipino kid discovers a pair of jordans &amp; embarks on a journey through his gentrified neighborhood to return home but stumbles across a young black man that wants the shoes.He begins to ask the question “whose shoes are these?” Director Biography - Troy Jake Tibayan <a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/924/256/original/1c91d345dc-headshot.jpg?1780637962" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/003/924/256/thumb/1c91d345dc-headshot.jpg?1780637962" style="border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative;" width="185"></a> Troy Tibayan is a Bay Area filmmaker with Filipino American roots. He strives to capture and create inspirational stories that represent the Asian American Pacific Islander community and are inclusive to all.He is an award winning filmmaker. He recently graduated with his MFA in Cinema from SF State. From an early age, Troy has always shown extreme passion for films and filmmaking. He is constantly being drawn to telling unique stories about cultures that are underrepresented.

ShoeBox

In 1984, Rev. Masao "Mas" Kodani asked singer-songwriter and activist Nobuko Miyamoto to do something unprecedented: write an Obon song in English. The result, "Yuiyo," fused traditional Japanese folk music with Japanese American experience — and later reached global audiences through Karate Kid Part II. Nearly forty years later, as communities struggled to reconnect after pandemic isolation, Reverand Mas and Nobuko are called to collaborate again. The Making of Kangie follows the creation of "Kangie," tracing how a lifetime of movement songwriting, the discipline of centuries-old Obon forms, and an enduring creative partnership converge to call people home. Director Biography - Derek Damon Nakamoto <a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/004/025/377/original/22d9b6eff6-headshot.jpg?1787890495" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/004/025/377/thumb/22d9b6eff6-headshot.jpg?1787890495" style="border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative;" width="210"></a> "The Making of Kangie" marks the film directorial debut of Derek Nakamoto, whose career as a record producer, arranger, and composer spans four decades and bridges genres and cultures. Nakamoto co-wrote Hiroshima's signature song "Thousand Cranes" with June Kuramoto, and has produced and arranged for artists including Teddy Pendergrass, Michael Bolton, and The O'Jays. He has arranged and produced 23 albums for Keiko Matsui, and produced Angolan legend Waldemar Bastos' last album, Classics of My Soul. His work has been performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. His film scoring credits include An American Story: Norman Mineta and His Legacy and 100 Years From Mississippi. As longtime music director for Nobuko Miyamoto, Nakamoto has collaborated with her across albums, ballets, environmental music videos, and a series of Obon songs, as well as scoring her documentary A Song in Movement. The Making of Kangie brings that decades-long creative partnership full circle, as Nakamoto steps behind the camera to direct for the first time.

The Making of Kangie

Shorts Collection: Learn Who We Are

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Thank&nbsp;you&nbsp;for your generous donation to the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest, a production of CATS (Contemporary Asian Theater Scene), a non profit 501c3. EIN: 77-0402633 Thank&nbsp;You,Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest<a href="https://www.svapfilmfest.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.svapfilmfest.org</a>

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