The 47th Asian American International Film Festival

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 31 July 2024 14:20

Written by Brad Balfour

The Queen of My Dreams 

Featuring filmmakers old and new from independent Asian directors, the Asian American International Film Festival returns August 1 - 11, 2024 in NYC.

The opening night film is Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement from filmmakers Tadashi Nakamura and Quyên Nguyen-Le. As a singer, dancer, and long-time activist of the AAPI communityNobuko Miyamoto encapsulates the festival’s theme of memory, reconnection, and vibrant community of Asian American creatives across the country. Smoking Tigers, from writer/director So Young Shelly Yo, is a film set in Los Angeles in the early 2000s where  a lonely Korean American teen named Hayoung who is taken under the wings of three wealthy students she meets at an elite academic boot camp. As she falls deeper into their world, Hayoung works harder to hide her insecurities about her problematic family and lower-income background, only to discover the bittersweet pains of adulthood that will forever shape her life. The closing feature is The Queen of My Dreams, by South Asian Muslim filmmaker Fawzia Mirza. Queer Pakistani grad student Azra is worlds apart from her conservative Muslim mother. When her father suddenly dies on a trip home to Pakistan, Azra finds herself on a Bollywood-inspired journey through memories, both real and imagined—from her mother’s youth in Karachi to her own coming-of-age in rural Canada.

The festival also features a wide array of features, documentaries, and shorts, with portions of the festival also being streamed online for those unable to attend.

Established in 1978 by Asian CineVision, the Asian American International Film Festival is the nation’s first and longest running festival of its kind and the premier showcase for the best independent Asian, Asian diaspora, and Pacific Islander cinema. AAIFF is committed to film and media as a tool for social change and to supporting diversity and inclusion in the media arts.

To learn more, go to: https://www.aaiff.org/

Asian American International Film Festival
August 1 - 11, 2024

Various venues in NYC

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