The San Diego Asian Film Festival ( SDAFF) is an annual event organized by Pacific Arts Movement (formerly the San Diego Asian Film Foundation) that takes place every November in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

Background

SDAFF is the flagship event for the non-profit organization Pacific Arts Movement (Pac-Arts, formerly the San Diego Asian Film Foundation), which also puts on several other arts and culture events throughout the year. The mission of Pacific Arts Movement is to present Pan Asian media arts to San Diego residents and visitors in order to inspire, entertain and support a more compassionate society. Throughout the year, Pacific Arts Movement offers student internships, cultural literacy programs with local high schools and colleges, and a high school filmmaker project entitled “Reel Voices.” Pacific Arts Movement also teams up with several movie production and marketing companies to promote both independent and mainstream films that are inline with the mission of the organization.

History

SDAFF found its inception in August 2000 when it was first organized as a fundraiser by the

Asian American Journalists Association The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational and professional organization based in San Francisco, California with more than 1,500 members and 21 chapters across the United States and Asia. The current presi ...

. After receiving numerous film entries, both domestically and internationally, and seeing sold out crowds at its inaugural festival,

Lee Ann Kim Lee Ann Kim is a first-generation Korean American who was an anchor and general assignment reporter for KGTV Channel 10, the San Diego, California ABC television affiliate. She worked at KGTV from 1996 to 2008. She was also the executive directo ...

, the founding director, saw the potential of making SDAFF an organizational entity of its own. Kim teamed up with several journalists, writers, filmmakers, and community leaders to turn the film festival into the larger non-profit organization that Pacific Arts Movement is today. Since then, the org and SDAFF have consistently grown in size and recognition with each passing year.

Awards Presented

Lifetime Achievement Award

This high honor has been given to

Joan Chen Joan Chen (born April 26, 1961) is a Chinese-American actress and film director. In China, she performed in the 1979 film and came to the attention of American audiences for her performance in the 1987 film ''The Last Emperor''. She is also ...

, Kieu Chin,

George Takei George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the televi ...

, Soon-Tek Oh,

Nancy Kwan Nancy Kwan Ka-shen (; born May 19, 1939) is a Chinese-American actress, philanthropist, and former dancer. In addition to her personality and looks, her career was benefited by Hollywood's casting of more Asian roles in the 1960s, especially in ...

, Chung Chang-wha,

Tyrus Wong Tyrus Wong (October 25, 1910 – December 30, 2016) was a Chinese-born American artist. He was a painter, animator, calligrapher, muralist, ceramicist, lithographer and kite maker, as well as a set designer and storyboard artist. One of the mo ...

and

Wayne Wang Wayne Wang (; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong Americans, Hong Kong–American Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese Americans, ...

George C. Lin Emerging Filmmaker Award

Named for a founding member of the DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival who became Program Director of SDAFF in 2003 until his untimely death after a long battle with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 2008. The award is given to first time, new or otherwise emerging directors. Past recipients of the award have included

Andrew Ahn Andrew Ahn (born 1985/1986) is an American film director and screenwriter who has directed the feature films ''Spa Night'' (2016), ''Driveways'' (2019), and ''Fire Island'' (2022). Early life Andrew Ahn was born and raised in Los Angeles. He is ...

Takeshi Fukunaga Takeshi Fukunaga is a Japanese filmmaker based in New York. His first feature film, ''Out of My Hand (film), Out of My Hand'' (2015) premiered in the Panorama section at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival and won the US Fiction Award a ...

Patrick Wang Patrick Wang is an American writer, economist, director, and actor. His first feature film, the acclaimed hit Independent film, indie film ''In the Family (2011 film), In the Family'', was released in 2011. He later directed the acclaimed two-part ...

and Nadine Truong among others.

Digital Pioneer Award

Recipients have included

Phil Yu Phil Yu (born 1978), also known as Angry Asian Man, is a Korean-American blogger. Early life and education Yu's parents are immigrants from Korea. Yu grew up in the Bay Area in California. Yu graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Radio/TV/F ...

, BuzzFeed Motion Pictures and Anna Akana.

Audience Award

Recipients have included '' Island Soldier, Tyrus,

Limited Partnership A limited partnership (LP) is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership except that while a general partnership must have at least two general partners (GPs), a limited partnership must have at least one GP and at least one limited ...

,'' '' American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs and

White on Rice ''White on Rice'' is a 2009 comedy film directed by Dave Boyle and starring Hiroshi Watanabe, Nae Yuuki, Mio Takada, James Kyson Lee, and Lynn Chen. The film had its world premiere at the 27th annual San Francisco Asian American Film Festival on ...

'', among others.

Annual Spring Showcase

The Annual Spring Showcase, introduced in 2011 is a smaller festival than SDAFF, featuring around a dozen films each year. Notable films * 2011

Little Big Soldier ''Little Big Soldier'' () is a 2010 action comedy film directed by Ding Sheng and produced and written by Jackie Chan, also starring Chan and Leehom Wang. The film was produced with a budget of US$25 million and filmed between January and April ...

- inaugural opening night film * 2012 Sunny - opening night film * 2013

Linsanity Jeremy Shu-How Lin (born August 23, 1988) is a Taiwanese-American professional basketball player who last played for the Guangzhou Loong Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He unexpectedly led a winning turnaround with the N ...

- opening night film * 2014 To Be Takei - won the audience award at the 4th Annual Spring Showcase * 2015

In Football We Trust IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independ ...

- opening night film * 2016 The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble - opening night film/audience award winner * 2017

Gook Gook ( or ) is a derogatory term for people of East and Southeast Asian descent. Its origin is unclear, but it may have originated among U.S. Marines during the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) and Korean War. Historically, U.S. military p ...

- closing night film *2018

Minding the Gap ''Minding the Gap'' is a 2018 documentary film directed by Bing Liu. It was produced by Liu and Diane Moy Quon through Kartemquin Films. It chronicles the lives and friendships of three young men growing up in Rockford, Illinois, united by th ...

(Oscar Nominee) - official selection *2019 ''First Night Nerves'' (Stanley Kwan) - opening night film

Reel Voices

Each year since 2005, Pacific Arts Movement offers students from local San Diego schools the chance to join this 12-week film internship program. The program accepts around 10 students per year. Students are paired with a mentor and helped to compose a nonfiction documentary film by the Reel Voices staff and volunteers. The final product is screened at SDAFF where the students participate in a Q&A session after the showing. In 2014, Reel Voices expanded programs to launch a media arts elective class at the Monarch School in San Diego's Barrio Logan for high school students interested in film production and digital storytelling.

Venues

Most of SDAFF's film screenings occur at the Hazard Center

UltraStar Cinemas UltraStar Cinemas is a movie chain with theaters in California and Arizona. It was founded in 2004. UltraStar Cinemas is headquartered in San Diego County and operates 147 screens at 15 sites throughout Southern California and Arizona. Recogniz ...

Mission Valley Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the city of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Missi ...

, but some events have taken place at other locations such as

UC San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park and the

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (or MCASD), in San Diego, California, US, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present. Mission The stated mission of ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

San Diego Asian Film FestivalPacific Arts Movement

SDAFF Award WinnersSpring Showcase History
Film festivals in San Diego Asian-American film festivals Asian-American organizations Asian-American culture in San Diego Non-profit organizations based in San Diego Film festivals established in 2000 2000 establishments in California Asian cinema