For five days at the end of June, I attended the 16th annual Austin Asian American Film Festival (AAAFF) on Mochi’s behalf. Though the festival celebrates its “sweet 16” this year, AAAFF’s Executive Director Hanna Huang noted in her opening night introduction that AAAFF has actually been community organizing through film for 20 years. Inspired by a Korean New Wave film class at the University of Texas at Austin taught by Professor Chiho Sawada, students created a group called Cinema Asia, which led to the first Austin Asian Film Festival in 2004.
Through many iterations, rebrands, and directors, the festival evolved and served the rapidly changing Asian American community in the city. After a brief hiatus, AAAFF made its return at the end of 2014 with the help of volunteers, due to popular demand. Today, it’s not just a film festival, it’s a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to “champion Asian and Asian American stories through film and creative media.”
As one of the first staff members of Austin’s Asian American Resource Center (AARC), Huang was heavily involved in operations to bring AAAFF back. Although Huang stepped into her role as executive director of the film festival in 2020, she first attended as a student back in 2008. As a key member of the organization, Huang uses her background in history and work in Asian American public programs with the city to build connections in the community.
“Part of [AAAFF’s] appeal is our very existence because there’s so many other film festivals out there, but they’re very broad,” Yuxi Lai, a shorts film programmer, explained. “They don’t have this particular focus that we have, and I don’t think there are many festivals out there that are specifically looking at Asian Americans. Given the last couple of years, there’s just such an important need for our representation on the big screen.”
When clarifying how he chooses films for the festival, Lai listed off several…
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