In the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, the newly minted VC Film Fest (formally known as the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival) returned for its 40th year. The festival continues its longstanding tradition of platforming Asian and Pacific creatives with 150 projects — made up of documentaries, full feature films, animated programs and various shorts.
The 10-day festival, which took place from May 1 to May 10, welcomed API filmmakers from around the world to Los Angeles. It showcased different programs, panels and screenings (some projects were also available online) for festival-goers to enjoy. This year, in particular, the festival hoped to encourage audiences to support and consider participating with organizations that serve Black, Indigenous and other communities of color.
Plenty of films showed on the festival screens, from hard-hitting documentaries examining Chinese politics to introspective art films on family histories to feature films on the art of growing up and maturing. See what films captured the Character Media’s attention below.
The program, which returned for its 21st year, is a fellowship for emerging Asian American and Pacific Islander filmmakers. This project allows the next generation of directors to experiment and hone their filmmaking skills. This year, the young creatives used the VC Archives to cover and feature various topics pertaining to their API identities and cultures. Read our reviews to see our favorites from this year’s batch.
Paula Kiley’s “Balik/Bayan” short tells the story of Manny Paez, the founder of Manila Forwarder, a balikbayan box (packages filled with various goodies from other countries that are sent back to the Philippines)…
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