Welcome to the 2013 Seattle Asian American Film Festival! It’s been a long time since Seattle has had its own Asian American Film Festival. It was six years ago that the Northwest Asian American Film Festival held its fifth and final event. This long gap has made the revival of the program all the more challenging, but also much more exciting. We are touched by the outpouring of support and encouragement we have received during this nine-month labor of love from community groups, local businesses, filmmakers and individuals like you. It was this support that reminded us of the urgency of this project and its importance to the Asian American community in the greater Seattle area.
The Seattle Asian American Film Festival’s mission was to seek out, develop, and promote Asian American artists with a commitment to original and innovative works. To this end, we will be showcasing 25 independent films by Asian American filmmakers or that deal with Asian American people and issues. These themes are as diverse as the people who comprise Asian America — ethnic identity, sexuality, gender, diaspora, incarceration, exclusion, immigration and Asians/Asian Americans in film, music, business, sports and politics — to name just a few. Our program includes films that have earned many awards and have screened at film festivals around the world, but have never before been shown in Seattle. We hope you enjoy these films, and the panel discussions that will follow several of them, as much as we have enjoyed bringing this film festival back to Seattle.
Vanessa Au & Kevin Bang, Co-Directors
Seattle Asian American Film Festival
