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420 REASONS WHY
91 mins/DVD/$200
Reason one: you want to experience reality differently. Reason two: you want to relax and ease out of your hard day. Reason three: you like to watch films that exceed expectations. Reason four: I forget. How many more reasons do you really need?

Sports and Diversions
Director: Bum Lee
USA 2006 | 4 mins | Animation
When you close your eyes and listen to music, what do you see? These animations transform Erik Satie's 1914 classic compositions into their own varied interpretations of the music. Winner of 2006 Little Big Films, Short Film Competition Animation Award.

One Competition
S. Korea 2006 | 7 mins | Color | Narrative
Director: Young-sung Chung
A competitive personality is never satisfied with backing down from a challenge, even if no one knows exactly what he's competing in.

Dinner Table
Director: Song E. Kim
USA 2006 | 3 mins | Color | Animation
Words are never just words. What may appear to be a simple dinner conversation transforms into a psychological journey of the ups and downs of a relationship.
In A Distance, But Within View
Director: You-Jin Lee
USA 2006 | 6 mins | Color | Animation
Amidst the naiveté of youth comes a moment when children realize there is a bigger world -a world where monsters are not mysterious creatures we believe them to be, but are people we know.
Ikebana
Director: Rodrigo Sakumoto
Brazil 2006 | 22 mins | Color | Narrative | Portuguese w/ES
An elderly Japanese Brazilian couple, who live a very simple life together, find their world interrupted when an affluent family moves in next door. Featuring a hauntingly beautiful traditional Japanese musical score with a Brazilian flare, the film unfolds like a well-orchestrated melody.
Episode VII
Director: Dylan O'neil
USA 2007 | 6 mins | Color | Narrative
The equation: Light Sabers + Stormtroppers + Illegal Narcotics + One Wild Night on the Town = One Hell of a Ride. This is the episode that Lucas will not want you to see. Give in to the dark side of the force.
 Aris of the Art of Parkour Bhangra-Fu
Director: Chrysovalantis Stamelos
USA | 2007 | 12 minss | Color | Narrative
A stolen bag leads our hero on a chase through the streets of Astoria. A throwback to the old-school Hong Kong martial arts films, remixed with French Parkour and some Greek, Arabic, and Indian music.
Quarter
Director: Hyunju Kwon Oh
USA 2006 | 10 mins | Color | Narrative
A parking meter mysteriously consumes coins. A man enjoys unlimited financing for his laundry. Somehow, everyone seems to understand each other.
The Trainee
Director : Craig Rosenthal
Singapore 2006 | 9 mins | Color | Narrative
Welcome to the first day of the job. The work seems easy, but the money is very hard to come by, especially in a town with a bad reputation. Be sure to check the register before you leave. 
A Hooker and A Dirt Road End
Director: John Nijhawan
USA 2005 | 12 mins | Color | Narrative
Desperate people in desperate times seek connections to make their last moments meaningful. As an unseen global disaster approaches, life somehow makes sense.
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FOR YOUTH BY YOUTH
74 mins/DVD/$200
Watch films by young talent and be inspired to raise your voice. Watch the unraveling of complicated lives and under your own a little better. You might see it as all part of the same string.
 Aliens Vs. Predators
Directors: Immigrant Refugee + Media Project
Producer: Global Action Project
USA 2006 | 4 mins | Color | Documentary
In a nation where educational opportunities are guaranteed to be "equal" for all, the realities of immigrant oppression and the agenda of the U.S. military are revealed.

Residual
Directors: Christina Chin, Xavier Coronado, Giuliano Morse
Producer: Bay Area Video Coalition
USA 2006 | 4 mins | Color | Narrative
In this big world it is the smallest actions that can affect a person's attitude towards others and even perspective on life.

Lala
Director: Elizabeth Hemphill
China 2006 | 10 mins | Color | Documentary | Mandarin w/ES
Women who love women are given the opportunity to speak for themselves and define the term LALA, as well as their own identities, however they choose.

Artistic Discrimination
Director: Ryan Mencik
Producer: San Diego Asian Film Foundation
USA 2006 | 10 mins | Color | Documentary
Body modifications, piercings, and tattoos have had their place in just about every civilization. How is it, then, that "equal opportunity" employers continue to discriminate based on physical appearances?

Juvenile Asylum
Director: Urban Voices
Producer: Global Action Project
USA 2007 | 5 mins | Color | Documentary
Know your rights. Security in school is meant for protection, but all too often are subjected to unreasonable searches and discrimination.

Why Do All the Asian Kids Sit Together In Math Class?
Director: Theara Thorn
Producer: San Diego Asian Film Foundation
USA 2006 | 5 mins | Color | Documentary
In our communities we create our own boundaries. Why do we feel the need to remain in such strict comfort zones, and how can we overcome these racial barriers?

At the Dinner Table
Director: Diem Vo
Producer: Bay Area Video Coalition
USA 2006 | 4 mins | Color | Documentary How does our family's past affect who we are? Follow the Vo family's experience in war-torn Southern Vietnam from the perspective of three generations.

Stepping Up
Director: Vincent Phathanak
Producer: San Diego Asian Film Foundation
USA 2005 | 10 mins | Color | Documentary A baby changes everything, especially when you're still in high school. As Carlos prepares to become a father, his relationships with his girlfriend and his parents change, while his future with his band is put in jeopardy.

Alice In Wonderland - Insomnia
Director: Keung Jin Lee
USA 2006 | 5 mins | Color | Experimental
A young woman dives into her favorite book and into the clothes of Miss Alice. Take a journey around Wonderland and see if it's really more comfortable walking around in someone else's skin.

Asian American Beauty: A Discourse on Female Body Image
Director: Calvin Sun
USA 2007 | 17 mins | Color | Documentary
What is your standard of beauty? The pressure for the perfect body often leads women to desperate measures to attain this "perfection." What is the Asian American image of beauty, and how can women break down these harmful, unrealistic expectations?
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I LOVE YOU TO DEATH
99 mins/DVD/$200
The wisest of power ballads teach us about the follies and joys of that silly thing called "love." Fall in and out of its slippery seduction with these tales from the darker side.

Blind Date
Director: Peter Wang
USA 2006 | 5 mins | Color | Narrative
What is the consequence for someone who is later for a date? For a woman patiently waiting for her suitor, does she forgive or humiliate?

Gas
Director: Benjamin Lim
USA 2006 | 8 mins | Color | Narrative
Love is breathless and imperfect. Eternal slumber with the one you want is bliss.

Dreamtrace (Droomspoor)
Director: Tonny Vyzelman
The Netherlands 2005 | 10 mins | Color | Narrative | Dutch & Cantonese w/ ES
In strange surroundings, a young Chinese couple makes love, stares longingly at a photograph, and romanticizes about a better future. Dreams and reality grow further apart as their story is gradually revealed in this haunting film.
Last Stranger Under the Heavens
Director: Weijie Lai, Elizabeth Wijaya
Singapore 2006 | 12 mins | B+W | Narrative
Two young men stay in similar hotel rooms, and are unsure of their truest desires.

Maps
Director: Christopher Yogi
USA 2006 | 5 mins | Color | Narrative
A young traveler decides to sneak into a bookstore after hours for an overnight stay.

The Last Vacation
Director: Jae-ho Chang
USA 2006 | 10 mins | Color | Narrative
How do we perceive the filial bond between a mother and son? During a road trip on a wintry day, a family shares beautiful moments together on their final journey.

When We Were Grown Ups
Director: Andrew Bui
USA 2006 | 23 mins | Color | Narrative | English, Vietnam w/ ES
Helen is a single woman living in New York City. She does not want to get married, but then she meets Max, who is everything she desires. Can Max change her mind about marriage?

Lawrence
Director: Gregory Mitnick
USA 2006 | 3 mins | Color | Narrative | Japanese w/ES
A noodle factory worker fancies a girl he has never met and records every detail about his affection for her. One day, she finally looks his way...
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LIVING HISTORY
86 mins/DVD/$200
History is anything but dead. Our participation in its creation is what facilitates its evolution, its transformation, and its growth. Whether past, present, or what is to come, the ways in which we engage in the construction of our stories can make all the difference in who the heroes of history are.

Metro Es Para Todos
Director: Eurie Chung
USA 2007 | 10 mins | Color | Documentary | English, Spanish & Korean w/ES
Eighty-something year old Hee Pok, "Grandma Kim," brings an unlikely voice to the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles. Through close interviews, we hear the inspiring story of Grandma Kim's dedication to her lifelong dream of organizing for social justice.

Yellow Ox Mountain
Director: Miao Wang
USA 2006 | 28 mins | Color | Documentary | Chinese w/ ES
Two New York-based contemporary Chinese artists transforms recent Chinese political history into artistic inspirations and a potent commentary on modern life. Winner of the 2006 Asian Film Festival of Dallas Best Short Film Award.

Officer Tsukamoto
Director: Ling Liu
USA 2006 | 27 mins | Color | Documentary
In the summer of 1970, Ron Tsukamoto, one of the first Asian American police officers in the country, was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop. Thirty years later, his murder is re-opened for investigation, granting us a glimpse into the political and social tensions that defined an era.
Pilgrimage
Director: Tadashi Nakamura
USA 2006 | 22 mins | Color | Documentary
Pilgrimages to the Japanese American internment camp in Manzanar, California can provide a clarifying understanding of the history of racial inequality in the U.S.
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MAKING A LIVING OR A KILLING
104 mins/DVD/$200
Occupations are there to occupy your time. What do you choose to do with the little time you are given in life? Are you making ends meet or just more ends? Perhaps your guidance counselor would like to attend, too.

MD-RN
Director: Barnaby Lo
Philippines/USA 2006 | 24 mins | Color | Documentary | Tagalog w/ ES
50, 000 U.S. immigrants visas are guaranteed for foreign nurses each year. The exodus of nurses in the Philippines has caused more than 100 hospitals to close and many to operate without a doctor.

D 4 Delivery
Director: Heland Lee
USA 2006 | 14 mins | Color | Narrative | English, Spanish, Mandarin w/ ES
Have you ever wondered how your Chinese food gets delivered? Occupational hazards come in every shape and size.
Majidee
Director: Azharr Rudin
Malaysia 2005 | 15 mins | Color | Narrative | Malay w/ ES
A single take on the life of working class men in Malaysia. Winner of the Best Short Film at the 2006 Hawai'I International Film Festival.

Max Art
Director: Zao Wang
USA 2007 | 12 mins | Color | Narrative
Blood is the only link between family values and artistic success.

Yellow Ox Mountain Director: Milao Wang
USA 2006 | 28 mins | Color | Documentary | Chinese w/ ES
Two New York-based contemporary Chinese artists transforms recent Chinese political history into artistic inspirations and a potent commentary on modern life. Winner of the 2006 Asian Film Festival of Dallas Best Short Film Award. 
The Projectionist
Director: Elaine Liu
USA 2006 | 12 mins | Color | Narrative | Mandarin w/ ES
During the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1966, a projectionist accidentally inverts a film featuring Chairman Mao and must reckon with the dangerous consequences.
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THE PARENT TRAP
90 mins/DVD/$200
You love them and want to leave them. You love them and hate them. They define us and how we live our lives--they're family!
 Cherry Bloom
Director: Alexandre Moors
USA 2006 | 25 mins | Color | Narrative | English, Cantonese w/ ES
Helen is cursed with the ability to tell the future. When she catches a glimpse of her fate can she change the future?

Red Shoes
Director: Li-Anne Huang
USA 2006 | 9 mins | Color | Narrative
An aging Chinatown woman masseuse tries to find a way to buy her daughter a pair of shoes. Pressured by her client to make easy money, she gives in to the temptation and starts falling down the slippery slope of moral compromise.

The Last Vacation
Director: Jae-ho Chang
USA 2006 | 10 mins | Color | Narrative
How do we perceive the filial bond between a mother and son? During a road trip on a wintry day, a family shares beautiful moments together on their final journey.

Our Pride: The Spirits of Black Japanese in Georgia
Director: Yohei Suzuki
USA 2006 | 28 mins | Color | Documentary
Multiracial identity is central to the Todd and Longio families. Their struggles and adversities are part of a long history of hybrid cultures and traditions in Georgia.

A Silent Monsoon
Director: Pravesh Gurung
Nepal/ USA 2006 | 34 mins | Color | Narrative | Nepalese w/ ES
How far will a mother go to protect her daughter? Born in to the sex trade industry, Duruga and her daughter, Laxmi, must walk a difficult path.
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PART OF THIS COMPLETE BREAKFAST
89 mins/DVD/$200
Leave your pajamas and grab a bowl of frosted sugar flakes. These family-friendly films are not only fun they're grrrrreat.

Plan for Autumn's Birthday
Director: Shang Gao
USA 2007 | 6 mins | Color | Narrative
Have you ever felt like your plans never work out right? Jin knows how you feel.

Pinpoint
Winner of 30th Asian American International Film Festival 2007 Excellence in Short Filmmaking!
Director: James Kim
USA 2007 | 3 mins | Color | Animation
Beware of who you mistreat. Especially if it's a little girl who knows voodoo.

Little Brother
Director: Michael Kam
Singapore 2006 | 7 mins | Color | Narrative
Two brothers get into mischief when their mother leaves them at home. A tale about the love-hate relationship between them in 70s Singapore.

Follow the Leader
Director: Ty Sanga
USA 2007 | 11 mins | Color | Narrative
A young boy takes the lead in choosing whom to follow. Appearances can be deceiving.

Windowbreaker
Director: Tze Chun
USA 2007 | 7 mins | Color | Narrative
Sometimes it takes the most innocent minds to look past bigoted assumptions and see the truth.

The Invisible Dog
Director: Madeleine Grant
Canada 2006 | 7 mins | Color | Narrative
A mother tries to steal youth from her daughter, in the form of the daughter's invisible dog.

Pilgrimage
Director: Tadashi Nakamura
USA 2006 | 22 mins | Color | Documentary
Pilgrimages to the Japanese American internment camp in Manzanar, California can provide a clarifying understanding of the history of racial inequality in the U.S.
When We Were Bengs
Director: Alaric Tay
Singapore 2007 | 12 mins | Color | Narrative | Mandarin w/ ES
There is no telling what might happen on a typical day in the small, comic book town of Beng. Maybe, you'll fall in love? Or do some Para-Para dancing? Or get caught in a gang fight?
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SHE'S YOUR QUEEN
104 mins/DVD/$200
By women, about women--this collection of shorts give proof to the power of the double X chromosome. All hail to the majesty of these amazing examples of royalty.

White Song
Director: Katrina Graham
Australia 2006 | 11 mins | Color | Narrative | Indonesian w/ ES
Kuntil Anak, the most famous of Indonesian ghosts, comes to Raesita, a batik artist.

American Granny
Director: Connie Yen
USA 2007 | 6 mins | B+W | Documentary | Shanghainese w/ES
A poetic piece that follows the life of an elderly Chinese woman whose roots deeply are set in the old traditions of China despite living with her son and his family in America. 
Metro Es Para Todos
Director: Eurie Chung
USA 2007 | 10 mins | Color | Documentary | English, Spanish & Korean w/ES
Eighty-something year old Hee Pok, "Grandma Kim," brings an unlikely voice to the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles. Through close interviews, we hear the inspiring story of Grandma Kim's dedication to her lifelong dream of organizing for social justice. 
A Watermelon Seed (Gua Zi)
Director: MiQi Huang
China/USA 2006 | 11 mins | Color | Narrative | Chinese w/ES
A teenage girl's secret abortion is seen through the eyes of her eight year old sister, who becomes the inadvertent observer of her older sister's pain.

Choices
Director: Namit Kumar
USA 2007 | 5 mins | Color | Experimental
A young mother-to-be in India is torn between the need to nurture the baby girl in her womb and the fear of not meeting societal expectations.

Red Shoes
Director: Li-Anne Huang
USA 2006 | 9 mins | Color | Narrative
An aging Chinatown woman masseuse tries to find a way to buy her daughter a pair of shoes. Pressured by her client to make easy money, she gives in to the temptation and starts falling down the slippery slope of moral compromise. 
Talking About Amy
Director: Yorico Murakami
Japan/USA 2006 | 9 mins | Color | Experimental Documentary
Japanese pop artist Emi Iijima, founder of street performance art shows "Aozora Art" and the comic book Rica-tte kanji, explores an alternative view of life.

Girl With A Walkman
Director: Melina Leon
Peru/USA 2006 | 14 mins | Color | Narrative
Saddened that her life is not unfolding the way she planned, the girl with the walkman resorts to drastic measures. Using a wonderfully odd mix of storytelling practices, this film traces a magical path that finds warm simplicity within the difficulties of life.

Miss Chinatown, USA
Director: Kathy Huang
USA 2006 | 25 mins | Color | Documentary
Katie Au, a high school student in Seattle, competes in one of America's oldest ethnic beauty pageants in San Francisco's Chinatown. As she prepares for competition and matures into adulthood, she finds her identity is challenged.

Bystanding
Director: Karen Lin
USA 2007 | 5 mins | B+W | Experimental
Acclaimed spoken word poet Kelly Tsai challenges her audience to reconsider their complacency by contrasting war and peace in this devastatingly powerful anti-war poem.
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YOU ARE NOT YOUR KHAKIS
105 mins/DVD/$200
You are not your race. You are not your sex. Or your job. Or what others believe. These shorts reveal the complexities of being defined by others' perceptions and defying their expectations.

Unravel
Director: Susie Lim
USA 2006 | 7 mins | Color | Experimental
The traditional Korean dress--the hanbok--becomes the intermediary of lineage between young and old.
 Our Pride: The Spirits of Black Japanese in Georgia
Director: Yohei Suzuki
USA 2006 | 28 mins | Color | Documentary
Multiracial identity is central to the Todd and Longio families. Their struggles and adversities are part of a long history of hybrid cultures and traditions in Georgia.

One of Many
Director: Bryan Yokomi
USA 2006 | 20 mins | Color | Narrative
George is stripped of his dignity when he is sent to live in an internment camp. Amidst the wartime hysteria, he must ask himself whether to fight with America or against it.

This Solace Eternal
Director: Jennie Na
USA 2006 | 25 mins | Color | Narrative
Evan is a young man who must find his place of solace in the afterlife. Sometimes the most meaningful moments in life are hidden within times we'd rather forget.

Within Limits
Director: Eubin Kim
USA 2006 | 13 mins | Color | Narrative | English, Korean w/ES
Cowboy has had his share of fights, but this time he has outdone himself.

Yasin
Director: Betty Lee Kim
USA 2006 | 14 mins | Color | Narrative | English, Arabic w/ES
Until 9/11, Yasin Zaki lived an ordinary life with his Jordanian-born parents in Southern California. After the attacks, his life is turned upside down when the FBI arrests his father.
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