Boston Asian American Film Festival

04/26/2025

For more than two decades, Mama Yang, a Taiwanese immigrant, has dedicated her life to corresponding with inmates in New York’s prison system. Filmed over ten years, the documentary follows Mama Yang’s extraordinary life journey as she tells the stories of a group of people who encounter each ot...

04/26/2025

🚨 Event Reminder! This SATURDAY NIGHT!🚨

🌿 Spring Film Festival #2 — Come Home, My Child《愛子歸來》 🌿

Get ready for a deeply moving story of letters, love, and the unbreakable bonds that transcend prison walls. 💌🕊️ Follow Mama Yang’s decade-long journey of hope and healing across generations.

📍 Paramount Theater at Emerson College (559 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111)
📅 Saturday, April 26, 2025
⏰ 7:00 PM
🤝 In partnership with ArtsEmerson
💬 English subtitles
✨Exclusive Q&A session with Director Jasmine Chinghui Lee

🙏 A big thank-you to our amazing sponsors:
Spotlight Taiwan 文化部, 僑委會波士頓僑教中心 OCAC in Boston

See you all this weekend! 🍿🎥

🎟See links in the comments (Facebook) or profile (Instagram) for more event info! ⬇️

#愛子歸來

04/25/2025

Tonight at 6:30pm at ArtsEmerson!!! Co-presented by BAAFF, CineFest Latino Boston and Roxbury International Film Festival as part of Shared Stories.

Dawnland. Part of ArtsEmerson 2024 film series.

04/24/2025

04/24/2025

Tonight at 6:15 at the Somerville Theatre, join us and our friends at Independent Film Festival Boston for Mistress Dispeller!

A middle-aged wife in China begins to see cracks in her long marriage as her husband pulls back on his affection. She soon discovers he’s been texting a younger woman. Coping with heartbreak, but still committed to saving her marriage, she seeks the help of Wang Zhenxi, an established “mistress dispeller,” known for bringing extramarital affairs to an end. What follows is an emotional rollercoaster and a deep meditation on relationships.

Desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover and break up her husband's affair. With strikingly intimate access, this family drama unfolds from every corner of the love triangle.

04/24/2025

Posted • 🎥 On screen this Thursday and Friday, we have Igualada and Come Home, My Child!⁠
⁠
Igualada follows a Black woman, Francia Márquez, from a rural background who challenges the status quo by launching a presidential campaign. Fifteen years in the making, this documentary peels back the curtain on how unprecedented change can happen.⁠
⁠
Come Home, My Child documents Mama Yang, a Taiwanese immigrant who has dedicated her life to corresponding with inmates in New York’s prison system. Filmed over ten years, the documentary follows Mama Yang’s extraordinary life journey as she tells the stories of a group of people who encounter each other in a world of loneliness.⁠
⁠
🎟️ at the link in our bio.⁠
⁠
⁠
⁠
IDs: ⁠
1: Black woman addressing crowd with her fist raised⁠
2: Taiwanese woman looking into the distance

04/23/2025

APRIL EVENTS - Igualada | Come Home, My Child | Creative Sector Day | Chinatown Rising & More - https://mailchi.mp/aarw/baaff-march2025-13373181

04/22/2025

From the Sundance Institute

04/22/2025

Today at 4pm on Zoom: Join the Harvard Radcliffe Institute to mark the opening of the exhibition Illuminate: Contextualizing Asian American Women’s Stories through the Archives. This program will feature Erika Lee, a leading expert on Asian American history and immigration; Eunsong Kim, a scholar of Asian American literature and race, ethnic, and digital studies; and the artist, educator, and activist Shaina Lu in conversation with the exhibition curator Victor Betts.

Join us to mark the opening of the exhibition Illuminate: Contextualizing Asian American Women’s Stories through the Archives.

04/21/2025

Help our friends at the Brattle Theatre as they recover from a burst pipe! Every bit helps!

We are sorry to announce that we have to cancel all screenings through Monday, April 21 due to a plumbing emergency in our building. We plan to be back up and open to the public on Tuesday.

Womp Womp…

This is a big financial hit for our single-screen cinema. We need to raise $12,000 to cover the costs of this emergency closure. We need your help to ensure this doesn’t threaten The Brattle just when we have dug ourselves out from our COVID closure.

Please consider making a donation today to support The Brattle in this moment.

And as a thank you for supporting this emergency fundraiser, we have some fun incentives:

for every donation of $25 or more, you will receive one free pass to The Brattle for a future screening (value $15).
for every donation of $150 or more, you will receive a copy of the new hardcover book, Cinema Her Way(value $50)*
And, if one generous person is able to make a donation of $2,500 or more, we have a really special thank you: a Criterion Collection 40th Anniversary box set (value $800)!*

Thank you for your support of our independent, non-profit cinema!

Donate at:

Dear Brattle Friends, We are sorry to announce that we have to cancel all screenings through Monday, April...

04/20/2025

📣 Join The Japan Society of Boston on May 6th at the Coolidge Corner Theatre for the US premiere of the 2017 Japanese film, Shashin Koshien: A Summer in 0.5 Seconds (写真甲子園 0.5秒の夏), directed by Hiroshi Sugawara.

The film is a fictionalized story about the real life photography competition that is held annually in Higashikawa, Hokkaido, called shashin koshien. Since 1994, the contest has grown in popularity and now receives submissions from more than 500 schools every year to determine the best high school photography team in Japan!

Experience the breathtaking beauty of Hokkaido's natural scenery through the lens of the photography students in this film, directed by a Hokkaido native.

Zoom Q&A with director Hiroshi Sugawara following the film.

🎟 Get tickets:

Short Course Description

04/20/2025

📣 Save the date for RESISTANCE OF VISION, a touring festival presented by the 27-year-old San Francisco IndieFest. It comprises four programs of short films roughly 90 minutes in length. The festival will premiere on May Day Weekend 2025 and have in-person screenings in Boston (Brattle Theatre), San Francisco (Roxie Theatre), Birmingham (Sidewalk), and Wichita (MamaFilm).

These films will be available for booking for groups seeking to hold spaces for dialogue, organizing, and action in their communities. Partnerships with national organizations will support each program to assist with resources, audience building, and calls to action. Participating filmmakers will receive screening fees for all bookings and presentations.

Programs for the 2025-2026 festival:
🎬OUR BODIES, OUR CHOICE (Gender Justice): a program dealing with bodily autonomy, including transgender and reproductive healthcare, and other issues affecting individuals based on s*x or gender.
🎬THIS IS AN EMERGENCY (Environmental Justice): a program dealing with our relationship to the natural world and efforts to fight laws and institutions that fail to protect our environment and actively contribute to the worsening climate crisis.
🎬FIGHT THE POWER (Racial justice): a program dealing with all forms of racial discrimination, including Indigenous communities around the globe and stories of individuals and organizations fighting for a more just and equitable world.
🎬WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? (Labor and Housing Justice): program dealing with labor concerns, including union organizing and mobilizing for a living wage and housing justice, and protecting the rights and dignity of the unhoused.

More information and to watch: https://resistanceofvision.eventive.org/welcome

04/20/2025

Exciting News! We’re thrilled to partner with Merrimack Repertory Theatre to present A Khmer Swan Lake—a reimagining of the classic Swan Lake through the lens of Khmer Classical Dance. This three-week run at MRT marks the most significant production in our 40-year history. We hope you’ll join us for Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s 47th season and experience Angkor Dance Troupe’s A Khmer Swan Lake.

04/20/2025

Join the The Japan Society of Boston on Tuesday at the Coolidge Corner Theatre for a screening of Ainu Mosir, followed by Q&A w/ director Takeshi Fukunaga virtually on Zoom:

Ainu Mosir tells the story of an Ainu teenager who looks for a spiritual connection with his recently deceased father while struggling with his Indigenous identity in a changing world. Directed by Hokkaido born filmmaker, Takeshi Fukunaga and filmed on location in Hokkaido.

Get tickets:

Short Course Description

04/20/2025

📣 This week - join us with our friends at Independent Film Festival Boston for the following 2 BAAFF co-presented films: Mistress Dispeller and Moloka'i Bound!

MISTRESS DISPELLER
Thu. 4/24 - 6:15pm - Somerville Theatre
Desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover and break up her husband's affair. With strikingly intimate access, this family drama unfolds from every corner of the love triangle.
In Mandarin w/ English subtitles
🎟Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/67u74rwy

MOLOKAʻI BOUND
Sun. 4/27 - 6:45pm - Somerville Theatre
Fresh out of a multi-year stint in prison, Kainoa returns to his family hoping to reconnect with his adolescent son, rekindle things with his ex, and reintegrate into his native culture. But old habits die hard. From the director of EVERY DAY IN KAIMUKI (IFFBoston 2022).
🎟 Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/yemdve6n

04/20/2025

More than 30 years later, the talented actresses who played the daughters in the hit film "The Joy Luck Club" will reunite at our conference to accept the Committee of 100 Cultural Icon Award! Read the full announcement here: https://bit.ly/42R4D63