Festivals
Aug 26, 2021

37th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Announces Dates and Early Highlights

The 37th edition of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival presented by Visual Communications taking place September 23 to October 2, 2021 in Los Angeles.

This year’s festival lineup is an amazing collection of features, shorts, animation, documentaries and more.  Los Angeles premieres of films featured this year at Sundance,  Hot Docs, SXSW, and Tribeca film festivals along with  world premieres of films by Asian Pacific American filmmakers and International Asian Pacific creators are featured in this year’s 37th edition.  The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is proud to be an Oscar qualifying film festival for the short live action or short animation Academy Award category.

The Festival will open on Thursday, September 23 at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center’s Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo, Downtown Los Angeles with the Los Angeles premiere of Ann Kaneko’s MANZANAR, DIVERTED: WHEN WATER BECOMES DUST, a poetic look at the unexpected alliance formed by Native Americans, Japanese American WWII incarcerees, and environmentalists to defend their land and water from Los Angeles.

Following Opening Night, LAAPFF will showcase new works as part of Centerpiece Weekend at the Aratani Theatre and Regal L.A. LIVE. Highlights include the Los Angeles premieres of: Iman Zawahry’s AMERICANISH, the first American Muslim rom-com directed by an American Muslim female filmmaker; Sujata Day’s comedy-drama DEFINITION PLEASE, which she also stars in; Christopher Makoto Yogi’s Sundance hit I WAS A SIMPLE MAN, starring Constance Wu; Dante Basco’s directorial debut THE FABULOUS FILIPINO BROTHERS; and Suzanne Kai’s long awaited crowdpleaser from Tribeca, LIKE A ROLLING STONE: THE LIFE & TIMES OF BEN FONG-TORRES, about the legendary Rolling Stone editor and writer Ben Fong-Torres.

This year, the Festival will also continue to host C3, a space for creators to converge and celebrate creative communities. These consist of both virtual and in-person panels and conversations.