AAIFF45 (Asian American International Film Festival)

Presented by CITI, and a production of Asian Cine Vision (ACV) in association with Asia Society

Dates: Aug 3–Aug 13, 2022
Venue: Asia Society (725 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021)

Special Discount Code: KCC_AAIFF45 for 10% off tickets!

The 45th Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF45) runs from August 3-13, 2022 as a hybrid festival, both in-person at Asia Society and streaming online globally.

Established in 1978 by Asian CineVision, the Asian American International Film Festival is the nation’s first and longest running festival of its kind and the premier showcase for the best independent Asian, Asian diaspora and Pacific Islander cinema. AAIFF is committed to film and media as a tool for social change and to supporting diversity and inclusion in the media arts.

Korean Cultural Center New York is proud to be a community partner for the Korean film line up, including the Opening Film Free Chol Soo Lee by director Julie Ha and Eugene Yi, Crossings by director Deann Borshay Liem, Goodafternoon Sweetdream by director Seunghyeon Bang, Chosen by director Joseph Juhn, and short film Swept Under by director Ethan Soo, and Dawning by director Young Min Kim.

Korean Film Lineup

Free Chol Soo Lee

  • Duration: 86 Minutes

  • Type/Genre: Documentary

  • Language: English, Korean, English Subtitles

In 1970s San Francisco, 20-year-old Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee is racially profiled and convicted of a Chinatown gang murder. Sentenced to life, he spends years fighting to survive until investigative journalist K.W. Lee takes a special interest in his case, igniting an unprecedented social justice movement that would unite Asian Americans and inspire a new generation of activists. Nearly five decades later, FREE CHOL SOO LEE excavates this largely unknown yet essential history, crafting an intimate portrait of the complex man at its center and serving as an urgent reminder that his legacy is more relevant than ever.

Crossings

  • Duration: 89 Minutes

  • Type/Genre: Documentary, Documentary

  • Language: English, Korean, English Subtitles

*After the screening, there will be a live in-person Q&A with the filmmakers

CROSSINGS is about a group of women activists who decide to change the course of peacemaking on the Korean peninsula. Thirty women, including renowned feminist Gloria Steinem, Nobel Peace laureates Leymah Gobowee and Mairead Maguire, and Korean American activist Christine Ahn, undertake a risky crossing of the DMZ from North to South Korea, calling for a formal end to the Korean War. The challenges the women face, the obstacles they overcome, and the solidarity and trust they build as they forge a path to peace with their Korean sisters, is an inspiring story of bridge building and collective action.

Chosen

  • Duration: 89 Minutes

  • Type/Genre: Documentary, Documentary

  • Language: English, Korean, English Subtitles

*After the screening, there will be a live in-person Q&A with the filmmakers

In 2020, five Korean Americans – David Kim, Michelle Steel Park, Young Kim, Marilyn Strickland, and Andy Kim – of vastly diverse backgrounds with competing political views run for US Congress. David Kim is the only underdog with limited resources vying to be the first Korean American representative from Koreatown, Los Angeles.

Goodafternoon Sweetdream 

  • Duration: 63 Minutes

  • Type/Genre: Narrative, Drama

  • Language: Korean, English Subtitles

Yewon often meets four friends and chats about life, relationships, and memories. The timeline she stays on seems to vary from place to place, but the one thing the audience can hear about is her dad. Yewon speaks about his death without any hesitation. She doesn’t feel time running when she spends it with others. But she often hears a voice calling her to somewhere she doesn’t want to go. She wanders between staying and moving as if she can choose.

Swept Under

  • Duration: 10 Minutes

While moving into his new house, Cameron Milhous, a Cambodian adoptee, receives a rug from his sister Tricia. Despite its average appearance, she touts that the rug is from Cambodia, and he agrees to take it. Later that night, Cameron notices strange things about the rug which begin to unravel a more sinister history involving the aftermath of war, genocide, and American military intervention.

Dawning

  • Duration: 74 Minutes

  • Type/Genre: Narrative, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

  • Language: Korean, English, English Subtitles

A trauma therapist, Haejin Park, is forced to face her family’s darkest past after she returns to her childhood farm in the countryside to console her heartbroken younger sister. During Haejin’s visit, the family farm’s familiarity and haunting past begin to conjure up the trauma she had repressed for years in the forms of sleep paralysis, unexplainable nightmares, and disorienting memories. She heavily relies on prescribed medication to escape her experiences, but when her younger sister Soojin secretly trashes the medication, Haejin is forced to meet eye-to-eye with her past.

Learn more about the Asian American International Film: https://www.aaiff.org.

Asian American International Film Community Guidelines: https://www.aaiff.org/aaiff45-community-agreement 

 
pastTaehyun Hwang