Shorts
Get ready for a feast of the senses! This year’s Shorts program is a buffet of tasty morsels that range from stories of heart break and social activism, to LGBTQ expression, the humor in everyday moments, and tales of what lurks in-between.
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Chinatown
Chet Canlas / Shorts / USA / 2017 / 3 mins
Created by the Manilatown Heritage Foundation, CHINATOWN is a poetic portrait of the evolving neighborhood. This film is the winner of the inaugural Autumn Moon Festival Film Contest.Precedes: Power in Unity
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Come and Take It
PJ Raval & Ellen Spiro / Shorts / USA / 2018 / Short / 24 mins
Jessica Jin combats an absurd Texas gun law with even more absurdity, taking #CocksNotGlocks from Twitter to the University of Texas campus. But her irreverent protest could have serious consequences in her heavily-armed state.
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Decoding DarkMatter
Crystal Waterton / Shorts / USA / 2017 / Documentary, Short / 22 mins
Just like how dark matter can only be understood by the way it impacts the gravity of surrounding objects, the Indian American poetry duo of the same name aspire to do something just like it. Directed by Crystal Waterton, DECODING DARKMATTER follows poets, Janani and Alok on their mission to breakdown boundaries and express the undiscussed realities experienced by the transgender and non-binary community.
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Flip The Record
Marie Jamora / Shorts / USA / 2016 / Short / 15 mins
Tired of conforming to what is expected, 14-year-old Vanessa dares to break the mold by learning the art of turntablism behind her older brother’s back. Set in the early 1980s in the era of hip-hop’s game-changing influence within the Filipino American community, FLIP THE RECORD is a coming-of-age story about a teenager realizing that in order to “flip” the narrative, you must dare to play to the sound of your own beat.
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Floating Light
Natalie Murao / Shorts / Canada / 2017 / 12 mins
Two young sisters return early from summer camp and are immediately dropped in the middle of their grandfather’s funeral. Shaken up by the passing of a close family member, the girls must navigate the grief of loss, the acceptance of death, and the wonder of the beyond.
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Grandmother and Me
Kat Cole / Shorts / USA / 2017 / Documentary, Experimental, Short / 7 mins
When love for someone necessitates and facilitates a facade, what is it exactly that one must do? In a moving letter addressed to her husband’s late grandmother, Kat Cole expresses her quiet longing for acceptance and her husband Del’s internal struggle with having to keep both his worlds separate.
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Hella Strangers
Chelsea Chang / Shorts / USA / 2018 / Short / 27 mins
Creator/actor Chelsea Chang takes us to a “Heaven & Hell” house party for some 90s Bay Area QPOC realness. Smitten with party host Genica, Chang tries to keep her cool amidst rapper quarrels, dancing, and sexual tension. Does Genica want Chang in the friend zone, or is she looking for love?
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Hoai (Ongoing, Memory)
Quyên Nquyen-Le / Shorts / USA / 2017 / Narrative Fiction, Short / 10 mins
Not long after breaking up with her longtime girlfriend and moving back in with her refugee father, Hoai suddenly finds herself going head-to-head with the paralleling tensions of her father’s experience during the Vietnam War, and the current xenophobia in the United States.
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I Am Because You Are
STEFAN C. SCHAEFER / Shorts / USA / 2017 / 20 mins
Kaiea needs to find a way to preserve his grandfather’s memories before Alzheimer’s erodes them. His grandfather experienced the Maui of the past and saw the horrors of the Vietnam War, and it’s up to Kaiea to keep his grandfather’s legacy alive by sharing his story.Precedes: Out of State
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Iron Hands
Johnson Cheng / Shorts / China, USA / 2017 / 10 mins
A girl preparing to try out for the all-boys Chinese youth Olympic weightlifting team forms a bond with a gym’s secluded groundskeeper when he assists her with her technique.
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