ASIAN AMERICAN DREAMS
Short Film Program

ONE CAMBODIAN FAMILY PLEASE FOR MY PLEASURE

2018 | Narrative, Drama | USA | 12 min | English
Directed by A.M. Lukas
Starring Emily Mortimer

2019 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Nominee

In 1981, a Czechoslovakian woman (Emily Mortimer), herself a refugee from a war-torn country, writes a letter requesting that a Cambodian family be rescued from the violence and unrest in their native land and delivered to her adopted home in Fargo, North Dakota. Based on a true story.

BUFFALO NICKEL

2018 | Narrative, Comedy | USA | 15 min | English
Directed by Youthana Yous

A desperately lonely Indian American woman accidentally becomes "besties" with a social media influencer who may have an ulterior motive in befriending her.

COWBOY JOE

2018 | Narrative, Drama | USA | 6 min | English, Chinese with subtitles
Directed by Jing Jing Tian

In New York City, a Chinese American man defies both his father and the world by assuming an identity no one expects or affords him.

KIM CHI

2018 | Narrative, Drama | USA | 14 min | English, Japanese, Korean with English subtitles
Directed by Jackson Kiyoshi Segars

2018 SXSW Film Festival Selection!

During a tense and melancholy visit with the family of his Korean American fiancee, a Japanese American man bonds with her ailing grandfather over a shared language and hobby.

ONE SMALL STEP

2018 | Animation, Drama | USA, China | 8 min | English
Directed by Bobby Pontillas and Andrew Chesworth

2018 Academy Award Best Animated Short Nominee!

A Chinese American girl, supported by her shoemaker father, pursues her dream of becoming an astronaut into college and beyond.

ELLA

2018 | Narrative, Drama | USA | 16 min | English
Directed by Dan Chen

Marooned in middle America, a high school recluse and a college dropout experience alienation, othering, and companionship.

RED CHIMERA

2018 | Experimental, Drama | USA | 8 min | English
Directed by Jen Frisch-Wang 

After mysteriously aging 60 years overnight, a young-girl-turned-older-woman struggles to reconcile her love of art with the "model minority" pressures placed on her by society and family.

SPEAK EASY, B

2018 | Experimental, Drama | USA | 15 min | English
Directed by Becca Park

A visit to a therapist prompts a young queer woman struggling to cope with depression and heartache to embark on a surreal journey through the desert inside her mind.