Roadblocks: AAPI Shorts

Stories of Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians in different stages of life, navigating the personal and political roadblocks thrown in their path.

Wednesday, May 21st, 2025
8:30 PM

Gene Siskel Film Center
164 N State St, Chicago, IL 60601

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One Note

Directed & Written by Jamie Ting
IG: @jamietingdirector

A dark comedy about a neurotic but driven 17-year-old Chinese American violinist on a mission to get admitted to Harvard at any cost.

The Truck

Directed & Written by Elizabeth Rao
IG: @lizrao

An impulsive Chinese American 17-year-old and her boyfriend try to buy the morning after pill in post-Roe America.

The Queen’s Flowers

Directed & Written by Ciara Leina’ala Lacy
Animation Direction by Daniel Souza
https://www.thequeensflowersfilm.com/

A magical take on a true story, THE QUEEN’S FLOWERS is an animated short adventure for kids that follows Emma, a Native Hawaiian girl in 1915 Honolulu, as she makes a special gift for the last monarch of Hawaiʻi, Queen Liliʻuokalani.

Daly City

Directed & Written by Nick Hartanto
IG: @nickhartanto

A young Indonesian boy navigates his identity, observing and questioning his parents’ behaviors as they strive to find their own place and fit in.

Bita Joon

Directed & Written by Sara Boutorabi

On a seemingly prosaic day, Bita, an Iranian woman with terminal cancer, comes to grips with her changing relationships with her family as life transforms and slips away.

Kumar Kumar

Directed by Kiran Koshy
IG: @kiran.koshy

Kumar Kumar is all alone on his birthday. His social media feed is dead. Maybe he should be too? But then, the computer dings.

My Son Went Quiet

Directed & Written by Ian Bawa
IG: @ianbawa

Jin

Directed & Written by Charlotte Huang
IG: @summertime_1097

Jin, a first-generation Chinese immigrant and single father, struggles with his relationship with his American-born daughter. One day, Jin unexpectedly encounters a surprising visitor from his past life in China.