These are twelve short films you shouldn’t miss at the Boston Asian American Film Festival which will take place from October 12 – 15, 2023 in Boston, USA. (The festival will run through October 22 online).

Aikāne by Daniel Sousa, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson – USA | 2023 – 14 minutes
A valiant island warrior, wounded in battle against foreign invaders, falls into a mysterious underwater world. When the octopus who rescues him transforms into a handsome young man, they become aikāne, intimate friends bound by love and trust, and an epic adventure begins. (BAAFF 2023)

Trailer:

Astonishing Little Feet by Maegan A. Houang – USA |2023 – 9 minutes
Afong Moy, the first documented Chinese woman to come to the United States, realizes the men who separated her from her family only have interest in profiting off the peculiarities of her bound feet. (BAAFF 2023)

Trailer:

Breaking fast with a Coca-Cola by Amy Yasmine Omar – USA | 2023 – 14 minutes
After growing up in the secular households of their Turkish immigrant parents in the Midwest, Özlem and Ada are desperate to celebrate a tradition of their own. Together, they embark on a day of fasting and feasting for Ramadan and embrace their cultural differences along the way. (BAAF 2023)

Gianna by Kait Schuster – USA | 2023 – 11 minutes
Gianna is a queer horror comedy following Gina, a Filipina Gemini doing her best, as she takes the advice of her sliding scale therapist to spend a day with her INNER SABOTEUR. Enter Gianna. Will they make peace, or does Gianna, like, literally want Gina dead? (BAAF 2023)

Teaser:

Grandma & Grandma by Sean Wang – USA | 2023 – 16 minutes
Nǎi Nai is my grandma. Wài Pó is also my grandma. Together, they are a grandma super team that dances and stretches their sorrows away. (BAAFF 2023)

Grandma’s Pot by A. Lauren Lee – USA | 2023 – 10 minutes
Grandma Mee-Yung reluctantly agrees to go buy pot for her grandson. But pay full price? Never! (BAAFF 2023)

Trailer:

Happy Ending by Elodie Yung – USA | 2023 – 17 minutes
A Cambodian woman, carrying a tragic secret, comes to America to work in an illicit massage parlor in hopes of making a better life for her family. (BAAFF 2023)

Lunchbox by Anne Hu – USA | 2022 – 16 minutes
When a Taiwanese American woman prepares lunches from her childhood, she struggles to forgive herself for pushing away her immigrant mother. (BAAF 2023)

Running by Arpita Mukherjee – USA | 2022 – 40 minutes
Written by and starring Danny Pudi (Community, Mythic Quest) and directed by Arpita Mukherjee, RUNNING follows Danny as he sets out to uncover the story of his estranged father. Piecing together mementos, stories from his dad’s old friends, and hard conversations with his mother, Pudi starts on a mission to solve the puzzle of his father and finds himself instead on a complex, funny, and vulnerable journey of self-discovery and acceptance. (BAAF 2023)

Supermarket Affairs by Hang Luong Nguyen – Vietnam | 2022 – 15 minutes
While preparing for her husband’s second death anniversary, a middle-aged Vietnamese immigrant woman and her Americanized adult daughter butt heads over how to best honor him, and inadvertently drag a handsome stranger at the local Asian market into their messy family dynamic. (BAAFF 2023)

Take me Home by Liz Sargent – USA | 2023 – 15 minutes
Anna is an adult with an Cognitive Disability living with her mother in Midland Florida. When her mother is unresponsive, she calls her sister for help, but without the language to be believed, Anna is brushed aside.

Emily returns home and is immediately engulfed in a futile struggle for medical information, while Anna’s world is deconstructed. In this sadness, Anna sees the bigger picture and with a straightforward strength, Anna holds her own. The uncertainty for the sisters’ future independence remains but they are now a team against all odds. (BAAFF 2023)

Video Funeral by Linh Tran – USA | 2023 – 21 minutes
Lam, a Vietnamese international student, welcomes her younger sister, Phuong, to her Chicago apartment. Phuong brings a DVD of their father’s funeral, which Lam could not attend. (BAAFF 2023)

Teaser:

For more information, please visit: https://baaff.org/