Dear Asian filmmakers, the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (USA) is accepting films until June 30, 2025.

About the festival:
Philadelphia Asian American Film & Filmmakers is a non-profit dedicated to supporting Asian & Pacific Islander (AAPI) diasporic* film and media makers. Their premiere event, The Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (PAAFF), emphasizes artworks that are by, for, and about the Asian & Pacific Islander diaspora experience.

Now in its 18th year, PAAFF has grown to be one of the largest film festivals celebrating Asian & Pacific Islander art on the U.S. East Coast and the third-largest in the nation. Since 2008, PAAFF is proud to have presented dozens of culturally relevant films to broad and diverse audiences through our main festival program each November and year-round screening series.

*Asian & Pacific Islander includes, but is not necessarily limited to, people from and descended from areas now known as Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen; and the indigenous peoples of Oceania and the Pacific Islands.

Eligibility:
– The festival accepts films and other media that have at least one person of Asian & Pacific Islander descent in a key creative role (director, DP, producer, writer, actor, etc…) and/or are about the Asian & Pacific Islander experience both in the United States and internationally.
– The festival accepts feature (over 40 minutes) and short films (under 40 minutes), both fictions and documentaries.
– All submitted works should have been completed in the last 2 years, with some exceptions made if discussed with the programming team.
– The festival accepts films of all premiere statuses, including films that have distribution.
– The festival does not accept films which have received funding from the State of Israel or financial institutions incorporated therein. They also don’t accept films for which human labor has been supplanted with generative AI.
– Films are expected to present at the festival as a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) or as otherwise discussed.
– All non-English language films (with dialogue) MUST have English subtitles. If selected, all English language films (with dialogue) MUST have an English caption file by the asset collection date set by the festival in acceptance emails. The preferred file type for closed captions is a .SRT.
– Submissions must be made via FilmFreeway.
– Submission Fees and Deadlines:

– Notification Date: September 12, 2025

We recommend filmmakers to read the full Rules and Regulations here: https://paaff.org/submit/

To submit to the festival please visit: https://filmfreeway.com/PAAFF

We remind readers that the 17th Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival will take place from November 6 – 16, 2025 in Philadelphia, United States.

Looking for a festival distributor? Learn more about our services here

To see other Calls please follow the next link: “Call For Entries”.