It began as a Smithsonian education program that became its own annual nonprofit film festival.
The D.C. Asian Pacific Film Festival returns for its 23rd year this Thursday through Sunday.
“It’s only been recently that people have woken up to the idea that the film and television industry has manipulated stories and visuals in a way that keeps some American communities out of the spotlight and off screen,” Festival Director Melissa Bisagni told WTOP.
“What this film festival and others like it have done is created an opening to show folks, regular audience members, that there are Asian American creatives.”
The lineup kicks off Thursday with “Mixed” at the Angelika Pop-Up at Union Market in Northeast D.C.
“‘Mixed’ is a film by local filmmakers, so we’re really excited,” Bisagni said. “Leena Jayaswal and Caty Borum Chattoo are two professors at American University and they are both in mixed-race marriages and have mixed-race children, so they decided to make a film about the experience of being both parents of biracial children and also talking to biracial kids, young adults and even older adults about their experiences growing up in America.”
Friday’s screenings move to the Eaton Workshop in D.C. with “This Time” directed by Sebastien Tobler.
“It’s really fun and interesting,” Bisagni said. “It starts overseas in Jakarta and it’s about long-lost friends, really. It’s about two high school kids who were separated, their relationship was broken in half, by the 1998 riots in Jakarta and they haven’t seen each other since. They by chance run into each other in Los Angeles 20 years later as adults, so it’s a really beautiful film, and I think D.C. audiences will love it.”
Saturday returns to Eaton Workshop with “Finding Her Beat” directed by Dawn Mikkelson and Keri Pickett.
“It’s about Asian Americans primarily in the diaspora, but also Japanese women in Japan who have an affinity for Taiko drumming and as young people had an interest but there was no way into that scene because it was a male practice,” Bisagni said. “It’s about those women who did find their way to Taiko drumming. It’s about the creation of this all-female Taiko drum performance and the community of women that grew out of Taiko drumming.”
Sunday daytime delivers more films at the Eaton Workshop before the festival wraps with closing night film “The Accidental Getaway Driver” at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland, with director Sing J. Lee in attendance.
“The film premiered at Sundance to rave reviews and he received a special directing award at Sundance,” Bisagni said. “It’s based on a true-to-life incident that happened in 2016 where a Vietnamese American with a gypsy cab company was called in the middle of the night for a pickup only to find that he was being kidnapped as a driver for three escaped convicts. The story is just so beautifully told. … This harrowing situation creates a spark in him.”
View the whole lineup for the D.C. Asian Pacific Film Festival at their website.