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2015 San Diego Asian Film Festival

All Films & Events

  1. THE GRIEF OF OTHERS

    Patrick Wang / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2015 / drama / 103 mins
    A death in the family paralyzes but also reveals connections and their consequences, especially upon the unexpected arrival of a visitor. With an exquisite condolence wrapped in loving humor and an active style that envelops and hugs, director Patrick Wang unites characters and audiences in a fertile grief that belongs to all.
    THE GRIEF OF OTHERS

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Tuesday, November 10, 2015 8:40 pm


  2. HAPPY HOUR

    Ryusuke Hamaguchi / Discoveries / Japan / 2015 / drama / 317 mins
    The precious balance holding together four best friends is tested when one announces that she will be divorcing her husband. With a grandeur and detail afforded by its running time, HAPPY HOUR explores that balance through a feat of fortitude and the poise of simply “being there” between friends.
    HAPPY HOUR

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Tuesday, November 10, 2015 1:00 pm

    HAPPY HOUR

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Wednesday, November 11, 2015 1:00 pm


  3. I HAVE SEEN MY LAST BORN

    Samuel Gray Anderson, Lee Isaac Chung / Asian American Panorama / Rwanda, USA / 2015 / documentary / 79 mins
    This affecting documentary follows Rwandan filmmaker Jean Kwezi and his commitment to building a relationship with a teenage daughter he abandoned years ago. With a spirit of openness and responsibility, Jean and the filmmakers emanate hope, regret, and love for family.
    I HAVE SEEN MY LAST BORN

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Tuesday, November 10, 2015 4:00 pm Buy Tickets


  4. IT’S ALREADY TOMORROW IN HONG KONG

    Emily Ting / Asian American Panorama / Hong Kong, USA / 2015 / drama, romance / 79 mins
    Real-life couple Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg play Americans finding their ways in the streets of Hong Kong – only to find themselves in a precarious web of flirtation. Emily Ting’s debut breezily captures expats’ now-whats and what-ifs in a sparkling Hong Kong.
    IT’S ALREADY TOMORROW IN HONG KONG

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 12:45 pm


  5. THE KIDS

    Wei-Shan Yu / Discoveries / Taiwan / 2015 / drama / 90 mins
    Bao-Li and Jia-Jia meet in middle school and become forever connected in this remarkable debut by Sunny Yu, who structures her document of youth as a mystery with overlapping revelations. As money problems, the pressure of family, and the seduction of redemption mount, so does the film’s willful sympathy.
    THE KIDS

    UCSD Calit2 Atkinson Hall Auditorium
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 3:05 pm


  6. LA LA LA AT ROCK BOTTOM

    Yamashita Nobuhiro / Masters / Japan / 2015 / drama, musical / 103 mins
    An amnesiac awakens knowing nothing about himself except that he can sing! His process of self-discovery, enabled by an ambitious teen at a recording studio, brings him face-to-face with buried demons and a talent that can lift him to redemption. From the director of Linda Linda Linda.
    LA LA LA AT ROCK BOTTOM

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 8:50 pm

    LA LA LA AT ROCK BOTTOM

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Monday, November 9, 2015 8:50 pm


  7. THE LAST REEL

    Sotho Kulikar / Asia Pop! / Cambodia / 2014 / drama, historical / 105 mins
    The rebellious Sophoun is milling about a crumbling movie theater when something catches her eye: a picture of her mother from decades ago. Digging into her mom’s history unearths an entire catalogue of glamour from the golden years of Cambodian cinema, inspiring Sophoun to bring the past back to life.
    THE LAST REEL

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 8:25 pm

    THE LAST REEL

    La Paloma Theatre
    Saturday, November 14, 2015 5:15 pm


  8. LITTLE BIG MASTER

    Adrian Kwan / Asia Pop! / Hong Kong / 2015 / comedy, drama, family / 112 mins
    Miriam Yeung plays a star school principal who can get any job she wants, but opts instead to save a struggling kindergarten from closing on its five students. With uncommon sincerity and a mountain of cuteness, this family-friendly Hong Kong hit fights class inequality with the fervor of principle.
    LITTLE BIG MASTER

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, November 8, 2015 1:00 pm

    LITTLE BIG MASTER

    La Paloma Theatre
    Saturday, November 14, 2015 1:00 pm


  9. LORNA

    Sigrid Andrea Bernardo / Asia Pop! / Philippines / 2014 / romantic comedy / 124 mins
    Lorna, 60, has men in her midst: the ex-husband, the smooth-talker, the overseas boyfriend, and the rock star with a stoned smile. Love should come easy, but as Lorna quickly learns, it doesn’t always get easier with age. Shamaine Buencamino and Lav Diaz alternate stealing the show in this retro, dashing comedy.
    LORNA

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Friday, November 6, 2015 6:30 pm Buy Tickets

    LORNA

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Saturday, November 7, 2015 6:05 pm


  10. LOVE & PEACE

    Sion Sono / Masters / Japan / 2015 / comedy, musical / 117 mins
    From the warped mind of Sion Sono comes one of his most entertaining films to date. An office nerd has glam-rock dreams but only his pet turtle gives him any encouragement. Things blow up (literally) when a magic spell turns the sewers and the city into a musical fantasy-world.
    LOVE & PEACE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Monday, November 9, 2015 6:00 pm

    LOVE & PEACE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Wednesday, November 11, 2015 5:50 pm

    LOVE & PEACE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Thursday, November 12, 2015 9:50 pm


  11. MADE IN JAPAN

    Josh Bishop / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2015 / documentary, musical / 90 mins
    Howdy neighbors! So says Tomi Fujiyama to her friends in the U.S. who are about to discover just what kind of neighbor she is. With cowboy hat and guitar, she’s determined to re-take the Grand Ole Opry stage, where in 1964, she became the country music institution’s first Japanese star.
    CLOSING NIGHT: MADE IN JAPAN

    Museum of Contemporary Art, Sherwood Auditorium
    Friday, November 13, 2015 7:00 pm


  12. THE MASTER

    Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit / Discoveries / Thailand / 2014 / documentary / 80 mins
    Thai filmmakers and critics reminisce on the neatly-kept corner stall of a bustling market, where in the 1990s, a shadowy entrepreneur sold lovingly-smuggled works of world cinema on VHS, and inadvertently transformed the face of Thai cinema forever.
    THE MASTER

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, November 8, 2015 6:40 pm

    THE MASTER

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Thursday, November 12, 2015 4:00 pm Buy Tickets


  13. MISS INDIA AMERICA

    Ravi Kapoor / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2015 / comedy, family / 93 mins
    Lily is a college-bound valedictorian with a gilded future, so beauty pageants are way below her. But when a case of sass strikes, she finds out what she's not above: some good ol' fashioned competition. Thanks to a wily script and Tiya Sircar’s knockout comedic performance, nobody is safe from Lily's schemes.
    OPENING NIGHT: MISS INDIA AMERICA

    Museum of Contemporary Art, Sherwood Auditorium
    Thursday, November 5, 2015 7:00 pm Buy Tickets


  14. MISSING PEOPLE

    David Shapiro / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2015 / documentary / 81 mins
    Decades after her brother’s unsolved murder, Filipino American art gallery director Martina Batan becomes strangely obsessed with the violent work of a black New Orleans artist. A trip to the artist’s hometown sparks questions of cultural appropriation and the dual demons that have brought these worlds together.
    MISSING PEOPLE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Tuesday, November 10, 2015 6:40 pm


  15. MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART

    Jia Zhang-ke / Masters / China, France, Japan / 2015 / drama / 131 mins
    A poignant epic spanning decades and continents, Jia Zhang-ke’s latest masterpiece follows a love triangle from its dance-infused beginnings to its jet-set millennial melancholy. Jia explores China’s past, present, and future as only he can: with a canto-pop heart and a bleeding love for ordinary people strewn apart.
    MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Friday, November 6, 2015 8:55 pm

    MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Monday, November 9, 2015 5:30 pm


  16. MYSTERY KUNG FU THEATER

    It's a secret.
    MYSTERY KUNG FU THEATER

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Monday, November 9, 2015 9:15 pm


  17. NO NO SLEEP + THE PALACE ON THE SEA + CURTAINS

    Masters / 53 mins
    Three shorts by outsiders (a Malay Chinese in Taiwan, a Taiwanese in America, and a Burmese Chinese in Taiwan) peer with active eyes into lives and settings unseen.

    In This Program: CURTAINS, THE PALACE ON THE SEA, NO NO SLEEP

    NO NO SLEEP

    UCSD Calit2 Atkinson Hall Auditorium
    Sunday, November 8, 2015 1:00 pm


  18. OBON BROTHERS

    Akira Osaki / Asia Pop! / Japan / 2015 / comedy, romance / 107 mins
    A struggling director moves in with his sick brother after his wife’s divorce threats send him packing. On top of that: a forced double-date that’s no good for anybody. But in honor of the follies of fate, OBON BROTHERS spins calamity into gentle observation and wry, cool comedy.
    OBON BROTHERS

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, November 8, 2015 7:00 pm

    OBON BROTHERS

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Monday, November 9, 2015 4:00 pm Buy Tickets


  19. OFF THE MENU: ASIAN AMERICA

    Grace Lee / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2015 / documentary, food / 56 mins
    Asians. Taking Pictures. Of food. Add documentarian Grace Lee to that list and you get more than delectable soft-focus close-ups, but also fascinating portraits of Asian Americans and their relationships with the meals they cook, serve, eat, and sell, from Hawaii to Texas to Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
    OFF THE MENU: ASIAN AMERICA

    La Paloma Theatre
    Saturday, November 14, 2015 3:20 pm


  20. OFFICE

    Johnnie To / Masters / China, Hong Kong / 2015 / musical / 117 mins
    Megastars Chow Yun-fat and Sylvia Chang engage in power-plays, sideline deals, and other dubious games of high finance. In any other hands, this would be a routine takedown of corruption. In Johnnie To’s, it’s a high-flying musical with pop stars and living legends spinning corporate intrigue to dizzying heights.
    OFFICE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, November 8, 2015 8:50 pm

    OFFICE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Tuesday, November 10, 2015 5:45 pm