Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival 2008

Amir works as a 'relationship termination specialist.' Translation: professional heartbreaker. His best friends are convinced he is incapable of having a relationship because of his job. All that changes when his attractive cousin comes to town and masquerades as his girlfriend. Complications and hilarity ensue.

Philadelphia based filmmaker Gary San Angel and animator Rocky Kev combine both documentary and story board animation in 'The KoAloha Ukulele Story'. The film is based on the true story of Alvin Okami, the famous “Renaissance Man” of Hawaii who is an acclaimed inventor, musician, composer, and spontaneous idea man. Alvin takes us down memory lane with his local 'Talk Story' approach and shares with us his heartfelt story of how he started KoAloha from a bankrupt plastics and manufacturing company to being one of the first ukulele makers to create a playable, tunable, miniature ukulele.

With the world's largest child prostitution ring run by the notorious Pangolin crime ring busted at last by none other than one of NY's finest, Vice Cop Sergeant Randall Leung, the world can breathe at last. ...Or can it? Members of Pangolin are out for revenge and the first on their list in Sgt. Leung! But little do they know that behind Sgt. Leung is his grandma, the one and only KUNG FU GRANNY!

Living in East Los Angeles and working at a Japanese jazz bar, a young short-order cook (Shin) faces deportation to Japan when his visa is denied. After what seems to be a connection with a Mexican Bakery worker turns into a misunderstanding, Shin experiences a side of Los Angeles invisible to his social circle of Japanese expats. Subdued and restrained, the film offers an unsentimental and personal portrait of living in between time zones and cultures in a city indicative of a world growing smaller.

Boy meets girl. He doesn't speak Korean. She doesn't speak English. It's going to be a long night.

A frustrated painter searching for his muse gets some help from the surreal visions of Rene Magritte.

A mother, who lost her baby daughter, can’t let go of her guilt and visits a Taoist Monk to commune with her daughter's spirit. She is lonely, wanting to marry. The mother finds a suitor, the spirit of deceased boy. A ‘hell marriage’ in proposed to the boy’s family. Both families perform a 'ghost marriage.’ Afterwards, the mother is haunted by her daughter's ghost. She is being abused by her husband. A spell is performed freeing her daughter’s spirit. Later, the mother wakes to find her daughter’s ghost baby at her doorstep. She’s been given a 2nd chance at motherhood.

The Offering is an elegiac meditation about the passing of life, told through the story of love and friendship between a Japanese monk and the novice who came into his life, from their initial encounter to their final parting.

Two half Vietnamese documentary filmmakers, both named Adele, weave a shared narrative of mixed Asian (hapa) experiences through interviews with 5 other hapa subjects. History, memory, and anecdotes on mixed race and ethnicity are represented by archival images, super 8 film, verité, and interview.