CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR
2019 AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD WINNERS
Lucky Grandma | Feature Narrative
Seadrift | Feature Documentary
"Secret Lives of Asians at Night" | Narrative Short
"A Sweet and Sour Christmas" | Documentary Short
Picture
​
The Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF) empowers the Asian American community through film by showcasing Asian American experiences and serving as a resource to filmmakers and the Greater Boston Community. Our film selections highlight both historic and contemporary stories in an effort to deepen understanding and appreciation of Asian American experiences. Hosted in Boston, Massachusetts, this festival attracts people from all over the country every year.

Our theme, “Rising Together” encourages all individuals to stand up and take their place to be counted. Using film as the backdrop, the power of the individual is only strengthened when there is a community forum to engage, enlighten, encourage and participate - rising together.​
TICKET PACKAGE - Get 3 tickets for $30
​Tickets exclude opening and closing film and must be used for different films. There is no limit to the number of packages that may be purchased.

click to see OTHER Ticket prices 

11TH ANNUAL FILM FESTIVAL
​OCTOBER 24-27, 2019

Join BAAFF on October 24-27 to enjoy a wide range of short films, feature films, documentaries, and panels while supporting your local Asian American Community! Q&A with filmmakers follow most screenings.
*PRE-FESTIVAL SCREENING*
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12
3:30pm Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066 (Q&A with Dir. Jon Osaki) (Preceded by "Everyone Counts: Looking Forward to the 2020 Census" and "Japantown: A Walk Through Memory")

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15
7:00PM The Farewell (Free Event)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20
4:00PM 9-Man (Free Event)
*FESTIVAL PROGRAM*
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24
6:45pm Lucky Grandma |  OPENING NIGHT FILM (includes Q&A and Reception)
​*SOLD OUT*
9:45pm Lucky Grandma (Encore Screening)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25
6:30pm Seadrift (Preceded by "Justice for Vincent") *SOLD OUT* | CENTERPIECE FILM (Q&A with Dir. Tim Tsai and Producer/Advisor, Dr. Thao Ha)
9:30pm Shorts: After Dark *SOLD OUT* (Q&A with various filmmakers)
​
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26
1pm Rising Together (Free Community Panel)
3pm Shorts: Finding Your Place *SOLD OUT* (Q&A with various filmmakers)
6pm Go Back to China ​*SOLD OUT* (Skype Q&A with Dir. Emily Ting)
9pm Shorts: Queer & Here 

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27
12pm Shorts: Discovery
3pm Geographies of Kinship (Q&A with Dir. Deann Borshay Liem)
6pm Yellow Rose | CLOSING NIGHT FILM (includes Q&A with actress, Princess Punzalan and Reception) *SOLD OUT*
*POST-FESTIVAL SCREENING*
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16
2pm Chinatown Rising (Q&A with Co-Director. Josh Chuck)

Guest appearance

pre-festival screening FILM
Alternative facts: the lies of executive order 9066

Saturday, October 12, 3:30PM
The Paramount Center (559 Washington St)
 
Directed by John Osaki
65 mins | USA | Documentary

READ MORE...

FREE EVENT
THE FAREWELL

FREE EVENT No tickets or RSVP needed. Seating is on a first come basis and doors open at 6:30.

​
Tuesday, October 15, 7:00PM
​The Paramount Center (559 Washington St)
 
Directed by Lulu Wang
98 mins | USA | Narrative

In this funny, uplifting tale based on an actual lie, Chinese-born, U.S.-raised Billi reluctantly returns to Changchun to find that, although the whole family knows their beloved matriarch, Nai-Nai, has been given mere weeks to live, everyone has decided not to tell Nai Nai herself. 

Discussion led by Susan Chinsen director of the Boston Asian American Film Festival and Tufts Andreas Klein, MD Associate Professor of Medicine, Associate Chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology and Director, Hematologic Malignancies Program to follow. 

FREE EVENT
9-MAN

​FREE EVENT​ No tickets or RSVP needed. Seating is on a first come basis.

​
Sunday, October 20, 4:00PM
Newton City Hall (1000 Commonwealth Avenue)

​Directed by Ursula Liang
89 mins | USA | Documentary

9-MAN by Ursula Liang, who grew up in Newton, takes us behind the scenes of 9-man volleyball, a Chinatown street game with connections to Newton, giving us insights into Chinese-American history. Co-presented with the Boston Hurricanes team.

opening NIGHT film
lucky grandma

Picture
Thursday, October 24, 6:45PM *SOLD OUT*
6:45PM Ticket includes screening, Q&A, and following an
​opening night reception​​ 
Thursday, October 24,
​Encore Screening at 9:45PM 
9:45PM Ticket includes screening only

The Brattle Theater | 40 Brattle Street | Cambridge, MA

Directed by Sasie Sealy
87 mins | USA | Narrative

In the heart of Chinatown, New York, an ornery, chain-smoking, newly widowed 80-year-old Grandma (Tsai Chin) is eager to live life as an independent woman, despite the worry of her family. When a local fortune teller (Wai Ching Ho) predicts a most auspicious day in her future, Grandma decides to head to the casino and goes all in, only to land herself on the wrong side of luck...suddenly attracting the attention of some local gangsters (including actor and BAAFF alum, Michael Tow). Desperate to protect herself, Grandma employs the services of a bodyguard (Corey Ha) from a rival gang and soon finds herself right in the middle of a Chinatown gang war. 
​
Followed by Q&A with Director Sasie Sealy, actor Tsai Chin, actor Michael Tow

READ MORE...
​

CENTERPIECE FILM
SEADRIFT

Picture
​*SOLD OUT*
​Friday, October 25, 7:00PM
The Paramount Center (559 Washington St)
​
Directed by Tim Tsai
69 min | USA | Documentary

A fatal shooting in a Texas fishing village ignites a maelstrom of hostilities against Vietnamese refugees along the Gulf Coast.

​Film preceded by:
Justice for Vincent

Followed by Q&A with Director Tim Tsai

READ MORE...

shorts program
after dark

​*SOLD OUT*
​Friday, October 25, 9:30PM
The Paramount Center (559 Washington St)

6 shorts | 83 mins
​
​From a dark comedy about a teenager fitting into a new school to a group of misfits roaming around the streets of New York City at night, "After Dark" provides snippets of all dark matters in our lives.

Secret Lives of Asians at Night by Kevin Wang ("KEFF")
The Visit by Roxy Shih
Albatross Soup by Winnie Cheung
Stucco by Janina Gavankar and Russo Schelling
Gong Ju by Jerome Yoo
Go to Sleep: A Lao Ghost Story by Phet Mahathongdy

Followed by Q&A with various filmmakers.
​
READ MORE...

shorts program
Finding your place

*SOLD OUT*
Saturday, October 26, 3:00PM
The Paramount Center (559 Washington St)
​
7 shorts | 90 mins

​In this series of documentary shorts, we explore individual identities who all come together to find their place in today's world.

Navigating Hope by Sayed Hashimi
Kung Fu Chit by Yen-Linh Chit
SOMA by Peter Trinh
Mama Yen by Jiale Hu
A Sweet and Sour Christmas by Aram Siu Wai Collier
Seeking Settled Ground by Mohammad Arifuzzaman
Minidoka by Megumi Nishikura

Followed by Q&A with various filmmakers.

READ MORE...

​NARRATIVE film
GO BACK TO CHINA

​*SOLD OUT*
​Saturday, October 26, 6:00PM
The Paramount Center (559 Washington St)
​
Directed by Emily Ting
95 mins | USA

When spoiled rich girl Sasha Li blows through half of her trust fund, she is cut off by her father and forced to go back to China and work for the family toy business. What begins simply as a way to regain financial support soon develops into a life-altering journey of self discovery.

Followed by Skype Q&A with director Emily Ting

READ MORE...

SHORTS PROGRAM
QUEER AND HERE

Saturday, October 26, 9:00PM
The Paramount Center (559 Washington St)
​
5 shorts | 85 mins
​
This series of shorts brings us together to rise and explore what it means to be queer.

Glorious Mrs. Kim by Monica Cho
Halwa by Gayatri Bajpai and Nirav Bhakta
Engaged by David Scala
My Mother, Myself and I by King Yaw Soon
Kiss of the Rabbit God by Andrew Thomas Huang

​READ MORE...

SHORTS PROGRAM
DISCOVERY
​

Sunday, October 27, 12:00PM
The Paramount Center (559 Washington St)
​
7 shorts | 87 mins
​
Whether discovering yourself, re-discovering an old memory with a loved one, or discovering love for the first time, this series of shorts explores those moments of discovery -- both big and small -- that ultimately have a profound impact on us.

The Ice Cake Man by Max Cho
The Moon and the Night by Erin Lau
Afterschool by Memie Osuga
Strangers' Reunion by Liz Sargent
Hae Hawai'i by Ty Sanga
Bruised by Rok won Hwang and Samantha Tu
Zoetic by Wesley Chan and Julie Zhan

Followed by Q&A with various filmmakers.
​
READ MORE...

DOCUMENTARY FILM
GEOGRAPHIES OF KINSHIP​

Sunday, October 27, 3:00PM
The Paramount Center (559 Washington St)
​
Directed by Deann Borshay Liem
81 mins | Narrative | USA

​In this powerful tale about the rise of Korea’s global adoption program, four adult adoptees return to their country of birth and reconnect with their roots, mapping the geographies of kinship that bind them to a homeland they never knew.​

Followed by Q&A with director Deann Borhsay Liem

READ MORE...
Ticket includes screening followed by Closing Night Reception with Filipino samplings provided by 

CLOSING NIGHT FILM
YELLOW ROSE

Sunday, October 27, 2019
6:00 PM SOLD OUT

Bright Family Screening Room, The Paramount Center
559 Washington Street, Boston MA
(T: Park Street, Downtown Crossing, or Boylston)

94 Mins | Narrative| USA
Directed by Diana Paragas

Rose, an undocumented Filipino girl, dreams of one day leaving her small Texas town to pursue her country music dreams. Her world is shattered when her mom suddenly gets picked up by immigration and Customs Enforcement. Rose, facing this new reality, is forced to flee the scene, leaving behind the only life she knows, and embarks on a journey of self-discovery as she searches for a new home in the honky tonk world of Austin, Texas.
​
Followed by Q&A with Princess Punzalan (actress)

post-festival screening
chinatown rising

Picture
Saturday, November 16, 2:00PM
The Paramount Center (559 Washington St)
​
Directed by Harry Chuck and Josh Chuck
112 min | USA | Documentary

Against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-1960s, a young San Francisco Chinatown resident armed with a 16mm camera and leftover film scraps from a local TV station, turned his lens onto his community. Totaling more than 20,000 feet of film (10 hours), Harry Chuck's exquisite unreleased footage has captured a divided community's struggles for self-determination.

​Film preceded by:
Everybody Counts: Active Citizenship
​
Screening Followed by: Q&A with co-director Josh Chuck

READ MORE...

Ticket Prices

Brattle Theatre
Opening Night Film (Screening, Q&A, Reception) - $39 advanced tickets, $45 at the door
Encore screening only - $15 advanced tickets, $20 at the door.

ArtsEmerson/Paramount Center 
General Admission:  $11 before 6pm, $13 6pm and later, $15 for closing film (price includes closing reception)
Seniors/Student Advance (max 2): $9.50
Emerson College Community Member: $7.70
Emerson College Student/Faculty/Staff Advance: $5.00

TICKET PACKAGE - Get 3 tickets for $30
​Tickets exclude opening and closing film and must be used for different films.
There is no limit to the number of packages that may be purchased.
​
For group sales of 10 or more, please call 617-824-8400 ​ or email tickets@artsemerson.org for more information.
Group tickets cannot be purchased online - just by phone or email.

​RUSH TICKETS
Last-minute tickets – rush tickets – may be available just before show time when advance tickets have sold out. A rush line will form outside the venue usually one hour before show time. Approximately 10 minutes prior to screening, empty seats are counted and will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis to those in line. Rush tickets will only be sold to those actually waiting in line. One rush ticket per person in the rush line, and there are no guarantees.
Picture
The information on this website is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment by Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF). BAAFF assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear on this website.
Boston Asian American Film Festival
​