The 14th Annual Edition Presents 5 Feature Films and 21 Shorts, With 2 World Premieres and 20 Regional Premieres
Seattle, WA: The Seattle Asian American Film Festival (SAAFF) is proud to announce the complete lineup for its 14th annual edition. This year's program brings together 26 films, spanning 11 documentaries and 15 narrative films. The festival will take place May 29-31, with in-person screenings at the Wing Luke Museum and the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute. The festival formally wraps with virtual programming on June 1-7.
During the festival weekend, SAAFF will present 2 world premieres alongside 20 regional premieres; including 9 Washington State premieres and 7 Pacific Northwest premieres. A stunning majority of the program is being seen locally for the first time.
"What excites me about this year's program is how these films speak to each other; across generations, across borders, across grief and joy. From a Sikh farmworker's prom night to a son saying goodbye to his father, these are stories that remind us why Asian American cinema matters right now. And there is no better audience for them than Seattle's," said Adrian Alarilla, SAAFF Programming Director.
“To honor these stories, we wanted to bring them to a place with its own deep history. We’re excited to expand our partnership with the Seattle Black Film Festival and host our festival at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute in the 'historic soul' of the Central Area of Seattle.” said Victoria Ju, SAAFF Festival Director. “This year’s films also inspired the theme of our design - the feeling of interconnectedness - though we may carry different languages, traditions and ways of moving through the world, we also have shared beliefs, familiar rituals, and stories that echo across our cultures.”
OPENING NIGHT
This year, SAAFF opens with an unforgettable night of film and live performance, honoring the cultures, histories, and creative voices at the heart of our community.
Celebrating its Pacific Northwest premiere is SPRING AFTER SPRING, a documentary feature directed by Jon Chiang. Three Chinese Canadian sisters, each an accomplished dancer who once defied their mother's wishes, reunite every Chinese New Year to lead Vancouver's beloved Chinatown Parade. As they come together, they must confront their fractured identities and decide what their mother's legacy truly means going forward.
Also making its Pacific Northwest debut, BRIDGING OUR STORIES is a documentary short directed by Rafael Bitanga, following a 50-year-old Filipina from Ketchikan, Alaska, who has spent her life resisting her own heritage despite her community's deep roots in the region. When the last Filipino community center in her town closes, she travels to the Philippines for the first time to reclaim the indigenous dances her community is at risk of losing.
Opening night will also feature live musical performances from three artists rooted in Seattle's creative scene. Viper Fengz brings couture, camp, and charisma straight from the Pacific Northwest ballroom world to the stage. Slone, a Japanese and Laotian indie pop and R&B artist and member of local collective WEST OF EDEN, brings his signature blend of soft vocals and introspective production to the stage. DJ Magic Sean closes out the evening with a genre-spanning sound decades in the making.
WORLD PREMIERES
This year, SAAFF 2026 serves as the global launching pad for two new works making their world premieres at the festival.
DENIAL, directed by Katherine Ichinose, is a sci-fi political short inspired by the current events of Lokken v. United Health Group, making its world debut at SAAFF 2026.
DEAR LILY, a documentary short film directed by Wyatt Wu, receives its world premiere at the festival. When the filmmaker becomes a first-time uncle, he quickly realizes he never wants to be a dad; and sets out to write a letter to his niece Lily with the life lessons he wishes he had. The act of writing becomes an unexpected journey into the filmmaker's own identity and the experiences that shaped him.
FEATURE FILMS
In addition to SPRING AFTER SPRING, the festival’s feature film lineup includes:
MOUSE, directed by Kenny Oiwa Riches, marks the sole narrative feature in this year's lineup; a gripping, understated crime drama following Denny, a petty thief living with his mother, who signs up for a penpal service hoping for connection. His penpal has other plans.
Director Benito Bautista’s documentary feature, THE ROAD TO SYDNEY, follows Philippine dance master and choreographer Sydney Loyola, who found refuge in dance after a childhood of bullying in Palawan. Now based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sydney faces the painful realities of job loss and eviction following her gender transition. Through courage and artistry, she embarks on a journey of healing and reconciliation with her estranged father.
Documentary feature YEAR OF THE CAT arrives fresh from CAAMFest 2025, where it took home both the Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize. Filmmaker Tony Nguyen sets out to solve the mystery of his biological father, lost in the chaos of the Fall of Saigon 50 years ago. Crafted as an investigative home movie, the film weaves humor and heartache into something raw and tender; a portrait of what healing might actually look like.
SHORT FILM HIGHLIGHTS
The 2026 short film program, 11 documentaries and 10 narrative shorts, is organized into SAAFF's signature thematic programs, each offering its own angle on the Asian American experience.
The Occupational Hazards program explores the physical, emotional, and civic toll of labor. Highlights include:
WE WERE THE SCENERY, directed by Christopher Radcliff and winner of the Short Film Jury Award in Nonfiction at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, tells the story of two Vietnamese refugees who in 1975 were used as background extras in the filming of Apocalypse Now.
HOW TO FIND A CAREER THAT LOVES YOU BACK, directed by Ethernet Wang, is a West Coast premiere following Khloe, a trans software developer at a defense technology startup, as a company career fair trip forces her to reckon with the ideology behind her work and the love she may have to leave behind.
DAILY WORKER, directed by Ting Su, follows an international student digitizing archival film negatives from the communist journal of the same name, who discovers unexpected connections between the past and her own uncertain future in New York.
In Search of Us centers stories of memory, and the search for self.
LONG'S LONG LOST & MINI MART, directed by Julian Doan and premiered at Tribeca 2025, is set in a Little Saigon convenience store where a young man reanimates his dead father for one last conversation.
SOMETHING GOOD GOING ON, directed by Arnold Setiadi, is a funny and bittersweet portrait of a first-generation Indonesian American teen reckoning with his immigrant waiter father on the eve of leaving for the Ivy League.
SOMEWHERE TO BE, directed by Christy Chan, is equal parts biting social commentary and defiant envisioning of belonging, set in the gas station in a rural town in the 1980s.
Paired with THE ROAD TO SYDNEY is the Seattle premiere of AFTER WHAT HAPPENED AT THE LIBRARY, directed by Syra McCarthy, which follows a drag queen thrust into the national spotlight after neo-Nazis storm her Drag Story Hour and the psychological toll of having trauma become public property.
CLOSING NIGHT
Closing out the festival is THIRD ACT, a deeply personal film from Tadashi Nakamura, son of Robert A. Nakamura, widely known as the Godfather of Asian American film. A biopic on its surface, the documentary becomes something more intimate when Robert is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, posing a question that is at once personal and universal: how can a father and son say goodbye?
Preceding THIRD ACT is the Washington premiere of THE LAST RESORT, directed by Prerana Thakurdesai. Set inside the first-ever Indian retirement complex in the United States, the film follows a tight-knit group of Indian immigrants navigating aging, family tensions, and cultural longing together.
For the full festival lineup, ticketing details, and streaming access, visit www.SeattleAAFF.org
