Boston Asian American Film Festival

The Boston Asian American Independent Film Festival (BAAIFF) or now known as the Boston Asian American Film Festival started out as a student-run film festival in the U.S. region of New England that showcases Asian American independent films. The first BAAIFF, "Silkscreens," was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts and ran on September 24–25, 2004. The opening ceremony included a keynote speech by Greg Pak, best known for writing and directing Robot Stories.

As early as 2010, the festival became known as the Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF), and became a production run under the leadership of the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW), whose mission statement is "to work for the empowerment of the Asian Pacific American community to achieve its full participation in the U.S. society. AARW is a member-based organization that seeks to document the diverse Asian Pacific American histories, experiences, and social conditions. Our resources and activities are used to respond to current Asian Pacific American issues and to promote Asian Pacific American identity." Susan Chinsen is the current Director.

The official mission statement of BAAFF is that it the festival "empowers Asian Americans through film by showcasing Asian American experiences and serving as a resource to filmmakers and the Greater Boston Community." Previous films that have screened at BAAFF starting from 2010 include Bertha Bay-Sa Pan's Almost Perfect, Quentin Lee's White Frog and The People I've Slept With, Michael Kang's Knots, Byron Q's Bang Bang, Minh Duc Nguyen's Touch, Jeff Chiba Stearns's One Big Hapa Family, and a special event honoring veteran actor James Hong entitled "James Hong, Behind the Scenes Secrets of Hollywood."

External links

• Boston Asian American Film Festival http://www.baaff.org
• BAAFF on Twitter http://twitter.com/bostonaafilm
• Asian American Resource Workshop Website http://aarw.org/