Amplifying Our Voices: APFE Celebrates AANHPI Heritage Month at the 2025 LA Asian Pacific Film Festival & CAAMFest
By Milton Liu
On May 2, 2025, AANHPI Heritage Month launched with energy, excitement, and a full house as the Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience took place at Visual Communications Media’s 41st Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in West Hollywood, Los Angeles. More than 200 filmmakers, industry leaders, community advocates, and supporters gathered to celebrate storytelling and solidarity – capping the evening with a lively reception at Wokcano following a packed slate of premiere screenings at the Directors Guild of America Theater.
ADDITIONAL VIDEOS
Happy AANHPI Month from the APFE Team (Instagram)
Short Recap Video (Instagram)
See more photos from Steven Lam (@stevenlamphoto) at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival.
On May 10, 2025, APFE continued its celebration and advocacy at the Center for Asian American Media’s 43rd CAAMFest in San Francisco. That day featured the Tea House Salon – a space to highlight industry partners that are leading the charge in developing dynamic content and elevating creatives in front of and behind the camera. APFE co-leader, David Magdael presented welcoming and congratulatory remarks to filmmakers, industry execs and community leaders.
Highlights included the panel from the NBC television show ST. DENIS MEDICAL – with the show runners, directors, writers and cast who are all AANHPI.
Gianna Ong, Vicky Luu, Kaliko Kauahi, and Heather Jack at CAAMFest.
Following that, Office Hours took place with filmmakers meeting with industry professionals, from funders to media organizations to communication experts, making the whole reception and afternoon very informative and valuable. It was a great opportunity for APFE to truly continue to offer that time for networking, celebration and collaboration.
We’ll be heading to the Tribeca Film Festival on June 8, 2025, in partnership with Asian CineVision. Learn more at our event page here - we look forward to seeing you there!!!
ABOUT APFE: Established in 2002 in Park City, Utah to honor and recognize the cinematic artists whose works premiered at the Sundance and Slamdance Film Festivals, the Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience foregrounds and celebrates the creative products of Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Asian international cinema artists. APFE is a collective whose core programmers include the Asian American Media Alliance (AAMA), CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment), David Magdael & Associates, Kollaboration, and Laarni Rosca Dacanay.
Learn more about the Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience and how it all began in 2002 and follow APFE (@apfexp) on Instagram for more updates.
