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2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

Programmers' Picks

Our intrepid programmers reviewed almost 700 feature-length and short films this year! Want to know what stood out most to them? Discover our Programmers’ Picks and pave your own journey through this year’s festival.


  1. 626

    Yudho Aditya / Programmers' Picks / USA / 2017 / 11 mins
    Justin, a parachute kid who is dropped off to live and attend school in the United States while his wealthy parents remain in Asia, must deal with the fact that his older sister is leaving to start a new life in the east coast without him.
    Plays In:
    I Got You, Fam

    Downtown Independent
    April 28, 2017 6:00 pm


  2. And So We Put Goldfish In the Pool

    Makoto Nagahisa / Shorts Competition, Programmers' Picks / Japan / 2016 / 28 mins
    One summer day, 400 goldfish were found in the swimming pool of a secondary school. This is a story about four 15-year old girls who released the fish there.
    Plays In:
    Feminist AF

    CGV Cinemas 3
    May 1, 2017 9:00 pm


  3. Bao

    Yanqiu Fei / Programmers' Picks / China / 2016 / 18 mins
    When a rookie drug mule encounters an abandoned baby girl, they become an unlikely team as they embark on a train journey through China.
    Plays In:
    Rebel Hearts

    Tateuchi Democracy Forum
    April 30, 2017 7:30 pm


  4. Called Home

    Jason Piemnoppakao / Programmers' Picks / USA / 2016 / 8 mins
    A college student returns to his traditional Taiwanese home after coming out to his father, and is forced to re-live the silence and repression he thought was behind him.
    Plays In:
    From Vision To Reel

    Tateuchi Democracy Forum
    April 29, 2017 11:30 am


  5. Cardinal X

    Angie Wang / Narrative Competition, Programmers' Picks / USA / 2016 / 84 mins
    In 1984, one of the west coast's largest dealers of the drug, Ecstasy, was a 19 year old co-ed.
    CARDINAL X

    Downtown Independent
    April 30, 2017 9:15 pm

    CARDINAL X (ENCORE)

    CGV Cinemas 3
    May 3, 2017 4:30 pm


  6. Chee and T

    Tanuj Chopra / Narrative Competition, Programmers' Picks / USA / 2016 / 80 mins
    A buddy movie about the last two brown guys in Silicon Valley who have nothing to do with technology.

    Preceded by: Arranged

    CHEE and T

    CGV Cinemas 1
    May 3, 2017 9:15 pm


  7. Cocoon

    Mei Liying / Programmers' Picks / China / 2017 / 25 mins
    China, 1997. An unhappy marriage, a love affair, and a child who holds all the secrets.
    Plays In:
    Feminist AF

    CGV Cinemas 3
    May 1, 2017 9:00 pm


  8. Cowboy And Indian

    Sujata Day / Programmers' Picks / USA / 2016 / 8 mins
    In an unlikely encounter in the desert, a cowboy chances upon a young Bengali bride and the two develop a dynamic where both come to realize that things should not be taken at face value.
    Plays In:
    Wrong Place, Wrong Time

    CGV Cinemas 2
    May 1, 2017 9:30 pm


  9. Reseba – The Dark Wind

    Hussein Hassan / International Competition, Programmers' Picks / Germany, Iraq, Qatar / 2016 / 91 mins
    Radical Islamist militants attack a village in Iraq, where two young Yazidi prepare for marriage. From that moment onwards, their lives are turned into a nightmare.
    RESEBA – THE DARK WIND

    Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
    May 3, 2017 6:00 pm FREE, Check-In at Box Office


  10. David And Goliath

    Rachel Lee / Programmers' Picks / USA / 2016 / 5 mins
    In a small, suburban neighborhood, a mom and pop donut shop comes face-to-face with one of the largest donut corporations in America.
    Plays In:
    From Vision To Reel

    Tateuchi Democracy Forum
    April 29, 2017 11:30 am


  11. Deer God

    Tomorrow Mingtian / Shorts Competition, Programmers' Picks / China, USA / 2016 / 14 mins
    Old Guan, a native Oroqen hunter, goes into the woods to shoot "donkey deer" before his family leaves for America.
    Plays In:
    Good Bones

    CGV Cinemas 2
    May 2, 2017 9:30 pm


  12. Forever, Chinatown

    James Q. Chan / Shorts Competition, Programmers' Picks / USA / 2016 / 32 mins
    FOREVER, CHINATOWN is the story of unknown, self-taught 81-year-old artist Frank Wong who has spent the past four decades recreating his fading memories by building romantic, extraordinarily detailed miniature models of the San Francisco Chinatown rooms of his youth.
    Plays In:
    Cine-Diorama

    Downtown Independent
    April 30, 2017 11:30 am


  13. Ghost Magnet Roach Motel

    Shinpei Takeda / Documentary Competition, Programmers' Picks / Germany, Japan, Mexico / 2016 / 70 mins
    The Punk Musical by artist Shinpei Takeda follows the off-stage life of 5 artists (2 American musicians, 2 Mexican artists and 1 Japanese filmmaker) of GHOST MAGNET ROACH MOTEL, a noise punkformance unit born in Tijuana, Mexico in their process of overcoming their psychological border. With a literally crashing border between Mexico and USA as the background, the protagonists confront each individual’s addictions while searching for an answer to their existential crises.

    Preceded by: A Doll’s Hug

    GHOST MAGNET ROACH MOTEL

    CGV Cinemas 2
    May 3, 2017 9:30 pm


  14. Hold Me (Ca Caw Ca Caw)

    Renee Zhan / Shorts Competition, Programmers' Picks / USA / 2016 / 11 mins
    HOLD ME (CA CAW CA CAW) is an 11 minute animated film about the troubled relationship between a large bird and a small boy. The film features hand-drawn 2D animation, as well as ink and watercolor painted backgrounds.
    Plays In:
    Wildest Imagination

    Tateuchi Democracy Forum
    April 29, 2017 7:00 pm


  15. I am JUPITER I am the BIGGEST PLANET

    Matthew Victor Pastor / Shorts Competition, Programmers' Picks / Australia, Philippines / 2016 / 14 mins
    Silence in the red light district of Manila.
    Plays In:
    Feminist AF

    CGV Cinemas 3
    May 1, 2017 9:00 pm