Shorts Collection:
From hate to hope
Saturday october 24, 2026
2:00 pM - 4:15 PM
Discrimination and prejudice can fuel hate speech and dangerous attacks against Asians in our communities. These films highlight the resilience, bravery, and strength of those who stand against hate—and show how courage and community can transform hate into hope.
A mother’s desire to make sense of a well-intentioned school play date results in an unfortunate chain reaction
Play Date was inspired by a true event at a local elementary school and briefly touches upon complex societal topics such as the nuances of the minority experience, internalized racism, the desire for community/safe spaces and the effect of anonymity on the Internet.
Play Date
In Joseph Ileto’s Eyes
“In Joseph Ileto’s Eyes” is a story about Joseph Ileto, a Filipino American postal worker tragically murdered by a white supremacist. Joseph's story is told through the voices of his brother, Ismael Ileto, and sister in law, Deena. Ismael reflects on Joseph’s life with tenderness and pride, describing him as a hardworking and humble man who took joy in simple routines like delivering mail and being present for his family. But grief and anger was followed by determination and resolve to honor Joseph’s memory by speaking out against violence and discrimination.
Invisibility and Rage: Asian Americans, Racial Trauma, Mental Health
Asian American artists, politicians, scholars, and mental health professionals express personal grief, frustration and anger triggered by the wave of Covid-19-related anti-Asian hate and violent attacks, and reckon with the invisible history and reality of AAPI raced-based trauma in a Western mental health system ill-equipped to deal with it.
Skin-Deep
In 2008, on the first day back from winter break, senior year, Abhirup, an Indian American teen desperate for an invite to the party of the year, has to drive his cousin to school. To win over the cool kids, he hides everything that marks him as different, even what his fresh tattoo really means.
Gilbert Gong - The Heart of Lincoln Square
CAAM Festival 2026
A neglected park in Oakland’s historic Chinatown becomes the unlikely stage for a neighborhood’s renewal as recreation director and local son Gilbert Gong rallies seniors, teens and children to confront growing fear and division by restoring safety, connection, and pride in their community.
On a scorching summer day, Shelly and her mom pull up to a gas station. When the gas station attendants refuse to serve them for looking “foreign,” Shelly’s mom refuses to leave. All the adults are soon yelling at each other in their different native languages. It feels like it’s up to Shelley to make the day go right. Set in 1985.
Somewhere to be
Q&A Panel
Moderator: David Mineta
David K. Mineta is currently Chief Executive Office at Alum Rock Counseling Center (ARCC),the small, but mighty nonprofit that has been providing academic, social, and mental health services for at-risk youth and families in east side San Jose. Mr. Mineta took on his role in Summer 2025, and in his short time, has made significant contributions to the agency’s community presence such as meeting with local leaders, building partnerships with businesses, schools, and local government.
Skin Deep
Writer/Director: Red Reddy
Sean Niu is a multidisciplinary filmmaker and photographer from Los Angeles, California. Sean graduated from UCLA with a MFA in Screenwriting. Sean also received his MBA from MIT and BSc from the LSE.
Sean’s screenplays have received numerous accolades —including winning “Best Hour-Long Pilot” and “Best Feature Adaptation” at UCLA’s annual MFA Showcase, and as a finalist in the Sundance Institute’s Development Track. His photography has been exhibited at the Griffin Museum of Photography and the Los Angeles Center of Photography, and featured in Musée Magazine.
Before filmmaking, Sean built products at MIT and Amazon in San Francisco and Tokyo that created alternate realities and helped computers see — now his stories address his anxieties for Asian Americans in a future he helped build. Sean volunteers as a board member and head of marketing for the 1990 Institute — a 501(c)(3) non-profit championing education on Asian American issues.
Adarsh Reddy (Red) is a Brooklyn-based South Asian American filmmaker whose work explores identity, assimilation, and the quiet costs of fitting in. He found a camcorder early and used it to document the stories of a childhood spent between cultures. His debut short Skin Deep premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Tasveer Film Festival and won Best Short at the 10th Indian World Film Festival.
In Joseph Ileto’s Eyes
Producer: Sean Niu
Gilbert Gong - The Heart of Lincoln Square
Director: J.P. Dorbin
J.P. Dobrin is a multiracial Korean American documentary filmmaker based in San Francisco, California. J.P.'s projects have revolved around themes of immigration, wealth disparity, and criminal justice, often portrayed through the experiences of ordinary individuals. Notably, he co-directed the Al Jazeera Witness documentary "Irse - Leaving Venezuela" in 2020, delving into the Venezuelan exodus by focusing on the narratives of two expectant women.
Ismael and Deena share how this tragedy turned an ordinary day into a lifelong wound for their family. But there was not only the grief and anger that followed but also the determination to honor Joseph’s memory by speaking out against violence and discrimination. Their voices anchor the story in resilience and remembrance, urging the community to carry forward Joseph’s legacy by standing against hate and fostering understanding.
This video is a joint collaboration between The 1990 Institute and The Asian American Education Project.
Ellina Yin is a first-gen Cambodian American social practice artist, activist, and entrepreneur who works at the intersection of art, technology, and lawmaking to reimagine the future of civic participation in local government. Ellina is the Founder & CEO of Only in San José (OSJ) a civic education and media organization transforming the City of San José’s practice of civic engagement by providing the people of San José with the knowledge, skills, resources, and confidence to create the change they wish to see in their communities.
In Joseph Ileto’s Eyes
Activists: Ismael and Deena Ileto
Play Date
Writer/Director/Actor: Chesi Ho
Moderator: ????
Chesi Ho is an actress, writer and filmmaker from Oakland, California. She miraculously embraced her love of performing while working as a pharmacist and raising her two young daughters. Playdate is her debut short film as a writer, director and actor.
Gilbert Gong - The Heart of Lincoln Square
Park Director: Gilbert Gong
Gilbert Gong grew up a latchkey kid at Oakland’s Lincoln Square Park while his parents ran a grocery store for over 40 years. A lifelong Oakland resident, Gilbert has been Director of Lincoln Square Recreation Center for 25+ years, creating programs, including scouting and volleyball, that connect generations and cultures. For children whose parents worked long hours, Lincoln became a surrogate family. Today, Gilbert nurtures a sense of belonging for Oakland’s multicultural community, where neighbors become family.
Invisibility and Rage: Asian Americans, Racial Trauma, Mental Health
Writer/Producer/Co-Director/Co-Editor: Kelly H Chong
Dr. Kelly H. Chong is an award-winning scholar of Asian American studies, Asian studies, race/ethnic studies, and gender; she is the author two books –Deliverance and Submission: Evangelicalism and the Negotiation of Patriarchy in Contemporary South Korea (Harvard 2008) and Love Across Borders: Asian Americans, Race, and the Politics of Intermarriage and Family-Making (Routledge 2021) -- and over three dozen articles. Kelly was a co-producer on the 2019 documentary AB and received Mid-America Arts Alliance Artistic Innovations (2016) and Art KC Artistic Innovations Award (2019).
Tim DePaepe has worked on a wide variety of genres: news, dramas, marketing, corporate videos, documentaries and award-winning shorts. He is a cinematographer on the indie film CSA that played at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Tim was the recipient of the 2016 Mid-America Arts Alliance Artistic Innovations Fellowship and the 2015 Arts-KC Artistic Innovations award for the documentary AB (2019), with Kelly Chong.
Invisibility and Rage: Asian Americans, Racial Trauma, and Mental Health
Co-Director/Co-Editor: Tim DePaepe
*Times, films, and guests are subject to change without notice.*