Shorts Collection:
Healing through Connection
Sunday October 25, 2026
11:00 AM - 1:30 PM
Whether through the kindness of a stranger, the support of friends, or the connection of community, these stories show how we find the strength to heal, the courage to rebuild, and the hope to carry on.
The last remaining South Vietnamese naval officers reunite in California for what will likely be the final time, finding solace with the few people who understand the complexities that shape their life histories.
Sea Song
When the Eaton Fire destroyed thousands of homes in Altadena, one Korean family’s restaurant survived, though they lost their own home. Supported by their community and organizations, they turned their parking lot into a distribution center, providing meals and clothing to those in need.
Light on a hill
Linh is a healthy and successful 26 year old who is forced to face her past traumas when she learns her ex-abuser got engaged. As she spirals and reaches her breaking point, she struggles to rely on her best friends and loving boyfriend for support. F*CK FEELINGS paints the importance of consent and that healing is not linear.
F*CK FEELINGS
Initiation follows Jay, a young man with a stutter who, frustrated by limited opportunities and desperate to prove himself, agrees to an initiation into a local gang. His task seems simple: rob a taco truck. But when the robbery spirals out of control, Jay is forced to confront how far he’s willing to go for acceptance—and whether the life he’s trying to enter will actually give him the future he wants.
Initiation
Bridging our stories
When the last Filipino community center in Ketchikan, Alaska, becomes just a memory, a 50-year-old Filipina who spent her life resisting her heritage travels to the Philippines to rediscover her roots, preserving her community’s disappearing culture and teaching indigenous Filipino dances.
A year after her father’s funeral, a Korean American daughter returns home for the first time, only to find her immigrant mother has erased every trace of his presence and chosen faith over memory. Embrace was an Official Selection of the 2026 Dallas International Film Festival, an Academy Award-qualifying festival, and screened at the 2026 Wyoming International Film Festival and Glendale International Film Festival.
Embrace
Q&A Panel
*Times, films, and guests are subject to change without notice.*
Moderator: Dr. Yvonne Kwan
Dr. Yvonne Kwan is an Associate Professor of Asian American Studies at San Jose State. She teaches classes in Asian American History and Politics, Southeast Asian Diaspora, Asian American Representation and Popular Culture, Asian American Communities, and Quantitative Methods. Dr. Kwan serves as the Chair of the CSU-wide Asian American Studies Caucus and is a statewide representative of the CSU Council of Ethnic Studies. She also authored the proposal for an Asian American Studies BA at SJSU.
Initiation
Writer/Director: Joshua Shah
Joshua A. Shah is a filmmaker from Fremont, California. Earning his B.A. in Psychology in 2017 and M.S. in Speech Therapy in May 2024, he’s become inspired to bring the narratives of individuals with communication challenges to the silver screen. He is dedicated to crafting these stories with both accuracy and creativity, challenging the current media landscape with empathetic storytelling.
Light on a Hill
Director: Myles Matsuno
Myles Matsuno is a Los Angeles–born filmmaker who tells emotionally driven, visually rich stories about resilience, family, and community. Drawing from a mixed Japanese and Mexican background, he focuses on developing meaningful narratives that carry strong messages through visual aesthetics. His award-winning work includes the feature Christmas in July and the documentary First to Go: Story of the Kataoka Family, which chronicles his family's World War II incarceration and is distributed by New Day Films.
Embrace
Director: Youil Kim
Youil Kim is a Korean filmmaker based in Los Angeles, working as a director, producer, and editor. He explores social issues and how they shape individual lives and relationships. He worked across music videos, documentaries, and commercial productions in South Korea. While working at the National Assembly of South Korea, he documented stories and events related to labor, forced evictions, disability rights, refugees, LGBTQ+ communities, and other social issues. These experiences shape his approach to filmmaking and his interest in how broader social and institutional realities are experienced on a personal level. He exploring different approaches to storytelling through image, rhythm, and performance.
Bridging Our Stories
Writer/Director: Rafael Bitanga
Rafael Bitanga is a Filipino documentary filmmaker who grew up in Kodiak, Alaska, where his parents processed seafood in the island's canneries. At age six, he picked up his mom's camera to capture his older sister during a dance performance in the Philippines, an early spark that came into focus years later. Rafael’s films examine how place, displacement, and resource extraction shape the communities who carry their costs, and he works to keep those stories in the hands of the people who lived them. As a 2024 Center for Asian American Media Fellow, Rafael received mentorship from Emmy-award-winning filmmaker, Tadashi Nakamura.
F*CK FEELINGS
Writer/Director: Samantha K. Tan
SAMANTHA K. TAN makes her directorial debut with F*CK FEELINGS at the Academy Award and BAFTA Qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival. She co-created the 2022 Sundance x TAAF Fellowship dramedy Ambitious. Samantha also produced Pilotos de Papel, sponsored by Netflix and LFI; co-produced Tree’s Blood with Paramount Nickelodeon Animation and executive producer Evan Goldberg; and assistant produced Expanding Sanctuary, winner of a 2026 Mid-Atlantic Emmy. As a Vietnamese-Chinese-American filmmaker, Samantha is committed to creating thought-provoking narratives that celebrate cultural identity and elevate BIPOC voices.
Initiation
Actor: Preston Yeung
Preston Yeung is an Actor, Director, Producer, and Editor known for Hard Redemption featuring Lou Ferrigno, Wang Ben/Ou Hon in Kingdom, and as a Media Engineer for Star Wars: Rogue One. He has been learning Japanese since middle school. He has appeared on a Japanese television show called The World’s Astonishing News! and was the lead in Swingposium, an experiential play about the resilience of the Japanese American spirit through WWII internment. He’s actively producing feature films and animation.