Welcome
August 31, 2026
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If we’re to believe the headlines, the movies are back! Everyone’s favorite Hollywood narrative of 2026 has been that the theatrical business is flourishing thanks to surprise blockbusters like Obsession and Backrooms, whose wunderkind directors injected the market with originality and youth. Curry Barker, Kane Parsons, and even Christopher Nolan, whose Odyssey exploded expectations, became the faces of Hollywood’s rebirth. Throw in Ryan Gosling from Project Hail Mary. Hollywood loves a savior story – especially when white male heroes are doing the saving.
Now, I’m not here to squash any enthusiasm for the theatrical experience. Because there’s no reason to. The movies and movie theaters have long been back at the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Our audiences segued quickly from pandemic online fests to sell-out crowds with the fever of a community that knows that in-person festivals are the only way to get that specific fix to feed the soul.
So welcome back to the audiences who have known all along that the biggest screens bring the rowdiest spectacles and loudest group guffaws. (Don’t miss ARRESTED MEMORY or THE SPECIALS!) Or that silence is magnified in an auditorium. (Listen in on DUST or HEARING.) Or that there’s nothing like collective tears to feel connected with neighbors. (Bring tissues, for you or a stranger, to IN WAVES and LOOK BACK.) We save each other here at SDAFF, and there’s no time like 2026 to look out for our community.
– Brian Hu, Artistic Director
