The Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival returns for its 19th year starting Nov. 5, bringing 73 films over 10 days to venues across the city — documentaries, shorts, international selections, local work and even a horror block. But the festival's financial scramble came earlier: organizers had set a $150,000 fundraising goal with a March 1 deadline.
Opening Night Honors a Philadelphia Activist
The festival opens with the world premiere of “Kiyoshi,” according to 6abc Philadelphia. The documentary, from out gay director Glenn Holsten, spotlights the life of Philadelphia-based queer HIV/AIDS and civil rights activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya. The screening is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 5, at 6:30 p.m. in the Graham Auditorium at Moore College of Art & Design on Race Street, per Metro Philadelphia. Kuromiya co-founded the Gay Liberation Front and started the Philadelphia chapter of ACT-UP, as epgn.com notes in its coverage of the festival's LGBTQ+ programming.
The film's broader project has already pulled in community gatherings that bring together queer, Black and Asian American activists alongside Philadelphia-area media producers and Japanese Americans, according to the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. That communal framing threads through much of this year's slate, which organizers say carries a migration theme — following how stories move between continents and generations.
Centerpiece Film and a Packed Premiere Slate
Alongside “Kiyoshi,” the festival's centerpiece film is “Sgt. Haane,” which organizers describe as a war movie unlike any audiences have seen before. The 2026 lineup includes five world premieres in all. PAAFF creative director Joseph Carranza said Asian filmmakers trust the festival to showcase their work and premiere it to the world, and festival participants have emphasized the importance of representation for future generations, per 6abc's reporting.
The festival's LGBTQ+ offerings extend beyond opening night. Seven shorts make up the “See Me” program, scheduled for Nov. 16 at noon at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, according to the same epgn.com report.
Danny Chung Honored, Eagles Game on Deck
Philadelphia native Danny Chung, who appeared in “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” is part of the 19th edition. Chung, an Eagles fan, is set to sit down for a conversation with 6abc's Nydia Han at Asian Arts Initiative on Nov. 7. Carranza said the conversation is expected to precede Chung's attendance at an Eagles game the following day.
A Growing Festival Facing a Financial Cliff
The growth behind this year's expanded slate has been real: the festival's audience jumped 200% during its 2024 edition, according to WHYY. Last year's festival, PAAFF's 18th, ran Nov. 6-16, 2025 and featured more than 80 films with five world premieres, three international premieres, two North American premieres, five U.S. premieres, seven East Coast premieres and 48 Philadelphia premieres, per Wooder Ice. That 2025 edition's programming highlighted a mix of LGBTQ+, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, Southeast Asian, and Palestinian stories.
Yet that momentum had collided with a budget crisis. Organizers had set a $150,000 fundraising goal with a March 1 deadline, and 6abc reports that organizers attribute the funding shortfall to recent rollbacks in DEI initiatives that have directly affected their ability to secure funding. WHYY reports that the foundation's public fundraising campaign had generated only about 10% of that $150,000 goal at the time of its reporting, and executive director Nani Shin said the foundation has less than six months of cash reserves to pay for operations.
Despite the strain, PAAFF has been working to expand beyond its fall festival. The organization has said it plans to develop regular, annual programming outside the fall event, especially in May — building on its second annual Spring Showcase, held May 30, 2026, to cap AANHPI Heritage Month with a day of screenings and filmmaker discussions, according to the organization's event page. The nonprofit has grown considerably since its early days as a three-day event screening around 30 films and shorts before evolving into the current 10-day annual fall festival, per The Philadelphia Citizen. Accounts differ on exactly when the festival became an independent nonprofit — WHYY reports it happened in 2025, while The Philadelphia Citizen states the organization became an independent 501(c)(3) at the end of 2024.
Tickets and the full event schedule for the 19th Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, running Nov. 5 through Nov. 15, are available on PAAFF's website.
