The San Diego Asian Film Festival returns next month with its biggest lineup in 27 years, screening 190 films from more than 30 countries at venues including a Mission Valley multiplex and a brand-new gallery space in La Jolla. The 10-day event kicks off Thursday, November 5, 2026, and features the largest lineup in the festival's history.
According to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News, the festival opens with In Waves, an animated film from director Phuong Mai Nguyen that follows Southern California surfing and skateboarding culture intertwined with a budding romance. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and is set to stream on Netflix in December 2026. The festival's closing selection, Ba's Book, will make its U.S. premiere at SDAFF after screening at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, the outlet reports.
Pacific Arts Movement, the nonprofit behind the festival, is presenting this year's slate under longtime artistic director Brian Hu. Hu serves as the festival's artistic director. Under his direction, the festival has grown into the largest showcase of Asian and Pacific Islander cinema in the western United States.
Auteurs and Festival Favorites Fill Out the Slate
This year's program pulls selections straight from the autumn festival circuit, including new works by Palme d'Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda, Oscar winner Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and Filipino auteur Lav Diaz. Two Sundance favorites, Bedford Park and Take Me Home, also won accolades at that festival before heading to San Diego, per FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. The lineup rounds out with restored classics, short films, and work from internationally recognized directors spanning 30 languages.
Beyond the marquee premieres, SDAFF has built a reputation for competition and recognition. The festival hands out cash prizes across feature and short categories, including the Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award, and Emerging Filmmaker Award, with 2026 winners selected by an independent jury panel, according to FilmFreeway. Per FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News, the festival will announce its award winners on November 7, 2026, during a ceremony at UC San Diego Park and Market running from 5 to 10 p.m.
Screenings Spread From Mission Valley to La Jolla
Festival screenings will take place at venues including UltraStar Cinemas Mission Valley, AMC UTC 14, and the San Diego Natural History Museum, the outlet notes. New this year is a satellite venue at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla, which will host two rotating short film gallery exhibitions throughout the 10-day run, according to Pacific Arts Movement. The MCASD space offers hourly downstairs gallery screenings accessible to both museumgoers and festival passholders.
Ticket options range widely. An All-Fest Pass covering every film and event costs $325 for general admission or $215 for Pacific Arts Movement members, while individual tickets run $15 general and $12 for members, FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News reports. A six-ticket festival pack is also available for $75.
Pacific Arts Movement's Festival and Programs
Pacific Arts Movement is a media arts nonprofit.
Pacific Arts Movement presents its flagship fall festival and a spring showcase. The organization also presented the SDAFF Spring Showcase in April 2026, a three-day weekend of film favorites and popular Asian and diaspora releases at UltraStar Cinemas Mission Valley, according to Vanguard Culture.
Locally, Pacific Arts Movement also runs Reel Voices, a program created in 2005 that gives San Diego-area high school students an intensive eight-week summer documentary filmmaking workshop along with $500 scholarships. Their original short films premiere at the festival each November, according to Pacific Arts Movement, which notes the program trains young storytellers whose work is subsequently screened at festivals nationwide. With 190 films across multiple venues over 10 days, the festival is San Diego's largest film festival heading into its November run.
