2025 Local Showcase - 2
Sunday, March 16th, 2025
Join us in celebrating the Short Films made by local Asian & Asian American filmmakers! This showcase features films and filmmakers you won't want to miss!
There will be Q&As after the showcase so you can get to know our local talent!
Q&A Following the Showcase with Moderator Stephanie Sunata!
Stephanie Sunata
Stephanie is a documentary filmmaker with over a decade of experience in the industry, whose primary focus is outreach and impact for social-issue documentaries. She specializes in using grassroots methods that transform films into engagement tools for positive change.
Born and raised in Colorado, Stephanie built her career at Kartemquin Films in Chicago, having recently moved back to her home state. She has worked across every phase of the filmmaking process, including development, production, post-production and distribution.
Recent collaborations include Laura Gabbert's latest film "Food and Country," “For the Left Hand” from Kartemquin Films, "Punch 9 For Harold Washington" from director Joe Winston, Lucia Small’s final film “Girl Talk,” and the award-winning “Subject.” She is also the acting director of the Colorado film non-profit Cine Fe, and is a co-founder of the Mountain Media Arts Collective — a new organization that seeks to uplift, support and amplify BIPoC mediamakers in the state.
Sunday, March 16th: 11AM - 1PM
Colorado Dragon Boat Festival Mini Documentary, directed by Bruce Tetsuya
Dive into the rich history and vibrant legacy of the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, which has been uniting communities and celebrating Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) cultures for 25 years. Through breathtaking footage of the dragon boat festival, heartfelt interviews with organizers and community leaders, and a deep exploration of the festival’s cultural impact, this film captures the spirit of tradition, resilience, and unity.
From its humble beginnings to becoming one of the largest dragon boat festivals in the country, this documentary highlights the dedication behind the event, the stories of those who keep it alive, and the powerful way it brings people together. As we mark this milestone anniversary, we reflect on the past and look toward the future of this beloved Colorado tradition.
Blossoms: A Sakura Square Film, directed by Bruce Tetsuya
A mixed family searches for meaning in a new city.
Film Maker: Bruce Tetsuya
Bruce Tetsuya is a Japanese filmmaker and father. His latest short films, Procession and End of Things have garnered international festival acclaim.
Bruce is also the founder of HOUSE OF KODO - a full service film production & creative marketing company.
If he’s not on set, you can find Bruce on the tennis court, making an espresso, or exploring new lands with his wife, son, and daughter. Bruce is currently in early pre-production stages for his first feature film.
Conversations Over Dinner, directed by Gabriella Marinace-Lee
Let's have a talk. Meet Sean Choi, a Korean immigrant who moved to America when he was only 11 years old without any parental accompaniment. Have a conversation with Sean as he takes us through his life story and explains how he has learned to channel his experiences and love for his culture into his current endeavors.
Film Maker: Gabriella Marinace-Lee
Gabriella Marinace-Lee is a Korean-American junior majoring in film at Denver School of the Arts. She specializes in writing, directing, and editing. Her directorial debut was Scholastic Silver Key winning project- ‘The Reiterative Reality of Rosemary Robinson’, an homage to Wes Anderson. It was awarded many accolades, including an acceptance into Newport Beach Film Festival and the Best Drama and Best Picture awards at The Colorful Colorado Film Festival for Youth. She aims for her movies to have a comforting yet impactful, emotionally resonant tone. Her favorite films feature deep characterization and psychoanalytic themes and she hopes to always create characters her audiences can love and understand. She hopes that in the future the film industry will have more women in leadership roles and plans to enter film professionally as an adult, she hopes you enjoy whatever of her work you may happen upon and thanks you for your time.
Desync, directed by Minerva Navasca
Ana, a young Filipina filmmaker, shoots a re-enactment of a fight she once had with her mother - a fight brought on by mutual refusals to communicate. Spurred on by the obsessive need for perfection, Ana “fixes” the fight by rewriting every veiled insult into a chance for forgiveness. As her perfect story diverges further from the reality of what happened, she begins to realize what her mom has been trying to say all along.
Film Maker: Minerva Navasca
Minerva Navasca is a Filipina-Canadian filmmaker focused on exploring stories of cultural dysphoria and girlhood with intimate specificity. She grounds her films in her own experiences, stating “I want to make films about subjects that make me uncomfortable”. And so, Minerva delves into perspectives steeped in anxiety and internalized shame, using the medium to interrogate the socio-political roots of these beliefs. In sharing these narratives openly, she hopes to stir empathetic discourse and self-compassion within audiences.
Her films have been showcased in respected festivals, such as BFI Future Film Festival, NFFTY, TIFF Next Wave & Yorkton Film Festival. She has also recently collaborated with Canada Walk of Fame and NBC Universal in their Future Storytellers program, an initiative celebrating diversity and inclusivity in media.
Rooted in Abundance: 25 Years of Pride, directed by Hannah Tran
“Rooted in Abundance: 25 Years of Pride” is a short documentary exploring the trajectory of the Pride Resource Center and LGBTQIA+ community at Colorado State University over the past 25 years. A wave of LGBTQIA+ centers opened on college campuses nationwide in the 1990s, coinciding with the AIDS epidemic and the murder of Matthew Shepard in an anti-gay hate crime. Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming, passed away in a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 7th, 1998. Following the testimonies of the center’s earliest days, the film delves into the reflections of recent CSU alumni, who emphasize the center’s profound impact on helping them succeed and graduate during their time as students.
Film Maker: Hannah Tran
Hannah Tran is a Vietnamese-American documentary filmmaker and former award-winning visual journalist from Denver, Colorado. Her previous work as a journalist and current work as a video producer for Colorado State University has earned national recognition, from the Telly Awards to the Asian American Journalists Association. Informed and inspired by her family’s experiences as refugees of the Vietnam War, Hannah’s recent work explores the preservation of culture and identity for those who have experienced displacement and diaspora. Additionally, Hannah works closely with the cultural centers at Colorado State University to produce videos featuring underrepresented students engaging in social critique and addressing systemic issues in their studies. Currently, Hannah is directing a film in collaboration with History Colorado and Colorado Asian Pacific United to highlight the stories and legacy behind Denver’s Little Saigon Business District.
Sound of Nangqên, directed by Dr. Jiayue Cecilia Wu & Chakme Rinpoche
Sound of Nangqên is an electroacoustic audiovisual composition that explores the interplay between sound, space, and culture, inspired by Tibet’s "Highland of Zen" in Nangqên County, Qinghai Province, China. Fully permitted, supported, and funded by the Nangqên County, the local monasteries, and the Tibetan people, this work immerses listeners in the region’s rich spiritual and cultural soundscape, integrating 20 gigabytes of field recordings—encompassing natural environments, local voices, folk songs, daily life, and traditional Tibetan instruments—with analog and digital electronic processing. Through both performance and cinematography, the piece highlights the esteemed Tibetan Buddhist community, capturing contemporary spiritual practices while showcasing the depth and beauty of its cultural arts. Real-time electronics and Tibetan soundscape collaboratively shape the musical structure, offering a dynamic interplay between organic and synthesized sound sources. The celletto serves as a Western sonic observer, complementing the novel orchestration of ancient Tibetan ritual instruments such as the dungchen, rol mo, damaru, and kangling. These elements are woven into a sonic and visual montage, creating a fusion of tradition and modernity that reflects the evolving Tibetan soundscape.
This work extends beyond documentation, engaging in a recontextualization process where ritual performances and individual instrumental recordings are restructured into an orchestral composition. By combining field recordings, electronic synthesis, and instrumental reinterpretation, Sound of Nangqên presents an innovative approach to sonic storytelling, encapsulating the transformation and preservation of Tibetan cultural identity in a rapidly changing world. This project is not a cultural appreciation, but an artistic and ethnographic exploration that demonstrates how technology can mediate and amplify the experience of deeply rooted cultural traditions, offering a meaningful connection for contemporary global audiences.
Film Maker: Dr. Jiayue Cecilia Wu
Dr. Jiayue Cecilia Wu (武小慈) is a scholar, composer, audio engineer, multimedia artist, and vocalist whose work explores the intersection of music, technology, and healing. Originally from Beijing, she blends Eastern philosophy with cutting-edge innovation to create immersive sonic experiences. With a background in Design and Engineering, Dr. Wu spent a decade as a composer, producer, and publisher with EMI Records and Universal Music Group before pursuing advanced research. She earned an M.A. in Music, Science, and Technology from Stanford University’s CCRMA and a Ph.D. in Media Arts and Technology from UC Santa Barbara. Since 2018, she has been an Assistant Professor and Graduate Program Director at the University of Colorado’s College of Arts and Media.
Her multimedia compositions, installations, and films—over 100 in total—have been exhibited at prestigious venues, including the National Museum of China, Denver Art Museum, IEEE, SEAMUS, ICMC, NIME, ISEA, and international film festivals in Berlin, London, Seoul, and Toronto. A U.S. National Academy of Sciences Sackler Fellow, she has received grants and awards from AES, Stanford, and the California State Assembly.
Dr. Wu is a leading advocate for diversity in music technology, serving as President of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction (ATMI), Board Governor and DEI Committee chair of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), as well as Board Director-at-Large of International Computer Music Association. Her book Sound from Within: Phenomenology and Practice (Springer Nature, 2021) explores the healing potential of sound. She regularly lectures at R1 universities and leads global Embodied Sonic Meditation workshops, redefining the relationship between sound, science, and human experience.
Film Maker: Chakme Rinpoche
Chakme Rinpoche, the ninth incarnation of Karma Chakme, is a Tibetan filmmaker and artist who seamlessly integrates his spiritual heritage into his creative work. Born in Kham in the 1970s and immersed in a monastic environment, he developed a deep appreciation for traditional Tibetan arts, including Mandala and Thangka painting. Early exposure to the Mask Dance of Deities and Tibetan opera ignited his passion for performance arts. Recognizing cinema’s power to convey profound narratives, he began screening films for his community and experimenting with digital video, paving the way for his filmmaking career.
In 2014, Chakme Rinpoche made his directorial debut with Ata, a drama exploring the tension between tradition and modernity in Tibetan society. The film, praised for its meticulous craftsmanship, drew comparisons to the works of Bresson and Ozu for its delicate storytelling and masterful use of sound. In 2022, he directed Georgia, further blending spiritual themes with contemporary narratives, collaborating with actors Wang Ning and Zhiya Qiao.
Beyond filmmaking, Chakme Rinpoche champions the arts as a means to foster love, compassion, and harmony among all beings. He believes art serves as a bridge for understanding between people, animals, and the environment. His unique fusion of spiritual depth and artistic expression continues to inspire global audiences, offering a window into Tibetan culture and the universal quest for meaning.
Taiwan Portraits (Chapters 1, 2, 3, & 6), directed by Jem Moore
“Taiwan Portraits” - This documentary reveals the intimate portraits of six very different people, who share a commitment to living life in Taiwan on their own terms. From a painter who started her own vegetarian restaurant in the hills, to the Woody Guthrie of Taiwan singing protest songs and winning top musical awards, to the last living movie poster painter in Taiwan, these portraits convey a sense of the daily life and culture of this small, but thriving, island democracy. At CDBFF, we will share four of the six stories.
“All Beautiful Theater”: There is a seasoned movie theater, sixty years old, that was the place a young Ang Lee (Oscar-winning director of "Life of Pi") would go to, and be inspired by, movies. The theater is called “Chuang Mei” (All Beautiful) and now it is a second-run theater, providing an inexpensive alternative to the chain theaters in town. See If you can tell what this theater smells like while watching the owner tell it’s history
“Balance”: In the foothills near the southern Taiwan city of Tainan lives a woman carving her own path. Going by “Mountain Zen”, she is an artist who lives her art in every way. Besides the studio where she creates and showcases her pieces, she also runs a vegetarian restaurant that stands as a piece of art itself. Calm, welcoming, and intensely creative, this is her story.
“Tainan Tinker”: In Tainan, about once a month, the knife sharpener passes by in his three-wheel cart. He calls out, much like the ice cream man, advertising his wares. He has done this for a lifetime.
“The Last Movie Poster Painter of Taiwan”: When movies first came to Taiwan, studios wouldn’t send thousands of posters. Instead, painters would create massive billboards by hand, every week. Now there is only one of these painters left, and each week he creates billboards for Chuang Mei Theater.
Film Maker: Jem Moore
Award-winning director Jem Moore has more than 100 short films, music videos, and documentaries to his credit, and has had his feature documentaries screened at festivals throughout the USA, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia. He is the co-founder of Cloudgate Studios, a full-service video production company. After a long and successful career as a musician, with 15 albums and performances at the largest folk festivals and acoustic venues in North America, he moved on to a career in aviation, first as an airline pilot, then as a private jet pilot in Asia. Now living in the mountains of Colorado, he has recently published a children’s book that has been garnering rave revues and a book of poetry that has not. In his spare time he loves to hike, hang glide, play Irish flute, and drink sake.
Queen of Heart, A Dark Comedy based on Real Events, directed by Roma Sur
Queen of Heart is the story of TIA SANYAL, the daughter-in-law of an upscale Asian immigrant family living in the United States. Tia is stuck in a dead marriage and kicked out of her own bedroom. The Sanyals are mercenary, unscrupulous and abusive in a ‘sophisticated’ way. Despite the affluence and elite status, their views are selectively archaic. They are also chronic hoarders. They have an abnormal attachment to all material possessions. Everything revolves around protecting the precarious Sanyal image. The only law they follow is the ‘Sanyal law’. Tia is successful and vocal at work, but voiceless at home. She is married to RISHI SANYAL, an unemployed man-child, who follows the rules set by his mother, RINKU SANYAL, who has the strings in her hand. Beneath the layers of Tia’s thick make-up lie deep secrets that are tucked away inside the walls of the Sanyal house. Until one day, when Tia decides to get back on her own terms and turn Sanyalism on its head.
Film Maker: Roma Sur
Roma Sur is a filmmaker and faculty member at Film and Television program at the University of Colorado, Denver. She came to the US in 2000 and received her Master's degree in Film and Video production with a focus on Screenwriting - at the University of Denver. Her works have been screened at festivals globally, and broadcast nationally on NDTV, India. Her recent documentary, Changing Tides, aired on PBS in November 2019. In 2019, her documentary Three Worlds One Stage, produced in collaboration with her colleague, Jessica McGaugh, premiered at the Dragon Film Festival. Roma leads 'Bollywood Connections,' the Film and Television program's study abroad program to Bollywood, Mumbai. Currently, Roma is producing her short documentary titled Ma and her feature length narrative fiction, The Rock Within, which was a second rounder at Sundance.
To see select works, please visit her website: