Welcome to Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

May is AAPI Heritage Month (Federal Asian Pacific American Council - Resource Center) and WIFSFBA would like to celebrate by highlighting AAPI women filmmakers and film events in the Bay Area! 

Also, check out the following resources:

For San Francisco AAPI celebration events: Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage

Daly City & greater San Francisco Bay Area AAPI culture celebration events: Over the Fog

Center for Asian American Media CAAMFest 2025

When: May 8-11th, 2025

Where: Bay Area theaters, Asian Art Museum San Francisco

“This year, CAAMFest reflects on the histories that have shaped our present. In this pressing moment, as diversity and funding in education and the arts are being threatened, it is more vital than ever to share stories and learn from each others’ experiences. CAAMFest 2025 honors our inheritance of CAAM’s four decades-long legacy of community-based media and the power of film to bring together seemingly disparate communities. By leaning into the triumphs, shortcomings, and complexities that define all of us, we move forward together. 

As the festival returns to San Francisco Japantown, we are reminded of the enduring impact of place and memory. The combination of American and international films included in this year’s program invite us to contemplate the origins and bounds of Asian America, while shining a spotlight on movement-building within and beyond the United States. The program also commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, a crucial chapter of history whose ongoing legacy illustrates the inextricable entanglement between American, Asian American, and Southeast Asian communities. 

CAAMFest 2025 wraps up on Mother’s Day, with dedicated events that highlight the strength and visionary artistry of Asian American women. Honoring ‘mothering’ also includes celebrating the nurturing of community and pioneering of aesthetics. Thus, we reflect on the contributions of Asian American women’s work while looking to the future of storytelling.”

MORE INFO: CAAM Fest 2025

Asian Art Museum

When: Events throughout May

Where: Asian Art Museum, Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture, 200 Larkin St., San Francisco, CA 94102

“Celebrated in May, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month recognizes and honors the contributions, achievements, and influence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans (AAPI) who have shaped the culture and history of the United States. In light of the recent increase of violence and discrimination against AAPI communities, the annual celebration takes on even more importance.

AAPI Heritage Month began in 1978 as a weeklong celebration and in 1992 May was permanently designated as the commemorative month. The month of May was chosen to memorialize the arrival of the first known Japanese immigrant to the U.S. on May 7, 1843, and to honor the completion of the transcontinental railroad — built by as many as 20,000 Chinese workers — on May 10, 1869. 

The Asian Art Museum is dedicated year-round to uplifting the voices and experiences of the AAPI community and providing a platform for visibility, representation, and cross-cultural connection. Each May, we are honored to commemorate AAPI Heritage Month with programming that celebrates AAPI histories and cultures, builds empathy and understanding, and fights xenophobia, prejudice, and discrimination. We believe that engaging with Asian art and cultures in their many forms has the ability to educate, spark creativity, foster dialogue, connect people, and, ultimately, create change.

See below for ways to honor AAPI Heritage Month, from talks, performances, and cooking demonstrations to art activities for the whole family and lesson plans for parents and teachers. You’ll also find information on ways to support the AAPI community and stop anti-Asian hate.

 The museum celebrates cultures from across Asia all year long. Learn more about our other Cultural Celebrations.”

MORE INFO: Asian Art Museum AAPI Heritage Month

WIFSFBA Virtual Networking Night

Script Incubator News

Our May monthly Table Read will be on Monday May 19th from 7-9pm PDT. This time, we will be featuring a full feature screenplay, read by talented actors from the Bay Area and beyond. No homework! Just show up! And all participants are encouraged to give feedback.

If you have any questions about the table-read or would like to reserve a spot for your script at the next meeting, feel free to contact Carol Hall at bod-admin@wifsfba.org with “Script Incubator” in the subject line.

WIFSFBA East Bay Meetup

Where: Crepe Pan, 4184 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611 www.thecrepepan.com

When: third Tuesday of the month, 6:30-8:00pm

WIFSFBA members (Beth Barany, Amy Boyd, and Brooke Vlasich) have organized an East Bay meet-n-greet -- an Oakland WIFSFBA hub. Ideally, we'll meet monthly on the third Tuesday of the month. Keep an eye out on WIFchat! We'll connect, get to know each other, and drink iced tea!

** Yes, bring your non-WIF members friends.

Monthly Filmmaker Mixer

When:  Wednesday May 14th, 8:00 PM - midnight
Where: The Hub, 2650 Broadway, Redwood City, CA 94063

“For filmmakers & film lovers! Come meet others in the film industry & enjoy some networking, screenings (with the filmmakers present) & more. We do plan further film industry events in the future, so please follow us here or on Instagram (@TheHubRWC).

Second Wednesday of every month from 8 p.m. until around midnight. If you're a filmmaker & you have short films/trailers/music videos etc you'd like to showcase, let us know! If you’d like to show your short or trailer, email Claire@thehubrwc.com

There's plenty of parking out the back in Perry St Lot (free parking from 8 p.m.) or the Redwood City Caltrain station is only a few minute's walk.

21+ only due to our liquor license (sorry, it's the law!), only food & beverages purchased at The Hub may be consumed on the premises.”

Register here: Filmmaker Event Facebook page

Become a Dual Member of WIFSFBA & New York Women in Film and Television

New York Women In Film and Television (NYWIFT) is offering dual membership to WIFSFBA members. If you are a WIFSFBA member in good standing, you may purchase a NYWIFT Industry Level membership for $100 (plus a $50 initiation fee), a saving of 50% off the normal $200 membership. Membership in NYWIFT includes:

• Online and in-person networking and learning events

• Marketing Creative Talent in weekly e-blast, Twitter, and Members in the News Webpage

• Advanced Screenings

• Online Member Center

• Benefits Program

• Fiscal Sponsorship

• Affinity Groups and Committees

• Electronic Copies of NYWIFT Publications

• One Member-Price Ticket to the NYWIFT Muse Awards

Email bod-admin@wifsfba.org to get the dual membership form emailed to you. Please use subject line “NYWIFT dual membership.” Download and fill out form. Applications may be emailed or snail mailed to the addresses inside the application. If you have any questions, please email membership@nywift.org or call 212 679-0870 x 31.

The new 2025 IMDbPro discount code for 30% off an annual or monthly membership is available if you are a WIFSFBA member. Please email bod-admin@wifsfba.org with “IMDBPro discount” in the subject line for the code.

To redeem the code, users must go to IMDbpro.com/redeem, enter the promo code and log in. Please note offers may not be combined and entering a new promo code will override any lesser discount that has been applied to your account. Promotional discounts will be applied at the start of your next billing cycle. This offer is limited to members only and is non-transferable.

Filmmaker Kristin Tieche's The Invisible Mammal will have its World Premier May 3rd at DocLands

“The Invisible Mammal, a new feature documentary produced and directed by Bay Area filmmaker Kristin Tièche, will world premiere at DocLands Documentary Film Festival at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, CA. The film was also chosen to screen as a part of California Film Institute's education program during the festival.

The Invisible Mammal tells the captivating story of a dedicated team of women scientists as they strive to protect North America's bats against a deadly disease rapidly spreading across the continent. The film, directed by San Francisco based filmmaker Kristin Tièche, produced by Matthew Podolsky (Sea of Shadows), Holly Mosher (Vanishing of the Bees) and Windy Borman (Mary Janes: The Women of Weed) and edited by Heidi Zimmerman (Black Barbie) follows a team of women bat biologists into underground habitats as they work to save a rapidly disappearing species: the little brown bat. The film’s cast of women scientists include UC Santa Cruz researcher/chief Scientist of Bat Conservation International Dr. Winifred Frick, founder of NorCal Bats Corky Quirk of Davis, CA and Dr. Alice Chung-MacCoubrey of the National Park Service. Film crew and cast will be in attendance for Q&A.

Director Kristin Tièche turns her lens on the female scientists racing to save North American bats from extinction. The documentary follows Dr. Frick’s research on white-nose syndrome, a fungal pathogen that has caused catastrophic declines of bats over the past two decades across North America. The fungus was first detected in Northern California in 2018. Because of lingering negative attitudes about bats in our culture, Tièche emphasizes the importance of education and awareness: "Bats are an important keystone species. If we lose bats, our whole ecosystem will be knocked out of balance. Once people see how amazing bats are, they lose any fear they once had and want to know how to help, especially when many species are at risk of extinction." Coincidentally, a colony of bats recently took roost at Smith Rafael Film Center, but have since been safely evacuated. Tièche believes her film will help viewers better understand bats and the important role they play in our shared ecosystem.

Initially, the filmmaking team behind The Invisible Mammal set out to document efforts to prevent the extinction of bat species in North America, but when the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world in 2020, a shift in strategy was required. The scope of the film’s story was expanded to include the connection between bats and COVID, and how research on bats’ super-immunity could help prevent another global pandemic.

The Invisible Mammal team is working with Bat Conservation International to develop an impact campaign encouraging viewers to take several actions: from supporting the work of bat conservation scientists, organizing local bat viewings and planting bat friendly gardens. Beyond being a fascinating look at amazing women working on the frontline of extinction prevention, The Invisible Mammal is a call to action for everyday people to get involved in ecological solutions.  

Kristin Tièche, who grew up in Mill Valley and graduated from Tamalpais High School, cites attending the Mill Valley Film Festival as part of the reason she pursued a career in film: “I always loved early October when the little town of Mill Valley became the center of the independent filmmaking world, and I got to see films from all over the world that I would otherwise never get a chance to see. Those films inspired me to tell my own stories and share my films at festivals. Sharing my work with my community recharges me as a filmmaker.”

Tickets to The Invisible Mammal are on sale now. Click here for more information on the film, and here for the trailer.”

San Francisco is More Than Just a Backdrop in Elena Oxman's Directorial Feature Debut Outerlands 

Outerlands is the perfect title for the indie drama written and directed by former San Francisco resident Elena Oxman. The word can mean several things – literally and thematically – in the context of a film about how people cope, connect, escape and heal.

First of all, most of the scenes are shot at locations that have been referred to as the “Outerlands” of the City, specifically the Outer Richmond and Outer Sunset neighborhoods.

“It’s where I lived when I first moved to San Francisco in 2011,” Oxman, 47, said. “It isn’t a part of the city you usually see on film. I really like to explore landscape and place. It just seeps into you. I fell in love with the rag-tag bars and corner stores that line Geary Boulevard, the beauty of its faded apartment buildings and the graffitied walls lining Ocean Beach.”

Oxman, who has worked on both documentary and fictional films, is making her full-length, narrative feature debut. With Outerlands, she developed San Francisco as a character. Some of the more than 35 locations (shot in March and April of 2024) include the grand façade of the Sunset Branch Library, Star of the Sea Catholic Church and the Balboa Theater (where the marquee serendipitously displays the noir classic Out of the Past). “I didn’t know it was going to be there,” she said.

The film, which had its world premiere at the SXSW (South by Southwest) Film Festival in March (with three well-received screenings) and was the closing night selection on April 27th at the SFFILM Festival, focuses on people living on the societal and economic fringe. They can’t keep up with the gentrification of San Francisco.

Cass, a non-binary character on a transition journey, is played by non-binary actor Asia Kate Dillon (best known as Taylor in the Showtime series, Billions), who is currently taking testosterone. That real-life scenario is nimbly woven into the Outerlands story.

Struggling to make ends meet in a gig economy, Cass works as a server at an upscale restaurant, is a nanny to two children from an affluent family and is an occasional party drug dealer. Most nights, they prefer to drink alone in their tiny, dingy Outer Richmond apartment until passing out.

Cass, who has a one-night stand with restaurant co-worker Kalli, played by Louisa Krause of the series The Girlfriend Experience and the 2023 film, Maggie Moore(s), agrees to watch Kalli’s 11-year-old daughter, Ari (Ridley Asha Batemen), while Kalli travels out of town to supposedly work. But Kalli goes MIA for several days. While Cass develops a bond with Ari (initially finding common ground through a love of video games), the situation causes childhood abandonment trauma to resurface for the stoic Cass.

“I wrote the character with Asia in mind. I’ve followed their career. I felt very lucky to get Asia,” Oxman said. “I knew they could bring the kind of subtlety and depth that was needed for a character who doesn’t say much, but has emotion constantly brimming beneath the surface.”

Yale University graduate Oxman, who currently lives in Massachusetts, was eager to explore addiction as a theme in the movie, having had her own entanglement with alcohol in the past. “It doesn’t have to be drugs. It could be games or the phone,” she said. “Part of human nature in wanting to escape. The character finds that alcohol works for a while, until it doesn’t.”

Two pivotal scenes were shot at Ocean Beach, including at storied Kelly’s Cove (near the Cliff House), known as a counterculture hangout, where Cass has to take a long look at the trajectory of their life. “Ocean Beach has such a specific quality. There’s something spiritual about water and waves,” Oxman said. “Something there feels connected to Cass’s spiritual journey.”

Outerlands has been invited to several film festivals, including Boston’s Wicked Queer festival in early April and the Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival in Toronto, May 23-June 1. The feedback has been positive from festival goers and reviewers, yet the film has not yet landed a U.S. distribution deal. Rome-based Coccinelle Film Sales has acquired the international distribution rights following SXSW and will be promoting it at the Cannes Film Festival marketplace, May 13-24.

“What we hear over and over is that people like that it is about a queer character, but it’s not about

being queer,” Oxman said. “I’m glad to know there’s an audience for a film like ours. We trust it’s going to find its proper home.”

MORE INFO: SFFILM Outerlands

DocLands Documentary Film Festival

APR 30- MAY 4, Smith Rafael Film Center (San Rafael, CA)

Ticket prices:  $9 - $18.50

We are excited to be a Community Partner this year for DocLands Documentary Film Festival, presented by CAFILM.  Hope you’ll join us at the festival on a journey to discover, connect, and celebrate the power of documentary cinema.

Check out the program and get tickets here

The Women's Film Festival

The Women’s Film Festival

Late Submission deadline: May 16, 2025

Submission Fee:  $15-$45

“The annual Women’s Film Festival will be held in Philadelphia September 18-28. It showcases, celebrates, and elevates film and television work made by, and/or about, women and self-identifying women.  Please submit work with a strong female role in one of these categories: Director, Producer, Writer, Director of Photography, Editor, Lead Actress.

Submission Categories:

Full-Length Narrative -- 40+ minutes long

Full-Length Documentary -- 40+ minutes long

Short Narrative -- Less than 40 minutes long

Short Documentary -- Less than 40 minutes long”

MORE INFO: Women's Film Festival

Imagine This Women's International Film Festival 2025

Accepting feature screenplays, short scripts and TV pilots
Extended Deadline:  June 16th, 2025
Fees:  $77.00 - $95.00

"Imagine This Women's International Film Festival (ITWIFF) is dedicated to amplifying and empowering independent and aspiring women filmmakers globally. Our festival is a vibrant celebration of diversity, actively promoting equal opportunities for BIPOC women and the LGBTQIA+ community. We provide a significant platform for women to showcase their writing talents, fostering an environment that encourages creative expression. Committed to creating a robust platform, ITWIFF aims to build a community that not only recognizes but also champions the diverse voices of women in the film industry.

Now in its 6th year, seize the opportunity to have your screenplay reviewed by industry professionals and be a part of this global movement."

MORE INFO: Imagine This Women's FF

Competition Deadlines:

Feature Screenplay
Late Deadline: 5/27/25 – $90

Short Screenplay & Teleplay
Late Deadline: 5/27/25 – $75

“For thirty years, Austin Film Festival has been catapulting writers into life-changing careers. With one of the most noteworthy competitions among Hollywood tastemakers, AFF consistently yanks newcomers from the isolation of their desks and ushers them into the bustling world of film and televisions  Whether your dream is to sign a contract, land an agent, learn from an industry icon, or take home the coveted Bronze Typewriter Award, it’s simple: you can’t win if you don’t enter.”

Submit Here: AFF Screenplay & Teleplay Competition

Regular Deadline:  July 15, 2025

This festival “invites women-identified screenwriters to submit short screenplays (20 minutes/pages and under) to CinemaStreet Pictures for production consideration. The winning screenwriter will receive $1,000 for the option to produce the film.  Screenplays may be from anywhere in the world, but must be in English. Scripts across all genres of fiction (drama, comedy, horror, action, thriller, sci-fi, animation, musical, etc.,) may be about any topic, but MUST HAVE A SIGNIFICANT FEMALE CHARACTER. Love from Friends, by winning screenwriter Elise Marenson, premiered in Los Angeles and played in film festivals around the country last year. The contest is managed by Terry Lawler, former Executive Director of NYWIFT. “

Apply here