CAAMFest 2025: Centerpiece Shorts

Part of the 2025 CAAMFest series.

The first time short films have been a festival Centerpiece in CAAM’s recent memory, this program highlights ambitious, bold short films that experiment with narrative and documentary form and share new perspectives from Asian and Asian American filmmakers.

Director Chheangkea (Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites), Director Xiaolu Wang (at the bamboo green), Director Angbeen Saleem (Billo Rani), Director Birdy Wei-Ting Hung (A Brighter Summer Day for the Lady Avengers), Director Hao Zhou (Correct Me If I’m Wrong), and Director Kiran Koshy (Kumar Kumar) will be in attendance for the screening + Q&A.

GRANDA NAI WHO PLAYED FAVORITES – Directed by Chheangkea

• CAMBODIA
• KHMER
• SUBTITLED
• 19 MINS

A one-take recording of a family’s visit to the bamboo green at the foot of the Helan Mountains.

GOLDEN DRAGON – Directed by Boren Chhith

• CAMBODIA
• KHMER
• SUBTITLED
• 17 MINS
• BAY AREA PREMIERE

A one-take recording of a family’s visit to the bamboo green at the foot of the Helan Mountains.

AT THE BAMBOO GREEN – Directed by Xiaolu Wang

• CHINA
• CHINESE
• SUBTITLED
• 12 MINS
• BAY AREA PREMIERE

A one-take recording of a family’s visit to the bamboo green at the foot of the Helan Mountains.

BILLO RANI – Directed by Angbeen Saleem

• UNITED STATES
• ENGLISH
• SUBTITLED
• 9 MINS
• BAY AREA PREMIERE

When a 12-year-old girl is made aware of her unibrow at Islamic Sunday School in a lesson on “cleanliness,” her eyebrows come alive and begin to speak to her.

A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY FOR THE LADY AVENGERS – Directed by Birdy Wei-Ting Hung

• TAIWAN
• SUBTITLED
• 12 MINS

An experimental narrative film about the sexual awakening of Ming, a 15-year-old girl, at an adult film screening in 1980s Taiwan. This is director and writer Birdy Wei-Ting Hung’s homage to Edward Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day (1991) and Chia-Yun Yang’s The Lady Avengers (1981).

CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG – Directed by Hao Zhou

• CHINA
• SUBTITLED
• 22 MINS
• WEST COAST PREMIERE

A filmmaker undergoes a series of home remedies and spiritual interventions as their family attempts to purge their gender-fluid identity.

KUMAR KUMAR – Directed by Kiran Koshy

• UNITED STATES
• SUBTITLED
• 7 MINS
• BAY AREA PREMIERE

Alone on his birthday, a man is on the brink of ending it all when an unexpected message makes him reconsider.