In 2022, while watching her mother practice tai chi, filmmaker Dorothy Xiao was inspired to start a new short film project. At a local park in the San Gabriel Valley, she observed her mother interact with a diverse group of elderly residents and liked the idea of different groups blending, building connections over language barriers.
“I think this idea of friendship in older adulthood, especially with people who are not the same ethnicity or race as you, is really lovely,” Xiao, who grew up in Alhambra, said. “I just really liked this idea of intersectionality.”
Xiao’s short, “Only In This World,” is one of many premiering at this week’s Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, which began Thursday and runs through May 7.
Film festival programs and events, including screenings, will take place at select cinemas and venues around Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Little Tokyo and Monterey Park.
The L.A. Asian Pacific Film Festival’s (LAAPFF) 41st celebration includes over 27 features and 100 shorts, curated from nearly 900 submissions. Among the categories are animated films, documentaries, narrative features and short films from Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander creatives.
The festival is produced by Visual Communications, a nonprofit whose mission is to develop and uplift AAPI filmmakers’ voices and empower communities.
Xiao, who directs and writes, described her latest short film as a “love letter to the layered city” she grew up in. It will debut at the AMC Atlantic Times Square 14 in Monterey Park on Saturday, May 3, at 4 p.m.
The 11-minute short touches on themes of grief and loss, friendship and aging, and parent-child dynamics within families of color. It tells the story of a Chinese immigrant mother’s quiet grief over the loss of her daughter, following the journey of two older women who become unlikely friends after going through tragedy. Through magic, Feifei — an elderly Chinese immigrant played by Lee Chen — is briefly…
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