Queer Asian World Cinema at Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Eight films moving between memory, diaspora, and dream where identity flickers, stretches, and insists on being seen.
A dance floor turned into history. A teenager seeing themselves clearly at last. Two best friends holding onto one last summer. A collective built against silence. A body that can’t close its eyes and a desert haunted by water. A girl and her ramen rewriting the West. Love and hurt imagined before birth. A night that pulls two sisters off course.
In May 2026, we are headed to Oakland’s Chinatown with a DOUBLE FEATURE! This delightful mix includes films submitted to QWOCFF and Visual Communications’ Armed With A Camera Fellowship. It’s amazing to present in partnership with the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, and San Francisco’s Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC), QWOCMAP has always been a part of their United States of Asian America Festival for years.
The Films
STAY HOT STAY CHILL
As she prepares the 20th anniversary of LEZS Party, founder AJ reflects on two decades of creating Taiwan’s most iconic lesbian gathering, revealing how one woman’s nightlife vision became a cultural force for visibility and equality.
Memoria
Under the weight of religious expectation, a teenager sifts through layered memories and reflections until they finally see the person they have always been.
Stroke of Dreams
Two best friends share joyful, summer rituals before the start of their first college semester.
Because of You: A History of Kilawin Kolektibo
Joyful, raw, revolutionary: Because of You: A History of Kilawin Kolektibo tells the remarkable story of queer Filipnxs who, in the 1990s, against a racist, lesbophobic backdrop, came together for the first time in NYC to create a safe and loving community.
Somewhere To Be
A young woman's efforts to bring her runaway sister back home turn into a strange night in an unfamiliar city.
Hugs & Kisses
A soon to be born daughter feels her mom give her hugs & kisses and reminisces on what their future life would be like together. Will this love and feeling last?
A Swim in the Desert
A spectacular vision leaves K unable to close her eyes. In search of a cure, she sets out on a haunting journey tracing the presence and absence of water through California’s landscapes.
Ramen Western
A young Chinese American girl sets off to uncover the secrets of the American West with an unexpected sidekick: a sentient bowl of ramen.
Satellite Screening Partners
