CAAMFest

CAAMFest traces its roots to Asian CineVision's New York Asian American Film Festival, begun in 1978. From 1981 to 1984, ACV spun off a traveling version of their festival that toured the U.S. CAAM partnered with ACV to showcase their traveling festival in San Francisco, adding in other films by local filmmakers to help round out the program. {{citation needed|date=July 2014}}

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) was founded in 1982[http://www.documentary.org/magazine/new-and-improved-asian-american-showcase-rebrands-caamfest New and Improved! Asian American Showcase Rebrands as CAAMFest | International Documentary Association] as a joint production between Asian CineVision and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). There was no festival in 1985;{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} beginning in 1986 the festival was organized by CAAM.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} Although the festival originally began with exclusively Asian American work, over the course of the 1990s, they expanded to include works from Asian filmmakers,[http://progressivepulse.com/news/asian-film-festival-celebrates-diversity-history-with-san-franciscos-caamfest-by-kevin-m-thomas/ Asian Film Festival Celebrates Diversity & History with San Francisco’s CAAMFest by Kevin M. Thomas | Progressive Pulse]Mak, Liz. [http://www.kqed.org/arts/movies/article.jsp?essid=134755 "Top Picks from the 2014 CAAMFest"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715064616/http://www.kqed.org/arts/movies/article.jsp?essid=134755 |date=2014-07-15 }} KQED, 12 March 2014. reflecting an attention to the increasingly transnational forms of media moving between Asia and America.{{cite web|last=Wang|first=Oliver|title=CAAM History|url=http://caamedia.org/about-caam/|accessdate=29 January 2013}}

With the expansion of the festival, CAAM announced in January 2013 the name change of the SFIAAFF to CAAMFest.[http://www.documentary.org/magazine/caamfest-2014-asian-american-showcase-brings-rich-spectrum-docs-bay-area CAAMFest 2014: Asian American Showcase Brings Rich Spectrum of Docs to the Bay Area | International Documentary Association] The new Festival will showcase film as well as other avenues of artistic expression and community engagement, such as music, food, and interactive workshops.[http://waytooindie.com/news/film-festival/2013-caamfest-coverage-introduction/ 2013 CAAMFest Coverage Introduction Film Festival – Way Too Indie]

While the majority of the films at the festival screen at the Sundance Kabuki in Japantown and the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, many films are also screened at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley and at the Camera 3 Downtown Cinemas in San Jose.{{Cite web |url=http://www.asianconnections.com/2013/03/19/countdown-to-caamfest-march-14-24;3568 |title=AsianConnections - Awards announced - San Francisco's CAAMFEST Celebrates Asian and Asian American Film, Food and Music |access-date=2014-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715103226/http://www.asianconnections.com/2013/03/19/countdown-to-caamfest-march-14-24;3568 |archive-date=2014-07-15 |url-status=dead }}[http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/03/12/big-screen-berkeley-asian-american-film-festival/ Big Screen Berkeley: Asian American Film Festival | Berkeleyside]

The SFIAAFF inaugurated in 2005 a juried competition in two categories as well as audience awards. In 2010 Emmy-nominated documentary Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy made its world premiere at the SFIAAFF and went on to win Best Documentary at the festival.

The documentary film Linsanity premiered at CAAMFest on March 14, 2013,{{cite news|last=Kung |first=Michelle |title='Linsanity' Hits the Big Screen |date=March 15, 2013 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/03/15/linsanity-hits-the-big-screen/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130321064718/http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/03/15/linsanity-hits-the-big-screen/ |archive-date=March 21, 2013 |url-status=live}} and won several audience awards. The Vietnamese comedy film How to Fight in Six Inch Heels had its U.S. premiere at CAAMFest on March 13, 2014.

{{reflist}}

• Heymont, George. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-heymont/a-touch-of-aloha-a-pinch_b_5274359.html "A Touch of Aloha, A Pinch of Japan"]. Huffington Post, 2014 (ambiguous date format)

{{Portal|San Francisco Bay Area|Film}}

• [http://www.sanfranciscochinatown.com/events/movies/sfiaaff.html SanFranciscoChinatown.com Picks for SFIAAFF]

Category:Asian-American culture in San Francisco

Category:Film festivals in the San Francisco Bay Area

Category:Asian-American film festivals

Category:Film festivals established in 1982

Category:1982 establishments in California