Between Us

The Labyrinth

A collection of original shorts exploring the unknown, the unexplained, and the unimaginable.

Free Chol Soo Lee

On June 3, 1973, a man was murdered in a busy intersection of San Francisco’s Chinatown as part of an ongoing gang war. Chol Soo Lee, a 20-year-old Korean immigrant who had previous run-ins with the law, was arrested and convicted based on flimsy evidence and the eyewitness accounts of white tourists who couldn’t distinguish between Asian features. Sentenced to life in prison, Chol Soo Lee would spend years fighting to survive behind bars before journalist K.W. Lee took an interest in his case. The intrepid reporter’s investigation would galvanize a first-of-its-kind pan-Asian American grassroots movement to fight for Chol Soo Lee’s freedom, ultimately inspiring a new generation of social justice activists.

The Accidental Getaway Driver

During a routine pickup, an elderly Vietnamese cab driver is taken hostage by three recently escaped Orange County convicts. Based on a true story.

Sky Sharks

A team of Arctic geologists stumble across an abandoned laboratory in which the Nazis developed an incredible and brutal secret weapon during the final months of WW2. Deep in the ice, they accidentally awake a deadly army of flying zombie sharks ridden by genetically mutated, undead super-humans, who are unleashed into the skies, wreaking their bloodthirsty revenge on any aircraft that takes to the air. An elite task force is assembled to take on this deadly threat and stop the Sky Sharks from conquering the air, but as time runs out, the task force realises they will have to fight fire with fire, and the stage is set for the greatest flying super-mutant zombie shark air battle the world has ever seen....

Nước (Water/Homeland)

About the relationship between a queer Vietnamese-American teen and their Vietnamese refugee mother.

Afterearth

As rising sealevels threaten locations touched by the Pacific Ocean in Hawaiʻi, the Philippines, China, and North America, four women give offerings of music, poetry and heartfelt testimonial to preserve the volcano, ocean, air and land for future generations.

Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song In Movement

Chronicles the extraordinary journey of the legendary Nobuko Miyamoto – a dancer, singer, and activist driven by a lifelong passion for social justice and community engagement.

Sea Song

The last remaining South Vietnamese naval officers reunite in California for what will likely be the final time, finding solace with the few people who understand the complexities that shape their life histories.

Hoài (Ongoing, Memory)

Centering on the story of a queer Vietnamese American woman, this short film explores the collapsing and intersecting realities of heartbreak: from romantic partnerships, families, and nation states.

Conversations at the Register

Our film tells the story of KH Supermarket, a Cambodian-owned grocery store in the heart of Cambodia Town, Long Beach that was forced to close due to gentrification. We aim to create space to mourn the loss of this cultural artifact and celebrate the market’s contribution of nurturing our community.

Queer Vietnameseness

A documentary that follows the lives of three queer second generation Vietnamese Americans, navigating language, politics, and familial relationships - their stories add dimensions to Vietnamese diasporic experiences in community organizing, family, work in nail salons, and living in Little Saigon, Orange County, California: Ro Nghiem, a second generation Vietnamese, post-punk, gay lesbian boy who is currently attending school for graphic design, Natalie Newton, a Vietnamese American queer activist and strategic research analyst for social justice causes, and Shannon My Le, a claims adjuster for a workers’ compensation insurance company and is a part time entrepreneur.

The Paradise We Are Looking For

San Diego has been called many things – including a paradise. It’s also a refugee city, a cluster of neighborhoods, a militarized zone, a border town. And Asian American. This collection of four short documentaries, commissioned on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the San Diego Asian Film Festival, maps many such San Diego’s – across ethnicity, geography and history. At the same time, they hold on to some notion of paradise, however illusory: a haven from war, the dreams of an immigrant, precious teenage reminiscences, solace in the afterlife, and spaces for creative expression.

The Thing About Us

How do you remain friends with someone you used to love? Maybe a desert road trip together is not the best place to start.

Dream Boat

A cruise ship and 3,000 men – it is a universe without heteros and women that usually remains a mystery to the outside world. Once a year the Dream Boat sets sail for a cruise exclusively for gay men where most passengers are united by the wish to live life authentically as themselves in a protected place.