The seventh-annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival is adding a special segment to this year’s programming.
The PAAFF Pride lineup includes LGBT-focused films, both features and shorts.
This year’s festival will run Nov. 12-22. Main venues include International House of Philadelphia in University City and Asian Arts Initiative in Chinatown North.
Festival director Rob Buscher said that adding the LGBT segment was a logical next step in the growth of the festival.
“For us, it just made a lot of sense to include an LGBT section. We have been programming that content for years, but this year was the first in which we had two solid feature-length LGBT films,” Buscher said.
Partnerships with area LGBT organizations also steered PAAFF towards formalizing the LGBT lineup.
“A lot of the alliances we have built throughout the years have brought us in that direction,” Buscher said. “We have partnerships with qFLIX and the Leeway Foundation.”
As the festival grows, including other Asian subcultures, in addition to LGBTs, has presented its own set of challenges.
“Looking at the Asian-American demographic, it is always a struggle to adequately represent the 28 different cultures,” Buscher said, referring to the number of different countries that make up Asian-American heritage. “But amongst the Asian-American communities here in Philadelphia, we heard a number of people speak up and want more LGBT films.”
With an eye towards the future, Buscher said he hopes the festival, and its LGBT content, will continue to grow.
“We are a submission-based festival. So the size of the festival each year depends on what is submitted. We have seen an increase in the number of LGBT films over the past couple years. This designation of the Pride section reflects that,” Buscher said. “We are absolutely committed to growing the Pride program in future iterations of the festival.”
Pride lineup highlights include “Eat with Me,” 2:15 p.m. Nov. 15 at I-House, 3701 Chestnut St.; and “Kumu Hina,” 6 p.m. Nov. 22 at Asian Arts Initiative, 1219 Vine St.
For more information, visit www.phillyasianfilmfest.org.