Reigniting Community: VC Film Festival 2024 Field Report
Back in May this year, we attended the recently rebranded VC Film Fest (fka Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival). From May 1st to May 10th, the festival took place predominantly in Little Tokyo, but spanned new venues in Long Beach as well as online. Despite the 40-year old festival being a regular on our Asian American radar, there are always surprises and highlights we come away with. Below are some of From the Intercom’s observations and experiences at VC Film Fest 2024.
Venues Lost and Gained
Since 2023, Visual Communications has signaled a “renewal” in the form of a reflection and recommitment on community and infrastructural values. This year, a more tangible change occurred in the severance to Regal L.A. Live, a mainstay venue from years prior. L.A. Live was always a contentious spot for audience members, divorced from most of the social fabric that would charge up the festival.
This year, Little Tokyo became more of the focus that the festival is widely known for. Running between screenings across Little Tokyo Plaza and basking in the social afterglow of a screening ending while heading to Far Bar are classic experiences that are well worth the price of admission. On top of this, the addition of two screens in the historic Union Center for the Arts was a fantastic way to promote more interactions between guests, artists, and stewards of both the festival and its legacy partners.
The final two days of the fest were spent at a new venue, the Art Theatre of Long Beach. I was able to attend Friday’s shorts blocks and was enthused with how active and full each screening was, including many familiar faces and artists that were in Little Tokyo earlier in the week. This spot may just grow in the future, with hopefully some supportive afterparty sites that rival Little Tokyo’s.
Afterparties and Aftermaths
Speaking of afterparties, the more concentrated sense of community in Little Tokyo meant that if you attended at least two events, the chances you would run into the same people was extremely high. I ran into my fair share of old friends and made plenty of new ones. Much of this had to do with a healthy program full of receptions, afterparties, and mid-afternoon gatherings facilitated by VC.
These socially rich experiences were a light against the backdrop of Little Tokyo’s ever-evolving battle against gentrification and the community’s fight for self-determination. With staple businesses like Anzen Hardware and Suehiro Cafe being displaced, and the first year of the Little Tokyo’s Regional Connector being open after three long years of construction, the film festival was a great cultural anchor that proved it could withstand massive local changes.
Shorts All Day Long
We love a good ol’ fashioned short film at FTI and this year’s offerings at VC Film Fest had many standout hits. Apa Agbayani’s “When the House Lights Come On” gave us a sci-fi vision of love-soaked melancholy between two Filipino gay men with stunning poignance. We had a bombastic, high-octane drug thriller in the form of Shaun Vivaris’ “Bronx Park Thunder.” And you could practically feel the blood drain out of your face watching Kevin Rahardjo’s “Accidentally Intentional” where a 16-year-old teenager is caught watching porn when his phone connects to the Bluetooth of his mother’s car.
However, a lot of my personal highlights were spent at home watching the Digital Histories shorts, VC’s initiative in providing filmmaking resources into the hands of older Asian American adults to produce documentary short films. Imperative histories of Asian American music was covered in Florante Ibanez’ “The Fabulous Rocky Fellers,” Don Bannai’s “See You, Den,” and Cory Shiozaki’s “Chronicles of a Sansei Rocker.” Robert Shoji’s “Jim Matsuoka WIll Not Be Rushed” showed the palpable bravery of activist Jim Matsuoka’s 1981 testimony. Last, but definitely not least, 92 year old Fran Ito captured a heartfelt, ongoing picture of her life in the amazingly named “Eat Sleep Poop and Pass Gas.”
Change is on the menu at VC Film Fest and in Little Tokyo in general. After 40 years of bringing diasporic Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander visions to Los Angeles, there are still new narratives and perspectives to champion. There are still friendships to be made and things to learn. From the city and from Visual Communications, it seems that the entire neighborhood of Little Tokyo is being re-evaluated in what it can offer. And while that unfortunately means saying goodbye to a lot, maybe it can put a focus on what is unyielding about a festival that we are always eager about. What we look forward to most is how VC Film Fest can make change look good.
Header photo by VC Film Fest. All other photos taken by Justin Ricafort during his time at the festival.
VC Film Fest: Website Link
