In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage month, HBO will premiere three short films from the 2019 Asian Pacific American Visionaries, a short film program in its third year featuring the works of emerging Asian American directors.
Each film addresses developing relationships and its complexities through the modern Asian American lens. The films will be available to stream across all of HBO’s on-demand and digital platforms (including HBO NOW(R), HBO GO(R), HBO On Demand(R), HBO ZONE(R) and partner’s streaming platforms) on May 6th at 8pm. HBO will also debut an “APA Collection” featuring the 2019 and 2018 winning films on the HBO NOW(R) and HBO GO(R) homepage.
About the films
‘Halwa‘ directed by Nirav Bhakta, is the story of an Indian woman who rekindles her relationship with a childhood sweetheart through Facebook messages, but her abusive husband takes notice. The film was co-directed by Gayatri Bajpai.
‘Moonwalk With Me,’ directed by So Young Shelly Yo, is about a Korean American girl who is haunted by her father’s disappearances and tells the story of the immigrant experience through a magical landscape.
‘Zoetic,’ directed by Julie Zhan, is a coming of age story about a single, 60-year old Chinese immigrant mother who is challenged to think of her own wants and needs. She reluctantly agrees to join an online dating app with the help of her daughter. Through the experience, they begin to break through the emotional wall between Asian parent and child. Zoetic was co-directed by Wesley Chan.
In 2016, HBO established the APA Visionaries competition to provide a platform for Asian Pacific American stories. The competition aims to further the dialogue about representation in Hollywood and the importance of diversity in entertainment. The winner of this year’s competition will be announced on May 3rd at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
“The APA Visionaries program is meant to serve as a platform to tell authentic Asian Pacific American stories and HBO is incredibly proud to showcase the works of these inspiring filmmakers,” said Jackie Gagne, VP Multicultural Marketing at HBO. “We are seeing incredible momentum and are committed to providing more opportunities for rising filmmakers in this community.”
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