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Established in 1969, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC) is a national research center advancing historical, transformative and interdisciplinary scholarship by bridging research with community voices. The Center grew out of the social movements of the 1960s, as students called for greater access to higher education that would help address vital issues in their communities. The founding steering committee wrote in its original proposal to the UCLA administration in 1969 that the Center "will hopefully enrich the experience of the entire university by contributing to an understanding of the long neglected history, rich cultural heritage, and present position of Asian Americans in our society."
Today, UCLA is recognized as the premier research and teaching institution in the fields of Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies. The Center’s mission is to gather, produce and disseminate knowledge of the lives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) through research, documentation, publications and civic engagement. It works with students, scholars and collaborative partners to deepen our understanding of our histories, cultures and current conditions as we strive to link knowledge to action. It seeks to empower AAPI communities and the next generation of change agents to counter historic injustices and positively shape our futures.
Inspired by Russell Leong’s words “In moving the image, we open the future,” this three-weekend film festival features a diverse range of classic and new narrative and documentary films and creative works, and highlights key themes and topics selected by the faculty and staff of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, in consultation with their collaborators at UCLA Film & Television Archive, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, and Visual Communications, the presenter of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Each program will also include short films from the UCLA Center for Ethnocommunications’ Creating Community Media and VC’s Armed with a Camera programs.
For full event information and updates on in-person guests, please visit aasc.ucla.edu/aasc50/film
