Skip to main content
Arts & Entertainment

Asian-Focused Film Festival Returns to SF With Features, Shorts, Documentaries and More

Written by Han LiPublished May 11, 2022 • 10:38am
A still from 'Free Chol Soo Lee,' one of many documentaries showing at CAAMFest. | Courtesy Photo

The Center for Asian American Media’s annual film festival, CAAMFest, returns to in-person screening this week for the first time since the onset of the pandemic.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of CAAMFest, the nation’s largest Asian American-focused film festival. Spanning two weekends and a full week, from May 12-22, CAAMFest will bring dozens of features, shorts, documentaries and special events to theaters in San Francisco and the East Bay. It will also feature many virtual screenings for those who either cannot attend or are not yet comfortable sitting in a crowded theater.

Opening Night will be at the Castro Theatre with the documentary Free Chol Soo Lee, a film about a Korean immigrant wrongfully convicted of a 1973 gangland murder in San Francisco. Closing Night will be held at New Parkway Theater in Oakland with the film Every Day in Kaimukī, about a young man who decides to leave his small town in Hawaii for the mean streets of New York City.

Also on the docket is a special spotlight on the SOMA Pilipinas Filipino Cultural Heritage District, with a slate of Filipinx films and filmmakers, including a centerpiece screening of Leonor Will Never Die.

Like A Rolling Stone, a documentary focused on the life and work of Ben Fong-Torres, a Bay Area-born journalist and radio personality who served the first music editor of the Rolling Stone magazine—helping to shape the American pop culture landscape.

CAAMFest

Various Locations
May 12-22 | $14+

Han Li can be reached at han@sfstandard.com


Two children sit in grass in front of makeshift tents up in San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.

How Did Black Residents Grapple With San Francisco’s 1906 Earthquake? A New Exhibit Takes a Look


The crowd at El Rio bar for the 5th annual Krampus Costume Pageant in the Mission District on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023.

San Francisco Krampus Pageant Celebrates the Christmas Devil of Pagan Lore


A family stands in Ghiradelli square wearing matching Hanukkah sweaters.

Where To Celebrate Hanukkah in San Francisco in 2023


A white temple made of granite and topped with gold decorations sits in a tropical clearing.

How a Spectacular Hindu Temple in Hawaii Began as a Dream in San Francisco


A composite image of two posters that are featured in the “Art on Market Street” series that include comics of visual artist Ruth Asawa standing behind one of her wires structures, left, and fashion designer Kaisik Wong sitting behind his sewing machine, right.

Comics Highlight Asian American Artists on San Francisco’s Market Street