The Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) is back!  It's taking place at multiple venues in New York City from July 15th to 24th, beginning this Thursday. The festival's calendar of films, workshops, and panels can be found here.

The opening night presentation film is Manila Skies, the weekend centerpiece film is Au Revoir Taipei, and the closing night film is The People I've Slept With. Hyphen recently reviewed The People I've Slept With, as well as interviewed its lead actress Karin Anna Cheung (Better Luck Tomorrow).

This year's festival includes a special presentation series to showcase Taiwan's newest filmmakers, with four feature films and two short film collections. One notable free workshop taking place on Saturday afternoon is the Interpretations workshop. The Interpretations initiative was created by director Justin Lin and YOMYOMF to support aspiring film-makers. The panel will showcase some film shorts, and discuss the art and business of filmmaking. Actor Ken Leung (LOST, Shanghai Kiss) will be one of the panelists.

Check back for reports of the festival from our very own Dot Lin, who will be catching films like Au Revoir Taipei, and the shorts collection Taipei 24H. Cynthia Brothers will be seeing Other Nature, The Mikado Project, and She, A Chinese. Films I'll be writing up in later posts include 9500 Liberty, Miss Kicki, Yang Yang, and others.

The festival will feature many quality films worth supporting. Tickets can be purchased online from each film's individual AAIFF page, or in person at the venue, or by calling 212.989.3962.