NVAAFF bridges traditional filmmaking with the newest frontiers of storytelling, while giving audiences a taste of Napa Valley’s finest
NAPA, CALIF., Jan. 17, 2026 — The annual Napa Valley Asian American Film Festival (NVAAFF) returns Friday and Saturday, February 6-7, 2026, in Napa, California, amplifying authentic Asian and Asian American voices in cinema, and inviting audiences to celebrate through film, cuisine, and community connection. The event strengthens the local community through meaningful partnerships with local restaurants, vintners, artisans, and small independent businesses, as well as the greater Napa Valley College community.
This year’s festival theme celebrates Asian American women in film and will be guest-directed by acclaimed filmmaker and director HIKARI. Her latest feature from Searchlight Pictures, Rental Family, starring Brendan Fraser, will be the festival’s opening film. Through the curated lineup of female-led films and dynamic post-screening Q&A discussions, the festival will underscore the vital role women play in shaping and sustaining the art of filmmaking. Women’s contributions to film—particularly those of Asian American women—are too often overlooked. This year’s festival honors and celebrates their vital role as storytellers and creative visionaries.
Kiều Chinh will receive the festival’s Lifetime Legacy Award for Courage in Cinema, honoring a career defined by resilience, truth, and groundbreaking representation. A pioneering icon of Vietnamese cinema, she rebuilt her life and artistic path after the fall of Saigon, ultimately breaking barriers in Hollywood through deeply human, powerful performances. Her acclaimed work includes The Joy Luck Club, as well as recent roles in HBO’s The Sympathizer from Park Chan-wook and Apple TV+’s Dope Thief. To commemorate her extraordinary legacy, her early film Warrior, Who Are You? will be screened at this year’s Napa Valley Asian American Film Festival.
The festival continues its partnerships with IW Group—an award-winning multicultural agency affiliated with Omnicom and led by founder Bill Imada—alongside Napa Valley College, filmmakers, producers, directors, and community leaders.
“Last year’s inaugural Napa Valley Asian American Film Festival was a resounding success, reflecting the community’s enthusiasm for Asian American stories on the big screen,” said Imada. “As we enter our second year, we’re proud to return to Napa Valley College’s Performing Arts Center to celebrate the filmmakers, artists, and innovators in this year’s program, and to continue spotlighting the depth and diversity of Asian American storytelling.”
CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) returns to curate a film block of three narrative short films by rising filmmakers. “I am so proud to partner with CAPE and Janet Yang Productions in championing the artistic voices of strong Asian American women in film,” said Executive Producer Julia Gouw. “This year’s Napa selections include projects that span the Asian diaspora and communities. As a platform, the program is launching careers and getting the attention of Hollywood–one of our selections for this year’s festival, for example, has been joined by Ridley Scott to Executive Produce.”
The two-day festival will feature intimate fine-dining experiences prepared by Slanted Door, the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, Empress M and Carabao. In addition to film screenings, the program will include moderated conversations at Napa Valley College with participating directors, writers and producers. Panel moderators will include Sanjay M. Sharma of MARGINAL and Michelle K. Sugihara, executive director and CEO of CAPE, among others.
Standout features for this year’s festival include F*cktoys, starring and directed by Annapurna Sriram. “Annapurna is a bold, multihyphenate writer, actor and director whose genre-defying film draws inspiration from auteurs like Jim Jarmusch, Greg Araki, and John Waters. As independent filmmaking faces unprecedented challenges, we’re honored to spotlight Annapurna’s SXSW Special Jury Award-winning debut feature and host an intimate conversation about her journey, craft and the evolving landscape of the film business,” said Sanjay M. Sharma, founder and CEO of Marginal MediaWorks, who curated the film for this year’s festival.
The closing film, Diamonds in the Sand, a Philippines-Japan-Malaysia co-production directed by Janus Victoria, will be making its United States premiere at the festival. Stars and directors from both films will hold Q&As after their respective screenings to dive deeper into their experiences bringing the projects to life.
FULL NVAAFF 2026 LINEUP
OPENING FILM
- Rental Family | Directed by HIKARI
An American actor in Tokyo struggling to find purpose lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. He rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the beauty of human connection.
HONOREE’S CHOICE
- Warrior, Who Are You? | Directed by Hoang Vinh Loc
A beautiful reporter goes to the front line to find a soldier with whom she fell in love through correspondence.
SPECIAL SPOTLIGHT FEATURE
- F*cktoys | Directed by Annapurna Sriram
A young woman seeks to break a curse by raising $1,000 for psychics in a pre-millennium alternate universe. She navigates the seedy underbelly of Trashtown via scooter, encountering bizarre characters along the way.
SPOTLIGHT AI-CINEMATIC SHORT FILMS
- 4 Seasons of Redthread Vision | Created by June Kim
- Goddess | Created by Niceaunties
SPECIAL SPOTLIGHT FEATURE
- Rosemead | Directed by Eric Lin
Inspired by a harrowing true story, Lucy Liu transforms in a riveting, career-redefining performance as an ailing woman who takes drastic measures to protect her troubled teenage son.
CAPE JULIA S. GOUW SHORT FILM CHALLENGE SELECTS
- Flight 182 | Directed by Rippin Sindher
A year after the deadliest attack on the holiest Sikh shrine, a woman must protect her husband from taking a flight that could end his life.
- Full Service | Directed by Soma Helmi
An Indonesian woman gets more than she expects when she resorts to hiring an escort to bring to her cousin’s engagement party.
- You Left Me a Ghost | Directed by Kristy Choi
A strange spirit reunites Bennie Kim with her brother in a heaven for those who have died by suicide. Will Bennie stay, too?
SPECIAL SPOTLIGHT FEATURE
- Yonsei | Directed by Rachel Michiko Whitney and Jeff Mizushima
The filmmaker examines her Japanese American family’s history, focusing on her mother’s struggling acting career in 1980s Hollywood and her grandmother’s incarceration during World War II, while navigating how to honor their stories alongside her own acting ambitions and her family’s privacy.
CLOSING FILM
- Diamonds in the Sand | Directed by Janus Victoria
The film is a collaborative production between Japan, the Philippines, and Malaysia, and follows a Japanese man, Yoji, who journeys to Manila and interacts with Filipina migrant workers. Taking the conversation beyond U.S. immigration, the film covers Asians in Asia, intersecting cultures, and global labor flows. The film delves into themes of loneliness, death, and aging, as well as human connection across cultural and generational divides.
NVAAFF INFO
Made possible by patron sponsors Julia S. Gouw, Cindy Y. Huang, and Bill Imada, NVAAFF will be hosted at Napa Valley College’s Performing Arts Center on Friday, February 6, 2026, and Saturday, February 7, 2026. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.nvaaff.com. Follow us on Instagram at @nvaafilmfest.
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About CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)
CAPE is the world’s longest-running non-profit organization creating opportunities and driving change for Asian and Pacific Islander (API) success in Hollywood. For 35 years, CAPE has advanced Asian and Pacific Islander representation in film and television by championing people, stories, and culture. Follow @CAPEUSA on Instagram and TikTok or visit CAPE’s website atcapeusa.org.
About Napa Valley College
Napa Valley College prepares students for evolving roles in a diverse, dynamic, and interdependent world. The college is an accredited, open-access, degree-and certificate-granting institution committed to student achievement through high-quality programs and services that are continuously evaluated and improved. The college serves students and the community in transfer courses; career-technical education and training; basic skills; and self-supporting contract education and community education classes. River Trail Village, on-campus student housing, is available now. Napa Valley College is at 2277 Napa-Vallejo Highway in Napa. Learn more at napavalley.edu.
About MARGINAL
Marginal MediaWorks, Inc. is a new type of media company focused on premium storytelling from singular subcultures and voices. Marginal develops and produces feature film, scripted series, animation, audio, interactive and web3 stories, with a primary focus on popular genres, thriller, horror, rom-com, sci-fi, comedy and aspirational narratives, all from outsider points of view, writers and directors of color, women, immigrants, LGBTQ+ community members, and “others” of all kinds in the U.S. and globally.
MARGINAL is a public benefit B Corp. https://marginal.media/
About IW Group
IW Group is a full-service creative agency specializing in multicultural marketing, experiential storytelling, strategic communications, and innovation-led brand engagement. Clients include Lexus, McDonald’s, MGM Resorts, Southern California Edison, House of Suntory, Walmart, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. For more than 35 years, the agency has served global brands by helping them navigate culture and foster connection in an increasingly diverse marketplace. For more information, visit https://www.iwgroup.agency or follow @IWGroup on social media.
