The inaugural Napa Valley Asian American Film Festival, hosted by Ryan Alexander Holmes and Kara Wang, features eight films on Feb. 7 at Napa Valley College.
You’ll get your chance to witness the introduction of a brand new event when the Napa Valley Asian American Film Festival opens Feb. 7 at the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center.
The one-day festival, hosted by actors Ryan Alexander Holmes and Kara Wang, will feature eight films.
“We want to show how diverse the Napa Valley is,” said Bill Imada, organizer and spokesman for the festival. “We want to demonstrate that Napa is one example of how cultures intersect.”
Imada is the founder, chairman and chief connectivity officer of IW Group, a minority-owned and operated advertising, marketing and communications agency focusing on the growing multicultural markets. He is based Los Angeles and has a second home in Napa County.
Ryan Alexander Holmes is an actor and internet content creator based in Los Angeles, known for his strong presence on social media where he uses comedy to explore and embrace his mixed Chinese/African American heritage. His best-known screen roles are “The Morning Show” (2019), “Back on the Strip” (2023) and “Smile or Hug” (2022).
“He’s part Black and part Asian American, and he says he 100% both,” Imada said.
Kara Wang, a Chinese American actress from Los Angeles, is best-known for her roles in the films “The Calm Beyond” (2020), “Goliath” (2021) and “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022). She also appeared the television series ”Good Trouble“ (2019—2024).
Both actors eagerly accepted invitations to co-host the festival, Imada said.
“They wanted to be part of something fresh and new,” he explained.
The festival is presented by IW Group in partnership with Napa Valley College and executive producers Julia S. Gouw and Cindy Y. Huang with narrative shorts curated by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) and other contributing programmers.
Some highlights
The opening film is “Nurse Unseen,” directed by Michele Josue, a documentary about Filipino nurses risked their lives on the front lines of the COVID epidemic, while facing a public resurgence of anti-Asian prejudice.
“It was the wish of Napa Valley College to include a film on the sacrifices of the Filipino nurses,” Imada noted.
The centerpiece film of the festival is the animated film “The Glass Worker,” written and directed by Usman Riaz, who also composed the film’s musical score and, with his small team in Pakistan, hand-drew all of the animation. The story follows Vincent, who runs a glass factory with his father, and Alliz, the daughter of a colonel, who fall in love as war begins.
The festival’s spotlight special feature is the drama “The Great Divide,” directed by Jean Shim, follows the Lee family, which leaves the Bay Area for rural Wyoming, where they encounter xenophobia.
“We wanted to show all different kinds of genres,” Imada said. All of the directors of the films in the festival will attend the event, he added.
The films will be followed by Q&A discussions with directors, writers, producers and AI film technologists.
Panel moderators will include
- Nicollette Morales, Napa Valley College professor of ethnic studies, who will talk about the importance of representation in film.
- Sanjay Sharma, founder and CEO of MARGINAL MediaWorks, who will address cinematic innovations in Artificial Intelligence filmmaking.
- Patricia Ratulangi, who will discuss the significance of Asian American filmmakers in popular culture.
- Michelle K. Sugihara, executive director of the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE), who will address how representation has led to greater opportunities for Asian Americans in all facets of filmmaking.
You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On X @danarts.