Started in 2004 by OCA-Greater Houston, Houston Asian American Pacific Islander Film Festival (HAAPIFEST) was created to celebrate the AAPI community through edutainment, highlighting AAPI in the entertainment industry and providing a platform for them to share their artistic vision and experiences.

Awards & Prizes

-Grand Jury Prize - Narrative Feature Film
-Grand Jury Prize - Documentary Feature Film
-Grand Jury Prize - Narrative Short Film
-Grand Jury Prize - Documentary Short Film
-Audience Award - Narrative Feature Film
-Audience Award - Documentary Feature Film
-Audience Award - Narrative Short Film
-Audience Award - Documentary Short Film

Rules & Terms

HAAPIFEST Official Rules

- Shorts are defined as films with a time duration of 30 minutes or less. Features are defined as films with a time duration of over 30 minutes. Submission must fulfill either of the following required criteria:
1. The film/video must either be directed by, produced by, written by or feature an
Asian or Asian American/Pacific Islander and/or
2. The content of the entry must contain material that relates to the Asian or Asian
American/Pacific Islander culture/experience.
- All submission entries should have been completed within the last three years.

Please include a press kit with your entry, including (electronic version ONLY):
• Still images (Please provide captions and photo credits for all images)
• Synopsis
• Director’s biography/photo
• Director’s filmography
• Director’s statement
• Cast and crew listing
• Trailer (if available)

(If your film is selected, the Festival will also request the following items: posters, video clips.)

The official entry submission deadline is January 31, 2023 (Early bird deadline is December 15, 2022 & Late deadline is February 20, 2023). Filmmakers selected for the festival will be notified via email by March 25, 2022.
22 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Lam Can-zhao

    I hope to have the opportunity to be selected for your film festival again! It has been a fantastic experience.

    October 2023
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  • Andrew Acedo

    HAAPIFEST was incredible! Thank you so much for selecting “Good Filipino Kids” and making it part of your “Love” program. The other films were fantastic as well! Means the world to be included and can’t wait to see future editions of this festival.

    June 2023
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  • Nicole Dizon

    Belated thank you to the Houston Asian American & Pacific Islander Film Festival for selecting my short film, Morena! I appreciate their intentionality in their film curation. It was an honor to screen in their “Identity” shorts program.

    November 2022
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  • Indrani Nayar-Gall

    Thoughtful selection of films. It is a vibrant organization that takes social justice very seriously. We were incredibly happy that HAAPIFEST chose to end the virtual presentation of their festival with our feature documentary String of Stories.
    Thank you!
    We also appreciated the idea of asking filmmakers to send a prerecorded video about the project.

    June 2022
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  • Ravi Chandra

    Great communication and very gracious festival staff. I was happy to be a part of this festival :)

    June 2022
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