Two South Asian American women, two films about family — a daughter reckoning with where she comes from, immigration and identity and belonging. The same heart, opposite craft: Mahnoor Euceph imagines hers as fiction, a teenager’s wish gone wrong; Karla Murthy remembers hers as documentary, her father’s real voice on cassette. One invented, one recorded — both about the people who made us.
The wish-gone-wrong fable of 11:11 — Cate Blanchett–backed, off the Academy-long-listed Eid Mubarak. The red carpet’s breakout, and our most-watched.
Her films & interview →The closing-night centerpiece The Gas Station Attendant — her father’s immigrant story, built from cassette phone calls and decades of home movies.
Her film & interview →18th Austin Asian American Film Festival · AFS Cinema · June 24–28, 2026
We brought a camera crew to all five days of Austin’s Asian American Film Festival and didn’t stop rolling. Here’s the complete recap — 45 videos, red-carpet interviews with the filmmakers, programmers and jurors, and the centerpiece and closing-night films. And below, a year-round guide to 46 Asian film festivals worldwide.
The closing-night centerpiece
Every festival has a film that quietly becomes its heart. At AAAFF 2026 it was The Gas Station Attendant — journalist Karla Murthy’s first feature, and a portrait of the most important man in her life: her father. He clawed his way from poverty in India into an education and a career — and a world away, Murthy found him working the overnight shift behind a Texas gas-station counter. She built the film from the most intimate material imaginable: decades of family home movies.
As AAAFF 2026 closed out its fifth day, the festival marked a quieter tradition: a fifth straight year of filmmakers bringing their parents and children along — the “FFAAAmily,” as the festival calls it — so the people closest to them see what a big deal the filmmaker in their midst really is.
“[AAAFF] is their favorite film festival.”— Iza Ghunim, mother of Traces of Home director Colette Ghunim
Among the closing-night holdouts: Iza and Hesni Ghunim, both in their 70s, who outlasted at least one filmmaker at the after-party and toasted their first-ever KTV with a round of Sinatra’s “My Way” alongside their daughter at Banjoo.
Fiction · Mahnoor Euceph
The ‘11:11’ director on her wish-gone-wrong fable, the Cate Blanchett backing, and the Benazir Bhutto biopic she dreams of making.
Her full profile →
Documentary · Karla Murthy
‘The Gas Station Attendant’ — her father’s story, built from cassette phone calls and decades of home movies.
Her full profile →
Mahnoor — “I just need a few million”
Karla — a whole film from phone calls with her dad
Mahnoor pitches ‘11:11’
Karla — the only U.S. film at Sheffield, and it wonThe film the festival was built around: director Colette Ghunim’s documentary about her parents and the homes they left behind. We sat with it on centerpiece night — the screening, the reaction, why it lands.
Read the featureAll 34 films, the parties, the first-ever Taiwan VR activation — screening by screening, June 24 to 28.
Open the guide → 02 · HubOur complete AAAFF 2026 desk — features, interviews, and dispatches as they were filed.
See all coverage → 03 · LiveCenterpiece night as it happened — arrivals, filmmakers, and the room before the lights went down.
Read the dispatch → 04 · VoicesWhat the filmmakers and guests actually said on centerpiece night, in their own words.
Hear them → 05 · FilmmakerThe writer/director of ‘11:11’ and ‘Eid Mubarak’ on craft, identity, and making shorts that travel.
Read the profile → 06 · DiaryCenterpiece night start to finish — one reporter’s hour-by-hour through the AAAFF 2026 red carpet.
Walk the day → 07 · ReferenceThe clean, printable five-day grid — every title, time, and venue across the festival.
View schedule → 08 · SpotlightKarla Murthy’s closing-night documentary — the film that took center stage as the festival wrapped.
Read the spotlight →Mahnoor Euceph — “I just need a few million”Mahnoor pitches ‘11:11’
Her dream: a Benazir Bhutto biopic
Meet Mahnoor Euceph
Backed by Cate Blanchett
Karla — “a gateway to reflect on your own life”
Karla — why she edited it herselfKarla — a film from phone calls with her dadAustin is one stop on a year-round circuit. Below is a hand-picked sampler; our full directory of 46 festivals is searchable and sortable by region, country and month — from Busan’s industry-defining giant to the diaspora festivals that put these films in front of new audiences.
In North America
| Austin Asian American FFAAAFF · here now | Austin, USAAFS Cinema | Jun | Read → |
| CAAMFestSan Francisco | San Francisco, USA | May | Guide → |
| Asian American Intl. FFAAIFF | New York, USA | Jul–Aug | Guide → |
| New York Asian Film FestivalNYAFF | New York, USA | Jul | Guide → |
| Los Angeles Asian Pacific FFLAAPFF | Los Angeles, USA | May | Guide → |
| San Diego Asian Film FestivalSDAFF | San Diego, USA | Nov | Guide → |
| Reel Asian Intl. FFToronto | Toronto, Canada | Nov | Guide → |
In Asia
| Busan Intl. Film FestivalBIFF | Busan, South Korea | Oct | Guide → |
| Tokyo Intl. Film FestivalTIFF | Tokyo, Japan | Oct–Nov | Guide → |
| Hong Kong Intl. Film FestivalHKIFF | Hong Kong | Mar–Apr | Guide → |
| Shanghai Intl. Film FestivalSIFF | Shanghai, China | Jun | Guide → |
| Golden Horse Film FestivalTaipei | Taipei, Taiwan | Nov | Guide → |
| Singapore Intl. Film FestivalSGIFF | Singapore | Nov–Dec | Guide → |
| Jogja-NETPAC Asian FFJAFF | Yogyakarta, Indonesia | Nov–Dec | Guide → |
This is a sampler — see the full sortable directory of all 46 festivals → Dates shift year to year; check each festival for current programming.
The festival’s over, but the circuit never stops. Browse our guide to 46 Asian and Asian American film festivals worldwide — dates, focus, and where the next one shows up.