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.