Visual Communication’s 31st annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival just wrapped up this week with some powerful selections from Cambodia, India, Vietnam, and Hawaii, along with the freshman feature outings for local Asian new media troupes Wong Fu Productions and the K-Town Cowboys.

The festival kicked off with the premiere of Wong Fu’s “Everything Before Us”, a cute take on romance with a dystopian near-future concept where emotional intelligence is rated like one’s credit score, and everything from employment to business loans take that score into account to disastrous results for one young couple. Look for it on Vimeo on June 3rd.

YouTube favorite “K-Town Cowboys” made their LA debut as the centerpiece presentation, following our heroes through the bars, cafes, norebangs, and spas that K-Town is known for in an attempt to save Jason’s family business following an embezzlement scheme that wiped out the company. The story and editing get a bit tedious at times, but considering these guys are known for 10 minute YouTube videos, a commendable achievement for director Daniel Park to make the jump to feature length.

The award winning feature “Margarita with a Straw” by UCLA trained Bollywood director Shonali Bose closed out the festival with a powerful coming of age story with a twist, our heroine is disabled, but that’s not what defines her. She has very normal questions, aspirations, and desires despite her physical and societal challenges. The film doesn’t ask for compassion or sympathy, but challenges the viewer to simply see her as what she is, an otherwise normal human who happens to have cerebral palsy, but won’t let that stop her from enjoying life to its fullest.

Other films showcased by the veteran programing staff include the Vietnamese dystopian feature “Nuoc 2030”, Chinese political documentary “Chinese Mayor”, the modern day Cambodian story exploring the effects of the fall of Phnom Penh 40 years ago in “The Last Reel”.