A Celebration of Asian Pacific Film in Sunnyvale

Equipped with a small camcorder and her Littlest Pet Shop figurines, Annika Magbanua began making stop-motion films when she was just six years old. 20 years later, what began as an innocent hobby has turned into a passion for animation and design.

“Looking back, it kind of makes sense that I ended up here,” Magbanua says. “When I was getting ready to go to college, I had an epiphany: There are people — artists — behind these animated films that I love so much.”

Magbanua’s short 2D-animation Lukso ng Dugo is one of dozens included in the 11th annual Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Film Fest. Taking place in Sunnyvale from Oct. 17–19 and online from Oct. 20–26, the festival both depicts and celebrates the Asian American, Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian experience.

“Lukso ng Dugo” is a Filipino idiom that directly translates to “jumping blood,” and describes the sensation of immediate kinship with a stranger. This concept is demonstrated through Lukso ng Dugo’s storyline about Mae, a Filipino girl who finds the courage to break the cycle of abuse in her family. During a tense dinner, a creature appears, helping Mae and her mother confront their fears and take the first steps toward healing.

Inspired greatly by the Filipino aswang folklore that Magbanua heard growing up, in combination with her love for the horror genre, Lukso ng Dugo came to fruition as her senior capstone project at San Jose State University. Magbanua graduated this past May with a degree in animation and illustration, having worked on the film alongside a team of dozens of people for about a year.

“We made this in an academic space,” Magbanua says. “To have it be screened and experienced in a space surrounded by professionals and people who are established, seasoned and esteemed, it’s really surreal, because we were just making this in a classroom a couple months ago.”

Current SJSU animation and illustration student Keya Thota will also have work showcased at the festival. Like Lukso ng Dugo, Thota’s film BFF Diary began as a class assignment, inspired by her personal experiences and culture.

“I remembered my professors always talk about how the best stories are the ones that come from within you,” Thota says.

At one point, while ruminating on this advice, a purple diary from Thota’s childhood caught her eye, becoming the muse for her film. Following two inseparable elementary school best friends who exchange a diary that documents their upbringing in the suburbs of Bangalore, India, BFF Diary shows how their friendship adapts as one of them moves away.

“BFF Diary ended up being an ode to childhood, friendship and big life changes,” Thota explains. “I really wanted to explore personal and iconic locations from my childhood spent in Bangalore, India, and I try to use a lot of warm lighting, saturated colors, and familiar imagery to really invite viewers to reflect on their own friendships and the bonds that last through their lives.”

Both filmmakers began with stories close to home, as well as memories, myths and the small acts of imagination that first drew them to art. Now, as their work reaches wider audiences, their films echo something shared: that storytelling at its heart is both a return and a beginning.

And while production logistics and audience expectations can sometimes get in the way, both Magbanua and Thota know that filmmaking is at its core about having a vision.

“That little version of Annika, playing with my Littlest Pet Shop toys and my little camcorder,” Magbanua reflects, “I keep her with me all the time.”

The Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Film Festival takes place Oct. 17–19 at the AMC Dine-In Theater in Sunnyvale and online from Oct. 20–26. ‘Lukso ng Dugo’ and ‘BFF Diary’ screen at the festival on Sunday, Oct. 19, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Tickets and more information can be found here.