Cinema Sala, 10886 Le Conte Ave, Los Angeles, CA (2026)

05/01/2026

Psst! Want to come to the Los Angeles Premiere of DIAMONDS IN THE SAND, directed by Pinay filmmaker ?
***Send us a DM for a pair of tickets! First come, first served.***

White Mulberry Award for Best Debut Film, 2025 Udine Far East Film Festival First Feature Competition, 2025 BFl London Film Festival Best Screenplay Award, 2025 QCinema International Film Festival
Starring Kazuko Yoshiyuki and Maria Isabel Lopez

Director Janus Victoria will be in attendance! Film program will be followed by Q&A.

SATURDAY, May 2, 2026 - 6 PM
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
AMC Atlantic Times Square
450 N Atlantic Blvd.
Monterey Park, CA 91754

05/01/2026

In the CINEMA SALA SPOTLIGHT is Lailanie Gadia!

“I choose to produce because there are so many of our stories that need to be heard from our AAPI communities. Stories have the power to change hearts and minds, to impact communities, to help people feel seen, heard, and valued. We are influenced by film and media and being able to tell diverse, nuanced stories is a joy. I’m grateful to work with filmmakers who share this vision but also to be the support they need to bring their vision to life.” -

Raised in Guam, Lailanie is a Filipina American community builder, producer and financial professional based in Los Angeles. She founded .co where she is developing and producing projects rooted in community and impact. She serves as Operations Director at the Asian American Documentary Network supporting 2,000+ film workers and notably helped series produce Emmy-nominated & Silver Anthem award-winning 2022 Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond shorts. Named a 2023 Documentary New Leader, she’s been on panels related to filmmaker sustainability, representation and funding. Her producing credits include CAAM-supported BRIDGING OUR STORIES (2026), CAPE-funded MILK & HONEY (2026), THIRD ACT (Sundance 2025) & DIVE BAR (Alaska Airlines).

She’s a member of Futures, and Global Impact Producers Alliance. She’s held various roles in marketing, sponsorships, and event operations working with organizations and companies such as .

She graduated from and serves on the API Alumni Association Board. She formally had a 6-year career in mortgage banking and remains passionate about financial wellbeing.

🚨 Lailanie has FIVE films screening at this year’s ! Swipe to see which ones and check our previous posts for more info.

FUN FACT: You’ve most likely seen and/or have been greeted by Lailanie at our CS events, where she is a beloved volunteer. ❤️

04/30/2026

Sit back, relax and immerse yourself into these Filipino Features at the 2026 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival!

10S ACROSS THE BORDERS (dir. Sze-Wei Chan, featuring Xyza Pinklady Mizrahi)
Set in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia. New York and elsewhere, 10S ACROSS THE BORDERS is a pan-Asian q***r film that confronts homophobia, transphobia, and racism while celebrating the region’s underground ballroom culture. As the title suggests, Sze-Wei Chan envisions a world where members of Ballroom communities far from New York can also score a perfect 10.

DIAMONDS IN THE SAND (dir. Janus Victoria)
Yoji is a divorced Japanese salaryman living alone in Tokyo. After the loss of his caring mother, he faces an empty life without any meaningful relationship. A chance encounter with Minerva, a Filipina who works as a caregiver in Japan to support her daughter, prompts Yoji to look at his situation in a new light.

kicks off TONIGHT April 29, and concludes Monday, May 4th!

04/29/2026

Be sure to check out these captivating documentary shorts from our community at this year’s :

1970s – THE EMERGENCE OF FILIPINO AMERICAN STUDENT ACTIVISM (dir. by Roselyn Ibanez)
1970s – over 50 years ago, Filipino American student organizing and my participation in the establishment of the Filipino American clubs at two colleges in Southern California.

BECAUSE OF YOU: A HISTORY OF KILAWIN KOLEKTIBO (dir. Barbara Malaran and Desireena Almoradie)
This archival documentary traces the history of Kilawin Kolektibo, a pioneering collective of Filipinx who came together in NYC in the mid-nineties. Having experienced marginalization in Filipino culture because of their q***rness and in mainstream gay culture because of their race, language, and gender, the members of the group sought political empowerment and increased visibility.

BRIDGING OUR STORIES (dir. Rafael Bitanga)
When the last Filipino community center in Ketchikan Alaska, becomes just a memory, a 50-year-old Filipina who spent her life resisting her heritage travels to the Philippines to re discover her roots, preserving her community’ s disappearing culture, and teaching indigenous Filipino dances.

FWC LEGACY (dir. Florante Ibañez)
Much of the early FilAm Identity movement progressed thru the P/Filipino People’s Far West Conventions that flowed from Seattle and ebbed in LA (1971-1985).

JOURNEYS FOR A DREAM: PHILIPPINES TO AMERICA (dir. Grace Nall)
Journeys for a Dream: Philippines to America by filmmaker Grace Aguinaldo-Limbag Nall takes viewers behind the scenes of the Filipinos of South Bay Exhibit (FoSBE) after delays from the COVID pandemic. Narrative interviews explore immigration American dreams. Museum showcases a tapestry of Filipino heritage and its impact on American culture.

LIGHT ON A HILL (dir. Myles Matsuno, produced by Lailanie Gadia)
After the Eaton Fire, a Korean family’ s restaurant becomes a hub for aid. As the community rebuilds, a mural by Robert Vargas shows how art heals. Told through mixed media and home footage by those who lives it, recovery rises through the ashes.

04/28/2026

In the CINEMA SALA SPOTLIGHT is Patrick Epino!

Patrick is a writer, director, and producer based in Los Angeles. His work explores the lives of outsiders pushed to the margins of society, drawing on his personal experiences as a Filipino American latchkey kid born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.

His feature project VETERANO, a bank heist thriller, is a part of the 2025–2026 Producers Guild of America Create Lab. The script advanced to the second round of the 2025 Sundance Development Lab and was a finalist for the 2025 Gotham Week Project Market. The proof-of-concept short film makes its World Premiere this Saturday at in the shorts block!

His pilot SOUTH CITY, an original coming-of-age comedy series, was a finalist for the Episodic Lab.
Patrick is co-director, director of photography, and editor of IN PROXIMITY, a weekly podcast produced by .
His debut feature, MR. SADMAN, a satirical dark comedy starring Scoot McNairy, was selected for Narrative Labs.

Patrick co-created, co-directed, and produced AWESOME ASIAN BAD GUYS, an action comedy starring Randall Park and Tamlyn Tomita, which evolved from a popular video on Patrick’s YouTube channel, and was the first episodic project chosen for the Gotham’s Emerging Narrative Forum. Cinema Sala screened Awesome Asian Bad Guys in the early days of Cinema Sala, at the VC offices. 🍿

National Film Society was a founding member of PBS Digital Studios , and through its creative studio, Patrick has collaborated with Amazon, Filmmaker Magazine, Starz, and IMDb. He also directed and produced , a narrative podcast and short documentary series about stories in the Filipino diaspora, selected for the inaugural Google Podcasts Creator Program.

proudlypinoy

04/28/2026

Wowwowee! There’s even more Pinoy narrative shorts at LAAPFF this year. Mark your calendars and get your tickets!

Daylight (dir. Andrea A. Walter)
A young vampire; afraid of who she has become, goes on a night out and rediscovers who she is.

Memoria (dir. Ross Vasallo)
Mori, a teenager living under the strict expectations of their devout Catholic mother, begins to unravel their sense of self through a series of fragmented memories and inner reflections.

Milk and Honey (dir. Rachel Leyco)
Set in the early 1990s, Cherry, a young Filipina nurse leaves her family behind to pursue a better life in El Paso, Texas.

Roommates (dir. Jonathan “JD” De Guzman II)
Reese spends the night with his roommate Lexa and her boyfriend Jay, but as the evening unfolds, he struggles to fight his attraction for Jay.

Runo! (dir. Lysa Catolico and Jazmine Gin R. Pateña)
A hungry, loving aspin (Filipino breed) rescue named Runo sets out to get her owner, Aimee, from school to fill her food bowl in the midst of an apocalyptic Philippines.

Taga (dir. Jill Marie Sachs)
Vivi, a third-culture Filipina-American, travels to the Philippines to reconnect with her roots, but falls in with a group of Western eco-volunteers. When they scorn the customs of a remote mountain village, an ancient evil comes knocking.

The Sharp Point of Time (dir. Andrew Acedo)
An immigrant Filipina mother who had dreams of being a filmmaker just wants her America-born son to not smoke w**d, wash the dishes right and be more like his brother.

Water Sports (dir. Whammy Alcazaren)
Jelson and Ipe, students deep in love, undergo trials of the mind and body as they prepare themselves to survive a world devastated by climate change.

04/27/2026

Wowwowee! There’s EVEN MORE terrific Pinoy narrative shorts at upcoming LAAPFF this year. Mark your calendar!

Daylight (dir. Andrea A. Walter)
A young vampire; afraid of who she has become, goes on a night out and rediscovers who she is.

Memoria (dir. Ross Vasallo)
Mori, a teenager living under the strict expectations of their devout Catholic mother, begins to unravel their sense of self through a series of fragmented memories and inner reflections.

Milk and Honey (dir. Rachel Leyco)
Set in the early 1990s, Cherry, a young Filipina nurse leaves her family behind to pursue a better life in El Paso, Texas.

Roommates (dir. Jonathan “JD” De Guzman II)
Reese spends the night with his roommate Lexa and her boyfriend Jay, but as the evening unfolds, he struggles to fight his attraction for Jay.

Runo! (dir. Lysa Catolico and Jazmine Gin R. Pateña)
A hungry, loving aspin (Filipino breed) rescue named Runo sets out to get her owner, Aimee, from school to fill her food bowl in the midst of an apocalyptic Philippines.

Taga (dir. Jill Marie Sachs)
Vivi, a third-culture Filipina-American, travels to the Philippines to reconnect with her roots, but falls in with a group of Western eco-volunteers. When they scorn the customs of a remote mountain village, an ancient evil comes knocking.

The Sharp Point of Time (dir. Andrew Acedo)
An immigrant Filipina mother who had dreams of being a filmmaker just wants her America-born son to not smoke w**d, wash the dishes right and be more like his brother.

Water Sports (dir. Whammy Alcazaren)
Jelson and Ipe, students deep in love, undergo trials of the mind and body as they prepare themselves to survive a world devastated by climate change.

LAAPFF runs from April 29-May 4, 2026!

04/26/2026

Cinema Sala is proud to Community Sponsor KUWENTOOHAN- A slate of beautiful Filipino short films exploring the stories of the diaspora - at the 2026 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival!

We too can dig deeper this time around. We have other lives to explore and stories to tell, di ba?

AGAPITO (dir. Arvin Belarmino & Kayla Romero)
It’s the last day of the month. Bowlers flock to the lanes of a bowling alley that has seen better days. Mira, the manager, decides to close early. She’s awaiting the arrival of a special visitor.

ANINO (dir. MG Evangelista)
A quiet teen inherits a dark and ancestral force that helps her to take on her bully.

BETWEEN THE LINES (dir. Jill Janairo)
An artsy, vintage homage to classic 90s Filipino teleserye — shot with an all-Filipinx crew.

IN THE MORNING SUN (dir. Serville Poblete)
In a quiet Toronto apartment, an immigrant mother finds comfort in her Alexa—weather updates, love songs, and the time back home become a lifeline to the Philippines, reminding her of the family she left behind.

OUT OF EDEN (dir. Siege Ledesma)
In search of deliverance in a post-apocalyptic Philippines, a distraught mother takes her reluctant daughter on a secret pilgrimage to partake in their god-king’s divine ascension.

THE BIRD, THE GIRL, AND THE TYPHOON (dir. Angeline Marie Michael Meitzler)
While following her morning routine, an elderly migrant Filipino nurse is liberated from a lifetime of service as she transforms into the weather, an endemic bird, the harvest, and her own internal force.

VETERANO (dir. Patrick Epino)
A Filipino World War II veteran with nothing left to lose dusts off his past and his pistol for one last mission in 1981 San Francisco.

🚨 Psst! Use 🎟️ discount code: Kuwentoohan20 (link in bio)

ABOUT LAAPFF:
Since 1983, LAAPFF has presented over 5,000 films, videos, and digital mediaworks by Asian & Pacific Islander artists, and features seminars, panels, in-person guest appearances, and filmmaker awards. The Film Festival continues to be the largest festival of its kind in Southern California and is the premier showcase for the best and brightest of Asian Pacific cinema.

04/22/2026

What a wonderful time at the New Filmmakers LA April Film Festival InFocus: Puglia, Asian Cinema & Immigration! The festival took place on April 11th at the beautiful South Park Center in DTLA. Cinema Sala was in attendance as a Community Sponsor.

It was a great full day of networking with talented filmmakers and peers, taking pictures and watching some incredible films!

NFMLA next hosts their May 16th Film Festival | InFocus: Disabilities.

04/20/2026

Cinema Sala is proud to Community Sponsor the 2026 ! IFFLA is back April 23-26th at Landmark Sunset Hollywood, bringing you the best in South Asian cinema and its diasporas. Brace yourself for world premieres, star-studded galas, an Industry Day filled with panels, masterclasses, a pitch competition, networking and much more!

In feature film The Gas Station Attendant , New York City-based Indo-Filipina American filmmaker Karla Murthy turns her gaze toward her own father with disarming honesty. What begins as a portrait, gradually unfolds into something more layered: the story of a man who left a small town near Bangalore for America in the 1960s, and the life that followed. Built from family photographs, old recordings, and decades of conversations between father and daughter (which she recorded with him until his passing), the film carries the texture of memory itself. There is tremendous affection here, but also complexity. In Murthy’s careful hands, the film becomes a deeply personal reflection on family, migration, and the enduring ties that continue to hold them together.
**IN ATTENDANCE: Karla Murthy, Rajal Pitroda

SHORTS BLOCK 3 has a couple films co-produced by the Philippines, ALI and BLEAT!
A sacrificial lamb gone humorously awry. A boy seeking freedom through his unique voice. A trio of women journeying through a difficult landscape. Shorts Program 3 showcases films highlighting the trials of the underdog finding their way in a complicated world. Check out this moving range of
films, and leave the theater a whole new person.

Grab your tickets now!
Passes and tickets are on sale at www.indianfilmfestival.org.

Cinema Sala

05/01/2026

05/01/2026

04/30/2026

04/29/2026

04/28/2026

04/28/2026

04/27/2026

04/26/2026

04/22/2026

04/20/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Establishment

Shortcuts

Share