Neha aziz

Artistic Director

The Artistic Director is in charge of the creative vision of year - round programming at the festival.

Neha Aziz is a Pakistani-born writer, filmmaker, festival programmer, and podcaster living in Austin, TX.

She associate produced Come & Take It (SXSW 2018) , a documentary short about the #CocksNotGlocks and Gun Free UT movements with acclaimed filmmakers PJ Raval and Ellen Spiro, which has gone on to win numerous accolades.

From 2017 - 2020, Neha worked at SXSW as a member of the Communications team. In addition to AAAFF, she works as a Film Programmer for rePRO and the Cleveland International Film Festival, as well as the Communications Manager for the Asian American Documentary Network (A - DOC).

In 2021, she was named an iHeartRadio NextUP fellow for their inaugural podcast program; her show, PARTITION (limited series) debuted in August 2022 and has been featured on Apple Podcasts, NPR, The Austin Chronicle, The 19th News, The Austin American - Statesman, The RepresentASIAN Project, Asian Founded, and more.

In 2023, Neha was one of five recipients of the WAVE Grant from Wavelength Productions, a grant and one year mentorship given to first time female/non-binary directors of color. Her short, SO, THAT HAPPENED marked her directorial debut.

Casie luong (she/they)

Community Programs Coordinator

The Community Programs Coordinator builds connections within our community: connecting local filmmakers and partnering with local organizations.

Casie’s passion lies in bringing people in the creative space together to share, connect and feel supported.

“AAAFF has been that space for me and I hope to continue cultivating that space for others!”

Casie’s current personal project is her pop music project, promqueen. Through this project, she has been able to explore her Vietnamese American and queerness identities.

Her project has been featured in Austin Chronicle, KUTX radio station, and NPR Next Gen Radio!

You can support her by following her on social media @saypromqueen and streaming her album on Spotify! 

Additionally, a very warm welcome to Alishba Javaid, our new AAAFF Intern.

We’re happy to have you on board and look forward to all the cool things you’ll do! 😎

Alishba javaid (she/her)

AAAFF Intern

Alishba Javaid is a Pakistani-American and Muslim journalism and international relations senior at the University of Texas at Austin.

She has previously worked at the Daily Texan video and Life & Arts department covering campus culture, including Asian American events and AAAFF film festival screenings!!

She was former president of UT’s chapter of Asian American Journalists Association where she helped plan guest speaker events, workshops, and socials to create community of passionate Asian American journalists on campus who can help improve Asian American representation in news media.

Alishba was a 2022 fellow for Asian Texans for Justice where she worked on a summer project advocating for Asian American education in K-12 history classes in Texas. She currently is doing outreach for two organizations: Asian Desi Pacific Islander American Collective, where she helps plan AAPI events on campus and Mental Health Initiatives for South Asians where she is working on outreach with mental health in Muslim South Asian communities.

What AAAFF means to her: “When I found out AAAFF existed I was so inspired seeing Asian diaspora stories on screen being told in my own city. Aside from attending events and covering screenings, I wanted to be part of the process of creating these events.”

You can follow her on social media on Twitter!