C35 Films is a full-service production company with over a decade of experience creating social justice centered documentary films to advance new narratives from underrepresented perspectives with impact-focused distribution to engage audience and drive social change. Our work has been featured in NBC News, Washington Post, BBC News, NPR, Salon, Indie Wire, Politico, and Documentary Magazine. 

C35 Films has produced independent documentaries including CHINATOWN (2014, 26′), FIRST VOTE (2020, 60′), and DISSIDENTS (2024, 75′).  CHINATOWN won Indie Capitol Awards for Best Documentary Short and was broadcast on the PBS station in DC.

FIRST VOTE qualified for the 93rd Academy Awards in the “Best Picture” and “Documentary Feature” categories. It won a Telly Awards and Special Jury Award at the 36th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The film screened at festivals including AFI DOCS, Hot Springs Documentary Festival, and Hawaii International Film Festival. It had a virtual theatrical release at AFI Silver Theater, Carolina Theatre, and Nightlight Cinema in 2020. After its broadcast premiere on WORLD Channel (carried by 191 PBS stations in markets representing 74% of US TV households), the film was acquired by PBS Distribution. 

DISSIDENTS had its international premiere at the Academy Awards-qualifying Doc Edge Festival in New Zealand and won Best Documentary Feature Award at the DC Independent Film Festival. It was selected for 2024 Berlinale European Film Market and IDFA Docs for Sale. Java Films acquired the film for global distribution. 

Director Tsai Ming-liang’s US-Taiwan co-production ABIDING NOWHERE (2024, Home Green Films, 79′) was produced in association with C35 Films. The film premiered at 2024 Berlinale and has screened at CPH: DOX, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, Taipei Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Vienna International Film Festival, and Tokyo FILMeX. 

Our films have received grants from Ford Foundation JustFilms, Open Society Foundations, ITVS, Center for Asian American Media, New York Foundation for the Arts, Kartemquin Films, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Southern Documentary Fund, Human Rights Foundation, and Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. They have also received support from organizations including DOC NYC Pitch Perfect, Tribeca IF/Then, DCTV, IDA DocuClub, UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program, Reporters Committee for Freedom of Press, Center for Independent Documentary, Docs in Progress, Women in Film and Video DC, and Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival.