A Chinese girl adopted by a U.S. family transforms into a cheeky, confident all-American girl. A British Indian family is thrown into turmoil when a daughter becomes impregnated by her Muslim boyfriend. A Japanese American, radicalized by the internment, becomes a militant founding member of the Black Panthers.

These are just some of the unique stories being featured at the 14th annual Vancouver Asian Film Festival, which runs from November 4 to 7. Kathy Leung, the festival’s coprogramming director, says that of the 100-plus entries received this year, the feature documentaries are the strongest.

“The documentaries are really coming into their own,” Leung says by phone. “The stories are getting broader, and I think that comes from the confidence in knowing that there is a market for these movies at Asian Canadian and Asian American film festivals.”

Leung notes that the films are much less identity-themed than they have been in the past and focus more on human experience. Lt. Watada (by Academy Award–winning director Freida Lee Mock, who will attend the screening) examines the day-to-day battle of a Japanese American lieutenant who refuses to serve in Iraq, even if it means being vilified and taken to court. “Cedar and Bamboo” follows the 150-year relationship between Native and Chinese people in Canada, which has rarely been discussed by either community until recently.

Wo Ai Ni Mommy, one of the festival’s biggest draws, takes viewers inside the world of international adoption by following the Sadowsky family’s newest member, Faith (or Fang) Sui Yong from China. Tracking Faith’s painful cultural adjustment to life on New York’s Long Island and the family’s efforts to make her feel welcome, the film challenges traditional notions of race, family, and home.

In addition to the feature documentaries, Leung recommends the award-winning short films on November 5, as well as the local short films on November 7, for which all directors will be present.

This year’s lineup is also marked by notable South Asian content, with three features: For Real, Life Goes On, and Mad, Sad & Bad. “The spotlight is a bit on South Asians, as we got a lot of strong films this year,” coprogramming director Baljit Sangra says over the phone. “The features have a who’s who of actors working in the mainstream, from Sarita Choudhury, who will be present, to the actors of BBC mainstream films.”

Given Vancouver’s diverse audience, it’s fitting that the festival closes this year with One Big Hapa Family, a documentary by Jeff Chiba Stearns about interracial marriage based on his own family history.

Through a mix of interviews, historical footage, and animation, Hapa Family tells a vivid story of how Japanese Canadians, once a homogenous ethnic group in Canada, came to have the nation’s highest interracial-marriage rate. It also features candid talks with interracial couples and their resulting mixed-Asian children, known as hapas.

Over tea on Robson Street, Chiba Stearns says he hopes the film will affect not just fellow Japanese Canadians but also immigrants opposed to mixed marriages out of fear of diluting their culture.

“I hear stories from friends who feel pressured to marry, say, another Chinese or a South Asian and feel terrible if they don’t.” he says. “But you’re not going to really develop a Canadian identity until you start to mix together. I hope others can learn something from Japanese Canadians—even though it was forced assimilation, it’s going to be okay.”

Hapa Family gives a rare look at the Okanagan experience during the internment, as Chiba Stearns’s relatives were among 2,400 Japanese Canadians who were not sent to the camps. Although the Chibas managed to keep their homes, the wartime scare led them to a speedy integration and diversification of its clan, which now includes members of German, Caribbean, and mixed-European descent.

Chiba Stearns hopes his film will reveal the “hybridity” of Asian Canadian culture and how appearances don’t necessarily correspond with a person’s identity. “My family’s been here since 1903,” he says. “So when someone tells me to go back where I came from, it’s like, what the hell? And you know”¦the most Japanese guys in my family are all white.”

Both Leung and Sangra say that Asian film festivals like VAFF are no longer “niche” events but an important outlet for film lovers to discover high-quality movies told from a different perspective.

“When I was growing up, there was no VAFF, so I always looking for that one side character in mainstream movies,” Leung says. “But there’s a lot more of us behind the camera today, which is great”¦The more opportunities filmmakers have without feeling like they have to inject or deny their culture is a good thing for everyone.”