SNAFU

Showing In

PROGRAM 12B (EPISODIC): WHEN LIFE REWRITES THE SCRIPT
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (Screen 1), Mtn View Sat, Mar 21 12:30 PM
Six bold pilots, six distinct worlds. From surreal anti–talk shows to high-stakes action and messy friendships, these episodes follow characters reinventing themselves when life blows the script apart.
PROGRAM 12B (EPISODIC): WHEN LIFE REWRITES THE SCRIPT
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (Screen 1), Mtn View Sun, Mar 22 12:25 PM
Six bold pilots, six distinct worlds. From surreal anti–talk shows to high-stakes action and messy friendships, these episodes follow characters reinventing themselves when life blows the script apart.
Film Info
Type of Film/Event:Film
Runtime (minutes):14
Premiere Status:World Premiere
Genre:Comedy
Original Language:English
Chinese Mandarin (Sichuanese)
Subtitles (Language):English
Cast/Crew Info
Cast:Ricky Feng Nan
Tom Paolino
Michael Patrick Sullivan
Patrick McGuinness
Lillian Zhou
Jashawn Lee
Reagan Wortz
Thomas Wu
Director:Jackie Shijie Xing
Producer(s):Chris Zilong Wang
Jessica Yiwen Qian
Screenwriter:Jackie Shijie Xing
Cinematography:Yinan Shi
Music By:Tianchen Peng
Editor:Hauton Haotian Xu (Editor
Colorist)
Wenrui Zhao (Sound Designer
Re-recording Mixer)

Description

Set in 1970s Detroit, SNAFU follows Ben Ding, a Chinese truck driver scraping by through small, questionable side hustles. One night, a routine stop at his sister’s dumpling shop spirals into disaster when Ben discovers he has unknowingly been transporting Jimmy Hoffa. Hoffa’s presence draws armed mobsters straight to the restaurant, trapping Ben, his sister, and his friend in a claustrophobic standoff that quickly erupts into violence. As the night escalates, Ben is forced to improvise his way through a series of brutal, messy confrontations, using whatever the kitchen offers to survive. What begins as an attempt to protect his family turns into something more unsettling: each decision pushes Ben further into moral gray zones he never planned to enter. The chaos exposes the cost of cutting corners and the quiet ways desperation hardens into corruption. Blending grounded action with character-driven comedy, SNAFU explores survival, loyalty, and complicity through a distinctly overlooked lens. By placing a Chinese American family at the center of a 1970s crime story, the film reclaims a space where Asian faces are rarely seen, despite always having been there. Designed as a proof of concept for an episodic series, SNAFU ends with unresolved consequences, leaving Ben alive—but changed—and the world around him anything but settled.