Rubbing elbows on the red carpet with Konkona Sensharma, Ham Tran and Shuhei Fujita? From Bangalore to Tokyo, that would be like slipping in the back door at a private Academy Awards party.

But the public invitation to the $50 a head, black-tie-optional affair is just the new Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival's Oriental way of saying "hey, yinz guys" to Pittsburgh. Indian film star Sensharma, Thai director Tran and Japanese director Fujita are expected to be among the international film industry celebrities nibbling Eastern hors d'oeuvres and watching colorful music and dance performances at the upscale party celebrating the launch of the pan-Asian film festival. (The Red Carpet Gala starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the 9 Over 9th Gallery & Rooftop Patio, Downtown. RSVP at www.silkscreenfestival.org.)

The Silk Screen festival premieres with multiple screenings of 22 feature-length films showcasing eclectic works from China, Japan, India, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines, and additional films by Asian directors originating in Iran, Canada, France-Belgium and the United States. The Silk Screen films will be shown Friday through May 20 at Pittsburgh Filmmakers' venues: Regent Square Theater, 1035 S. Braddock Ave., Edgewood; Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Ave., Downtown; and Melwood Screening Room, 477 Melwood Ave., Oakland. Call 412-682-4111 for venue information. Movie tickets $8; an eight-film pass is $50. Get festival details at 724-969-2565 or www.silkscreenfestival.org.

SILK SCREEN ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

Q&A guest appearances subject to change.

"Amu" (India/USA): An Indian-American woman visits her family in India and learns of long-hidden genocide that holds the key to birth. 8 p.m. Friday, Regent Square (Q&A).

"Arahan" (South Korea): An action-comedy spoof of the martial-arts genre. 7 p.m. Saturday; 4 p.m. Sunday and 9:30 p.m. May 19, Melwood.

"Being Cyrus" (India): What begins as a deep psychological drama unravels into a quaint comedy. 7:30 p.m. May 18, and 9:30 p.m. May 20, Regent Square.

"Buffalo Boy" (France/Belgium/Vietnam): A coming-of-age story of a teen whose burgeoning maturity is impacted by dark meditations on the natural and unnatural. 7 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Tuesday (Q&A), Melwood.

"Cell Phone" (China): A hit in China in 2003, it's a comedy drama about the problems brought on by the popularity of mobile phones. 2:30 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Tuesday, Regent Square.

"Electric Shadows" (China): A young female director's tale of the village cinema's influence on a small-town boy and girl. 9 p.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Monday, Regent Square.

"Eve and the Fire Horse" (Canada): Born in the Chinese Year of the Fire Horse, a precocious 9-year-old girl faces the rigors of childhood armed with an overactive imagination. 5 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Regent Square.

"Gilaneh" (Iran): With Tehran under missile attack during the Iran-Iraq War, a lonely middle-age woman sends her son to war and takes her daughter to the city to search for her husband, who is absent without leave from the military. 9:30 p.m. Friday, Harris; 4 p.m. May 20, Melwood.

"Grain in Ear" (China/South Korea): A Chinese woman of Korean ancestry, single and raising a child, makes a meager living while on the run from the authorities. 8 p.m. May 18 and 7 p.m. May 20, Harris.

"Iqbal" (India): A deaf and mute 18-year-old struggles to pursue his sports fantasy of making it all the way to the national cricket team. 9:15 p.m. May 18 and 4 p.m. May 20, Regent Square.

"It's Only Talk" (Japan): A single, jobless woman on medication to treat her manic depression reinvents herself for the new man she meets. 3 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Harris.

"Journey from the Fall" (Thailand/USA): Torn between fighting for his native Vietnam and protecting his family, a man leads his wife, child and mother-in-law on a perilous journey across the Pacific to America. 5 p.m. Saturday (Q&A), Regent Square.

"La Visa Loca" (Philippines): A comical adventure about a young man's crazy schemes to get an American visa. 8 p.m. Wednesday and 7 p.m. May 20, Melwood.

"Man Push Cart" (USA): A former Pakistani rock star is humiliated when reduced to selling coffee and donuts from a street cart in Manhattan. 7:30 p.m. Friday (Q&A) and 9:15 p.m. May 19 (Q&A), Harris.

"Mapado" (South Korea): In this comedy, two fishermen are marooned on an island with five elderly women who haven't seen a man in years. 9 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. May 19 and 9:30 p.m. May 20, Harris.

"The Motel" (USA): A fatherless 13-year-old Asian-American boy in the American heartland helps his dragon-lady mom run a sleazy motel. 5 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 p.m. May 19, Melwood.

"Punching at the Sun" (USA): When an immigrant convenience store manager is gunned down in Queens, the man's headstrong younger brother explodes with rage. 6 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Monday, Harris.

"Quiet Summer" (Japan): A young Taiwanese man who was raised in Japan visits his native land and discovers his ethnic background. 7 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. May 18, Melwood.

"Red Doors" (USA): A dysfunctional Chinese-American family explores the nature of happiness. 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. May 19, Regent Square.

"Slow Jam King" (USA): A Filipino-American pimp, a traveling perfume salesman and the salesman's best friend hijack a car and hit the road to Nashville. 9:30 p.m. Friday (Q&A); 8 p.m. Monday, Melwood.

"Water" (Canada): Set in the era of Gandhi, an Indian woman and a young girl endure religious-based cultural prejudices against widows. 7 p.m. May 20, Regent Square.

"Yek Shab (One Night)" (Iran): Forced by her mother from their cramped apartment, a young female office clerk wanders through Teheran at night and confronts three men with very different stories. 6 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Harris.