The 29th Annual International Asian American Film Festival, one of the biggest and oldest in the country, opens Thursday, March 10th at the Castro Theater with West is West, starring the great Om Puri.

The festival has both big budget commercial movies like this one as well art house, avant garde movies. Festival director Christine Kwon says the staff aims to create a program for a diverse audience.

“We’re always looking for stories that are new and told in a new way,” she said. “We’re looking for filmmakers who have a voice and style all their own.”

One example of that would be Ian Gamazon, whose film Living in Seduced Circumstances will be in the festival.

“It was made on miniscule budget and it’s sort of a torture allegory with some history of Vietnam and its people,” Kwon said. “It’s not going to draw a huge crowd, but when you watch his films, you realize he definitely has his own perspective and style visually.”

This year there is a slate of films from Pakistan, India, and Vietnam, Kwon said. The centerpiece film, Clash, showing at the Castro on Sunday, March 13 at 6:30, was Vietnam’s biggest hit of the year.

“It’s a fascinating model,” Kwon said about the action movie. “It’s a very collaborative overseas production.”

Kwon says the festival is expanding its reach.

“Our personality is changing,” she said. “We’re about much more than film - there will be musical performances and mixed media as well as a lot of panels.”