About this Event
🎬 TTAFF’S FIRST-EVER OPENING NIGHT! 🐯✨
Join us for a historic evening as the Tigertail Asian Film Festival (TTAFF) launches its 4th Edition with our first-ever Opening Night celebration, featuring a special screening of the award-winning documentary Above the Drowning Sea, followed by an exclusive Q&A with the film’s creators.
Non-alcoholic Drinks and Hors d'oeuvres included with the ticket price.
📅 Thursday, February 18, 2027
📍 Florida Holocaust Museum – St. Petersburg, Florida
🍸 Opening Night Happy Hour: 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
🎥 Film Screening: 7:00 PM SHARP – 8:28 PM (88 minutes)
🎤 Q&A with the Film Creators: 8:30 PM – 9:15 PM (45 minutes)
🎥 ABOUT THE FILM
Above the Drowning Sea tells the extraordinary true story of European Jews who escaped Nazi-controlled Europe on the eve of World War II and found an unlikely refuge thousands of miles away in Shanghai, China.
At a time when countries around the world were closing their doors to Jewish refugees, Shanghai remained an “open city.” But escaping Europe required a critical document—a visa.
The film recounts the remarkable courage of Ho Feng Shan, the Chinese Consul in Vienna, who defied his own government and risked confrontation with the Gestapo to issue visas that helped Jewish refugees escape.
Through firsthand accounts from Jewish refugees and the Chinese residents of Shanghai who helped them survive, Above the Drowning Sea reveals a powerful story of courage, compassion, friendship and humanity across cultures during one of history’s darkest periods.
🏆 Winner – Golden Dragon Award for Best Documentary, Ferrara Film Festival
The film has also received nominations for documentary achievement, Best Documentary and Best Cinematography at international film festivals.
🎤 EXCLUSIVE Q&A WITH THE FILM’S CREATORS
The evening continues immediately after the film with a special 45-minute Q&A featuring René Balcer and Carolyn Hsu-Balcer.
René Balcer is an Emmy, WGA and Edgar Award-winning television writer, producer, showrunner, documentary filmmaker and photographer. He is best known as the Emmy Award-winning showrunner of Law & Order, creator and showrunner of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and creator of FBI: Most Wanted.
Carolyn Hsu-Balcer is a designer, philanthropist, art collector and documentary producer whose work has focused extensively on strengthening Sino-American understanding through art, education and cultural exchange.
Guests will have the rare opportunity to hear directly from the creators about the history behind the film, the people whose stories it preserves, and the process of bringing this remarkable chapter of Jewish and Chinese history to the screen.
🌏 ONE NIGHT. TWO CULTURES. ONE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF HUMANITY.
This special evening marks the beginning of a new chapter for TTAFF. After three years of bringing Asian cinema, culture and storytelling to the Tampa Bay community, the 4th Edition of the Tigertail Asian Film Festival expands to three days for the first time — February 18–20, 2027.
Whether you're a film lover, history enthusiast, member of the Jewish or Asian American community, or simply someone moved by extraordinary stories of human courage, we invite you to be part of TTAFF history on Opening Night. 🐯🎞️
Come for the film. Stay for the conversation. Be part of TTAFF’s first-ever Opening Night.
Additional Donations are Welcome, but never Required.
Donate to TTAFF4
Tigertail Asian Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to creating opportunities for up and coming filmmakers of all backgrounds to be heard and Asian themed stories to be seen, heard, and celebrated.
Agenda
🕑: 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Happy Hour
Info: Non-alcoholic Drinks and Hors d'oeuvres included with the ticket price.
🕑: 07:00 PM - 08:30 PM
Film Screening: Above the Drowning Sea
Info: Above the Drowning Sea recounts the courageous intervention of Ho Feng Shan, the Chinese Consul in Vienna who defied his own government and braved the Gestapo to issue visas to the refugees. Jewish refugees and the Chinese residents of Shanghai who helped them survive in China recount their experiences, terrors and deprivations as well as the remarkable friendships forged across cultures, friendships that survive to this day. This award-winning film takes you on an inspiring and emotional journey across time and across the world. Truly a story that could have been ripped from today’s headlines, the film vividly celebrates the every-day heroism and humanity of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances.
🕑: 08:30 PM - 09:15 PM
Above the Drowning Sea - Q&A with Creators
Info: Film co-creators Rene Balcer & Carolyn Hsu-Balcer will join us via Zoom for a Q&A session with audience promptly after the film screening.
Event venue & nearby stays
The Florida Holocaust Museum, 55 5th Street South, St. Petersburg, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.