In this big, wide world, Asian diasporas experience change and introspection in all sorts of environments. Will it be in the water? In the heat of the sun? Or the shadow of a volcano? Wherever it is, and wherever they go, there is a story worth telling. ...
‘Leading from the Front’ of Asian American Identity
The zeitgeist of Asians in the United States is defined by questions: How do we bear the sacrifices of our families who decided to stake our futures on this land? With whom do we connect as a nationality defined by the world’s ethnicities? And as we look ...
International Fame through Faith: “Singing in the Wilderness”
“Singing in the Wilderness” is a documentary about a Miao ethnic Christian choir group in China. After a century of living in the mountains, this choir group gets a chance to sing on the world stage. Their faith is questioned as they try to find success. ...
To Remember Is to Set Free
Julie Ha and Eugene Yi Transnationalize the Roots of Anti-Asian Hate in ‘Free Chol Soo Lee’ Asian/American films incepted out of the impulse to speak back, and perhaps more critically, they carved a political space to speak from. First-time directors ...
What does it mean to be ‘Chosen’?
The underdog congressional campaign of David Kim It has been said that the political identity of Korean Americans was forged in the fires of Sa-I-Gu (also known as the Los Angeles Riots). Following the Rodney King verdict and the sentencing of Soon Ja Du, ...
‘We Don’t Dance For Nothing’: How do you escape the inescapable?
An ode to the dignity of overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong They dance to celebrate. To remember. To forget. To take up space in a world that demands they give up their individuality in exchange for a meek, submissive existence. In Stefanos Tai’s film ...
‘Freckled Rice’: Coming of age in Chinatown
Coming of age in Chinatown is hardly an individual experience; it’s a family affair. “Freckled Rice,” a 1983 film directed by Stephen C. Ning, is a story about 13-year-old, American-born Joe Soo (J.P. Wing) who grows up in Boston’s Chinatown in the 1960s. ...
Yuni: A Looking Glass
A tender glance into the life of a teenager in rural Indonesia Written by: Patricia Kusumaningtyas As the title card rolls, we hear the sound of splashing water. The first frame of the film is a girl, slowly emerging from the bathroom, wearing an all-pur ...
Closing APAHM with art that has inspired us
This Asian Pacific American History Month (APAHM) has given us a wave of media content featuring our community. We got documentaries that gave us broad overviews of our history (PBS’s series “Asian Americans”) and ones that had a more hyper-focused approa ...