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. ...
Linh Tran Got the Green Light
A remarkable debut by a new young filmmaker “I have no idea what I’m doing with my career,” Linh Tran candidly stated via phone interview. That uncertainty is confidently felt throughout her debut feature, “Waiting for the Light to Change.” Tran’s film, w ...
‘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 ...
‘Better Luck Tomorrow’: 20 Years Later
Tackling the legacy of the greatest Asian American filmThis article contains spoilers.On October 4, 2019, the LA Times’ released an article titled “The 20 best Asian American films of the last 20 years.” And number one on their list was the 2002 crime dra ...
Iris Yamashita: extraordinarily under-appreciated screenwriter
The Woman Who Penned 'Letters from Iwo Jima' Has Never Stopped Writing “If our children can sleep safely for one more day, it would be worth the one more day that we defend this island!” So declares General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, played by Ken Watanabe ...
Finding the universal in ‘It’s a Mad Mad Multiverse’
Dreams, reality, folklore, and everything in between: “It’s a Mad Mad Multiverse” encompasses it all. The collection of shorts traverses unique universes but the themes are universal, covering guilt, trauma, grief, longing, nostalgia, and friendship. Here ...
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, ...
No New Wave
A movie about filmmaking dreams in its lowest tide This article may contain spoilers. New York City – a sight that gives optimism, especially when your point of view is from the outside looking in. “No New Wave,” the debut feature film by Ziwei Yao, open ...
‘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 ...