Asian American
Studies Program
303 Ingraham Hall
1155 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 608-263-2976
Fax: 608-265-8110
Lynet Uttal
Director
luttal@wisc.edu
Staff
Yer Thao
Program Administrator
aasp@mailplus.wisc.edu
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Video Library
Resources | Video Library | Book Library
All videos are available for viewing by students and faculty. Students
must screen videos at 303 Ingraham, the Asian Am office. Faculty may reserve
videos by calling (608) 263-2976 or emailing aasp@mailplus.wisc.edu and are responsible for their
check-out and return. |
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New Videos:
Afterbirth
Director Jason Hwang; 34 minutes, 1982, Documentary
A visually thoughtful piece which examines the personae
of Asian Americans, looking at the unpredictable relationship between
inner identity and external pressures to be "Asian" and/or "American."
Including footage of an "African Chinese" and a "Caucasian Chinese," Afterbirth
portrays cultural and national identity as nonabsolute concepts.
a.k.a. Don Bonus
Producer/Director: Spencer Nakasako, Director: Sokly Ny; 55 minutes, 1995, Documentary
This hour long documentary looks into 18 year old Sokly "Don Bonus" Ny's
struggles to graduate and survive his complicated life
during his senior year of high school. This film is a powerful self-portrait
of a young Cambodian immigrant growing up in today's America and of America
itself, growing up in the 90'’s.
All Orientals Look the Same and Black Sheep
Producer/Director: Valerie Soe; 1 1/2 minutes/6 minutes; 1986/1990; Experimental/Documentary
All Orientals Look the Same: This video turns this racial
myth on its head, provoking the viewer to confront stereotypes and prejudice
about Asian and Pacific Islanders.
Black Sheep: Utilizing short vignettes, Soe recounts
the story of her "black sheep" uncle to explore the implications of difference
within and without marginalized culture.
American Sons
Director: Steven Okazaki; 41 minutes, 1995, Docu-drama
American Sons is a provocative examination of how racism
shapes the lives of Asian American men. Actors Yuji Okumoto, Kelvin Han
Yee, Lane Nishikawa, and Ron Muriera tell real stories based on interviews
with Asian Americans throughout the country. They express the issues of
hate violence, the stereotypes placed on Asian American men, the model minority
myth, and the deep psychological damage that racism causes over generations.
The film presents a painful and angry view of American life never before
explored in a film or television program.
Anatomy of a Spring Roll
Directors: Paul Kwan & Arnold Iger; 56 minutes, 1993, Documentary
This extraordinary film distills the immigrant experience
of adapting to one's new country while longing for the sounds, tastes,
and smells of the home left behind. It includes images of cooking in a
San Francisco kitchen, street vendors simmering their soups, and bustling
markets, all of which portray the communal nature of preparing food in
Vietnamese culture. An undercurrent of longing for the motherland also
runs through this nostalgic film.
Ancestors in the Americas (Asian American History Series)
Director: Loni Ding; 64 minutes, 1997, Documentary
Part One: Coolies, Sailors, Settlers
The untold story of how Asians, including Filipino, Chinese, and Asian
Indian, first arrived in the Americas. Crossing centuries and oceans…from
the 16th c. Manila-Acapulco trade to the Opium War to 19th c. plantation
coolie labor in South America and the Caribbean.
Part Two: Chinese in the Frontier West, An American Story
The illuminating second episode of
Ancestors series, from the 1850s to 1880s, chronicling the arrival of Chinese
to
Gold Rush era California and their venturings in the frontier west from
Oregon and Washington, to Idaho and Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota. Their
labor, community building, and activism in the courts of mid-19th
century America for justice and equality, has far reaching consequences
for all who followed.
Animal Appetites
Producer/Director: Michael Cho; 20 minutes, 1991, Documentary
Animal Appetites is a wry look at the 1989 Long Beach
trial of two Cambodian immigrants charged with killing a dog for food.
With over 99 million cattle and 5.7 billion chickens consumed per year
in the U.S., this humorous video poses the question, "Why all the fuss
over one dog?” The story follows their trial on animal cruelty charges
and examines the law prohibiting consumption of pets, passed as a result
of the case.
Art to Art: Expressions of Asian American Women
Producer: Valerie Soe; 30 minutes, 1993, Documentary
A collaborative project between filmmakers, painters,
and sculptors, this is the first video production focusing exclusively
on contemporary Asian American women artists. Appropriate for all disciplines
concerned with issues of identity and aesthetics. Features are visual artists
Pacita Abad, Hung Liu, Yong Soon Min, and Barbara Takanaga, profiled by
film and video artists Christine Chang, Christine Choy, Karen Kaul, and
Chuleenan Svetvilas.
17th Asian American Internation Film Festival Tour
Compilation Tapes featuring Various Filmmakers, Features/Shorts
Tape 1: Four feature films including Small Pleasure directed by
Keith Lock and Broken Journey, directed by Sandip Ray.
Tape 2: A compilation of shorts featuring directors Sasithorn Ariyavicha, Meredith
Chin, Alena Tam, Angela D. Chou, Eisha Marjara, Ching Ching Ip, Lana C. Li, Anna Biller, and
Troy Suzuki.
Tape 3: Short films continued.
*For more information on tapes, contact
the office.
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Banana Split
Producer/Director: Kip Fulbeck; 38 minutes, 1990, Experimental
This autobiographical collection of 25 short stories
by Fulbeck examines his relationship to society and family as a Chinese
American/Amerasian. The stories follow his life from childhood through
college, including growing up in an all-white elementary school and his
first date with an Asian woman. Insightful, provocative, and humorous.
The Basement Girl
Director: Midi Onodera; 12 minutes, 2000, Short Film
A young woman finds solace in her basement apartment
after a lover has left her. With only junk food and a television to comfort her, she
embarks on a journey of self discovery and emerges a new independent person.
BBQ Muslims/Death Threat
Director: Zarqa Nawaz; Short Films
Through humor and the absurd, Zarqa Nawaz spins two entertaining vignettes
sure to stimulate dialogue about how the “terrorist” stereotype has the
power to influence society as well as its victims.
BBQ Muslims (Canada, 1995, 5 minutes, Satire) In the
days following
the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, there was a media frenzy pointing fingers
at the North American Muslim community. Several weeks later, Oklahoma police
arrested and convicted Timothy McVeigh, a white American. The cruel irony
of that historic moment inspired this offbeat tale of two Muslim American
brothers’ backyard barbecue mishaps.
Death Threat (Canada, 1998, 19 minutes, Satire) The
story of a young
Muslim woman who has written an appallingly bad Harlequin-type novel and
is struggling to find a publisher. Depressed, frustrated and irritated
after receiving her fifty-ninth rejection, she decides that controversy
is the only way to catch a publisher’s eye; but her exploitation of cultural
stereotypes eventually backfires on her.
Better Luck Tomorrow
Director:
Justin Lin; 99 minutes, 2003
To his classmates and
teachers, high schooler Ben Manibag appears to be the model student: a perfectionist
and overachiever. But underneath this persona is a darker side--Ben and his
bored high school buddies lead double lives, flying high in a world of petty
crime and material excess in order to ease the pressures of being "perfect."
Between Two Worlds: The Hmong Shaman in America
Producers: Taggart Siegle, Director & Dwight Conquergood;
25 minutes, 1985, Documentary
This film gives an intimate account of the life and work of a Hmong shaman
transplanted from the mountains of Laos to Wisconsin. It documents ancient shamanistic rituals and
ceremonies such as animal sacrifice and trance-like healing.
The Bhangra Wrap
Director: Nandini Sikand; 20 minutes, 1994, Documentary
An energetic documentary about a vibrant South Asian
youth subculture that fuses hip hop, rap, and Bhangra music. Based in Toronto
and New York, Bhangra is a mix of old and new, and is symbolic of universal
cultural transformation for new generations.
Black Haired and Black Eyed
Director:
Julie Whang; 9 minutes, 1995 b&w
Synopsis
Blue Collar and Buddha
Director: Taggart Siegel; 57 minutes, 1988, Documentary
A provocative profile of a Lao community which faces
an openly hostile, racist environment in Rockport, Illinois. Local Euro
American citizens, frustrated by economic depression and angry about losing
the Vietnam war, confront recent immigrants who are trying to preserve
their native culture and Buddhist religion.
Bontoc Eulogy
Director: Marlon
Fuentes; 60 minutes, 1995, Docudrama
This personal and poignant
docudrama portrays the Filipino experience at the 1904 St. Louis World's
Fair, telling its story from the point of view of a present-day Filipino
immigrant in the U.S. whose grandfather, Markod, was exhibited as an Igorot
warrior at the Fair. It chronicles Markod's experience, one of eleven hundred
natives brought to America to be part of the "Philippine Reservation."
Broken Blossoms
Director: D.W.
Griffith; 90 minutes, 1913, color tinted
Richard Barthelmess gives
a sensitive portrayal of a Chinese man who travels to England to spread the
pacifist teachings of the Orient. Lillian Gish plays a 15-year-old street
urchin who longs to escape her miserable experience.
Bruce Lee Collection
Bruce Lee: The Legend
Executive
Producer: Raymond Chow; 88 minutes, 1984
Actor. Teacher. Hero.
Legend. Bruce Lee was all those things and much more. Meet the extraordinary
man behind the legend.
The Chinese Collection
Director: Lo Wei;
107 minutes, 1972
When a martial arts master
learns his revered kung fu instructor has been murdered, his shock turns
first to disbelief then to anger.
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Director: Rob Cohen; 120
minutes, 1993
Fists of Fury
Director: Lo Wei; 99 minutes,
1971
Game of Death
Director: Robert
Clouse; 100 minutes, 1972/1979
Return of the Dragon
Director: Bruce Lee; 90
minutes, 1973
Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey
Director: John Little;
100 minutes, 2000
Bruce Lee Meets Snoop Doggy Dogg
Producer: Tou Ger Xiong; 30 minutes, 1997
Hmong performer, Tou Ger Xiong, uses storytelling, rap,
and breakdancing
to help educate audiences about the experience of being Hmong in America.
As a four year
old, Xiong immigrated from Laos during the Vietnam War to Minnesota. He begins
his story in
the refugee camps to his life today in America. Xiong recounts
his first day of school, his early awareness of racism, and the stress of
biculturalism among first generation Hmong Americans. He closes with a traditional
Hmong
folktale. Following the performance are interviews of various audience members.
(See also "Hmong Means Free" by same artist.)
Bui Doi: Life Like Dust
Producers: Ahrin Mishan & Nick Rothenberg; 28 minutes,
1994, Documentary
Inside the mind of Ricky Phan, currently serving an 11
year sentence for armed robbery in a California state prison. Through the
integration of memories and recent experience, the film forces us to ask
ourselves which is more violent: fleeing from a war-ravaged country or
trying to survive in an alien western culture? Bui Doi is an expansion
of the award-winning short film Giang Ho: Crazy Life.
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Cambodian Doughnut Dreams
Director: Charles Davis; 27 minutes, 1990, Documentary
As a result of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, 45,000
Cambodian refugees fled in 1979 and resettled in Los Angeles. Many
opened up doughnut shops. Today, 80% of the doughnut businesses in
Los Angeles are run by Cambodian refugees. This film powerfully documents
stories of three Cambodian doughnut business owners in L.A., all of whom
see themselves primarily as "survivors" of the Pol Pot regime. They reveal
stories of starvation, illness, and the painful separation of families.
Catfish in Black Bean Sauce
Director: Chi
Muoli Lo; 119 minutes, 2001
Synopsis
Chan Is Missing Asian-American
Studies Program Office Copy
The Children We Sacrifice
Director: Grace Poore; 61 minutes, 2000, Documentary
The Children We Sacrifice was shot in India, Sri Lanka, Canada and the
United States.
It is a powerful documentary about incestuous sexual abuse of the South Asian
girl child.
Insights into the far-reaching psychological, social and cultural consequences
of incest are accompanied by thoughtful assessments of strategies that have helped
adult
women cope with childhood trauma. This personal and collective letter from South
Asian incest survivors and their
advocates is a validation of their struggle and a compelling charge to protect
future
generations of children.
China Dolls
Director: Yeung Chi-kin;
91 minutes, 1992, Foreign/Erotica
Synopsis
Chinatown
Director: Eric Lin; 50 minutes, 1999, Drama
Nightmares of demons and cannibalism plague a young waitress as activists
protest Chinese restaurants for killing and preparing live animals. Part
ghost story, part political statement, Eric Lin's debut feature pays tribute
to Chinatowns by immersing itself in cultural identity, local politics,
folklore and the details of its neighborhood life. Asserting that these
communities are more than just tourist attractions and restaurant ghettos, "Chinatown” maps
out its own urban eco-system whose economic livelihood
is constantly prey to the agendas of outside interest groups.
The Chinatown Files New!
Director: Amy Chen; 57 minutes, 2001, Documentary
An excellent documentary about the discrimination of Chinese immigrants during the
1950s and 60s, largely due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The Chinatown Files provides
first hand accounts of seven men and women's experiences of being hunted down, jailed, and
targeted for deportation in the United States.
"An excellent case of history shedding light on important current civil liberties
and freedom
of expression issues." -Diane Weyermann, Sundance International Documentary Fund
The Color of Honor
Producer/Director: Loni Ding; 90 minutes, 1988, Documentary
A vivid, collective portrait of the Japanese American
experience in WWII, including an introduction to the evacuation and internment
of Japanese Americans in the U.S.. In this film, Loni Ding features the
442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated military unit in U.S.
history, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), the linguists who decoded
Japanese military plans, and the thousands of draft resisters and army
protesters who challenged the constitutionality of the internment camps.
Coming Out, Coming Home, Asian and Pacific Islander Family Stories (A/PI-
PFLAG Family Project)--
Director: Hima B.; 44 minutes, 1996, Documentary
This video is an effort to break the isolation of Asian and Pacific Islander
families with lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender children and help
communicate within the family and broader community on this controversial
topic. It features interviews of one Filipino and three Chinese families
and a dialogue among parents of these gay children. The families talk about shame, grief, love, growth, the importance of family,
and how they handled their conflicts around homosexuality.
Crossing Chasms
Director: Jennifer Christine Yang Hee
Arndt; 60 minutes, 1998, Documentary
Crossing Chasms is a documentary about Jennifer Arndt,
a Korean adoptee, who returns to her birth country seeking answers to the
complex questions surrounding her adoption. In her search to define her
identity, she walks through her past to understand the present. On this
journey, she meets seven other Korean adoptees who share their experiences
as she tries to track down her own biological family. Through these stories,
we learn about the complex issues facing Korean adoptees through their
own voices.
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Dancing Through
Death: The Monkey, Magic, & Madness of CambodiaNew!
Director: Janet Gardner; 56 minutes, 1999, Documentary
"This is the story of Thavro Phim, who came of age under the Pol
Pot regime
and lost his father, brother, and grandfather to the blood thirsty Khmer Rouge.
What kept
him whole after the ordeal was his Buddhist faith and dedication to Cambodian
classical
dance where he performs the role of Hanuman, the white monkey. We follow Thavro
from
California to the Kingdom of Cambodia, a country still in turmoil, for bittersweet
reunion with his family and teachers."
Daughter from Danang New!
Directors: Gail Dolgin & Vicente Franco; 83 minutes, 2002,
Documentary
Heidi seems like the "all-American girl" from small-town Pulaski,
Tennessee. Born Mai Thi Hiep in Danang, Vietnam, she was the daughter of a Vietnamese
woman and American serviceman. At the end of the war, rumors spread that racially mixed children would be persecuted.
Fearing for her daughter's life, Heidi's mother placed the 7 year-old on an "Operation Babylift" plane
to the United States. Twenty-two years later, longing to connect with her roots,
she embarks on a journey that takes her to
Vietnam. There she is reunited with her birth mother and her Vietnamese family.
What seems
like a happy ending quickly turns into a heart-wrenching clash of cultures.
Dirty Laundry
Director: Richard Fung;
30 minutes, 1995, experimental narrative
Synopsis
Displaced in the New South
Information to come
The Displaced View
Director: Mido Onodera; 52 minutes, 1988, Documentary
This documentary depicts the journey of a Japanese American woman in search of her
through her grandmother, who is the last of her family born in Japan. Images of old photos,
movies, and experimental film techniques emphasizes the isolation the granddaughter feels as
a Japanese woman who cannot speak the Japanese language. Onodera focuses on Japanese women as
the preservers of their traditional culture and the erosion of culture through assimilation.
The Japanese American identity is revealed through bridging generation gaps.
Do 2 Halves Really Make A Whole?
Producer/Director: Martha Chono-Helsely; 30 minutes, 1993, Documentary
This video features the diverse viewpoints of people
with multi racial Asian heritages. African and Japanese-American poet and
playwright Velina Hasu Houston lives an "amalgamated existence" and encourages
others to take pride in all that they are. Performance artist Dan Kwong
constantly struggles with two strong and often conflicting Asian heritages,
Japanese and Chinese American; Chinese Japanese Chicano Scots storyteller,
actress, and performance artist Brenda Wong Aoki uses her unique ethnic
mix to intersect social circles. (2 copies)
Dollar A Day, Ten Cents a Dance
Producer/Director: Geoffrey Dunn & Mark Schwartz; 29 minutes, 1984,
Documentary
Enticed by the promise of jobs and fair wages, 100,000
Pinoys (Filipino Americans) immigrated to the U.S. between 1924 and 1935
to toil on California's farmland. Because of the exclusion of Filipino
women's immigration and U.S. anti-miscegenation laws, they survived the
loneliness of racial discrimination by creating close-knit bachelor societies
and entering into common law marriages where cockfights, poker games, and
dance halls served as their entertainment.
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Eagle Against the Sun
Director: John Akahoshi; 27 minutes, 1992, Drama
"Eagle Against the Sun” follows the story of Helen Nakamura, a vivacious
17-year-old Japanese American high school senior, in the days immediately
preceding and following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Introduced
as a typical teenager dealing with modest concerns like fitting in with
her peers and finding a date for the school dance, Helen, overnight, becomes
the victim of racial taunts at school; potential dates shun her and her
family's farm is vandalized. Suffused with youthful innocence yet tempered
with righteous indignation, "Eagle Against the Sun” stands as a sharply
observed reminder of the human toll discrimination and internment took
on the lives of Japanese Americans during World War II.
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The Fact of Asian Women New!
Director: Celine Parreñas Shimizu; 27 minutes, 2002, Documentary
"Contemporary Asian
American female actors re-enact scenes from popular Hollywood films. Featuring
three generations of Asian American femme fatales in Hollywood, the film re-examines
the fantastic figure of the “lotus
blossom” and “dragon lady” exemplified in the roles played
by Anna May Wong in the 1920s’-1940s, the “prostitute with a heart
of gold” embodied by Nancy Kwan in the 1960s’ and the contemporary “dominatrix” Lucy
Liu. Performing these characters, young contemporary actors collide with the “ghosts” of
Asian women in Hollywood through the revised endings of their major films performed
on the streets of San Francisco . The actors then discuss sexuality in their
roles and in terms of their own self-formation as actresses of color."
The Fall of the I-Hotel
Producer/Director Curtis
Choy; 58 minutes; revised 1993 (1983), Documentary
This film brings to life
the battle for housing in San Francisco. The brutal eviction of the I-Hotel’s
tenants in 1977 ended a decade of spirited resistance. Almost 20 years since
the International Hotel’s demolition,
the former site of the heart of Manila town and home to more than 10,000 people
in the 1950’s, is still vacant. Many of its surviving elderly residents
still seek low cost replacement housing. This film resonates very clearly in
the 1990’s as homelessness becomes a facet of life in many cities today.
A Family Gathering-Point of View: Days of Waiting (Gift to Asian Am from Paul
Kasuda)
Director: Lise Yasui; 30/60 minutes, 1993, Documentary w/Study Guide
A personal look at the repercussions of historical events.
Through a striking mix of home movies, photographs, family interviews,
and archival materials, a third generation Japanese American shows us that
journeys into the past can bring greater understanding of self and identity
to the present.
Fated to be Queer
Producer: Pablo Bautista; 25 minutes, 1992, Documentary
In this more-than-a-coming-out-video, four charming and
articulate Filipino men illuminate some issues and concerns as gay people
of color in San Francisco. They share personal perspectives on family,
cultural heritage, and racial stereotyping.
First Person Plural New!
Producer/Director: Deann Borshay Liem; 60 minutes, 2000, Documentary
"In 1966, Deann Borshay Liem was adopted by an American family
and was
sent from Korea to her new home. Growing up in California, the memory of her
birth family
was nearly obliterated until recurring dreams led Borshay Liem to discover the
truth: her
Korean mother was very much alive. Bravely uniting her biological and adoptive
families,
filmmaker Borshay Liem's heartfelt journey makes First Person Plural a
pognant essay
on family, loss, and the reconciling of two identities."
Fool's Dance
Producer/Director: Robert A. Nakamura; 30 minutes, 1983, Drama w/Study Guide
Set in a convalescent home, a mysterious patient with
a penchant for Shakespeare reaffirms the joys of living despite the presence
of old age and death. He proves that there is a method to his "madness" and teaches
staff and residents that life, even in the shadow of death,
is to be enjoyed and lived to its fullest.
Foreign Talk
Producer/Director: Joyce Lee; 11 minutes, 1994, Short Film
A Chinese American woman is confronted by two African
American men while riding a commuter train. Their exchange portrays difficulties
and tensions between cultures, then reveals thought-provoking possibilities
for human relationships. An excellent short narrative for discussions about
cross- cultural understanding, communication, and stereotypes.
Fred Ho & the Afro-Asian Music
Ensemble: Underground Railroad
to My Heart
1994, Soul Note Records, Compact Disc
Compact disc recording featuring several new compositional
works as well as selections that represent revolutionary synthesis of Chinese
music and African American musical influences, including never before recorded
selections from an epic score about the Chinese trickster, Monkey.
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The Global Assembly Line New!
Producer/Director: Lorraine Gray; 60 minutes, 1986, Documentary
"Traveling from Mexico's Northern border, from Silicon Valley to
the
Philippines, The Global Assembly Line takes viewers inside our new global
economy.
A vivid portrayal of the lives of working women and men in the "free trade zones" of
developing countries and North America, as U.S. industries close their factories
to search
the globe for lower-wage workforces. We take a rare look at the people who are
making the
clothing we wear and the electronic goods we use--as well as the business decisions
behind
manufacturing--on the global assembly line."
A Grain of Sand
Director: Anne Etue; 15 minutes, 1995, Performance Video
This video features Nobuko Miyamoto in performance. She fuses together
story, song, and video images breaking through forces of silence in search of her own song.
Great Girl
Director: Kim Su Theiler; 14 minutes, 1994, Short Film
Drawing from personal experience, Kim Su Theiler’s first
film is an evocative and poetic drama about historical and cultural disorientation.
A woman returns to Korea looking for her birth mother, having come to America
as a child adoptee. A powerful short film about the nature and texture
of being a foreigner.
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Hapa: One Step At A Time New!
Producer: Midori Sperandeo; 2001, 27 minutes, Documentary
A first person documentary about what it means to be biracial and living in
America today. Midori Sperandeo explores self discovery, identity, and offers perspective
on being hapa. Through interviews, she presents an overview of the struggle of being hapa
and explores the evolving acceptance of ethnically mixed race people in a growing
multicultural society.
Harold and Kumar Go to White
Castle
Director: Danny Leiner;
2004, 88 minutes
Synopsis
History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige
Director: Rea Tajiri; 32 minutes, 1991, Documentary
An avant garde film about Tajiri's family's experiences
as Japanese American interned in U.S. concentration camps. Exploring the
memories of a place she has never visited but of which she has a memory,
this experimental video surveys the impact of images on our lives and draws
from sources such as Hollywood's Yankee Doodle Dandy and Bad Day at Black
Rock and U.S. Defense Department newsreels and relocation propaganda. (2
copies)
Honor Bound: A Personal Journey New!
Producer/Director: Wendy Hanamura; 56 minutes, 1995, Documentary
During WWII, second generation Japanese Americans were fighting on the
European front. They showed their loyalty on the battlefields as they fought to overcome
the stigma of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The 100/442nd Regiment suffered the highest
rates of casualty and became the most recognizable unit in American history. Meanwhile,
back at home, their families were forced to leave their homes and relocate into internment
camps. This film tells their story through memories and archival footage.
Hmong Means Free: Profile of Tou Ger Xiong
Video of Hmong cultural and bilingual storyteller, rap
artist and actor Tou Ger Xiong. (See also "Bruce Lee Meets Snoop Doggy
Dogg" by same artist.)
Hmong Tapestry: Voices from the Cloth
Producer: Hmong American Partnership,
St. Paul, MN; 67 minutes, 1991, Performance
Created by more than 60 members of the Hmong American
Partnership's Youth Program under the mentorship of director Michael Lenzen
and playwright Jaime Meyer, the past and present of the Hmong people are
woven into a dramatic and entertaining tapestry of personal stories, history,
music, and traditional folktales in this play. Seen by over 5,000 people
in the Twin Cities area in the spring and summer of 1991, the play received
rave reviews. It was performed in Madison in late 1991. (2 copies)
Hmong Youth in Transition
Producers: Mark Niu & Brian Vue; 30 minutes, 1992
Documentary of Hmong youth in Wisconsin (particularly
at UW Madison). Class assignment for Asian Am 101. Extremely well done.
Homes Apart: Korea
Directors: J.T. Takagi & Christine Choy; 55 minutes,
1984, Documentary
A documentary of one man's journey to find a lost sister
in North Korea and the filmmakers journey to understand the Korean division
from both sides of the border. Representing the first time an independent
crew has been allowed to film both sides of the demilitarized zone, the
result is a provocative personal and historical look at one of the last
divided countries of the world. (2 copies)
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I'm on a Mission
from Buddha
Producer: Lane Nishikawa; 60 minutes, 1991, Performance
Critically hailed performance artist Lane Nishikawa explores
Asian American identity and issues in the 1990's in this acclaimed and
explosive one-man show. The themes of assimilation, conflict, and prejudice
are examined in a series of vignettes ranging from comic sketches to dramatic
historical/ political pieces.
(2 copies)
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Japanese American Women: A Sense of Place
Producer/Director: Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro; 28 minutes, 1992
The stereotype of the polite, docile, exotic Asian woman
is shattered in this documentary in which a dozen women speak about their
experiences as part of the "model minority." This film explores the ambivalent
feelings the women have both towards Japan and the United States. The underlying
theme is the burden of being different. An uneasy feeling prevails of being
neither Japanese nor American, and the documentary ultimately becomes the
story of Japanese American women and their search for a sense of place.
The Jew in the Lotus New!
Producer/Director: Laurel Chiten; 60 minutes, 1998, Documentary
In 1990, eight Jewish delegates traveled to Dharamsala, India to
meet
with the XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet and share the "secret of spiritual survival
in exile.
When writer Rodger Kamenetz was invited to go along to chronicle the event, unexpectedly,
his whole life changed. Kamenetz begins an intense personal journey that leads
him back
to his Jewish roots. As he discovers, sometimes you have to go far away to find
your
way home. Inspired by Kamenetz's best-selling book, award winning filmmaker
Laurel Chiten's
(Twitch and Shout) new documentary engages the viewer on two equally absorbing
levels. It
documents an historic meeting between two spiritual traditions, and it tells
a resonant
story of personal loss and redemption.
Just Stand Still
Director: Kip Fulbeck; 20 minutes, 1990, Documentary
The life of Fullbeck's aging and senile Chinese grandmother
and her relationship with her family and children is documented in this
short film. Focus on the cultural, familial, and ethical ramifications
of committing her to an American nursing home. (2 copies)
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Kelly Loves Tony
Producer/Director: Spencer Nakasako; 57 minutes, 1998, Documentary
She's a straight A student; he’s trying to leave gang
life behind. A camcorder becomes both witness and confidante for these
markedly singular yet utterly typical teens as they self-document the
trials of growing up too fast and too soon in urban America. Emmy award-winning
filmmaker Spencer Nakasako deftly guides this video diary of a
young Southeast Asian couple wrestling with the demands of love, parenting,
dreams, and disillusionment in the nebulous cultural zone between first
and second generation immigrant life.
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Knowing Her Place
Director: Indu Krishnan; 40 minutes, 1990, Experimental/Documentary
Profiled: an Indian woman who has spent much of her life
in the United States. In examining her relationships with her grandmother,
mother, and son, the video reveals not only the challenges immigrants face
in trying to establish a cultural identity but those that women face in
establishing their own personal identities.
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The Life of Reverend C.C. Hung: Find a Need and Fill It
30:00 mins; 1989
Originally aired on public television in Washington D.C.
as part of the Urban Odyssey Series, this film documents the life of Rev.
C.C. Hung, 1935 founder of the Chinese Community Church.
The Love Thang Trilogy
Director: Mari Keiko Gonzalez; 12 minutes, 1994, Short Films
Just a Love Thang, Skydyking, and Eating Mango, by
New York video artist Mari Keiko Gonzalez, are three sensual four minute
vignettes portraying aspects of Asian Pacific lesbian lifestyles and concerns.
Positive, political, educational, and uplifting, this pioneering work makes
visible a "sisterhood" usually grossly stereotyped if not simply overlooked.
The Life of Reverend C.C. Hung: Find a Need and Fill It
30 minutes, 1989
Originally aired on public television in Washington D.C.
as part of the Urban Odyssey Series, this film documents the life of Rev.
C.C. Hung, 1935 founder of the Chinese Community Church.
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M Butterfly
Director:
David Cronenberg; 101 minutes, 1993
A
French diplomat falls prey to a Chinese double agent in a chessgame of
cutlures that involve both the politics of the east and west and of male
and female.
Mai's America (New!)
Producer/Director: Marlo Poras; 72 minutes, 2002, Documentary
"Mai's America is a personal journey that defies all
expectations.
Mai, a smart, vivacious, and resilient Vietnamese teenager, travels to America
for her
senior year of high school, shouldering her family's high expectations and her
own visions
of western-style success. Yet, nothing in Mai's wildest imagination could prepare
her for
what she finds in rural Mississippi, where encounters with white Pentecostal
and black
Baptist host-families, a local transvestite, and South Vietnamese immigrants
challenge her
long-held ideas about America, the concept of freedom, her identity and even
her homeland
of Vietnam."
Margaret Cho: I'm the One
That I Want
Producer: Margaret Cho and
Karen Taussig; 96 mintues, 2000, Comedy Performance
Filmed live at the Warfield
in Margaret's hometown of San Francisco, I'm the One That I Want is
Margaret Cho at her very best. As one of the country's most visible Asian-Americans,
she has a unique perspective on identity and acceptance. I'm the
One That I Want is filled with dead-on insights about the experiences
of being a woman in the spotlight from somoene who has seen the highs and
lows of life.
Matters of Race
Executive Producer: Orlando
Bagwell
What obligation does a
hospital have to employ people who are the same race as those it serves?
How does race shape the response of a small rural town when its population
nearly doubles due mainly to immigration from Mexico and Central America?
What happens when laws meant ot protect the rights of one minority group
are used to accuse another of discrimination? What does race mean anyway?
Can you be more than one? Matters of Race explores the complex
demands of the country's rapidly changing multiracial and multicultural society
and shows how American citizens imagine the new America of the 21st century.
Maya Lin: A Clear Strong Vision
Director: Freida Lee Mock; 98 minutes, 1995, Documentary
1995 Academy Award Winner for Best Feature Documentary
on architect Maya Lin. (2 copies)
Maxine Hong Kingston: Talking Story
Director: Joan Saffa; 60 minutes, 1990, Documentary
An excellent documentary on the life, works, and cultural tradition of
Chinese American author Maxine Hong Kingston. Kingston was born to immigrant Chinese parents in Stockton,
California. She uses images, stories, and memories of her family's past to create her
highly acclaimed works of literature. Issues such as racism and multicultural
development are topics in discussion. There are interviews with other Asian American
artists and authors; Rupert Garcia (a childhood
friend), Jade Snow Wong, Victor Wong, John Leonard, Amy Tan, and David Henry Hwang.
Miss India Georgia
56 minutes, 1997
Synopsis
Mississippi Triangle
Director: Christine Choy; 80 minutes, 1987, Documentary
A richly textured video documenting life in the Mississippi
Delta, where Chinese, African Americans, and whites all lives in a complex
world of cotton, work, interracial marriage and racial conflict. (2 copies)
Mitsuye and Nellie
Directors: Allie Light & Irving Saraf; 58 minutes, 1981, Documentary
The lives of Asian American poets Mitsuye Yamada and
Nellie Wong, first published in the 1970's. (2
copies)
Mixed Blood
Director: Valerie Soe; 20 minutes, 1992, Interactive Video Installation
A personal view of interracial relationships between
Asian Americans and non-Asian Americans. Soe combines interviews with over
30 concerned individuals, text, and clips from science fiction films, and
classic miscegenation dramas. (2 copies)
Monkey Dance
Director: Julie Mallozzi; 65 minutes, 2004, Documentary
Three Cambodian-American teenagers come of age in a world shadowed
by their parents' nightmares of the Khmer Rouge. Traditional Cmabodian dance
links them to their parents' culture, but fast cars, hip consumerism, and new
romance pull harder. Gradually coming to appreciate their parents' sacrifices,
the three teens find a senes of themselves and begin to make good on their parents'
dreams.
Monkhood in Three Easy Lessons
Directors: Dan Kwong; 1993, Performance Video
This video is a recording of a performance by artist, Dan Kwong. He
tackles issues of the Asian American male identity--geeks and studs, heroes and nerds...
Monterey's Boat People
Directors: Spencer Nakasko & Vincent DiGirolamo; 29 minutes, 1982, Documentary
This film examines the tension between the established
Italian fishing community and the recently arrived Vietnamese fishermen
in California's Monterey Bay peninsula. Monterey’s Boat People documents
a specific facet of anti-Asian sentiment and the conflicts faced by an
industry that is also fighting for survival.
My America: or Honk if You Love Buddha
Director: Renee Tajima-Peña; 87 minutes, 1997, Documentary
In her irreverent new documentary, the Academy Award
nominated filmmaker Renee Tajima-Peña ("Who Killed Vincent Chin?") recalls
her childhood travels in the days when you could cross five state lines
without ever catching a glimpse of another Asian face. Returning to the
road more than 20 years later, she finds that new immigration has suddenly
put Asian Americans on the map. Guided by her metaphorical "road guru"
the actor and ex-Beat Generation painter Victor Wong, Tajima-Peña sets
out to search for the new identity that will arise from the multiculti
milieu that is America at the end of the 20th century.
My Brown Eyes
Director: Joy Koh; 18 minutes, 1994, Short Film
A young Korean boy rises early and prepares for his first
day of school. Clever and resourceful, he is also dutiful to his parents
who work late at night. After preparing their breakfast and his own lunch,
he sets off to school. None of his preparations, however, can help with
his big handicap-he can't speak English. A poignant and touching story
of immigrant life as told from the point of view of a child.
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New Hmong Life in America (Hmoob Lub Neej Tshiab
Nyob Hauv Ameslikas)
40 minutes; Dane County Hmong Video Project
This film is produced by a group of local Hmong refugees
about the opportunities and difficulties facing their people in this country.
Through interviews and coverage of various aspects of life in America,
this video deals with such topics as education, jobs and training, legal
matters, shamanism, and the difficult issue of cultural survival in America.
The New Puritans: The Sikhs of Yuba City
Directors: Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam; 27 minutes, 1985, Documentary
Forced economically from their farms in the state of
Punjab, the first Sikh immigrants came to California in the early 1900s,
creating a rural life that mirrored their native India. This film
lucidly portrays the cultural and generational conflicts faced by all immigrant
groups.
None of the Above
Director: Erika Surat Andersen; 23 minutes, Documentary
None of the Above is a documentary about people of mixed
racial heritage based on the filmmaker's own search for identity and community.
Ms. Andersen, whose mother is (Asian) Indian and father is Danish American,
explores her "own personal hangup" by finding others in the same ambiguous
category. Included in the film is a woman of native American, African,
and European ancestry and a woman of Japanese and African American ancestry.
Not a Simple Story/Out in Silence
Director: Christine Choy; 37 minutes, 1994
These two videos present APAs, gay and straight, male
and female, who have courageously gone public about being HIV positive
in order to dispel the myth that Asian Americans do not get AIDS.
Not a Simple Story takes us to Hawaii where we
meet Robin, the widowed mother of a young child. Still mourning her husband
who died of AIDS, she is the only Asian female AIDS activist. Shocked when
she was diagnosed with HIV, she now worries about her daughter's future.
Out in Silence is a portrait of Vince, an aspiring
singer from San Francisco. He recalls how his initial realization of being
gay led him to drop out of his community, leave his close-knit, conservative
family and drift to Hawaii and then New York. Learning that he was HIV
positive was a shocking surprise and made him realize how little he knew
about the disease. He now educates Asian Americans by performing with a
gay theater group and lecturing to students.
Not Black or White
Producers: Leilani Abad & Dean Yamada/Director: Anna Kang; 1999, 19
minutes, Documentary
A candid look at three Asian American women who aren't geishas, hookers,
or bikini-clad masseuses. "Not Black or White” examines the stereotypical
ways in which Asian women have been depicted in the media and how three
nationally acclaimed Asian American actresses challenge and defy those
concepts in their creative work and careers. Featuring interviews with
cartoonist/actress Lela Lee (Angry Little Asian Girl); writer/actress Amy
Hill (All American Girl, Next Friday); and actress Ming-Na (ER, The Joy Luck
Club, Mulan), these provocative and spirited profiles demonstrate how these
particular artists struggle to define themselves and their own creative
agendas.
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1000 Pieces of Gold
Director: Nancy Kelly; 105 minutes, 1991, Feature Film (Gift from Amy Ling)
The true story of a Chinese American pioneer woman. Sold
into slavery by her father, Lalu Nathoy travels to the U.S. and works in
a saloon until she is won in a card game. She becomes Mrs. Charlie Bemis
and a respected homesteader on the Salmon river in Idaho. Starring Rosalind
Chao of The Joy Luck Club.
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Of Civil Wrongs and Rights:
The Fred Korematsu Story Director:
Eric Paul Fournier; 60 minutes, 2000, Documentary Fred
Korematsu was probably never more American than when he resisted, and then
challenged in court, the forced internment of Japanese Americans during World
War II. Korematsu lost his landmark Supreme Court case in 1944, but never
his indigantion and resolve. Of Civil Wrongs and Rights is
the untold history of the 40-year legal fight to vindicate Korematsu--one
that finally turned a civil injustice into a civil rights victory.
Perpetual Emotion 101/102
Compilation of Short Films
Perpetual Emotion 101/102 showcase the youthful excitement, energy
and creative promise of a new generation of film and video makers. Asian
Pacific American student groups and college residential education programs
will be able to refer to these collections, and teachers will discover
the anthology titles to be potent supplementary materials for academic
courses ranging from Asian American Studies to the social sciences and
humanities.
The perfect introductions to the best in recent independent cinema
from the Asian Diaspora, Perpetual Emotion 101/102 touch upon a wide
range of topics and feelings, including amusing meditations on identity,
heartbreaking evocations of childhood, and powerful narratives hinged upon
painful decisions to stand up for oneself and for what's right. Impressive
on their own, together these calling cards attest to the vitality and range
of a movement swelling with talented representatives from our many communities.
Perpetual Emotion 101
Bangs
Director: Carolynne Hew
Canada, 1996, 8 minutes
Peer pressure and media imagery influence a young girl's fluctuating
opinions of her looks and self-worth.
Mouse
Director: Greg Pak
USA, 1997, 11 minutes
A young man squirms out of a heated discussion about pregnancy with
his girlfriend by making a mouse hunt his top priority.
Kung Pao Chicken
Director: Richard Kim
USA, 1997, 6 minutes
How a Chinese chef revolutionized American culture and proved that
the chopstick is mightier than the fork.
Lessons in Defensive Driving
Director: Carla San Diego
USA, 1998, 6 minutes
An ordinary trip to the DMV becomes a downward spiral into spiritual
gridlock when the oppressions of road etiquette take their toll upon the
nicest guy on earth.
Fall 1990
Director: Quentin Lee
USA, 1995, 35 minutes
Freshman year provides the backdrop for the romance between two young
men determined not to let their dramatically different pasts dictate their
future together.
Perpetual Emotion 102
A Thousand Birds and a Pair of Shoes
Director: Oliver Tan
USA, 1996, 12 minutes
Happy to Get Her is a hyper-romantic world where origami cranes symbolize
eternal love and shoes are clues that bad luck's just outside the door.
Crickets
Director: Jane E. Kim
Canada, 1998, 12 minutes
The simpler pleasures and fragile innocence of childhood are brutally
robbed from a girl during an afternoon of play.
Shopkeeping
Director: Avie Luthra
USA, 1998, 14 minutes
Desperate to keep his business afloat, an Indian shopkeeper reluctantly
discloses a customer's secret love affair to her criminal brother who "protects" the
establishment.
Love Ltd.
Director: Jennifer Phang
USA, 1999, 24 minutes
A sister and brother turn a dysfunctional family dinner into an unappreciated
coming out party when each try to proudly share details of their sexual
lives with their homophobic mother.
A Personal Matter: Gordon Hirabayashi vs. the United States
Producer: John de Graaf with the Constitution
Project; 30 minutes, 1992, Documentary w/Study Guide
During WWII, Gordon Hirabayshi refused to be interned
on the grounds the Executive Order 9066 violated his constitutional rights.
This acclaimed video shows a personal look at basic protections of the
Constitution such as due process of the law and individual rights.
Peter Bacho: A Reading from "Cebu"
1993
Picture Bride
Director: Kayo Hatta; 95 minutes, 1995, Feature Film
The story of a picture bride who travels to Hawaii to
enter into an arranged marriage. Winner of the Audience Award at the Sundance
Film Festival. Stars Tamlyn Tomita.
The Price You Pay
Producer/Director: Christine Keyser; 29 minutes, 1988, Documentary
The Price You Pay explores the rich cultural heritage
of the Vietnamese, Laotian, and Khmer people, and conveys in very humane
terms the pain and frustration of resettlement."-KQED- TV, San Francisco
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Racism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, A Video Collage
34 minutes
Rabbit in the Moon New!
Director/Producer: Emiko Omori; 85 minutes, 1999, Documentary/Memoir
Rabbit in the Moon is a documentary/memoir about the lingering
effects of the WWII internment camps of the Japanese American community. It is also the
story of two sisters, both former internees, filmmaker Emiko Omori and writer Chizuko
Omori, who revisited the absence of this vital history in their lives while searching
for the memory of their mother. Visually stunning and emotionally compelling, Rabbit
in the Moon examines issue that ultimately created deep rifts within the community,
reveals the racist subtext of the loyalty questionnaire and exposes the absurdity of the military
draft within the camps. These testimonies are linked by the filmmakers' own experiences
in the camps and placed in a larger historical context by the voice of the director,
Emiko Omori.
Rapid Fire
Director: Dwight H. Little;
95 minutes, 1992
In
this explosive martial arts action adventure, college student Jake
Lo (BRANDON LEE) is pursued by smugglers, mobsters, and crooked federal
agents after he witnesses a murder by a Mafia kingpin. When the witness
protection program fails him, Lo has to protect himself with his only
weapons-his ahnds. Determined to survive, he takes on Chicago's warring
drug lords with the assistance of a renegade cop and his beautiful
partner.
Red White Blue November
Synopsis
Refugee Director/Producer: Spencer
Nakasako; 63 mintues, 2003 Synopsis
Regret to Inform
Producer/Director: Barbara Sonneborn; 1998, 72 minutes, Documentary
Ten years in the making, what initially began as a letter from the
filmmaker to her late husband evolved into an Oscar-nominated film and
a powerful statement on the personal toll of war. Twenty years after her
husband Jeff was killed in the Vietnam War, director Barbara Sonneborn
embarks on a journey through a country whose mesmerizing landscape is still
filled with the psychic remnants of war. Interwoven with the record of
her personal odyssey are remarkably honest interviews with widows from
both sides of the conflict. Accompanying Sonneborn is Xuan Ngoc Evans,
a South Vietnamese widow and refugee to the US, who further illuminates
a world collapsed by war.
Remembering Wei Yi-Fang, Remembering Myself
Director: Yvonne Welbon; 30 minutes, 1995, Experimental Documentary
Remembering Wei Yi-Fang, Remembering Myself is an autobiographical
experimental documentary about the artist's experiences as an African American
woman living in Taiwan for six years. Recreations of time and place are
presented through memories, historical documents, photographs and videos
and film footage, moving from the artist's ancestral home in Honduras to
South Dakota to Chicago to Taipei, Taiwan—creating intersections between
these cultures.
Return Home
Producer: National Film Board of Canada; 30 minutes, Documentary
First- generation Chinese Canadian film maker Michelle
Wong returns to her birth place, St. Paul Alberta, to get reacquainted
with her aging grandparents. Her visit becomes an emotional journey into
the past and into herself as she documents their stories and lives.
Roots in the Sand
Director: Jayasri Majumdar Hart; 57 minutes, 1998
This film paints a Wild West that demanded not only physical stamina
but an indomitable spirit as well. Hart chronicles the life of Purn Singh,
an immigrant from the Punjab region of India during the early years of this
century to southern California ’s desert region Imperial Valley . He
and other Punjabi imimgrants faced racism, miscegenation laws, and a mob
of Anglo farmers seeking vengeance for a murder of their own. This documentary
challenges prevailing impressions of the rugged frontier by enriching the
landscape with stalwart Sikh, Moslem, and Hindu setllers in this Mexican-Punjbai
version of “taming of the Wild West.”
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Sai-I-Gu
Director: Christine Choy; 39 minutes, 1993
"The April 29, 1992 Los Angeles crisis underscored the
voicelessness and invisibility of Korean Americans in U.S. society. If
represented at all, they have been viewed as aliens to American culture,
all alike and caring only about themselves. Over half the material losses
were sustained by Korean Americans… Sa-I-Gu brings these faces back,
exploring the perspectives of immigrant women who comprise more than half
of Korean American shopkeepers."
Sally's Beauty SpotDirector: Helen Lee; 12
minutes, 1990
Synopsis
Sambal Belacan in San Francisco
Director: Madeleine Lim; 25 minutes, 1997
This film uniquely combines interviews, newsreel footage,
richly-textured scripted scenes, and poetry, and uses this mixed- genre
to visually convey the multi-layered existence of immigrant lesbians of
color living in the U.S. today. This beautifully shot film examines how
lesbian sexuality, cultural identity, and immigration status raise pertinent
questions about belonging. It speakes compellingly for a community whose
voice has seldom been heard.
Sayonara Director:
Joshua Logan; 2 hours 27 minutes, 1957 Color
Major
Lloyd Gruver (MARLON BRANDO), a Korean War flying ace reassigned to Japan,
staunchly supports the military's opposition to marriages between American
troops and Japanese women. But that's bbefore Gruver experiences
a love that cahllenges his own deeply set prejudices...and plunges him
into conflict with the U.S. Air Force and Japan's own cultural taboos.
Sea in the Blood
Director: Richard Fung; 2000, 26 minutes, Documentary
Essayist and filmmaker Richard Fung has created a lyrical and touching
personal documentary on living close to illness. Using old home movie footage
from the fifties shot in Trinidad , England , and Canada , he traces his family’s
encounter with thalassemia (“sea in the blood” in Greek), a blood
disease considered rare in Asians at the time. “Sea in the Blood” seamlessly
meshes this with a trip Fung takes in 1977 from Europe to India during which
he meets his partner, Tim. The death of his sister, Nan , from thalassemia
occurs while he is away. The filmmaker examines his feelings about this loss
and places it within the context of his partner Tim’s life with HIV/AIDS.
Searching for Asian America
Producers: Sapana Sakya,
Donald Young, Kyung Yu; 90 minutes, 2003
Synopsis
Sewing Woman
Producer/Director: Arthur Dong; 14 minutes, 1982
Sewing Woman tells a universal story of one woman's journey
from an arranged marriage in old China to life as a garment factory worker
for over 30 years. The film maker's mother, Zem Ping, narrates this superb
film in an intimate, yet powerful voice. Her reflections reveal the inner
strength which helped her overcome U.S. immigration policies, family separation,
and the hard life of a first-generation immigrant.
Shaolin Ulysses: Kungfu
Monks in America Director/Producer:
Mei-Juin Chen and Martha Burr; 53 minutes, 2003, Documentary
The famous fighting monks
of China's Shaolin Temple have seen a resurgence throughout the world
aided in part by the popularity of kungfu movies among the hip-hop
set and films like The Matrix and Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This documentary follows a handful of
Shaolin monks who have brought kungfu and Zen Buddhism to America,
chronicling their adventures in New York City, Houston, and Las Vegas.
Coming from a small Chinese village, they cross the vast divide between
East and West. Their quietly heroic stories reflect a unique version
of the American Dream, Shaolin style. Will they change America? Or
will America change Shaolin?
Shoot For The Contents New!
Director: Trinh T. Minh-ha; 101 minutes, 1991, Documentary
"Reflecting on Mao’s famous saying, “Let a hundred flowers
blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend,” Trinh T. Minh-ha’s
film—whose title refers in part to a Chinese guessing game—is a
unique excursion into the maze of allegorical naming and storytelling in China
. The film ponders questions of power and change, politics and culture, as
refracted by Tiananmen Square events. It offers at the same time an inquiry
into the creative process of filmmaking, intricately layering Chinese popular
songs and classical music, the sayings of Mao and Confucius, women’s
voices and the words of artists, philosophers and other cultural workers. Exploring
color, rhythm and the changing relationship between ear and eye, this meditative
documentary realizes on screen the shifts of interpretation in contemporary
Chinese culture and politics."
Silence Broken: Korean Comfort Women
Director/Producer/Writer: Dai Sil Kim-Gibson; 1999, 57 minutes, Documentary
A powerful and emotional documentary by film about Korean women
forced
into sexual servitude by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.
Silence Broken dramatically combines the testimony of former comfort
women who demand justice for the "crimes against humanity” committed against
them, along with contravening interviews of Japanese soldiers, recruiters,
and contemporary scholars who deny the existence of comfort women or claim
that these victims "did this for money." The film clearly details that
what comfort women want today is not financial compensation, but a measure
of personal honor and vindication in the form of an official apology from
Japan.
Silence Broken seeks to shatter the half-century of silence regarding
these forgotten victims of war. The individual testimonies in the film,
combined with rare archival footage and dramatized images, create a collective
story which embodies the spirit and fortitude of all comfort women.
Slaying the Dragon
Exec. Producer: Asian Women United; Producer/Director: Deborah Gee; 60 minutes, 1988
Slaying the Dragon is more than an inventory of demeaning
images of Asian women. It also cautions against a too willing acceptance
of seemingly ''positive’ depictions… [It] includes an assortment of women
who speak with insight, indignation, and humor about their experiences."
Slightseer
Director: Midi Onodera; 3 minutes, 2001, Short Film
A memoir of blindness and racial insight, Slightseer is visually
stunning and imaginative.
Slowly This
Director: Arthur Jafa; 26 minutes, 1995
When two friends meet in a crowded Manhattan restaurant,
the conversation takes an unexpected and intimate turn. Speaking from their
experiences as a Japanese American man and an African American man, writers
David Mura and Alex Pats share personal and provocative stories that range
from reading Fanon to reading Meryl Streep's face. Throughout their dialogue,
they provide insights into the complicated issues around race and masculinity.
Award winning producer and cinematographer Arthur Jafa (Daughters of the
Dust, Crooklyn) directs this beautifully shot and visually inventive film.
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Something Strong Within
Director: Robert A. Nakamura;
40 minutes, 1994, b&w and color footage
Something Strong
Within is
a video production that was created for the exhibition "America's Concentration
Camps: Remembering the Japanese American Experience," featuring never-before-seen
home movies of the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans
during World War II.
The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong
Shaman in America
Director:
Taggart Siegel; 56 minutes, 2001, Documentary
The
Split Horn is
the sweeping story of a Hmong shaman and his family living in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Documenting the journey of Paja Thao and his family from the mountains of
Laos to the heartland of America, this poignant film shows a shaman's struggle
to maintain his ancient traditions as his children embrace American culture.
America has become the testing ground for the enduring strength of Hmong
culture. The evocative narrative captures the daily struggle of Paja Thao's
family caught between two worlds.
The Story of Rev. C.C. Hong: Find a Need and Fill It
Director: Amy Ling; 28 minutes
The Story of Vinh
Director: Keiko Tsuno; 60 minsutes, 1990
A compelling examination of the Vietnam War's complex
legacy through the eyes of Vinh Dinh, the son of a U.S. serviceman and
Vietnamese mother. After leaving a refugee camp in Thailand, Vinh arrives
at J.F.K. airport dazed, speaking no English and with minimal education.
The myth of the American Dream and the "valedictorian" stereotype of Amerasians
is exploded as the film follows Vinh on his journey from Vietnamese to
American culture, from youth to manhood, and from false dream to harsh
reality. (2 copies)
Surname Viet Given Name Nam New!
Director: Trinh T. Minh-ha; 108 minutes, 1989, Documentary
"Vietnamese-born Trinh T. Minh-ha's profoundly personal documentary
explores the role of Vietnamese women historically and in contemporary society.
Using
dance, printed texts, folk poetry and the words and experiences of Vietnamese
women in
Vietnam-from both North and South and the United States, Trinh's film challenges
official
culture with the voices of women. A theoretically and formally complex work, Surname
Viet
Given Name Nam explores the difficulty of translation, and themes of dislocation
and
exile, critiquing both traditional society and life since the war."
Tales From the Fractured Tao with Master Nice Guy (Excerpt)
Director: Dan Kwong, 1991
This video recounts the joys and pains of Kwong's childhood family
life,
with the assistance of "Master Nice Guy" - a cross between the Wizard of Oz
and a burnt-out
social worker. Through his adventures, Kwong is led to a deeper understanding
and love for
family.
Talking Story-Maxine Hong Kingston
Director: Joan Saffa; 60 minutes, 1990
The principle themes and concerns in Maxine Hong Kingston's
books-her views in Chinese and American culture, feminism and pacifism,
and the importance of ghosts, mythology, and dreams-are explored in this
personal look at her life and work. Narrated by Tony award wining actor
B.D. Wong
Ten Cents A Dance (Parallax)
Director: Midi Onodera, 30 minutes, 1986
"Onodera's three-part reflection on contemporary sexuality
and
communication uses a split screen device with a new twist. In the first segment,
two
women awkwardly discuss their mutual attraction; the second depicts anonymous
bathroom
sex between two men; the third is an ironic episode of heterosexual phone sex."
There Is No Name For This
Directors: Ming-Yuen S. Ma & Cianna Pamintuan
Stewart; 49 minutes, 1997, Documentary
How can you tell someone that you are lesbian, gay, or
bisexual when you don't have the words? What happens to your family when
you come out? Is it necessary to talk about these private issues in public?
What does it mean for Chinese and Chinese Americans to accept gays, lesbians,
and bisexuals in their communities? Community- wide discussion was sparked
when the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance and Asian Pacific Sisters marched in
San Francisco's Chinese New Year Parade. This film incorporates this event
and over two dozen interviews to examine the private and public repercussions
as Chinese and Chinese American lesbians, gays, and bisexuals to come out
across cultural and language barriers.
Too Much Air to Breathe
20 minutes
The rise of Communist power in Laos in 1975 resulted in a Lao
migration from the country. 5,000 Laotians resettled in Washington D.C. This
film focuses on the Temple Wat Lao Buddhavang, a Buddhist temple 50 miles
west of Washington D.C. in rural Fauquier County Virginia . The temple
is the basis of community for the Laotian immigrants, providing a sense of “home,” friends
to socialize with, and familiar traditions, as well as opportunities to teach
the younger generation about Lao culture. The temple is a welcome respite
from life in America , a land that is “too big,” and where there
is “too much air to breathe.”
Toyo's Camera
98 minutes
While bringing in cameras to internment camp was prohibited, one photographer smuggled in his own camera lens and built a camera to take photographs of life behind barbed wires. That man was photographer Toyo Miyatake. Through an artistic medium, Miyatake captured the devastating conditions during WWII, when Japanese Americans could not belong to Japan or America.
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Unbidden Voices
Directors: Paramita Parasher & Deb Ellis; 32 minutes, 1989
This experimental documentary looks at the life of Manjula
Joshi, an Indian woman who works making poori bread in a Chicago restaurant.
Women's roles in traditional culture, the value of women's labor, and the
experience of immigration are addressed by competing images, words, and
text.
Uncommon Courage: Patriotism and Civil Liberties New!
Producer/Director: Gayle K. Yamada; 2001, 57 minutes, Documentary
A dramatic and moving documentary,Uncommon Courage, tells the story of the
Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during World War II and the occupation of Japan. Many
Japanese American MIS soldiers fought for the United States in the Pacific interrogating
Japanese soldiers, translating documents, and infiltrating enemy lines. Ironically, at the
same time, their families back home were interned and isolated in imprisonment camps stripped
of their civil rights.
Unforgettable Face
Producer: Nicole Newham; 13 minutes, 1993
George Oiye, a Japanese American soldier who helped liberate
people from Dachau in 1945, and Yanina Cywinska, then a 16 year old prisoner
in the death camp, reunite some 40 years after WWII. A powerful and intimate
reflection of the depth of the human spirit and the ability to transcend
cultural differences.
Unwanted Soldier
Director: Jari Osborne/Producer: Karen King; Canada, 48 minutes, Documentary
A multi-layered documentary and endearing tribute to the filmmaker's
father, Alex Louie, a Chinese Canadian veteran of World War II whose story
- along with that of many other Chinese Canadian vets - have been silenced
until now. Told in the voice of a grateful daughter, the film retells Louie's
experiences growing up in Vancouver's Chinese ghetto. In a time of blatant
segregation echoing the Jim Crow laws of America's Deep South, Chinese
Canadians were denied basic civil liberties such as the right to vote and
right to serve in the military during World War II. Louie recounts how
finally - in desperate need of secret agents who could blend into Japanese
society- the Canadian Army was forced to recruit soldiers who were Chinese-Canadian
to carry out top-secret missions behind enemy lines in Southeast Asia.
Sworn to secrecy for decades, the filmmaker's father and his fellow veterans
now vividly recall their war stories. Unwanted Soldier is the untold story
of young Chinese-Canadians proudly fighting for a country that had always
rejected them, finally receiving recognition and long over-due. This heroic
military service finally won provincial voting rights for Chinese Canadians
in British Columbia.
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Voices Unheard Sisters Unseen
Director: Grace Poore; 76 minutes, 1995, Documentary
In this video, "battered women provide information not
only as "talking heads" but also as poets and journal writers. Some of the women
communicate as performance artists. Others speak as advocates working to change
the way
the system treats women seeking safety and justice. By using multiple forms
of expression,
Poore intends to emphasize that women are more than survivors or
victims, we are also vibrant people who have transformed terrifying personal
experiences
into political activism and/or creative work."
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Wet Sand
Director: Producer/Director:
Dai Sil Kim-Gibson; 59 minutes, 2003
Synopsis
With Us or Against Us:
Afghans in America
Director: Kenneth Krauss
and Mariam Jobrani; 27 minutes
When the Soviets invaded
Afghanistan in the late 1970s, many Afghans fled leaving behind homes, possessions,
and sometimes family members. Many settled in Fremon, CA, which became the
center of a community of 15,000 exiled Afghans. After September 11th, these
Afghan-Americans found themselves caught in a cultural crossfire as their
adoptive homeland was at war with their native land.
Who Killed Vincent Chin?
Directors: Christine Choy & Renee Tajima-Peña; 82 minutes, 1988,
Documentary
This Academy Award nominated film relates the stark facts
of Vincent Chin's brutal murder by disgruntled auto workers in Detroit
who assume he is Japanese and the cause for their employment frustrations.
Chin'a murderers receive only a small fine for their actions which propels
the Asian American community in an unprecedented civil rights protest.
Who's going to Pay for these Donuts
Anyway?
Producer/Director: Janice Tanaka; 58 minutes, 1992
This video presents clear evidence of the profound effect
of the internment on generations of Japanese Americans. It chronicles Tanaka's
fifty year personal search for her father, whom she had not seen since
age three. As a young man, the FBI arrested him for opposing the internment
and diagnosed him as schizophrenic with paranoid tendencies. Tanaka finally
finds him in a half-way house for the chronically mentally ill in L.A.'s
skid row.
Why Is Preparing Fish a Political Act?--
Director: Russel Leong; 20 minutes, 1991
A reflection on legacies of struggle, power, and self-
determination. The video portrait of Asian American poet and activist Janice
Mirkitani, author of Shedding Silence, begins with a remembrance of the
poet’s Issei grandmother.
With or Against Us: Afghans in America New!
Directors: Kenneth Krauss & Mariam Jobrani; 27 minutes, Documentary
"When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in the late 1970's, many
Afghans
fled leaving behind homes, possessions and sometimes family members. Those Afghans
who took
refuge in the United States came to treasure the freedom and economic opportunities
offered by their
new country. Many settled in Fremont, CA, which became the center of a community
of
15,000 exiled Afghans. After September 11th, these Afghan Americans found themselves
in a
cultural crossfire as their adoptive homeland was at war with their native land."
The Woman Who Made Swell Donuts--
Toshio Mori & Janette Brisk; 8 minutes
An interpretation of a short story by the same name in
Toshio Mori's Yokohama, California, this brief video was produced by Janette
Brisk, a student in Amy Ling's Asian American Literature 270 class. Back
to Top
Yellow
Writer/Director: Chris Chan Lee; Producers: Chris Chan Lee, David Yang, Rita Yoon; 1996, 90 minutes, Drama
Sin Lee is a Korean American teenager who gets robbed while working
alone at his dad's grocery store. Already feeling pressure to prove the
worth of his general existence, he is unable to face his father about the
loss. His buddies rally together and scheme to recover the money before
sunrise. Cast: Michael Chung, Burt Bulos, John Cho, Jason Tobin, Angie
Suh, Mia Suh, Mary Hen, Lela Lee, Soon-tek Oh, Emily Kuroda, Amy Hill.
Yuri Kochiyama: Passion for Justice
Director/Producer: Rea Tajiri & Pat Saunders; 1993, 57 minutes,
Documentary
For over forty years, the work of this tireless political activist
has touched thousands of lives in diverse communities across the United
States. Yuri Kochiyama's story begins with her internment as a young woman
during World War II. She has been involved with worldwide nuclear disarmament,
the Japanese American Redress and Reparations Movement and the International
Political Prisoner Rights Movement. A follower and friend of Malcolm X
and a supporter of Black Liberation, Mrs. Kochiyama was at the Audubon
Ballroom when he was assassinated.
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