To play, enter the password “bambi”
TYRUS
Pamela Tom, 78 minutes, USA, 2015
In the film, Tyrus, we meet Tyrus Wong, a Chinese American artist remarkable as a vibrant and articulate 105 year old. He tells us about arriving in the US as a child in the early 20th century, bewildered from the outset by racial discrimination towards Chinese immigrants, by demeaning stereotypes. Yet throughout his life, he remained true to his passion for painting.
Wong worked for a time in the film industry. Still barely recognized, he was the lead artist for Bambi, an early Disney classic, and created poetic impressionistic backgrounds for the animated forest creatures. Tyrus Wong was a master of Chinese brush painting and its influence is seen in his work. He is an early pioneer, opening American eyes to a different artistic heritage and finally his contribution has been recognized.
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Edmund Moy, 2 minutes, India, Canada, Taiwan, USA, 2015
Amazing how much story can be told in under two minutes! A young girl takes driving lessons from her father when what she really wants is to take flying lessons. What will Dad say, and will he be able to say it before Daughter breaks the speed limit?
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Sakura Sakura
Joe Jiang, 4 minutes, USA, 2015
From Portland-based Asian American rock band The Slants, Sakura Sakura follows a girl stumbling upon an exciting connection to her culture and heritage during a trip to a museum.
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An American Hero: Shiro Kashino
From Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers, by Lawrence Matsuda and Matt Sasaki. Produced by the Wing Luke Museum and NVC Foundation.
Shannon Gee, 20 minutes, USA, 2015
This animated short film follows the story of Shiro Kashino, a Japanese-American soldier in World War II. Through his eyes we experience the history of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the highly decorated unit comprised of Japanese-American troops. These men fought against the Axis Powers, and by doing so also fought the prejudice at home that had forced them and their families into internment camps. Based on the graphic novel Fighting For America: Nisei Soldiers, written by Lawrence Matsuda and illustrated by Matt Sasaki, this film shines a light on the bravery of these men, and the prejudice that they faced because of their heritage..
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Justin S. Lee, 15 minutes, USA, 2015
When we no longer need to look into our enemy’s eyes, bombing him becomes a sterile, banal chore. But what happens when we do want to look into his eyes – what will we see there? A fellow traveler who goes about his daily business, enjoys walking, rests quietly on the ground? Has a family? A child perhaps? Someone who feels happy, sad, tired?
A rookie Air Force drone pilot struggles as he becomes increasingly attached to his enemy on the other side of the world. He recognizes the moral ambiguity of his mission as he does…what?
DRONE was produced as part of the USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate film program. It was selected to receive full funding and top faculty mentorship.
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Age-restricted trailer
Resilient
Cynthia Kao, 30 minutes, USA, 2015
Director Cynthia S. Kao weaves together a strikingly emotional documentary about the effects of PTSD on veterans. It is both a personal exploration and physical journey, as she travels to interview different veterans and discovers the pain these people are facing and the touching and beautiful outlets they find to cope with it.
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Zoë Kim, 13 minutes, USA, 2015
And a child shall bring them together. Gloria is depressed and finding it difficult to discern her purpose in life. Josie, the child, finds joyful life when in fact she has every reason to be depressed. This is a film about connections between and among us, and how they strengthen and heal us. The story is sweet and uplifting without straying into sentimentality.
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James Y. Shih, 4 minutes, USA, 2015
This beautiful love story, supported by haiku and music, asks: When Charlotte’s beloved Henry is no longer with her, what does she do with their memories? Does she stay with them or does she walk away? What does that mean for her?
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Goodbye
Tyler Russo, 8 minutes, USA, 2015
With stunning images, this film uses sci fi and an absurdist sensibility to plumb the depths of our after-death fears. A brutal car accident lands our Everyman in a hellish interview during which he must face the demons of his guilt and the frustrations of being ripped too early out of life.
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Co-Directors and Co-Producers Dianne Griffin, Erica Jordan, 56 minutes, USA, 2015
Associate Producer Nhung Pham
Van Nguyen feels lucky to be living in America. As the owner of a bustling nail salon in San Francisco she works long hours, 7 days a week, offering a caring environment where her clientele comes to be pampered. But what is the cost of beauty in the $50-billion cosmetic industry—an industry that disproportionally affects women? With the determination to protect her unborn baby, family and community, Van finds her voice and the courage to affect social change.
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Ben Wang, 59 minutes, USA
Eddy Zheng’s story works on two levels. First, it is Zheng’s personal story as a child in an alien culture, a 16-year old with limited understanding of English or the US judicial system, a prisoner of almost 20 years in San Quentin and today a recognized leader on prison reform and youth violence prevention. Secondly this film contains within it the subtexts of rehabilitation, redemption and finally freedom – personal, social and physical. It asks us whether these goals are possible to achieve, and answers its own question with a resounding Yes!
This is an uplifting, energizing film that allows us to consider some serious social issues within the context of one man’s personal story.
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Nelson Kim, 72 minutes, USA, 2016
This experimental film follows shy law student Jamie as he moves in with his playboy cousin Will in New York City. Spurred on by Will’s wild lifestyle and a mysterious girl named Kat, Jamie transforms from quiet student to a hard partying renegade. This movie utilizes an unconventional, surrealist narrative structure that keeps the audience constantly questioning, mirroring the chaos in Jamie’s life.
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Cellin Gluck, 139 minutes, USA, 2015
The Chiune Sugihara Story: Following the man sometimes called the Schindler of Japan, this film details the life of Chiune Sugihara, a diplomat and intelligence agent for the Empire of Japan in the years leading up to and spanning the Second World War. During his time at the Japanese consulate in Lithuania, Sugihara issued more than 2,000 Japanese travel visas to Polish and Lithuanian Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, in defiance of the Japanese government. Persona Non Grata tells Sugihara’s story of danger and political intrigue, events that formed the man who would go on to save thousands of innocent lives.
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Jonathan Hua Lang Lim, 92 minutes, USA, China, 2015
Magpies are a gently recurring theme in this charming story of the soul. Their chatter symbolically reminds us to listen with our hearts, to understand our priorities. On the other hand, magpies do tend to chase after glittery trinkets, just as we may chase after shiny false ideas.
Dr. Lily Zhang and Teacher Neil Lang become friends and fall in love after she treats one of his pupils. When Neil asks Lily to become his wife, she is terribly conflicted. Should she listen to her heart (love) or her mind (culture, family, children, career)? It’s not an unusual conflict, but in Lily’s case, a car accident hurls her into an alternate reality where family, friends and colleagues are bewildered by her fear and her desperation. Lily denies their reality and is deeply confused and angered by their refusal to accept hers.
What is true and what is not? Where is love? What does Magpie say?
Pali Road was filmed in Oahu, and is rich with the beauty and presence of Hawai’i.
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Nick Spark, 82 minutes, USA, 2015
When Jessica Cox was born without arms as the result of a birth defect, her parents were terrified that she could never lead a normal and independent life. Fast-forward years later and Jessica is not only eating and writing as well as anyone else, but she is flying planes and traveling the world, inspiring others and advocating for people with disabilities. Right Footed tells Jessica’s amazing story and shows how she not only overcame immense hardships; she completely transformed her life beyond what anyone thought was in the realm of possibility.
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Ursula Liang, 89 minutes, USA, 2015
1930’s America. At a time when the Chinese are relegated to the margins of society, a form of street volleyball called 9-Man emerges in the alleys and empty lots of America’s Chinatowns. Named for the number of players on each team, this sport is additionally unique in that only people of Asian descent are allowed to play. This documentary examines this little known sport, whose history spans generations and today boasts dedicated teams in major cities across the continent. Every year, teams from across North America gather to play a three-day championship tournament. This film follows the various teams and players as they struggle not only to win, but also to sustain the Chinese history of 9-Man while finding the game’s place in an increasingly open and multi-ethnic society.
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Cantonese Rice (Riz Cantonais)
Mia Ma, 50 minutes, France, 2015
Understanding the language of a culture is more than just decoding its words. It is the gateway into that culture. And when we are bi- or multicultural but don’t know one of our languages, there is a void where a legacy should be.
Director Mia Ma speaks only French. Her Grandmother speaks only Cantonese. Her father speaks both and interprets, often reluctantly, between the two.
To better understand her heritage and what being deprived of her father’s native tongue means, Ma interviews both her Grandmother and her father as well as other Chinese immigrants. This is a film that will resonate with anyone who lives in, or between, more than one culture.
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Lauren Knapp, 83 minutes, USA, 2015
This documentary simultaneously tells two stories about the rise of rock music in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia. It showcases one band’s journey to make it in a society that is just beginning to accept modern music. It is also about the entire movement for rock music in Mongolia and how this push for musical expression, which coincided with larger political changes, was really a push for freedom.
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R.J. Lozada, 9 minutes, USA, 2015
Director R.J. Lozada donated sperm to a lesbian couple so that they can have a child. Although he will not actively father the child, he still wants to leave something to connect the child to him, so he creates this touching documentary explaining his culture and family to the child in the form of a letter.
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Christmas in America
King Lu, 10 minutes, USA, 2015
It’s never easy being an immigrant family. Add a short budget, and hard choices must be made. This is a lovely film in which family is foremost as Mother and Father do their best to provide their youngest with a happy Christmas. Even his older Sister, in her own way, does her part..
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Sandra Tan, 9 minutes, USA, 2015
When 7-year-old Jade spies something she is not meant to see while out to dinner, she is forced to decide if she should keep it to herself, or risk disappointing and hurting someone close. This film depicts the struggle of personal morals against family ties as experienced through the eyes of a child as she is put in a difficult situation that she cannot fully grasp.
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Norbert Shieh, 7 minutes, USA, 2015
Frank and Kass explores the complicated relationship between a father who is down on his luck and his young daughter who does not understand their situation. All during the course of a truck ride, they learn to form a mutual understanding and touching bond.
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Jazmin Jamias, 19 minutes, USA, 2015
It’s a good thing to inherit your family’s thriving business, except when that business isn’t so thriving any more. This is where things get interesting – when business models change and the world moves on. Two siblings are precisely on that cusp when they take over the family video store, a place of fond memories and childhood dreams. Elder sister Sophie approaches the problem analytically, but younger brother JR has his own ideas.
Jazmin Jamias directs this sweet mischievous short in which love anchors family in the seas of change.
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Too Fast
Joseph Aceves, 3 minutes, USA, 2015
A young couple continues to pull each other along in a series of miscommunications about the speed of their relationship, with hilariously disastrous results.
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Mila Zuo, 9 minutes, USA, 2016
CARNAL ORIENT is a direct response to a music video of several years ago in which aggressive lyrics and hyper-sexual images dehumanized Asian women. This short music film, with an original score by Angela Seo from the band Xiu Xiu, is unsettling, provocative and stunningly, nightmarishly beautiful as it reveals the dark undertones of the Asian female fetish. Not for the faint of heart, but it may change you.
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Garth Kravits, Lia Chang, 4 minutes, USA, 2015
From television and movies to magazines, women of color are bombarded with an ideal of beauty that celebrates white features. Double eyelids, pointed noses, and light hair are striven for and can only be achieved with makeup, wigs, and surgery. Hide and Seek shows how this standard affects women, and the true beauty that is seen when these expectations are lifted.
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Rommel Andaya, 7 minutes, USA, 2015
And if a director dreamed about making an awesome music video – what would that look like?
It would look like this light, joyful, fun romp involving a spaceship, a desert, a lovely blue-haired alien and a terrific band, that’s what it would look like!
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Trevor Zhou, 11 minutes, USA, 2015
Waltzes are so romantic and dance is so healing. Breathe in, exhale your woes and move. Ling and her husband Jian have an empty nest, and each copes in their own unique way. Ling has taken to hoarding, Jian spends his time travelling for business, and together their marriage becomes rocky. Ling has the opportunity to take a waltz class, which brings back a beloved activity of her past. Learning to release her cares in class, she applies her lessons to get rid of her hoard, letting dance and a renewed relationship with her husband fill the empty spaces.
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Alex Azmi, 73 minutes, USA, 2015
To Climb a Gold Mountain highlights the harsh struggles of Chinese immigrants over the span of 160 years; overcoming racial discrimination to become full fledged citizens of the U.S.
From the wild west town of Los Angeles where Chinese men first arrived during the gold rush era, through the Chinese Exclusion Act and finally to the present day US Congress, the history of the Chinese in America is told through the struggles and triumph of Chinese women–
including Anna May Wong, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, and Judy Chu.
In Football We Trust
Tony Vainuku, 87 minutes, USA, 2015
Samoans and Tongans in the U.S. are 28 times more likely than any other ethnic group to play NFL football, and the Polynesian Football Pipeline is the subject of this moving documentary. We are taken inside the tight-knit Polynesian community in Salt Lake City, Utah were we see the complex relationships, pressures and struggles of young football players. Descended from a culture of warriors, these boys must navigate their way through adolescence to be the salvation their families hope for.
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Joella Cabalu, 46 minutes, Canada 2015
Jay Cabalu is a young Filipino-Canadian artist who came out to his family as gay. Along with his sister, Joella, he travels to California and the Philippines to meet other queer relatives in the family and learn about their experiences. Joella documents their journey, as they explore sexuality, culture, family, and religion, as told from the unique and eye-opening perspectives of their family members. Showing how culture plays a role LGBTQ community, It Runs in the Family won an award for social justice documentary at the recent CAAM Fest.
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Angelo Santos, 29 minutes, USA, 2015
When old rituals meet modern realities, a confused sense of disorientation – and laughter – will surely follow. The Pamanhikan is the traditional Filipino dinner at which the bride’s parents and groom’s parents meet, get to know each other and begin planning the wedding. When the engaged couple is two grooms, however, old sensibilities meet new and everyone needs to adjust.
So it is with Jun and Brendan and their parents. The fathers worry about whose son is the more masculine. One mother worries about the grooms’ futures, whereas the other mother just wants to start planning an awesome wedding. In the end, it’s all about family, always about family.
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William Lu, 103 minutes, USA, 2015
When a good-looking courier working the graveyard shift fetches the feisty daughter of an important client from the airport in a city full of good food, a rom-com is sure to happen, especially when Tabasco sauce is added into the mix. Jasmine’s father has her destiny mapped out for her, and Cameron carries his own burden, but for the next two nights, they explore LA’s food scene and fall in love..
[divider margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”30px”]*Participants in Q&A’s are subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances.