Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the 9th Annual Asian Pacific Asian Film Festival hosted by OCA-Greater Houston and held at Brilliart Studios. I didn't even know there was an Asian-American film community in Houston! Brilliart was a cute little studio in the middle of "China town" that's still expanding and very cool. The film fest was a free four day event that showcased Asian Pacific Asian film makers about issues within the community. The films ranged from witty and laughable moments, to real tear jerkers.
It was a great event, especially since they even showcased local film makers that were there for Q&A and commentary. I was only able to attend for one day, however, now I have a whole list of films and documentaries I want to check out.
Promising films:
AMERICAN MADE
When a Sikh American family s SUV breaks down on a remote desert highway during their all-American road trip to the Grand Canyon, they are confronted by more than the threat of an unfriendly terrain. AMERICAN MADE examines a conflict between a father and a son, a reflection on assimilation versus identity, faith versus compromise. As the sun sets on the American desert and coyotes lay in wait, will someone stop to help? What measures will it take?
BLEACHED
A "dark" comedy set in San Francisco. It is the story of Lenny, a Filipino girl in high school. Her mother, a pageant queen past her prime, forces Lenny to use a bleaching cream to lighten the color of her skin in order to increase her cosmetic sales. Lenny reluctantly agrees to gain the approval of her mother, but in the process she loses herself and begins to believe and embody her mother's skewed sense of beauty. Lenny is forced to find herself again, and the result is hilarious and powerful.
CAN
Can Truong is among millions of refugee boat people fleeing Vietnam in the 1970s. In the United States he becomes a model student, aspiring to be a doctor. After graduating at the top of his high school class, he begins experiencing difficulties and is diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder. After leaving school, Can becomes involved in the mental health consumer movement which focuses on recovery through self-determination and peer support. Inspired by his peers, he embarks on a healing journey of a different kind. In a culture where mental problems are often viewed as a stigma that brings shame to the family, CAN breaks an important silence.
LOST AND FOUND
A short film about an undocumented student in California. She explains her struggles and limitations growing up as an undocumented student at UCLA, from the constant moves to financial hiatuses from school. Can watch
HERE
MY AMERICA... OR HONK IF YOU LOVE BUDDHA
Renee Tajima-Peña drives coast-to-coast and stops in the Chinatowns of various large American cities, seeking the meaning of being Asian American in our rapidly changing society. The film chronicles an eclectic group of offbeat and distinctive people from Chinese American debutantes and eighth generation Filipinos in New Orleans to the entrepreneur Chung Y. Choi with his fortune cookie factory, fish business, and security job, and Cambodian telehuckster Tom Vu. Tajima-Peña also explores the challenge for Asian Americans now that they are no longer "the invisible minority."
POST-RACIAL
One of the films I actually got to watch was called "Post-Racial." About 13 minutes long, the writer explores the possibilities of trying to remove racial stereotypes within his screen play. The director, Tim Tsai, was there that day to answer some Q&A and I found out the inspiration stemmed from
Breakfast at Tiffany's. More specifically, he was inspired by the character named I.Y. Yunioshi played by Micky Rooney.
Micky Rooney as I.Y. Yunioshi
He said he always heard about this classic film and one day decided to sit down and watch it and well, it was cringe-worthy. Cringe worthy due to the blatant racist portrayal of an Asian American played by a WHITE MAN. (Ok, I added the word racist but I'm sure that's what he meant.) So he wanted to explore the topic of removing stereotypes from films and responded with his short film called Post Racial. After a little bit of discussion, someone (white) from the audience asks a question that went a long something like this.
Do you think its your responsibility as film makers and directors to teach others about not stereotyping their characters in their films??
I seriously wanted to scream HELL NO THAT WAS NOT THE POINT. First of all, POC never have the responsibility of teaching what makes something is racist or not (that's an entirely different topic that I could go on forever). And second of all, its not only about the stereotyping that goes on within the character, its the casting of/lack of casting of POC for roles in general.
This is the part where I was suppose to write something intelligent and include stats about POC representation in media (which is very low btw and I have lots of feels about it) but I have a million things on my plate right now and I felt like it was more important a shout out to this great event and groups that hosted it. Maybe another time though.
Founded in 1973, OCA, formerly stood for Organization of Chinese Americans and causally referred as as "organization of community advocates" primarily focuses on pan Asian American advocacy. Headquarters are located in DC, but there are more than 50 chapters all across the US, either at city or college level. The goals of OCA are to advocate for social justice, equal opportunity, and fair treatment; promote civic participation, education and leadership; advance coalitions and community building; foster cultural heritage. To find out if there's an OCA chapter near you, check out their site at
http://www.ocanational.org/ and see what events they have all over the country.
Also go to
http://www.brilliart.com/ and see all the things they do at their studio.
You can also check out the full list of films featured by clicking
here. If it doesn't send you directly there, it should be under the dates of 6/08 to 06/16 - I will actually try to edit this post later to add all the films in, I'm just overwhelmed with life right now!
