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Get your facts straight! Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been dunking on American history for over a century and we have the replay to prove it. Let’s rewind to the nail-biting drama, the Cinderella stories, the everyday heroes who took control of their own destinies.
This May, in celebration of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we trace that history the best way we know how: through films that look to the past to imagine a more just, empowered, or enriched future. Each week, we’ll provide a playlist of films you can stream from home, moving forward across the decades.
Watch whichever films catch your eye, though you won’t want to miss the films for which we’ll be holding filmmaker Q&As. Your online rentals or purchases directly support the filmmakers or the distributors who have invested in their stories. Every week, we also suggest a short film you can access for free.
featureD EVENT
LIVE Q&A | May 31, 2020 | 6:30PM PT
THE PARADISE WE ARE LOOKING FOR
Q&A With FilmmakerS NORBERT SHIEH, QUYÊN NGUYEN-LE, JOSEPH MANGAT & R.J. LOZADA, and Producer Brian Hu, moderated by Asam news' erin chew.
Helmed by four award winning cinematic voices, these four short docs map multiple San Diego’s — all distinctly Asian American. A 2008 University City plane crash that casts a somber shadow over a military city. City Heights mortuary workers who help refugee families grieve. The electric immigrant space of a karaoke-restaurant in National City. And interviews at a South Bay 20th high school reunion that reveal that memories are not always reliable.
Watch THE PARADISE WE ARE LOOKING FOR and join us on Sunday, May 31st at 6:30PM PT for a special Q&A to close out May Madness - featuring filmmakers Norbert Shieh, Quyên Nguyen-Le, RJ Lozada, & Joseph Mangat, and Producer Brian Hu with guest moderator Erin Chew.
Q&A Registration:
WATCH THE FILM HERE:
featureD EVENT
LIVE Q&A | May 21, 2020 | 6:30PM PT
GOOK
Q&A With Filmmaker/ACTOR JUSTIN CHON moderated by pac arts founder lee ann kim
On April 29, 1992, Eli will get a black eye and “gook” scribbled on the hood of his car, reminders that he’s not wanted in the neighborhood where he owns a shoe store. In that store, on this day, with the Rodney King verdict playing on TV, he and others in the community are going to confront the pain festering on both sides of the graffiti.
Watch GOOK and join us on Thursday, May 21st at 6:30PM PT for a special Q&A discussion between filmmaker Justin Chon and Pac Arts Founder Lee Ann Kim!
Q&A Registration:
WATCH THE FILM HERE:
featureD EVENT
LIVE Q&A | May 13, 2020 | 7:00PM PT
LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
Q&A With Filmmaker Thomas miller, film subject tony sullivan, and special guest asm. todd gloria, moderated by brian hu
Chances are you have not heard of Filipino American Richard Adams and his Australian husband, Tony Sullivan. This is their powerful love story culminating in the first federal lawsuit seeking equal treatment for a same-sex marriage in U.S. history.
Watch LIMITED PARTNERSHIP and join us on Wednesday, May 13th at 7:00PM PT for a Q&A with filmmaker Thomas Miller, film subject Tony Sullivan, and special guest Assemblymember Todd Gloria!
Q&A Registration:
WATCH THE FILM HERE:
featureD EVENT
LIVE Q&A | May 7, 2020 | 6:30PM PT
PICTURE BRIDE
Q&A With producer lisa onodera, moderated by brian hu
Inspired by the true stories of Hawaii's picture brides, with only a picture in hand, a spirited young woman leaves behind all she knows in Japan for the far-off islands of Hawaii - and an arranged marriage with a man she has only known through photographs and letters.
Watch PICTURE BRIDE and join us on Thursday, May 7th at 6:30PM PT for a Q&A with producer Lisa Onodera moderated by Artistic Director Brian Hu!
Q&A Registration:
WATCH THE FILM HERE:
weekly playlists
week 1 | may 2-9, 2020
Up to the 50s
From the golden gleam of the American promise, to the glamorous bodies of the silver screen, these films chronicle stories of racialized immigrant labor, reactions to incarceration, and early victories in self-representation.
Watch PICTURE BRIDE and join us on Thursday, May 7th at 6:30PM PT for a Q&A with producer Lisa Onodera moderated by Artistic Director Brian Hu!
UP TO 1950s | big moments
THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD
DIR: NANCY KELLY, 1990 | 105 MINS
Newly restored! Set in a mining town in the 1880s, THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD portrays the real-life story of Lalu (Rosalind Chao), a young Chinese woman who is trafficked to a nefarious saloonkeeper in Idaho's gold country. Eventually Charlie (Chris Cooper), a man of different ilk wins her in a poker game and must slowly gain her trust.
wATCH HERE:
UP TO 1950S
Picture Bride
DIR: Kayo hatta, 1994 | 100 MINS
Inspired by the true stories of Hawaii's picture brides, with only a picture in hand, a spirited young woman leaves behind all she knows in Japan for the far-off islands of Hawaii - and an arranged marriage with a man she has only known through photographs and letters.
Join us on Thursday, May 7th at 6:30PM PT for a Q&A with producer Lisa Onodera moderated by Artistic Director Brian Hu!
wATCH HERE:
Q&A REGISTRATION:
FREE!
UP TO 1950S
Random Acts of Legacy
DIR: ali kazimi, 2016 | 77 MINS
By chance, director Ali Kazimi stumbled upon hours of home movies from 1936-1951 shot by Silas Fung, a commercial artist obsessed with the Chicago World’s Fair and the ceaseless documentation of his own family. The resulting documentary is a loving and invaluable portrait of middle-class Chinese America in the Midwest during the Depression era.
wATCH HERE:
UP TO 1950S | heartthrobs
FORBIDDEN CITY, USA
DIR: ARTHUR DONG, 1989 | 56 MINS
This fascinating documentary examines the history of the nation’s premiere all-Chinese nightclub, Forbidden City, a popular San Francisco nightclub during the 1930s. Like the Cotton Club of Harlem which featured America’s finest African American entertainers, Forbidden City gained an international reputation with its unique showcase of Chinese American performers in eye-popping, all-American extravaganzas.
wATCH HERE:
UP TO 1950S | Fighting spirit | Heartthrobs
AMERICAN PASTIME
DIR: DESMOND NAKANO, 2007 | 107 MINS
Based on true events, Lyle Nomura is a star pitcher forced to leave behind a college scholarship when he and his family are suddenly interned at the Topaz Utah internment camp. As the Nomura’s start their own baseball team, tensions build to a final showdown with a rival team led by a racist prison guard.
wATCH HERE:
UP TO 1950S | Fighting spirit | big moments
RESISTANCE AT TULE LAKE
DIR: Konrad aderer, 2017 | 78 MINS
Tule Lake is where the troublemakers were held. These were the incarcerees who spat at the government’s insidious loyalty questionnaires, who banded together and sought a collective voice against injustice, and who seriously questioned the flag that cast an agonizing shadow over their families. It is the untold story of courage, controversy, and anger in a "jail within a jail."
wATCH HERE:
UP TO 1950S | hEARTTHROBS | LGBTQ
Golden Gate Girls
DIR: S. Louisa wei, 2013 | 107 MINS
A look at one of Asian American cinema's most fascinating and elusive figures, the savvy and dandyish director Esther Eng, who as a queer, female director in California in the 1930s-40s was so far ahead of her time we're still struggling to keep up.
wATCH HERE:
UP TO 1950S | HEARTTHROBS
THE CRIMSON KIMONO
DIR: SAMUEL FULLER, 1959 | 98 MINS
When a stripper is murdered in LA’s Little Tokyo, Japanese American detective Joe Kojaku (James Shigeta) and his partner Charlie Bancroft (Glenn Corbett) are assigned to the case—but their investigation is soon complicated by both romantic rivalry and racial tension.
wATCH HERE:
FREE SHORT!
UP TO 1950S
LAST TAXI DANCE
DIR: BRAYDEN YODER, 2018 | 18 MINS
As idyllic Hawaiian songs reveal hidden resistance, a taxi dance hall sets the stage for a tense encounter between a beautiful native Hawaiian singer and a haunting returned soldier with a few dance tickets to spend.
wATCH HERE:
week 2 | May 10 - 16, 2020
60s & 70s
After the sixties, nothing would be the same again. The first generation of self-proclaimed Asian Americans took to the streets – and to public office. Shifting laws and a cold war brought new immigrants and adoptees. These are their stories.
Make sure to watch LIMITED PARTNERSHIP and join us on Wednesday, May 13th at 7:00PM PT for a Q&A with filmmaker Thomas Miller, film subject Tony Sullivan, and special guest Assemblymember Todd Gloria!
60s & 70s
FIRST PERSON PLURAL
DIR: DEANN BORSHAY LIEM, 2000 | 60 MINS
In 1966, Deann Borshay Liem was adopted by an American family and sent from Korea to her new home in California. There the memory of her birth family was nearly obliterated, until recurring dreams led her to investigate her own past, and she discovered that her Korean mother was very much alive.
wATCH HERE:
60S & 70S | HEROES | the canon
AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY: THE EVOLUTION OF GRACE LEE BOGGS
DIR: GRACE LEE, 2013 | 82 MINS
We would all be so lucky to know a Grace Lee Boggs: activist, feminist, author, and longtime advocate for the rights of African Americans, who have in turn embraced her and her husband, fellow activist James Boggs. Shot over a decade in Boggs' home city of Detroit, AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY offers a reverential and critical overview of her ideas and accomplishments, the living testament to her words: "You don't choose the times you live in, but you do choose who you want to be."
wATCH HERE:
60S & 70S | heroes
patsy mink: ahead of the majority
DIR: kimberlee bassford, 2008 | 55 MIns
An expansive and moving documentary chronicling the life and political career of Patsy Mink, from her beginnings on a sugar plantation in Maui, Hawai‘i, to her four decades as an elected official of the U.S. House of Representatives.
wATCH HERE:
FREE!
60S & 70S | homegrown | big moments
GREEN DRAGON
DIR: timothy lin bui, 2001 | 112 MINS
At a Vietnamese refugee camp in California circa 1975, Tai Tran (Don Duong) sees an opportunity to improve communications and living conditions by working with a local military officer.
wATCH HERE:
60S & 70S | family appeal
TIGER HUNTER
DIR: LENA KHAN, 2016 | 94 MINS
It’s 1979 and Sami arrives in the U.S. with a leisure suit, a new job, and a suitcase full of expectations. He loses two of those three within hours of touching down, so it’ll take grit, ingenuity, and some hilarious friends to get back on his feet and, if the stars align, impress his sweetheart back in India.
wATCH HERE:
60S & 70S | Heroes | Fighting Spirit | LgbtQ
Limited Partnership
DIR: THomas miller, 2014 | 75 MINS
Chances are you have not heard of Filipino American Richard Adams and his Australian husband, Tony Sullivan. This is their powerful love story culminating in the first federal lawsuit seeking equal treatment for a same-sex marriage in U.S. history.
Join us on Wednesday, May 13th at 7:00PM PT for a Q&A with filmmaker Thomas Miller and special guest Assemblymember Todd Gloria!
wATCH HERE:
Q&A REGISTRATION:
60S & 70S | THE CANON | FAMILY APPEAL
THE NAMESAKE
DIR: MIRA NAIR, 2006 | 122 MINS
After moving from Calcutta to New York, members of the Ganguli family maintain a delicate balancing act between honoring the traditions of their native India and blending into American culture. Although parents Ashoke (the late Irrfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu) are proud of the sacrifices they make to give their offspring opportunities, their son Gogol (Kal Penn) strives to forge his own identity without forgetting his heritage.
wATCH HERE:
FREE SHORT!
60S & 70S | heroes
DELANO MANONGS: FORGOTTEN HEROES OF THE UNITED FARMWORKERS
DIR: MARISSA ARROY, 2014 | 29 MINS
Cigar-chomping, union veteran Larry Itliong organized a group of 1500 Filipinos to strike against the grape growers of Delano, California, and instigated one of the American farm labor movement’s finest hours – The Delano Grape Strike of 1965 that brought about the creation of the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) — beginning a collaboration between Filipinos, Chicanos, and other ethnic workers that would go on for years.
wATCH HERE:
week 3 | may 17 - 23, 2020
80s & 90s
Between flash dancing and soul searching, Asian Americans helped to define the contradictions of a nation emerging from external and internal wars.
Did you miss GOOK at SDAFF Spring Showcase 2017? Catch the film and join us Thursday, May 21 at 6:30PM PT for a special Q&A discussion between filmmaker Justin Chon and Pac Arts Founder Lee Ann Kim!
80s & 90s | HEROES
MAYA LIN: A STRONG CLEAR VISION
DIR: FREIDA LEE MOCK, 1994 | 82 MINS
At age 21, sculptor and architect Maya Lin designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. while still an undergraduate at Yale. The film tells the gripping story behind the Vietnam Memorial and explores a decade of Lin’s creative work including the Civil Rights Memorial, the Yale Women's Table, and the Juniata Peace Chapel — and her ability to address major issues of our times through the healing power of art.
wATCH HERE:
80S & 90S | Heartthrob
seoul searching
DIR: benson lee, 2015 | 105 MINS
Don’t you forget about 1986, when the Latin Lover collided with the punk and the pastor’s daughter on a Seoul summer camp for overseas Korean youth to discover their roots. And by roots, we mean soju, laughs, and that weird science of young love.
wATCH HERE:
80S & 90S
oRIGIN STORY
DIR: KULAP VILAYSACK, 2018 | 106 MIns
At 14, Kulap discovered that the man she called father was in fact not. Now a successful entertainer, Kulap embarks on an investigatory quest that takes her to the Mekong, in search for keys to disentangle family secrets and the decade-long rift between Kulap and her mother.
wATCH HERE:
80S & 90S | HOMEGROWN
SOME DIVINE WIND
DIR: RODDY BOGAWA, 1992 | 72 MINS
With Southern California flair and DIY punk aesthetics, SOME DIVINE WIND confronts identity crisis through Ben, an American-born young man of mixed parentage who is forced to confront the trauma inflicted on his family in World War II when his American father confesses that he was part of the bombing mission that destroyed Ben's Japanese mother's village.
wATCH HERE:
80S & 90S | BIG MOMENTs | HEARTTHROBS
GOOK
DIR: JUSTIN CHON, 2017 | 94 MINS
On April 29, 1992, Eli will get a black eye and “gook” scribbled on the hood of his car, reminders that he’s not wanted in the neighborhood where he owns a shoe store. In that store, on this day, with the Rodney King verdict playing on TV, he and others in the community are going to confront the pain festering on both sides of the graffiti.
Join us on Thursday, May 21st at 6:30PM PT for a special Q&A discussion between filmmaker Justin Chon and Pac Arts Founder Lee Ann Kim!
wATCH HERE:
Q&A REGISTRATION:
80S & 90S | infamous
THE HOUSE OF SUH
DIR: IRIS SHIM, 2010 | 92 MINS
On Sep 25,1993, Yoon Myung and Tai Sook Suh's pursuit of happiness in America quickly became riddled with misfortune when their son Andrew shot and killed his older sister’s fiancé at his sister’s bidding. As the Suh’s complex history unfolds, this seemingly open and shut case grows more insidious as issues of assimilation, tradition, and justice raise questions of guilt, innocence, and the illusive gray area in between.
wATCH HERE:
80S & 90S | Heartthrobs | FAmily appeal
The debut
DIR: gene cajayon, 2000 | 88 MINS
The ultimate testament to galvanizing the grassroots, THE DEBUT came out of nowhere to become one of the highest grossing self-distributed films in the US and a cornerstone of Asian American film. In this coming-of-age feature, Ben, a talented and ambitious high school senior, grapples with his Filipino heritage and his own American dreams in a series of conflicts that culminate on his sister's eighteenth birthday party.
wATCH HERE:
FREE SHORT!
80S & 90S | Heartthrobs
FLOAT
DIR: TRISTAN SENIUK & VOLEAK SIP, 2017 | 24 MINS
Set in 1995 Seattle, this short follows the trials and tribulations of a Cambodian hustler named Rocky Mang who gets a wake-up call when a barista accepts his invite for a date.
wATCH HERE:
week 4 | may 24 - 31, 2020
2000s
9/11, Katrina, the financial crisis, DACA, Linsanity. These films center Asian Americans in the key moments of our time.
Don’t miss the return of SDAFF 2019 Opening Night film, THE PARADISE WE ARE LOOKING FOR, featuring four San Diego stories. Close out May Madness on Sunday, May 31st at 6:30PM PT with a Q&A featuring filmmakers Norbert Shieh, Quyên Nguyen-Le, RJ Lozada, & Joseph Mangat with guest moderator Erin Chew.
2000s | BIG MOMENTs
FARAH GOES BANG
DIR: MEERA MENON, 2013 | 93 MINS
In this road-trip comedy, Farah, a woman in her twenties, tries to lose her virginity while campaigning across America for presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004.
wATCH HERE:
2000S | HEROES | Fighting spirit | big moments
A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES
DIR: S. LEO CHIANG, 2009 | 66 MINS
In a New Orleans neighborhood called Versailles, a tight-knit group of Vietnamese Americans overcame obstacles to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, only to have their homes threatened by a new government-imposed toxic landfill. The empowering story of how the Versailles residents, who have already suffered so much in their lifetime, turn a devastating disaster into a catalyst for change and a chance for a better future.
wATCH HERE:
2000S | fighting spirit
minding the gap
DIR: bing liu, 2018 | 98 MINS
Three young skateboarding friends bond together to escape volatile families in their Rust Belt hometown. As they face adult responsibilities, unexpected revelations threaten their decade-long friendship.
wATCH HERE:
2000S | HEROES | FIGHTING SPIRIT
ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL
DIR: STEVE JAMES, 2016 | 88 MINS
A David vs Goliath story straight from the headlines. After the 2008 financial crisis, the federal government brought criminal charges against only one bank: a family business in New York’s Chinatown. Little did the DA know that Chinatown protects itself, and that the Sung Family was driven by the honor and mission of its founder and his three unyielding and extraordinary daughters.
wATCH HERE:
2000S | FIGHTING SPIRIT
DOCUMENTED
DIR: JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS & ANN LUPO, 2013 | 89 MIns
One of the 2013’s most powerful documentaries chronicles Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas’ coming-out as an undocumented American through an essay published in the New York Times, his shaky self-discovery as an activist and symbol, and perhaps most crushingly, his learning how to be a son to a mother he hasn’t seen since she let him go nearly 20 years ago.
wATCH HERE:
2000S | FIGHTING SPIRIT | INFAMOUS
OPERATION POPCORN
DIR: DAVID GRABIAS, 2015 | 81 MINS
In this thrilling stranger-than-fiction documentary, a squadron of military-minded Hmong men in California plot to stage a coup in their estranged homeland with the help of the US government and its AK-47s. Filled with wily characters and pixelated evidence, this is both a documentary about secret wars and an edge-of-your-seat mystery.
wATCH HERE:
2000S | FIGHTING SPIRIT | fAMILY APPEAL
LINSANITY
DIR: EVAN JACKSON LEONG, 2013 | 89 MINS
In February 2012, Harvard alum Jeremy Lin went from undrafted benchwarmer cut from multiple NBA teams to the overnight inspiration to underdogs everywhere, and headliner of the global phenomenon called Linsanity. LINSANITY is only partially about basketball and the charismatic Asian American kid armed with faith, family, and undeniable skills. It’s also about how everyday people can defy expectations and become extraordinary.
wATCH HERE:
2000S | homegrown
the paradise we are looking for
DIR: Norbert Shieh, Quyên Nguyen-Le, Joseph Mangat & R.J. Lozada, 2019 | 90 MINs
Helmed by four award winning cinematic voices, these four short docs map multiple San Diego’s — all distinctly Asian American. A 2008 University City plane crash that casts a somber shadow over a military city. City Heights mortuary workers who help refugee families grieve. The electric immigrant space of a karaoke-restaurant in National City. And interviews at a South Bay 20th high school reunion that reveal that memories are not always reliable.
Close out May Madness on Sunday, May 31st at 6:30PM PT with a Q&A featuring filmmakers Norbert Shieh, Quyên Nguyen-Le, RJ Lozada, & Joseph Mangat with guest moderator Erin Chew. Stay tuned for more details and the registration link.
wATCH HERE:
Q&A Registration:
FREE SHORT!
2000S
SANGAM
DIR: PRASHANT BHARGAVA, 2004 | 28 MINS
Inspired by the site of pilgrimage in India, SANGAM depicts the struggle to maintain faith in the reality of the American Dream. From the late director of Patang (The Kite).
wATCH HERE:
SPECIAL CATEGORIES
check out these special playlists we've curated!
past events
MAY MADNESS KICKOFF | May 1, 2020
ASIAN AMERICANS
We start things off by partnering with Visual Communications to present a special sneak peek of the upcoming PBS documentary series Asian Americans, produced by some of the biggest names in American documentary.
On Friday, May 1, we partnered with Visual Communications to present a special sneak peek of the upcoming PBS documentary series Asian Americans, produced by some of the biggest names in American documentary. The screening was followed by a Q&A with episode producers S. Leo Chiang and Grace Lee, and series producer Renee Tajima-Peña.
If you missed the online screening, or want to watch the rest of the five-part series, check it out when it premieres on PBS on May 11-12.
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