Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival

November 4, 2020

Yai Nin film still

Short Reflections: Southeast Asian Tracks

Interview /

Determination. Perseverance. Dedication. Survival. From child soldiers to factory workers, this collection of shorts curated by PAAFF Programming Coordinator, Kacia Hyunh, uncovers the different tracks followed by those who contribute to the varied Southeast Asian experience. Filmmakers featured in our Southeast Asian Tracks short film program chatted with us about their films and their dreams. YAI NIN Director: Champ Ensminger Without spoiling anything, describe your film in 7 words or less. Ensminger: Ninlawan is a Thai boss lady. Do you have a favorite memory from making this film? Were there any challenges that you had to overcome? Ensminger: Watching my grandmother take charge of our shoot locations was a treat – in another life she could have easily been a line producer! It’s inspiring watching her take charge of a room and bark orders at her age. What do you hope to see in the future for the film industry? How do you see yourself and your work playing a role in this future? Ensminger: As much as I enjoy and have grown to love Asian American stories in film, I hope to not be confined to stories directly about the Asian American experience. People contain multitudes, and there are many Asian / Asian American storytellers that can approach the telling of genre stories – science fiction, period drama, horror, etc. – with the same values of representation that we apply in our cultural stories. What’s next for you? Ensminger: I am continuing my education with the intention of expanding into a new role in a creative agency, and excited to be mentored by a long time hero! Mama Yen Director: Jiale Hu Without spoiling anything, describe your film in 7 words or less. Hu: Disarming the “refugee” construct 50 years later Do you have a favorite memory from making this film? Were there any challenges that you had to overcome? Hu: Interviewing Yen at her kitchen alone until 1  in the morning was certainly one of my favorite and intimate memories, even more than the joyful party scene. It was a journey that I would otherwise never naturally encounter, and one that disarmed my own heart. Although it was my first project, the challenges are few despite my amateur role. Yen was the most cooperative and loving subjects to film; and I had over two semesters to polish it under wonderful mentorship. What do you hope to see in the future for the film industry? How do you see yourself and your work playing a role in this future? Hu: I hope to see a future where more films can reawaken people to our sense of collectiveness and true poverty in this given life, where cognitive, financial, and legal alienation should be alien to our culture. I hope my work would be able to stay true to this objective, and whether/how/when it would reach another person is what I’ll leave to the Mystery. What’s next for you? Hu: I have been working back in Shanghai as a video journalist since graduating from Notre Dame. This new context, being in China, has shaped my interest in postcolonial encounters and I am excited to embark on many more disarming journeys through the path of documentary filmmaking. Journeys to Freedom Producer: Melodee Mercer Without spoiling anything, describe your film in 7 words or less. Mercer: Vietnam War from a whole new perspective Do you have a favorite memory from making this film? Were there any challenges that you had to overcome? Mercer: As someone who grew up watching the Vietnam War on television, these personal stories put history in perspective. In any documentary, you walk a line between wanting the audience to learn the full story and not wanting to push your subjects too hard. This was particularly difficult with these interviews as they still bring up such raw emotions. I will forever be grateful to the people who bravely told their stories, and for their understanding that telling their stories could make a difference in the way both Vietnam Veterans view their legacy, and how the younger Vietnamese and American generations will view the war. What do you hope to see in the future for the film industry? How do you see yourself and your work playing a role in this future? Mercer: I see the film industry reinventing itself, as all of us are doing during the pandemic. In particular, I would like to see documentaries be viewed by more mainstream audiences. Most reality TV is staged and has huge viewership; documentaries are the real “reality” and should draw a regular following. I’m hoping to expand the stories told in Journeys to Freedom to a mini-series. What’s next for you? Mercer: I’ve had a 38-year career in communications. My hope is to retire from my full time job in two years and devote time to producing more documentaries, including creating a library of mini-documentaries to tell the story of the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial, whose motto is, “A Duty to Remember.” In This Land We’re Briefly Ghosts Director: Chen-Wen Lo Without spoiling anything, describe your film in 7 words or less. Lo: The forgotten voices of Burmese child soldiers Do you have a favorite memory from making this film? Were there any challenges that you had to overcome? Lo: We encountered an extraordinary number of challenges in both pre-production and production stages. Because of the political sensitivity of the subject matter, it took us more than five months to find our lead actress. One of our locations was burnt by a wildfire just a few weeks before the shoot and it took a lot of effort to find a replacement location and we even had to revise the script due to those restraints. It took us more than 18 months to finish the short. Despite all the difficulties, I’m very proud of the lead girl and boy; both of them pulled out incredible performances as non-actors when they were cast. Working with them was the most memorable part of the experience. What do you hope to see

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The Paper Tigers film still

To Those Who Paved the Way For Us, A Love Letter to Kung Fu

Interview /

The 13th Annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival opens with a martial arts comedy for the underdogs, The Paper Tigers.  In The Paper Tigers, three teenagers endure brutal Kung Fu training under their master’s constant watch. Building up a fearsome reputation of invincibility, they are known as “The Three Tigers.” Life gets in the way, and after growing apart for twenty years, the former classmates are reunited when their master is mysteriously killed. Director Bao Tran joins PAAFF to talk about his first feature’s Seattle roots, what it means for the film to be seen in 2020, and more. As someone whose work has focused on action films, what led you to present a martial arts film through comedy?  Bao Tran: I wanted to have a fun story that reflected the values I had growing up in martial arts. And then explore the experience of falling out of love with it and whether it has any real truth for our lives anymore. Your film is described as a homage to Bruce Lee and the Seattle martial arts scene. For viewers who are unfamiliar with Seattle’s scene, could you tell us more about how the city’s martial arts are reflected in the film? Bao Tran: There’s quite a bit of historical connection. Depending on who you ask, Bruce Lee had to flee Hong Kong because of his involvement in rooftop beimo fights as a teenager. He landed first in Seattle and set down his roots here. His first group of students were incredibly racially diverse, and he really didn’t catch flack for it until he moved to California. So Seattle has this long history of deep martial arts talent and open-mindedness, and the Tigers and their relationship with their master reflect that. The three tigers consist of one Black and two Asian American characters. Throughout the film, we witness the racism the characters face in their everyday lives. Tell me about the writing process for delivering these conversations through action-comedy.  Bao Tran: The Tigers have to deal with appropriations of all kinds, whether it’s with their rival masters and the younger generation. I wanted to situate the audience with the Tigers so you can be part of their journey in dealing with all the strangeness of all these people. The real-life martial arts world can be quite an assortment of characters! Carter is an intriguing character because he represents some of the Western attitudes that Asian cultures have to deal with. His co-opting of Chinese culture is direct and recognizable to all audiences. How did you come up with the idea for this character and the presentation of his ignorance through comedy? Bao Tran: If you’ve done martial arts here in the US you’ve definitely encountered the type. It’s a very recognizable personality. You take on that which you love, with varying results of course. In a lot of ways and in this day and age, a lot of martial arts have been passed on to other countries and cultures that are not Chinese. Carter also presents how far the Tigers have fallen short of the ideal and challenges them to be better. Have this year’s injustices towards Black lives and the rise in anti-Asian sentiment influenced your film’s reception and distribution? What does it mean for this film to come out at this moment? Bao Tran: Our country is going through a painful, but much needed reckoning. If anything, our hope is to provide some respite and levity through it all. For those who understand the issues at play, we hope they can enjoy and smile and be energized by it. For those who don’t understand yet what is at stake, hopefully they see POC in our film in a different light than what they’ve ever seen or known before and there will be an aha moment of recognition and empathy. Tell me about the challenges you faced while directing your film. Bao Tran: For our little independent film, raising money was the hardest part. Getting enough supporters to believe in our film and support it either through our Kickstarter or private funding. Once we were on set, the actual filmmaking and production were challenging of course, but it was a kind of difficult that we’re used to and, strangely enough, even relish. What do you hope the audience will take away from The Paper Tigers?  Bao Tran: We’d want the audience first and foremost to have an enjoyable time; goodness knows that these days we all need a smile. But also I hope we can learn to appreciate those who paved the way for us to be where we are today. Yes, this movie is a love letter to Kung Fu movies but it is also a love letter to our teachers, be it a Kung Fu master or a mentor or a parent who pointed the way. What do you think it will take for marginalized communities to have agency over their stories? Tell me about your hopes or vision for Asian American films in the mainstream.   Bao Tran: Homegrown stories don’t come out of nowhere. I hope as we continue to tell our stories authentically from our own viewpoint, the greater API community will support our artists even more. Not just in ticket buying but also with funding and investing and sharing the message. What stories do you want to tell next? Where do you see yourself going forward?  Bao Tran: I have a lot of more ideas that I can’t wait to get out there, but there’s a lot in the air with film production and safety. So once all that is handled safely and a clear path forward, we can get to work!   The Paper Tigers will screen LIVE on November 5th at 7:00PM EST and will be followed by a live Q&A with the cast and crew. You can purchase tickets to the film here.

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