Memories to Light

PAAFF is excited to present a selection of home movies collected in the San Francisco Bay Area spanning 1920s-1970s and featuring Chinese American families. Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Executive Director Stephen Gong will narrate this program, which will also include live musical accompaniment by Chinese multi-instrumentalist Qin Qian and her band.

If memories are food for the soul, home movies are the breadcrumbs we drop to find our way back. Unfortunately for many Asian American families who immigrated in the early 20th century or earlier, there is very little home movie footage that shows their unique experiences in this country. CAAM’s Memories to Light project is an effort to collect, digitize, and exhibit Asian American home movies from the bygone film era.

PAAFF is also collecting home movies on behalf of the Memories to Light project in the formats of 8mm, Super-8, and 16mm. Films will be digitized at no cost to the owner.

If you have questions about adding your films to the collection, please contact: Wing So at s.wingdyana@gmail.com.