US Premiere Director: Yoshiaki Kasatani 61 mins | Documentary | Japan | Japanese Atelier Yamanami is a care facility for the disabled located in Koka, Shiga Prefecture in Japan. Currently, 88 users are registered as artists, all of whom possess a unique way of expressing themselves through various media and whose works are highly valued …
Writer, Director & Performer: Pratima Agrawal 80 mins | Live Performance What is it like to be an unconventional Indian woman trying to exist in a marginalizing world? Voided is a solo performance inspired by Pratima’s own experiences and the true story of Kalpana Chawla (the first Indian female astronaut in space and one of …
Kate Pourshariati (Penn Museum Archive) Kate is the film archivist, media cataloger, and cultural film series programmer for the Penn Museum. This program will consist of a brief introduction to US Imperialism in the Philippines, followed by a guided viewing of an independently made 1913 propaganda film that argued Filipinos were not fit for self …
Worcester Footage & US Imperialism in the Philippines Read More »
Wednesday, Nov. 14 | 6:30–8:30pm | 12G As one of the special events during the American Peril exhibit, PAAFF returns to Twelve Gates Arts for an evening of American propaganda. Our definition of Propaganda is content that: 1) promotes one-sided or biased information, 2) reinforces ideology central to systems of control (political, religious, class/race hierarchy), …
Rob Buscher (University of Pennsylvania) Beginning with Thomas Edison’s 1898 documentary news reel footage of the Wreck of the Battleship Maine and subsequent coverage of the Spanish-American War, film has played an important role in the way that Americans understand and consume conflict. As the technology used to produce motion pictures improved and Hollywood became …
This program of seven shorts each deal with a major transition, literal or figurative, and each challenge conventional storytelling in their execution. Fleisher Art Memorial | 61 mins Filmmakers expected in attendance for post-film Q&A. Monster Me Director: Yeon Jin Lee | 13 mins | USA An ancient monster emerges from the “Old Faithful” geyser …
Director: Lynn Estomin 52 mins | Documentary | USA | English Living in the Story documents thirty-five years of art making by the distinguished photographic artist Patrick Ryoichi Nagatani, one of the most brilliant photographic artists of our era. In the late 1970s, he pioneered the Contemporary Constructed Photographic Movement in Los Angeles, developing a …
East Coast Premiere Director: Christopher Makoto Yogi 75 mins | Drama | Hawaii | English August at Akiko’s is a mystical film that lives in the seams between dream, reality, and memory with a time-signature all its own. Armed with just his suitcase and a sax, cosmopolitan musician Alex Zhang Hungtai (Dirty Beaches, Last Lizard) …
Asian Arts Initiative | 62 mins In today’s society, technology increasingly impacts how we live our lives from simple things like ordering food and taxis to finding our dating partners. Perhaps those most impacted by the omnipresence of digital technology are the post-millennial youth. This block of four narrative and one doc short explore a …
East Coast Premiere Director: Susann Wentzlaff & Jörg Junge 90 mins | Documentary | Tonga | German & English Being Bruno Banani tells the unique story of the first and only Tongan luger who managed to qualify in an amazingly short amount of time for the Sochi 2014: XXII Olympic Winter Games. Through his name, …
East Coast Premiere Director: Jean Lee 75 mins | Drama, Comedy, Romance | USA | Spanish Pecado Original is an absurdist Spanish language rom com about Eva, a sexually frustrated housewife, her uptight husband, and a freewheeling artist who form an unlikely love triangle with unpredictable results. From “accidentally” purchasing an erotic painting, to fellating …
East Coast Premiere Director: Sky Wang 90 mins | Drama, Horror, Action, Thriller | China | Chinese Mystery unfolds as a group of individuals are confronted by undead forces outside of an abandoned factory but then go about their business as usual the next day. An unexplained virus suddenly breaks out and turns people into …
Asian Arts Initiative | 46 mins A serial dater-turned-killer, ghost children, and spiritually possessed painting are just a few of the topics in this year’s five-film Horror Genre Shorts program. Not for the faint of heart. Filmmakers expected in attendance for post-film Q&A. What’s That in the Ground? Director: Wally Chung | 2 mins | …
Asian Arts Initiative | 72 mins Told through visual poetry and narrative, and infused with stunning color and sound, these shorts recognize the trials and triumphs of family, explore the environmental traumas inflicted upon Oceania, and share the pride and resilience of these communities throughout history to the present. We would like to express our …
Shorts Program: Experimental Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Read More »
12-5pm | Asian Arts Initiative Lead Artists: Aizhanneya Carter and Claris Park Welcome to the Department of Judgement Zoning. We invite you to navigate the bizarrely familiar world of The Department of Judgement Zoning where identity rules and bureaucracy is not as mundane as it seems… Efficiency is valued at the DJZ, so please make …
East Coast Premiere Director: Steven de Castro 120 mins | Documentary | Philippines | English Revolution Selfie expands the horizons of documentary storytelling while broadening our understanding about the lesser-known fronts in the global “War on Terror.” Filmmaker Steven De Castro paints a portrait of the 48-year-old Maoist guerilla army in the Philippine hinterlands. But …
Documentary Program—Revolution Selfie: The Red Battalion Read More »
Get Tickets Things are changing on the Tibetan Plateau. With diminishing grasslands, falling livestock prices, smaller families, and a rise in the number of children going to school, the nomads are finding it increasingly hard to continue their traditional way of life. Many are leaving the grasslands, struggling at this time of transition to keep …
Curators: Sara Zia Ebrahimi & Lila Yomtoob Asian Arts Initiative | 64 mins Having a hyphenated identity is more than just being between worlds and fixed identities. It includes the active process of forging a new cultural space—a cultural remix. It is often the work of the first generation after a significant migration to begin …
Shorts Program—Iran Hyphenated: Short Films of the Iranian Diaspora Read More »
East Coast Premiere Director: Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, and Kumu Hina Wong-Kalu 70 mins | Documentary | Tonga | English Leitis in Waiting is the story of Joey Mataele and the Tonga Leitis, an intrepid group of native transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism and intolerance in their South Pacific Kingdom. The …
US premiere Director: Kenichi Omori 91 mins | Documentary | Japan | Japanese As part of the celebrations to commemorate the 450th anniversary of Mihara Castle’s construction, the youth from the Yassa Daruman neighborhood have undertaken a glorious project: to spread the popularity of Yassa Daruman, Mihara City’s official mascot, around the country. Inspired by …
