Reading Terminal Market
12th & Arch Streets, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Free Screening Director: Aditya Thayi 44 mins | Documentary | Philippines, Indonesia | Indonesian, Tagalog Who says prison food needs to be boring? In this series, Filipino-American Chef Johneric Concordia heads to some of Asia’s most notorious prisons to see what’s cooking behind bars. He meets inmates running the prison kitchens and discovers a hotbed of human ingenuity with food. After exploring the inner workings of the prison and its kitchen, Johneric cooks a meal for the inmates from the limited resources available to him in an attempt to bring a different flavor to prison food. But will he succeed in liberating the taste buds of hardened criminals? Chef Demo to follow.
Lightbox Film Center
3701 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
US Premiere Director: Mark Bochsler 91 mins | Documentary | Cambodia | Central Khmer, English What started as a genocide survivor’s dream to revive an ancient sport becomes an inspiring mission to heal a nation. Surviving Bokator is a heartfelt story about reclaiming cultural identity and building bridges between generations. Filmed over five years, the film is told through the struggle of an elder genocide survivor to resurrect the ancient Cambodian martial art of Bokator and preserve it in the nation’s youth. Through their journey, the film reaches the very core of the generational fracture happening in Cambodian communities around the world today—a fracture between genocide survivors determined to revive and maintain traditional ways and Cambodia’s youth looking to forge ahead. Filmmakers are expected in attendance for a post-film Q&A. Get Tickets
Institute of Contemporary Art
118 S 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Free Screening Drawn Together: Comics, Diversity, and Stereotypes Director: Harleen Singh 40 mins | Documentary | USA | English Drawn Together: Comics, Diversity and Stereotypes follows the journey of three talented artists as they use comics and cartoons to challenge racial, religious, and gender stereotypes and inspire others to breakthrough socially and self-imposed limitations. Keith is an African-American syndicated comic writer who tackles police brutality and racial injustice with satire. Vish is a Sikh-American who proudly wears his turban and beard with the Captain America uniform to challenge our idea of what a superhero should look like. Eileen is a white woman who confronts gender bias and traditional norms of femininity with strong female characters. Drawn Together film taps into the public’s endless appetite for superhero stories to refocus common comic themes of justice and doing good for the community in order to open a deeper and more inclusive social dialogue about identity, respect, and representation. By channeling questions about how we view ourselves and others through a creative medium, the viewer is able to confront prejudice and stereotype in a low-risk way.
Institute of Contemporary Art
118 S 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Free Screening Director: Jun Stinson 40 mins | Documentary | USA | English Futbolistas 4 Life is about Oakland teens from Latinx immigrant families and the healing power of soccer. The film takes you into the lives of two high schoolers: one is a college hopeful and DACA applicant navigating the reality of his immigration status, and the other is an American citizen afraid that her undocumented parents may be deported. These youth take solace in the game of soccer, which lets them put their worries on the sidelines, if only for a moment. Futbolistas 4 Life sheds light on the overwhelming stress experienced by immigrant youth living in communities with high rates of poverty and violence, communities increasingly in the crosshairs of federal immigration policies. The film captivates viewers with its compelling characters, cinematic footage, carefully crafted animations, and beautiful score by Grammy Award winner Adrian Quesada. Associate Producer Jess Ramirez expected in attendance.
Institute of Contemporary Art
118 S 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Free Screening Director: S. Louisa Wei 90 mins | Documentary | Hong Kong | Chinese Caridad Amaran and Georgina Wong learned the art of Cantonese opera in 1930s Havana. Caridad’s mentor was her foster father, Julian Fong, who immigrated to Cuba in the 1920s after his family forbade him from performing opera. Georgina’s father was a famous tailor in Chinatown, who encouraged her to learn Kungfu and lion dance. Although each was an only child, they formed a sisterhood on stage. Throughout the 1940s, Caridad toured cities with Chinese communities all over Cuba as one of the lead actresses of the opera troupe. Georgina quit opera to attend college, but her study was interrupted by Castro’s 1959 revolution and her required military service. Eventually, she went on to become a diplomat. After retirement and well into their sixties, the two “sisters” are trying to perform Cantonese opera again. Will they find a stage? Will they find an audience? Film will be introduced by Nancy Yunhwa Rao of Rutgers University. Get Tickets
Institute of Contemporary Art
118 S 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Arthur Dong’s documentary Forbidden City, USA takes you inside the glamorous world of Chinatown nightclubs in World War II San Francisco. You will meet the “Chinese Fred Astaire,” the “Chinese Sophie Tucker,” and the “Chinese Sally Rand.” Eighty years before the all-Asian cast of Crazy Rich Asians made box office headlines, the world famous Forbidden City nightclub was shocking America with its “all-Chinese” American floorshows. Digitally re-mastered by UCLA Film & TV Archive from original film negatives, Forbidden City, USA unearths the stories of ground-breaking Asian American entertainers from a bygone era, telling the true-life stories that inspired both the musical Flower Drum Song and Lisa See’s novel China Dolls. Film will be introduced by Music of Asian America Research Center Eric Hung.
Lightbox Film Center
3701 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
The low-lying Pacific nation of Kiribati faces a daunting challenge: imminent annihilation from sea-level rise. As Anote Tong, Kiribati’s President, races to find a way to protect his nation’s people and maintain their dignity, many iKiribati are seeking safe harbor overseas. Set against the backdrop of international climate negotiations and the fight to recognize climate displacement as an urgent human rights issue, Anote’s personal struggle to save his nation is intertwined with the extraordinary fate of Sermary, a young mother of six, who decides to migrate her family to New Zealand. At stake are the survival of Sermary’s family, the iKiribati people, and 4,000 years of iKiribati culture—yet the story also serves as a cautionary tale for low-lying populations everywhere. Get Tickets
Fleisher Art Memorial
719 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
East Coast Premiere Director: Steve Arounsack 40 mins | Documentary | Lao People’s Democratic Republic | English, Lao After 25 years of silence, the private Lao music and film industries are reawakening. Filmed over 10 years, Getting Lao’d follows a new generation of young pioneers as they reimagine Lao media in a communist country. The film features many of the country’s most prominent musicians and filmmakers, and is perhaps the most comprehensive examination of the media landscape in Laos. Many neighboring countries in Southeast Asia have seen their music and film industries remain vibrant. Media in Laos, however, remains shrouded in mystery due to its landlocked geography and restrictive political environment. This documentary provides an extremely rare look at a new generation that tipped the cultural fulcrum. It is a story about a small country with a big heart. Screens with Phetmixay Means Fighter 12 mins | USA Director: Rita Phetmixay Lao American refugee Phoutone Phetmixay shares his experiences as an anti-communist rebel in Laos in this short documentary. Through trials and tribulations, Phoutone is able to survive a series of challenging encounters before escaping to the United States to start a new life. Director Rita Phetmixay expected in attendance.
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 abroad. This documentary explores these artists’ “relationship between their mental states and their art.” Screens with Morgan 6 mins | USA Director: Eiko Fan, Aidan Un Morgan has very limited mobility. He can swing his feet a little, and he moves his middle finger to paint large paintings. He cannot speak but his eyes can direct the computer to tell what he wants to say a little. His paintings speak of his unique ability and intention to express himself. Director Eiko Fan expected in attendance with film subject Morgan.
Fleisher Art Memorial
719 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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 new visual vocabulary by constructing tableau photographs from sets, sculptures, models, and paintings. The film portrays an artist deeply concerned and well informed about world events who uses imagery, storytelling, and narrative fiction to raise awareness about modern anxieties with an emphasis on the threat of nuclear weapons technology. Nagatani has also explored healing techniques and states of consciousness in which the material world is transcended. Despite the serious content of his subject matter, his innovative images are compelling and entertaining. An engaging raconteur and teacher, Nagatani talks in the film about his projects, his unorthodox photographic techniques, and his subtle weaving together of fiction and fact. Scott Nagatani’s hauntingly beautiful music score provides the film’s soundtrack. Director Lynn Estomin expected in attendance.
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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, he also acted as the first “living brand,” using a completely new and disputed way to get around the strict IOC’s advertising regulations.
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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 rather than simply presenting interviews and images in a traditional journalistic manner, this film weaves fantasy elements and web-based camera techniques into the documentary form to disrupt our matrix of widely held beliefs that underpin the discussion of terrorism, poverty, and the motivations of the warriors who fight in a peasant revolution. Director Steven de Castro expected in attendance for post-film Q&A.
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 film follows Joey, a devout Catholic of noble descent, as she organizes an exuberant beauty pageant presided over by a princess, provides shelter and training for a young contestant rejected by her family, and spars with American-financed evangelicals threatening to resurrect colonial-era laws that criminalize the Leitis’ lives. With unexpected humor and extraordinary access to the Kingdom’s royals and religious leaders, Joey’s emotional journey reveals what it means to be different in a society ruled by tradition, and what it takes to be accepted without forsaking culture and tradition. Leitis in Waiting is an inside story, created by a Polynesian transgender woman who once competed and won the crown in Joey’s beauty pageant.
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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 this example of youthful exuberance, the ordinary citizens of Mihara City join the struggle, and a wonderful adventure commences.
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Director: Prakash Angdembe 105 mins | Documentary | Bhutan, India, Nepal | Nepali Desh Khojdai Janda’s film documents the more than 120,000 forgotten Nepali-speaking Bhutanese citizens from Bhutan who spent two decades in refugee camps (some of whom are still living there) in Jhapa and Morang, Nepal. Their years of repatriation struggle to their homeland continues with the character Karbari Kaka. Producer Pralhad Gurung is expected in attendance for a post film Q&A.
East Coast Premiere Director: Kulap Vilaysack 106 mins | Documentary | Laos | English, Lao In her directorial debut, actor/writer/podcaster Kulap Vilaysack explores her tangled family tree to find out who she is. When Vilaysack was 14, she took her father’s side in an argument and her mother replied, “Why are you defending him? He’s not your real dad.” Twenty years later, she’s finally ready to learn what that means. Origin Story is a feature-length, international quest with stops in Los Angeles, Minnesota, and Laos for Vilaysack to meet the biological father she never knew. On the road unforeseen revelations strike both hilarious or heartbreaking—but rarely in between. Origin Story is a deeply personal but universally relevant tale of immigration, conflict, identity, and personal responsibility. Interviewees in the film include extended family, husband Scott Aukerman, and close friends, like Sarah Silverman, Casey Wilson, June Diane Raphael, and Howard Kremer.
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Director: Stephen Tringali 81 mins | Documentary | USA | English Get Tickets The image of the American hero is challenged in this heartfelt portrait of 9/11 Pentagon first-responder Isaac Ho’opi’i. A nationally recognized K9 Unit Officer, Isaac Ho’opi’i was responsible for saving numerous people from the Pentagon during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Countless articles were written about his heroism following 9/11, and he even ran the Olympic Torch on its way to Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Olympics. After the news cameras had been turned off and the lights dimmed, Isaac was left with the horrific images he had seen and the memory of those he was unable to save. Corridor Four is a feature-length documentary that illustrates Isaac’s story in the first-ever look at how the Pentagon handled mental health care in the aftermath of 9/11. Watch Trailer Officer Ho’opi’i is expected in attendance for a post film Q&A.
