Lightbox Film Center
3701 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
This block of four Sci-Fi genre narrative shorts explores a variety of not-so-distant futures dictated by technology and varying degrees of dystopia. Filmmakers expected in attendance for post-film Q&A Frenchies Director: Kuan-Fu Lin | 13 mins | USA After strange new neighbors move into his building, fear of the unknown makes a man start to suspect the worst of them. The Lie Game Director: Jyothi Kalyan Sura | 14 mins | USA After losing her boyfriend to depression, a computer scientist creates and anti-depression AI application and looks for funding to complete it. Following a string of failed interviews, she enters her final interview which turns into a bizarre challenge of lie detection. andLIFE Director: Jean Goto | 11 mins | USA Set in the near future when climate change has taken its irreversible toll on Earth, a dying man and his partner contemplate their past. Shabu Director: Kiersten Villanueva | 10 mins | USA Several years after America has placed a “kill-all” order on anyone suspected of dealing in the drug trade, a photojournalist discovers the corrupt nature of the world she lives in.
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.
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 75 mins What do a street dancer, violin virtuoso, keeper of sacred tradition, and femme-forward hip hop artist-activist all have in common? Their love of music. This mixed block of two narrative and two doc shorts explores a few of the many different relationships that people have with music, and the impact it has on our lives. Filmmakers expected in attendance for post-film Q&A. Dancing Shoes Director: Benedict Chiu | 10 mins | USA A young street dancer’s life is changed forever when his mom gives him a magical pair of shoes. Besieged Director: Mengchen Niu | 28 mins | USA Two Chinese immigrant half-brothers audition for the same prestigious film role. In a vicious effort to win the role, the elder brother stealthily sabotages the younger throughout their audition process. Besieged vividly depicts the darkness of jealousy threaded within sibling rivalry. Dancing the Divine Director: Madhusmita Bora | 12 mins | India This short documentary captures the essence and spirit of Sattriya - a five-hundred-year-old living dance tradition from the Vaishnav monasteries and the story of Assamese monks that live on the river island of Majuli. Nothing on US: Pinays Rising Director: Evelyn Obamos | 25 mins | USA This behind-the-scenes documentary records Pinay Rapper Ruby Ibarra as she makes her directorial debut for the music video of “US”. Working through logistical nightmares and corralling a crowdsourced all-Pinay cast of 200, the film shows how she executed an ambitious vision to create a compelling multi-dimensional narrative about resistance, solidarity, and female empowerment.
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
University of Pennsylvania, ARCH
Arch Building, 3601 Locust Walk, Room 108, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Free Screening This mixed program of doc and narrative shorts explores the similarities and differences between anti-Japanese sentiment that led to the community’s mass incarceration during WWII and Islamophobic bigotry in the post-9/11 and Trump Era. The block of six shorts is evenly split between Japanese American and Muslim/Sikh/South Asian stories for an evocative program meant to provoke conversation about these startling parallels Filmmakers expected in attendance for post-film Q&A. Moving Walls Director: Sharon Yamato | 25 mins | USA What happened to the scores of barracks used to house 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII? At one camp built on government land in a remote area in Wyoming, they were sold for a dollar apiece to GI homesteaders settling the West after the war. This short doc delves into the intersection of mass incarceration and homesteading farmers as one group’s American nightmare became part of the American dream for another. The Crystal City Director: Kenya Gillespie | 13 mins | USA Combining present-day and archival footage, this short doc explores the physical remains of the Crystal City Incarceration Camp and the memories of its Japanese American survivors. Five O’Clock Shadow Director: Sangeeta Agrawal | 7 mins | USA An Indian American mother experiences racial abuse, causing her worst fears to rise to the surface. For the first time ever, she asks the question – do we really belong here? Pagg Director: Nardeep Khurmi | 17 mins | USA In the aftermath of a hate crime, a Sikh American man grapples with his fears and anxieties as he attempts to celebrate the 4th of July with his wife and infant son. As tensions rise through various microaggressions and racially charged encounters, he makes a tragic decision that changes his identity forever. Three Boys in Manzanar Director: Preeti Deb | 7 mins | USA This short doc tells the story of three Japanese American men from an iconic photo taken at Manzanar Incarceration Camp in their boyhood, reuniting 70-years later. Surviving Surveillance Director: Sarah Khan | 9 mins | USA Since 9/11 Muslim Americans have been mapped, surveilled, and entrapped by the NYPD. This short doc provides insight into the struggles of one family impacted by these questionable policing practices.
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.
Fleisher Art Memorial
719 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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 at Yellowstone, attacking an artist in residency there, and wreaking havoc in Jackson Hole. Metamorphosis Director: Sophia You | 3 mins | USA Strangers pass each other every day on the ferries leaving and entering San Francisco - some find romance, others remain unseen. Sea of Fog explores the distance between the dreams we’re sold about love and its daily reality. Naan & Balsamic Vinaigrette Director: Urvashi Pathania | 6 mins | USA A story about love, loss, and those ephemeral salad days. Unfair & Lovely Director: Anita Kalathara | 4 mins | USA Influenced by years of color shaming, a dark-skinned Indian American woman uses lightening creams and other methods to whiten her skin. #justB Kenson’s Story Director: Kenson Alik | 3 mins | USA A Marshall Islander named Kenson is diagnosed with Hepatitis B and moves to Hawaii in search of treatment. Now, Kenson and his wife educate the Pacific Islander community in Hawaii about the disease, challenging myths about it and doing all they can to promote testing and care. Water in the Cup Director: Ikuo Kato | 6 mins | Japan A human being is like water in a bottle. But if the bottle breaks, where does the water go? Heaven is My Country Director: Tristan Hsu | 27 mins | Japan A high school freshman named Jin moves into a new town, where gets reacquainted with his older cousins. They help him adjust, but as the year progresses, Jin encounters voices, specters, and other happenings. As he tries to find a sense of self amidst the unsettling histories of this Asian American community, something from his past is haunting him as well.
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.
Fleisher Art Memorial
719 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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) returns home to the Big Island of Hawai‘i after being away for nearly a decade. Amidst possessed sax solos and brooding strolls, Alex stumbles upon a Buddhist bed & breakfast run by a woman named Akiko (Akiko Masuda). Hungtai’s wild sax and Akiko’s Buddhist bells form the base for a rich soundtrack surrounding the unexpected new friendship and wrapping around the audience like a sonic web.
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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 variety of coming-of-age situations impacted by technology. Filmmakers expected in attendance for post-film Q&A. Share Director: Barna Szász, Ellie Wen | 13 mins | USA An 18-year-old Instagram influencer attempts to reconcile his identity online with his identity in real life. Soap & Shadows Director: Donna Mae Foronda | 8 mins | USA It’s early in San Francisco when Bethany and Craig wake up from a strange sound, but instead of getting annoyed, they imagine playful scenes using the sound. Bethany is enamored by the moment, thinking Craig may be “the one.” Clique Bait Director: Anna Mikami | 15 mins | Home Kong Set in the international school community of Hong Kong, a high school girl spreads a video sexualizing her childhood friend and classmate. Halo-Halo Director: Bernard Badion | 9 mins | Hong Kong A food video blogger has trouble meeting his deadline, pining for the person he saw on the subway that morning. Can a missed connection post solve his problem? Lions in Waiting Director: Jason Karman | 17 mins | Canada The newest member of a minor league hockey team experiences hazing by his new teammates as he struggles to fit in both on and off the ice.
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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 | USA When you want one thing, sometimes you get the complete opposite or something worse. Heartseeker Director: Brett Kodama | 20 mins | USA After making a connection on a popular dating app, a single woman with a passion for cooking brings her date home for dinner. Chances are he won’t like what’s on the menu. Sanzu no Kawa: The River of Three Crossings Director: Cyrus Yoshi Tabar | 7 mins | USA After a shooting at school takes his sister’s life, a young Japanese American boy is trapped between his memories, grief, and the new reality he faces at home. Painted Skin Director: Hanrui Wang | 4 mins | China A young artist huddles down in an old, abandoned temple for the night. To pass the time he paints a beautiful woman, which is surprisingly lifelike. Hana Director: Mai Nakanishi | 13 mins | Japan, South Korea A college student named Sujin starts her job as a part-time babysitter for a single working mother who needs someone to look after her 4-year-old daughter Hana. Sujin is hired on the spot, but soon after she is left alone with Hana, strange things start to happen.
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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 deepest gratitude to the following organizations for their assistance with curating this program: the ‘Ohina Short Film Showcase, Pacific Islanders in Communications, and the Wairoa Mãori Film Festival. Director/Cinematographer/Editor Jes X. Snow will be in attendance with Co-Producer Adriel Luis and other members of the crew. PRAISE SONG FOR OCEANIA Director: Justyn Ah Chong | 5 mins | Hawai’i Praise Song for Oceania is a short film-poem about the ecology, history, politics, and cultures of the Ocean. The poem was written by award-winning Chamorro author Craig Santos Perez, and the video was created by Hawaiian filmmaker Justyn Ah Chong. LET THE MOUNTAIN SPEAK (Hawai’ian) Director: Vilsoni Hereniko | 5 mins | Hawai’i A visual poem that pays tribute to Maunakea, a mountain on the island of Hawai’i, and makes an artistic intervention in the controversy surrounding Maunakea. TAMA Director: Jared Flitcroft and Jack O’Donnell | 9 mins | New Zealand Ever seen the haka in silence? Tama is about a young indigenous Deaf boy who tries to perform the traditional Mãori war dance, the Haka, silently, and is the result of a unique collaboration between Deaf and hearing filmmakers. KALEWA Director: Mitchel Viernes | 17 mins | Hawai’i In the future, a Hawaiian astronaut makes the next great leap for his planet, his family, and himself. Tonight is his last chance. I MATAI Director: Kyle Perron and Nico Serneo | 10 mins | Guam A fallen warrior is honored by his family in an experimental take of the Ancient Chamoru Death Ceremony told through the prayers of a man grieving over the death of his brother. ANOINTED Director: Dan Lin | 6 mins | Marshall Islands A poet from the Marshall Islands explores the legacy of U.S. nuclear bomb testing in her country through the stories of people who are still living with the effects of radioactive fallout and displacement. RISE: FROM ONE ISLAND TO ANOTHER Director: Dan Lin | 6 mins | Marshall Islands and Greenland Two indigenous poets—one from the Marshall Islands and another from Greenland—meet at the source of our rising seas to share a moment of solidarity.
Asian Arts Initiative | 81 mins This program of six narrative shorts explores a variety of perspectives on queer-ness, coming out, and embracing one’s identity both overseas and amongst the Asian immigrant generation in the US. Filmmakers expected in attendance for post-film Q&A. Hoài (Ongoing/Memory) Director: Quyen Nguyen Le | 11 mins | USA A young Vietnamese American queer woman and her father cohabitate after her recent breakup, exploring themes of heartbreak from romantic relationships, to families, to nations. Salamagan Director: Elisa Oh | 12 mins | USA Ana fears that coming out to her Filipino Catholic mother would break her heart. But when her mother needs help cleaning a hoarder house, Ana enlists her secret girlfriend for the job. Straighten Out Director: Yung-Chieh Chang | 14 mins | Taiwan Sheng wakes up in a clinic with no memory of how he got there. When he discovers the truth, he faces a difficult choice: following his family’s religious beliefs or embrace his true identity. Rani Director: Hammad Rizvi | 14 mins | Pakistan A Pakistani transgender woman sets out to take care of an abandoned child. Hudson Director: Shae Xu | 10 mins | USA A young divorcee mother tries to find the right moment to tell her teenage son that the woman she lives with is actually her girlfriend. Uninvited Director: Seung Yeob Lee | 20 mins | South Korea When a closeted gay man’s mother comes for a sudden visit, he quickly hides evidence of his live-in boyfriend.
