home movies

Synopsis: Rescued from an online auction, a pile of deteriorating 16mm home movies spanning from 1936 to 1951, are restored by filmmaker Ali Kazimi. What emerges is the moving story of an unusually wealthy Chinese American family in Depression era Chicago. Kazimi"s quest to make meaning of these home movies connects him with Irena Lum " the sole surviving daughter of graphic artist and collector, Silas Henry Fung. Intertwining a first person narrative with family accounts and other commentators, Kazimi weaves a rich tapestry of the life of the Fung family. The rescued footage offers an intimate and radically different visual perspective on the Chinese American community " with a surprising feminist twist. Visually rich and textured, unafraid to show the decaying patina of a family archive, Random Acts of Legacy revels in the making of home movies and memory. Join Festival Director Rob Buscher for a brief presentation after the film on the Memories to Light Campaign to digitize and archive Asian American home movies from the celluloid era. More details available at: PAAFF.org/memories-to-light/ Facebook Event Page