Modern kite maker Tom Joe seeks to preserve the craft of kite making as well as the traditional Asian folklore behind it. Alan Takemoto illustrates Tom Joe’s tales of the Polynesian fish kite made from leaves and branches to fool fish; the Chinese general whose trapped army fashioned a fighting kite; and Shirone, the “kite crazy town” in Japan where 20-foot fighting kites duel in magnificent matches. Children will be inspired to try making these kites.
The film looks back at the life of a man named Oda and other Japanese Americans through the decades as they face great challenges and joys living in the United States.
An aspiring social worker, Pedro must confront political restrictions as a blind, undocumented immigrant to get his college degree and support his family. But when attaining his dreams leads to new and unexpected challenges, what will Pedro do?
Raya loves makeup but her family does not. She’s torn between her secret dream of being a makeup artist and her family’s strict religious beliefs. In a nightmare, she receives a profound message from her Papua New Guinean ancestor who encourages her to look at her Indigenous culture for answers.
For all intents and purposes, 2015 was seemingly a banner year for singer/songwriter Bobby Choy (aka Big Phony). His melodic and quiet songs had garnered him a following as he performs at SXSW while also starring in his first feature film. However, returning back to the States from living abroad in S. Korea - has he made the right decisions in life, professionally and personally? Is he his own worst enemy?
In the face of AAPI violence, an intergenerational coalition of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, People of Color organizers come together to organize a march across historic Washington Heights and Harlem, as a continuation of the historic and radical Black and Asian solidarity tradition.
This important tribute to the issei (first generation Japanese Americans) integrates the stories of three people who describe a collective history through their personal memories.
Living in the USA illegally for over 20 years, Miko Revereza reflects on his family's relocation from Manila to Los Angeles in this introspective essay film. Patching together self-portraiture and home-movie footage, his sombre yet resolute voice-over contemplates the weight of postcolonial history and obstructed futures on diasporic identities.
Celebrates the music and influences of contemporary Asian American culture on Dan Kuramoto, June Okida Kuramoto, and Johnny Mori — three musicians who make up the core of the jazz fusion band Hiroshima. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Visual Communications in 2011.
1935 Los Angeles, community leader Sei Fujii uncovers the corrupt activities of his community's underground mafia. He must choose between saving the face of his deteriorating community and confronting the issues head on through his newspaper. Based on a true story.
Inspired by the 1978 documentary “Omai Fa’atasi: Samoa Mo Samoa,” a teenage girl growing up in a strict Samoan household lives the same day everyday cooking, cleaning, and taking care of her siblings until she joins a community organization that helps her realize her full potential.
After the trigger of a hate crime, an undocumented Indian American convenience store clerk comes crashing into his subconscious as he grieves the passing of his father during an attempted border crossing.
A young woman contends with her role as a Daughter of Guam. Contemplating the inherited burden of her island’s collective loss, the Daughter of Guam learns to navigate her responsibility to her island’s collective healing.
After Dom begins having suspicions about his wife, he goes to the seemingly wrong person for advice, leading him down a rabbit hole of drug fueled paranoia that threatens his mind, his heart, and his groin.
A follow-up to the groundbreaking Visual Communications documentary OMAI FA'ATASI: SAMOA MO SAMOA, this fictionalized account of Vaitafe Futu, a gifted Samoan youth who travels from Pago Pago to pursue an education in Los Angeles offers a wholistic portrait of a newer Asian Pacific American community.
June Pouesi, director of the Office of Samoan Affairs, describes the waves of immigration from American Samoa that led to the development of the Samoan community. She also comments on VC’s photo documentation of work, cultural performances and youth activities.
This documentary tells the story of the LGBTTI communities who have suffered persecution, prison and torture for their sexual condition under different military dictatorships in recent decades. The idea borns from the photographic and archival project for the recovery of the historical memory of the different LGBTTI communities in the world, a chapter of history too often hidden and forgotten. This first chapter is a journey around Spain, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, countries where the dictatorship has strongly marked the history of the LGBTTI community, oppressed by police regimes and social intolerance.
In 1953, a young man in Los Angeles wrote to a young woman in St. Louis. The letters between the pen pals evolved into a courtship that spanned over four years.
Documentary on the Los Angeles-based media arts group, Visual Communications. The one-hour film chronicles their first twenty years, 1970-1990, of producing media by and about Asian Pacific Americans.
NA PUA O LAKA foregrounds the perpetuation of the Hawaiian culture in Southern California. Sissy Kaʻio is a kumu hula, or teacher of Hula, who both explains and demonstrates how to teach the Hula. The focus is on her male students, which harks back to the origins of the dance and breaks the stereotype of the hulas as mere exotic entertainment.
