Asian American Panorama
The best of Asian American and Asian Canadian cinema in all of its colors – from short film programs and animation, to documentaries about the famous and infamous, to feature-length tales of woe and humor.
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BAD RAP
Salima Koroma / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2016 / Documentary, Music / 81 mins
Four Asian American rappers seek to carve their place on the music map, only to find that self-doubt and a reluctant record industry often get in the way of their passion for spitting fiery lyrics, weaving catchy beats, and flaunting a bold new face for hip-hop.BAD RAP
UltraStar Mission Valley
Saturday, November 5, 2016 2:45 pm
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BREATHIN’: THE EDDY ZHENG STORY
Ben Wang / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2016 / Documentary / 61 mins
At 16, Eddie Zheng went to prison. After serving 20 years, he's emerged as a speaker and figurehead of Asian American activism in the Bay Area. Ben Wang’s documentary, ten years in the making, follows Zheng as he mentors inmates and young immigrants, while facing new legal challenges of his own.Preceded by: LAPS
BREATHIN’: THE EDDY ZHENG STORY
UltraStar Mission Valley
Saturday, November 5, 2016 8:35 pm
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CHEE AND T
Tanuj Chopra / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2016 / Comedy, Drama / 80 mins
Two Silicon Valley debt collectors get a gig below their pay grade, but end up way over their heads. When their boss asks them to shuttle his nephew around, Chee and T end up on a hilarious chase involving haircuts, drugs, and an engagement party that will test their loyalties.Preceded by: HAND FART
CHEE AND T
UltraStar Mission Valley
Saturday, November 5, 2016 3:55 pm
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DAZE OF JUSTICE
Michael Siv / Asian American Panorama / Cambodia, USA / 2016 / Documentary, History / 69 mins
With cameras, a group of seniors, and a tooth-and-nail-fighting law professor, documentarian Michael Siv returns to his native Cambodia to wring an honest apology out the calloused hands of the worst offenders of Pol Pot’s genocidal regime, in the names of justice and healing alike.DAZE OF JUSTICE
UltraStar Mission Valley
Sunday, November 6, 2016 1:20 pm
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THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN
Kelly Fremon Craig / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2016 / Comedy, Romance / 102 mins
Ever the outcast, teenager Nadine feels especially alone after her best and only friend Krista develops the hots for Nadine’s ew-gross younger brother. Laugh-out-loud funny, tender, and with a rare Asian American male romantic hero, THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN is the high school comedy done right.THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN
UltraStar Mission Valley
Thursday, November 10, 2016 8:25 pm
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FALLEN STAR: FINDING HOME
Vera Brunner-Sung, Valerie Stadler / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2016 / Documentary / 50 mins
Do Ho Suh’s beloved structure Fallen Star has been perched off a building at UCSD since 2012, when the architectural marvel sparked conversations about art, diaspora, belonging, balance, and home. This wondrous documentary shows how Suh’s enigma of engineering and artistry came to be, and the logistical feat that made it happen.FALLEN STAR: FINDING HOME
UltraStar Mission Valley
Friday, November 4, 2016 5:30 pm
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IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE
Patrick Shen / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2015 / Documentary, Music / 81 mins
A stunning and expansive meditation on the sounds that envelop us and the certain solace that is the bath of silence. Documentarian Patrick Shen follows artists, wanderers, and scientists for whom silence is not a void, but the purest state of being.Preceded by: IF I WERE ANY FURTHER AWAY I’D BE CLOSER TO HOME
IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE
UltraStar Mission Valley
Wednesday, November 9, 2016 6:35 pm
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IT AIN’T NECESSARILY SO
Masa Fox / Asian American Panorama / Japan, USA / 2015 / Documentary, Music / 34 mins
A budding Japanese jazz singer and her biracial vocal instructor struggle to agree on the proper way to sing Gershwin’s “I Loves You Porgy.” Directed by and starring Masa Fox, this crafty medium-length film mines humor out of the awkwardness of performing culture across borders.Preceded by: BORN WITH IT
IT AIN’T NECESSARILY SO
UltraStar Mission Valley
Wednesday, November 9, 2016 4:00 pm Buy Tickets
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IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY
Joella Cabalu / Asian American Panorama / Canada, Philippines, USA / 2016 / Documentary, LGBT / 45 mins
After Jay came out to his sister Joella, they discovered that they had a number of gay relatives. So the siblings decided to pay their extended family a visit, and Joella decided to film it. IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY is a sweet, affectionate documentary about family love across continents and generations.IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY
UltraStar Mission Valley
Thursday, November 10, 2016 5:50 pm
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THE LOCKPICKER
Randall Okita / Asian American Panorama / Canada / 2016 / Drama / 94 mins
Numbed by the recent death of a friend, Hashi wanders through high school committing petty robberies while enduring the odious machismo of his peers. Keigian Tang delivers a star-making performance in the title role, his eyes longing for escape as the world’s cacophony weighs upon his skull.THE LOCKPICKER
UltraStar Mission Valley
Saturday, November 5, 2016 3:30 pm
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MELE MURALS
Tadashi Nakamura / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2016 / Documentary / 64 mins
Graffiti writers Estria Miyashiro and John “Prime” Hina join forces in this colorful documentary about the Hawaiian youth art program Mele Murals, through which they teach kids to explore their creative side, and end up with lessons about identity, art, and selfhood of their own.MELE MURALS
La Paloma Theatre
Saturday, November 12, 2016 3:25 pm
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MIXED MATCH
Jeff Chiba Stearns / Asian American Panorama / Canada / 2016 / Documentary / 96 mins
It’s overwhelmingly difficult for mixed-race patients to find bone marrow matches, but MIXED MATCH finds activists and blood cancer patients who refuse to let the odds defeat them. Jeff Chiba Stearns' documentary is inspiring as a call to action, and illuminating as a conversation about race in medicine.MIXED MATCH
UltraStar Mission Valley
Sunday, November 6, 2016 1:10 pm
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RANDOM ACTS OF LEGACY
Ali Kazimi / Asian American Panorama / Canada / 2016 / Documentary, History / 77 mins
By chance, director Ali Kazimi stumbled upon hours of home movies from 1936-1951 shot by Silas Fung, a commercial artist obsessed with the Chicago World’s Fair and the ceaseless documentation of his own family. The resulting documentary is a loving and invaluable portrait of middle-class Chinese America in the Midwest during the Depression era.Preceded by: SEMIOTICS OF SAB
RANDOM ACTS OF LEGACY
UltraStar Mission Valley
Saturday, November 5, 2016 1:40 pm
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REEL VOICES
Asian American Panorama / 120 mins
Thirteen high school students from San Diego create documentaries based on subjects in their own lives.In This Program: ADMISSIONS, ART SURVIVES, CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION?, DAVID AND GOLIATH, FULL CIRCLE, HUMAN, ISLAND OF MISFIT BOYS, LIFE ROLLS ON, LIVING IN FREEDOM, MIRACLE BABY, MOTHERLANDS, ORACLE, PERFECT IMPERFECTION
REEL VOICES
UltraStar Mission Valley
Sunday, November 6, 2016 12:00 pm Buy Tickets
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RE:ORIENTATIONS
Richard Fung / Asian American Panorama / Canada / 2016 / Documentary, History, LGBT / 68 mins
In 1984, pioneering videomaker Richard Fung released the documentary Orientations, which explored the lives of lesbian and gay Asians in Canada. With RE:ORIENTATIONS, Fung revisits his subjects 30 years later, reflecting on aging and politics, and in the process telling a community’s history through those who lived it.RE:ORIENTATIONS
UltraStar Mission Valley
Tuesday, November 8, 2016 4:00 pm Buy Tickets
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SHORTS: ANIMAL INSTINCTS
Asian American Panorama / 99 mins
In these shorts, there’s no accounting for the drive that makes our characters lash out against the hands they’ve been dealt.In This Program: THE CHICKEN OF WUZUH, CREASED, MOVE OUT NOTICE, RETRIEVER, THE WALTZ, FANNY PACK, PAPER TIGER
SHORTS: ANIMAL INSTINCTS
UltraStar Mission Valley
Monday, November 7, 2016 4:00 pm Buy Tickets
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SHORTS: BEST OF ASIAN ANIMATION
Asian American Panorama / 100 mins
Memories of childhood and visions of the timeless come to life through a variety of animation styles in this series of shorts from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States.In This Program: AGE OF OBSCURE, WORST-CASE SCENARIO, INC., POKEY POKEY, ARRIVAL, WINDOW, INSECT BITE, VITA LAKAMAYA, HOLD ME (CA CAW CA CAW), DEER FLOWER, FABRIC COSMOS, NOON
SHORTS: BEST OF ASIAN ANIMATION
UltraStar Mission Valley
Sunday, November 6, 2016 7:05 pm
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SHORTS: BOATS ON FIRE
Asian American Panorama / 97 mins
Short films that look in the ocean of the past to find memories blurred by migration, national calamity, and the passions of youth.In This Program: CHRISTMAS IN AMERICA, NOODLE DELI, CLIFF, SUPERFAN!, NUÔC, EXCERPT: FENCES, THREE WHEELS, IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT
SHORTS: BOATS ON FIRE
UltraStar Mission Valley
Thursday, November 10, 2016 4:00 pm Buy Tickets
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SHORTS: FOR THE TIME BEING
Asian American Panorama / 90 mins
Bus riders, convicts, daughters, and lovers caught in little moments that, in flashes of surprising clarity, define who they are and how they’ve been shaped.In This Program: NIGHT OUT, HOTEL 22, DEATH IN A DAY, ANOTHER CITY, (ALMOST) FREEDOM, A SUNNY DAY
SHORTS: FOR THE TIME BEING
UltraStar Mission Valley
Saturday, November 5, 2016 4:05 pm
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SHORTS: POKÉMON GAY
Asian American Panorama / 100 mins
From cosplay love and time-bending hopes, to the sometimes-elusive entity known as parental acceptance, our slate of films tries to catch ‘em all.In This Program: ROBO SAINTS, BEFORE THE FUTURE, LIKE HOPE, DO NOT THINK FOR A MOMENT, PAMANHIKAN, GAYSIANS, SPUNKLE
SHORTS: POKÉMON GAY
UltraStar Mission Valley
Saturday, November 5, 2016 6:15 pm
