ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL

Steve James / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2016 / documentary / 88 mins

After the 2008 financial crisis, the federal government brought criminal charges against only one bank: a family business in New York’s Chinatown. Little did the DA know that Chinatown protects itself, and that the Sung Family was driven by the honor and mission of its founder and his three unyielding and extraordinary daughters.

GOOK

Justin Chon / Asian American Panorama / USA / 2017 / comedy, drama / 94 mins

On April 29, 1992, Eli will get a black eye and “gook” scribbled on the hood of his car, accumulated reminders that he’s not wanted in the neighborhood where he owns a shoe store. In that store, on this day, with the Rodney King verdict playing on TV, he and others in the community are going to confront the pain festering on both sides of the graffiti.

WINDOW HORSES

Ann Marie Fleming / Asian American Panorama / Canada / 2016 / animation, comedy / 88 mins

Young Canadian Rosie Ming may work at a french fry counter, but she yearns for France – specifically, the France of Cousteau and Baudelaire. To Rosie’s chagrin, her self-published book of poems takes her not to Paris but to a poetry festival in Shiraz, where she meets writers from around the world, including those from China and Iran, the two countries that make up her multi-racial heritage.