The fourteenth annual DisOrient Asian-American Film Festival of Oregon was held from Thursday, March 14 to Sunday, March 17 on the University of Oregon campus.
Asian-American and Pacific Islander stories, histories, and themes are the focus of films screened throughout the the weekend, but emphasized are social justice and universal human experiences.
The Torch was present on Friday through Sunday and caught most of the screenings and Q&A sessions that followed them.
Friday, March 15, was the official opening night. First, at Lawrence Hall, the festival screened For Izzy by Director Alex Chu. In this film, he tells the story of Laura, an autistic woman, and her father, Peter, who find a family in their neighbors, Dede, a queer photojournalists who’s lost her job and fiancée as the result of her opioid addiction, and her mother, Anna. The result being that the two families, through their own tragedies, come together as one. The film featured unique, caricature-like animation sequences that were a major topic of the subsequent Q&A. Director Chu explained that he chose to include these as he has autistic family members and they have all been drawn to drawing and animation as an act of comfort.
It is important to note that the acclaimed Chinese-American actress, Elizabeth Sung, who played the mother, Anna, in the film unfortunately passed away just a few weeks following the L.A. premier of the film. Coincidentally, it was mentioned at the Q&A by Lawrence Chau, the Writer of short-film Justice for Vincent—screened the next day—that Sung was slated to play the mother in his, but had passed away. Her good friend, Lee Chen, took on the role.
Following the first screening, the festival moved to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art for an Opening Night Gala and performance by No-No Boy.
At the Gala, one of the side banquet halls was reserved for food. There, the Universities Catering Department had meat skewers, tempeh skewers, a variety of fruit, and an impressive three different kinds of deviled eggs.
On the other side of the Gala, the festival’s attendees were treated to an enlightening performance by No-No Boy, a project by Brown University researcher and scholar, Julian Saporiti. His performance, a mix of guitar-backed storytelling and multimedia, many about Vietnamese experiences, is also his doctoral dissertation soon to be published by the Smithsonian Institute.
The trailer and promotional material for the festival features No-No Boy’s track, “Boat People,” off of the debut album titled 1942. He explained during in-between song banter that the songs lyrics come from an archived Canadian Broadcast Corporation story he had found. The story followed Dr. Tuan Tran, a Vietnamese man who immigrated to Canada and like many, did so on a boat that like many was likely to sink.
The next day, on Saturday, March 16, two documentaries were screened in the morning and early afternoon—one a feature length film and the other a short. The first film screened was Hiro’s Table, a feature-length documentary by Director Lynn Hamrick. It follows master chef Hiroji Obayashi and his wife, Yasuyo, over fifteen-years while they run their restaurant, Hirozen Gourmet, found in an “ugly strip mall” in West Hollywood as one interviewee put it. The pair have since relocated to Portland, Oregon.
While the documentary was often times lighthearted, filming began on September 11, 2001 and features the family witnessing the attack on T.V. Furthermore, Hamrick decided to pause filming and documenting the family for a while following the death of the Obayashi’s son from an accidental overdose. However, they eventually continued on and the product of all of that is an excellent commentary that shows strength in unity and family. Attendees during the Q&A expressed that they “felt such a sense of love” from the the family and the film.
Within a few minutes of Hiro’s Table ending, the short-documentary Mẹ, a word that means “mother” in Northern Vietnamese language, began. Directed by Derek Kwan, the film follows two generations of moms rush to create a new dish for their East Vancouver Vietnamese restaurant. Kwan coming up with the idea as he knows the son, Vincent, who eventually took the helm of the restaurant.
Following a series of short-films and a music video, the next double-feature was screened. The first, the aforementioned Justice for Vincent by Writer Laurence Chau and Director Andy Palmer who is known for his horror films. The short-film tells the true story and violent 1982 murder of Chinese-American Vincent Chin in Detroit by a couple of angry auto workers who thought he was Japanese—this being during the “Japanese Auto Invasion” as it was coined. The murderers were only ordered to pay $3,000 and serve three years probation and was the catalyst for the first Pan-American Civil Rights movement.
Next up to be screened was the feature-length documentary, Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066, directed by Jon Osaki. This film was a gut-wrenching, punch in the face. Osaki even said during the Q&A after that PBS turned it down said it was “too in your face.” It chronicled the disinformation and politics that led to the internment of almost 120,000 Japanese-Americans. The title being in reference to the current United States administration. The film, as should be highlighted, was centered predominantly around Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, who was instrumental in the discovery of what led to these invents—thanks to an editor who kept the tenth, and only surviving, copy of the DeWitt “Final Report” regarding the “Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast,” probably knowing that someday, it would prove useful.
She also, sadly, passed away last year.
A little later in the afternoon was the screening for Last Sunrise, a Chinese science-fiction film by Director Wen Ren. Also written by Ren, his debut film is centered around a world completely run on solar energy while the sun mysteriously disappears in a flash—one character in the film suggesting that an alien civilization has “sucked” it through a wormhole to harness its energy. Whatever it was that caused the sun to disappear, it brought a lone astronomer and a quirky woman together to form an unlikely bond to survive.
After the film ended, the Director Ren looked confused, a little aggravated, and definitely nervous. DisOrient Program Director, Susan Hirata spoke with him for a minute and then he apologized to the audience. Somehow the screening had happened without any of the films musical score. The audience agreed that they didn’t need the film score, it stood up very well on its own.
Sunday, March 17, the final day of the festival, featured a run of short films in the morning. In the afternoon was the final double feature. The first film screened, HOÀI, directed by QUYÊN Nguyen-Le, tackled heartbreak as it takes many forms, from breaking up with a partner to being forced to leave your beloved homeland. In this film, identity is wrapped up in culture, and no one can ever fully escape their culture.
Another feature documentary, Nailed It, directed by Adele Pham, covered the Vietnamese-nail salon boom of the 1980’s and 1990’s as more Vietnamese immigrants came to the United States. Furthermore, it was interestingly pointed out that Tippi Hedren—famous for her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds—was more or less single-handedly responsible for the birth of the Vietnamese nail salon in America. As part of her charity work in the 1960’s and 1970’s, she helped twenty Vietnamese refugees over to the United States—now called “The Original Twenty”—and paid for them to go to beauty school and get nail technician training ultimately getting them jobs in and around Southern California salons.
Later that evening, after another run of shorts and a feature documentary, the Awards Ceremony took place.
First, the Official Judge Awards were awarded.
For Izzy was awarded Best Feature Narrative with Pamela Quan, Executive Director, saying “We felt this movie took a fresh, real approach to the Asian-American story.” Best Feature Documentary was awarded to Minding the Gap, which also was nominated for an Academy Award. Artemis & the Astronaut took Best Narrative Short. Best Documentary Short was awarded to Mẹ, and Moananuiakea – One Ocean, One People, One Canoe, was awarded the Social Justice Award.
A couple of Special Recognition Awards were awarded by the judges. Speakeasy Bee was awarded one for Social Relevance and Gaps was awarded the other for its Advocacy for Elders.The two final Audience Awards followed. The first, the Feature Award was awarded to Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066. The second, was for a Short and went to Justice For Vincent.
