Watched on Friday June 13, 2025. 2lp5p

This review may contain spoilers.

I’m not doing ok but I’ll write my little review here as a distraction.

I slept through the last screening so here we go for screening number two.

5/6 of the audience were men and 4/6 of them were extremely distracted getting up out of their seats multiple times, pulling out their phones, and left in the middle of the movie? was there something I’m missing or are they just misogynists

The flamethrower sequences were such a stunt treat, especially because they kept setting people on fire (which I assume is a very skilled and dangerous stunt!).

I’m glad they dressed Ana de Armas practically as befitting her character and action sequences and also. Fan service please? Just a little. Just a little for me. 🤲🏻 That aside I thoroughly enjoyed Armas’ fights. Armas’ pitifully short role in No Time to Die was the only reason I even purchased ticket/s for this movie…

Watched on Thursday June 12, 2025.

This review may contain spoilers.

I'm not ok, but writing my little reviews to cope.

I mentioned in a previous review how I appreciate when films reveal an image to you piece by piece, when they in essence eschew transparency for opacity. While certain images here are literally transparent, overlaid onto lines and lines of writing, we can't understand them until Hatoum adjusts the frame/ing and hands us the last pieces to the puzzle. From then on the images are breathtaking in their vulnerability and beauty.

Older women, older mothers' naked bodies are not depicted as beautiful. I think you're more likely to see rounded stomachs, loose body folds and graceful aging in a horror or comedy film than in any other genre. So I love this film for showing otherwise.

Watched on Thursday June 12, 2025.

Watched on Thursday June 12, 2025.

Watched on Monday June 9, 2025.

Director Yuzna said in the pre-movie Q&A that what he got out of that “political stuff” (going to college in the 60s) was that “politics is fun,” so yeah the politics of this is skin deep—as he also emphasized, class is the movie monster here. but only a rubber one.

Actually had a surprisingly good time with this when I wasn’t fighting the urge to fall asleep (midnight screening was running behind so we got out of the movie at like 2:30am). Billy Warlock being dragged around by the neck with an animal control catch pole is kind of hot.

I grew up with manga like Uzumaki and Parasyte where body horror is par for the course. Or going to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum as an I think elementary or early middle schooler and seeing wax models of people with their skin falling off. So I found the magic putty of this to be very fun, but not particularly shocking. I would love to see a live action remake of the fictional manga above that have as good practical effects.

Watched on Sunday June 1, 2025.

This review may contain spoilers.

significant at the very least for having a low vision main character portrayed by a low vision actress. and she survives the horror movie. would love to read more about this.

this film is about grief and trauma and abuse yes but also how a white woman wielded her power and perceived victimhood. and how disabled foster children & adoptees can be ab/used by their legal guardians with little agency. if only these weren’t treated as mere set dressing and instead a meaningful, core part of the film. 

my teeth hurt after watching this.

This review may contain spoilers.

the theater worker in the lobby immediately diagnosed me with autism and they are not wrong

that opening shot—i love scenes where everything is so cast in shadow that you are forced to wait and either let your eyes adjust to what is happening on screen, or for the camera to move slightly, slightly, until the image coalesces (kind of like the opening shot of Chronicle of a Disappearance)
 
really liked everything up until, actually, the last shot—visually it felt very dissonant and over edited compared to the rest of the film/shots. maybe that’s the point? more likely I need new glasses because I was really struggling to make out details on the screen. also was surprised to see Luca Guadagnino listed as a producer in the credit roll.

I don’t want my jokes and criticisms to predominate here—will share more thoughts later. there are parts I really, really liked about this and others that I’m struggling to wrap my head around from a disability centered standpoint.

Thinking of:
- the live birth. more specifically, the production of that obviously non-simulated scene.
- the cows huddled at the back of trailers, awaiting their fate. a pregnant(?), bare bones cow stares back at us, a calf at their feet.
- the red poppies, so vibrant. and those cherry blossom esque pink flowers illuminated by a shockingly blue sky.
- how the sound of breathing, whether raspy, frightened, or calm, is the throughline for the entire film.
- everything in shadow—until it isn’t (the hospital birth, the fields of flowers, and to a lesser extent the last scene of the mountains).

I initially took the naked, elderly, and physically disabled person we meet at the beginning of the film as a whole, separate character. We embody her, viewing her point of view as she steps through puddled water, step after rasping step. And we realize slowly over the course of the film that this person is a stand-in. For who or for what, I’m still puzzling out. She seems to represent an internal, self representative part of the main character Nina—she is present for the sex-less sex scene, for example. Outside of this haltering embrace, we never see her interact with anyone. So in not treating this woman as a full person (exemplified by the last shot of the film), the imagery is lost on me.

This review may contain spoilers.

Suppressed angst yayyyyyy

Felt seen as someone who also hits themselves in the head when distressed. 
The scene where the mother takes her daughter’s hands and uses them to slap herself in the face—oof. How parents view their children’s actions or self determination as enacted specifically to hurt them.

I appreciate films that show a shaky, quiet acceptance for one’s child (maybe because that feels more culturally accurate for me). Though now I’m also thinking about The Wedding Banquet‘s depiction of May Chen, Angela’s mother, which introduces the PFLAG mom who capitalizes off of her daughter’s lesbian identity and presents herself as an ally but who was, in fact, not there for her daughter when she needed her most. That was also a fun and unexpected character.

Watched on Friday May 30, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 29, 2025.

snuck into the theater for the last half.

Delroy Lindo …  !!!

I understand Grace’s motivations more now, but the middle of the film still feels too mushy for me to grasp. Things coalesce clearer at the beginning and end.

Jayme Lawson's performance of "Pale Pale Moon" remains my favorite.

and I kind of think Michael P. Shawver's editing does this film a disservice.

oh my fucking god

, laughing at hair loss/balding isn’t funny, it’s cruel ☺️

i think the subway drug trip scene was my favorite, if only to illustrate the sheer poverty of thought and imagination white capitalist US culture engenders

a part of me also loves to see the cluttered and unkempt photographed--aqueducts, the backroom of a wireless mobile phone company.

there's a video essay i can't find atm (pls link if you know of it) that analyzes Jordan Peele's progression from comedy skits à la Key and Peele to his horror films, concluding that the line between comedy and horror is quite thin. you really see this here as scenes veer between comedic absurdity to terror, illustrated best by the tunnel scenes and the main character's descent (or ascent?) into screaming, gun-waving patriarchal violence.

Watched on Tuesday May 27, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 25, 2025.

Watched on Saturday May 24, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 22, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 22, 2025.

Very excited that this documentary is available on Youtube as of 2023. Just don’t watch if you’re hungry.
Watch here.

Thanks Ken for recommending this film, then forgetting you recommended it and recommending it again!

Watched on Tuesday May 20, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday May 20, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday May 20, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday May 20, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday May 20, 2025.

Big mistake having the protagonist cosplay as Seiko Matsuda at the recital because I had to immediately stop and listen to Matsuda's 80s discography for 20 minutes to figure out what song she was singing (it was 夏の扉). Turns out my mom listened to a LOT of Seiko Matsuda when I was growing up.
I know what I'm listening to while I page and reshelve in the vaults tomorrow I guess.

Will have actual relevant thoughts about the film tomorrow.

Relevant thoughts:
I’m kind of wary of Japanese representations of Uchinanchu and Ryukyuan culture in general. As far as I can tell from a brief Google, the director is Japanese and not Uchinanchu. So while some of this, for example the Uchinaaguchi dialogue, was appreciated, I felt wary precisely because of the overly light and cloying tone, particularly the emphasis on music—a part of Okinawan culture more easily digestible for non-Uchinanchu audiences.

I feel repulsed by how women are expected to act and speak within rigid Japanese gender roles. Perhaps I owe my overly negative and reactionary response to my belief that my mother left Japan partially because of these rigid expectations. So I found Nanako a paper doll of a character and the casual sexual harassment (a mainstay of Japanese comedy it seems) irritating.

I thought the black and white film segments to represent Nabbie and her long lost lover were fun.

Watched on Monday May 19, 2025.

kind of disappointed I haven’t seen more gifsets on tumblr of Dafoe walking around in his leather cranberry bog overalls

the acting in this is so bad (or at the least, badly directed—every line feels like it’s uttered in one breath and sloppy take) but not the worst way to kill a couple hours. any movie with half decent music will inevitably win me over. certain audience found this wayy more funny than I did.

the protag being the wettest soppiest saddest pathetic man who basically gives up on the girl was funny. you could have just been an awkward throuple/fuckbuddies but instead you drive off into the sunset with your butch friend

and second movie of the night where shitty wigs kept taking me out of the moment.

Epilepsy warning: there is flashing during one of the double exposure dance sequences maybe midway or a third of the way into the film.

I was enjoying the music so much that I was kind of disappointed by the quieter, more linear 2022 segment of the film but that’s just a me problem (loves dancing and bobbing my head in my theater seat)

Really loved the cinematography and camera movements (those two auto zoom cuts felt like looking from the eyes of the mall robot).

While director Zhangke has a more typical reactionary depiction of masking (Qiao has to take off her mask to interact with the robot and to cry out for that last sequence), it was still such a breath of fresh air in a world of intense denial, erasure, and societal gaslighting to watch a fictional film set in the 2020s where people are wearing masks (and people wear different masks depending on the context, for example Qiao wearing an N95 while working the at Walmart and changing into a surgical mask while on break). Wow! What a fucking concept! But I was, also, constantly reminding myself that masking in China is going to have different connotations due to their specific contexts and policies (though I did love the news segment insulting US’ decision to reverse masking policies in 2022).

Lots to think about.

Watched on Thursday May 15, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 14, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday May 13, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday May 13, 2025.

Watched on Monday May 12, 2025.

This review may contain spoilers.

thank you Dañiela for the rec!

this country runs on undocumented people’s labor (including child labor) so I appreciate a film that focuses squarely on an undocumented child, his mother, and their exploitation (the threat of la migra, sex trafficking, precarious housekeeping, farm & restaurant labor).

Adrian Alonso is really great in this.

I liked the top-down shot where estranged son and father simultaneously pick off tomatoes from their burgers. cut to the worker asking if they want ketchup (yes! in unison) or mustard (no! in unison). The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. And more importantly, his father can’t deny that they’re related. But as he did years prior, he still chooses to abandon his son. Carlitos’ tearful question asking ‘why don’t either of my parents want me?’—one moment out of many where Carlitos is traumatized by the family separation the US' violent immigration and border policies and neo-colonial control over Mexico and Latin America encourages.

Los Angeles traffic is so congested and dangerous Rosario and Carlos have to wait for the pedestrian light to turn on to reunite

Layers, layers, layers. Extremely timely in a perma-COVID world where Civil Rights era integration clauses are being removed and publicly funded art and public libraries are being gutted.

Loved the explicit cameos—A Powerful Thang played on the radio, sheep bleating taken directly from Director Burnett’s Killer of Sheep.

Took notes of the Q&A, so I’ll have more comments later.

Q&A Notes (I was rapid typing on my mobile, so these are not exact transcriptions; all errors and mis-attributions are my own.)
I was not taking notes for the beginning of the Q&A, so I missed Maya S. Cadeʻs lovely introductory comments. Cade received applause for the very fresh announcement that she was taking the helm as President and owner of Milestone Films.

...

Director Davis emphasized how they purposefully hired dark skinned Black actors, acknowledging the colorism in who gets hired and who doesn't.
She also detailed how her "pack rat" nature aided the restoration process; quipping that her students had seen her office, she picked out a specific voice in the laughter that ensued—"I hear you laughing, Ashley!"

But as a result Davis still had the original Digital Audio Tape (DAT) files for the film in her office, which were used to restore the audio at the Crest.

While Davis was very meticulous about the sound design of the film—turning up the audio levels for Deaf audience , for example—the 16mm mono track meant that certain layered audio was flattened. The L-train sequence had something like 32 tracks all layered on top of each other! And thanks to the restoration, we now get to hear these layers. Davis had not heard this audio since the film was originally made ("I forgot I did that!")

We heard from Alison O’Daniel, who helped design the open captions for the restoration, next.
She described a particular genre of popularly received films about deaf and HoH individuals as like a "chocolate chip cookie." In short, "saccharine representations of Deafness that [felt] very untrue and inauthentic." And which depicted "hearing people's misrepresentation of Deafness." ("Children of a Lesser God," screenwriter Marc Chéry offered).

O'Daniel provided an example where in many films, a hearing person would speak what the Deaf person was saying. Obviously, this is for a hearing audience. It's not a realistic representation of communication between hearing and Deaf people.

She held up Compensation "as one of the only films out there that's been... [a] deep, not a surface representation of misunderstanding of Deafness." To see real life shown on screen, was "to feel [her] humanity. That's interesting, as a white person. This film gave me something, even though not my lineage, part of my lineage...[a] deep experience of having been seen."

O'Daniel moved on to discuss her contributions to the captioning in the film--a "rewriting of the values and ethics of how captions function."

She brought up a moment in the film where Malaika uses the excuse of having a yeast infection to avoid intimacy with Nico. When Nico doesn't understand her signs, she grabs a notebook and writes it down for him. In the Children of a Lesser God model, O'Daniel explained, Deaf audiences would have to "wait along with the hearing character to get what she was writing."

O'Daniel wanted to push back against this. Why does the Deaf audience have to wait for the captions? "They can immediately understand what she's saying. What does it mean when the audience is not acknowledged?"

Similarly, she pointed out, "Deaf people have to ignore mistakes in captions... [the] Deaf person has to be patient and irritated for the learning hearing person."
So when Nico incorrectly signs make instead of bake, O'Daniel includes two captions: one for Nico's (incorrect) sign, and the other for what he says (bake).
O'Daniel included these details so that "the Deaf audience never [has] to ignore what is happening," as is common with their interaction with audist media and worlds.

Maya Cade then turned to Marc Chéry:
Cade: Mark, I want to get to you.
Chéry: Don't, don't. [laughter]

Maya Cade outlined Chéry's partnership ("in life and work") with Davis, and his current work as a librarian. "This is a very tender approach to life...[the] archival tendencies here [are] outstanding."

Cade: "How did you get involved in the process?"
Chéry: "Zeinabu told me to. [laughter]

Chéry: "Well, she had made a previous film called A Powerful Thang. UCLA independent filmmakers involve a lot of times, real people—you can’t pay actors—you use your friends, your family.
The lead actor [Asma Feyijinmi] was one of her best friends. Z gets natural actors—builds up backstories for the characters. She also has them [write] journals of their experiences. This other film, HIV/AIDS, was one of its subjects. The actress was not a real actor, but a dancer, [and] in her journey she would write about friends that she had lost to HIV/AIDS. We were shooting in Ohio, and Ohio is the home of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, likely the first African, truly well known African writer who is able to make a living as a writer. And he has this poem, Compensations.
Asma, the actor, responded to this poem and wrote a beautiful—not a critique—beautiful response to it. Z loved it! 'We ought to do something bout it.' So I took that and I was going to write this Chris Marker type of film that would have been a meditation on illnesses, mortality, space and time, it was going to deal with two periods space and time.

Then lo and behold, we were in Minnesota we went to see a play. Deaf play, by Michelle A. Banks… she was beautiful, elegant. Z stalked her and asked if she would like to be in a film—we were that impressed and she said yeah. And from there the story changed and became something else. We did research.
We had seen Deaf movies… she could not be like a unicorn. In a lot of movies the Black actor or gay actor, or in male dominated movies the person who is different is by themselves, they don’t have any agency, they are at the mercy, pitiful, they’re just there. [Audience snaps and claps] We didn’t want to do that.
The Deaf character had to have a life, she had to be complex…
I don’t know if I’m answering the question…."

Cade: "I heard that this script was not just a one time approach, taking your research, sensibilities of the world, direction from your director, transformed you in the process."

Cade turned to director Davis for her next question.
"Z, of course I want to come back to you. I saw the film again recently, and I had a chance to write about it for my own blog, and I thought a lot about where you were at this moment of creation. This film is a rebuttal to the film industry at this moment. You did the film school, you did everything you were supposed to do...
This film deserves a full life. So many of these layers that you made out of having a lack of resources that expanded the world of the film, they’re so interlinked-a response to what the industry wasn’t doing, and expanding on what many would consider a place of lack."

Davis emphasized that it was important for her to make a silent film. "We really wanted to take that form back. [At] UCLA, we were bludgeoned by Birth of a Nation." Hearing her professors claim the film's technical competency—"which is actually Bullshit!" Davis rebuts. She pointed out that other nations had technically competent films in 1915, but that the "American canon only sees American films."

"Birth of Nation is just a justification for the KKK. We shouldn’t be holding that up when we are teaching people film. We felt compelled to kind of rewrite some of that history, by having our own silent film. It’s very static, the frame is very static, we don’t use very [complex zooms?] [to] hearken back to that film period."

Davis also highlighted how "Deaf artists were at the beginning at the dawn of cinema. They trained other actors how to perform in front of the camera."
She brought up Lon Chaney, Quasimodo in the 1923 The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and that his parents were deaf.
"Charlie Chaplin's best friend, Granville Redmond? Taught him how to do the physical [acting].
But do we hear about that?
[All we hear about is] this other knucklehead, D.W. Griffith. Something ain’t working here."

Davis continued on to discuss how archival research informed the development of the film.
"[The] film within a film [was] done by a Black director in Chicago back in 1911. We couldn’t find the film, as... nitrate film either disintegrates or blows up. This was a way to recoup that cinematic history.
[In the] Chicago Defender Newspaper, [we] found a synopsis for the film in 1911, and we recreated it—except I’m Zeinabu so I’m going to give a woman a gun."

"Peking players[sic?]... all that stuff was real. Same as the Deaf school, [which was] integrated when it first started, unfortunately white parents got upset. Black and Indigenous children, where could they go to school? We brought [them] into the body of the film, the history of the film."

Cade: "[The] film canon—you’ve expanded it."

Cade directed one last question to Davis:
"Compensation is such a beautiful teaching tool. Would you sum up your legacy, do you think that is as a teacher?"

Davis: "Yeah. How many of the people here are my former students? [Audience responds] Wow, yes. I’m really grateful for them to be there. My parents, who couldn’t go to college, always taught me—if you know something teach it to somebody else."

Cade, "per Mark’s suggestion," opened up the Q&A to any Deaf or HoH audience who wanted to ask a question.

Q (through interpreter): So how were you able to recreate the stock yards in the stock yard scene?
Davis: That was all archival photographs, and sound of sheep. I’m from UCLA, and our hero [is] Charles Burnett. I had to use the same kind of sheep sounds as Burnett did in Killer of Sheep. We didn’t have money, so we had to do it through historic photographs.

The next question was a chicken in the egg type of question, asking about the dual timelines. They were so seamlessly blended, lots of parallels—did you start with one timeline before you jumped to contemporary, or were you creating them in congruence with each other?
Davis: when Mark left the script on my side of the bed, it was 28 pages. The period part was very fleshed out. When we made the film, you know, it became something very different. Also when we ran out of money of course, it took a long time to get more money so I could continue the post production and go to the various archives. What I found in the archives slightly changed what happened with the period characters. Not a whole lot because Mark is a master..."
Davis described a couple places where archival footage was added, for example of [sic?] Jones (a newspaper ment of this performer is shown in the film) and Ida B Wellʻs contributions. Davis went on to detail how she expanded the screen time of the film, which was initially only 45 minutes.
"... I’m going for broke. We’re going all the way and make it a feature film. [We] shot again in 1996, shot more of the contemporary—the contemporary characters didn’t have quite enough gravitas, and I wanted to make sure it was clear more about what the contemporary characters were doing.
Because Mark was a librarian [he had told me a story about a] children’s librarian who was profiled and told he shouldn’t read to the young kids."
Showing a Black male children’s librarian was very important to Davis, hence writing Nico as a childrenʻs librarian. She added a production tid-bit:
"When [Nico] leaves the library, you don’t see the ground because there was snow! [We] shot in December."

Maya Cade wrapped up the night with one final question.
"First of all, thank you for sharing the film with us. What is it to show love on screen?"
Davis: "...rejuvenation of this film. We never thought that it was a love story. We were at the Film Center in NY [and audience were saying] I’ve never seen a sexier film. And we like look at each other like huh?
Since then we’ve been seeing it with new eyes. Malindy is teaching us how to read. Look at actors [sic?] as if they are making love on screen, there is this ion which is understated going on."
...
"The film was made in Chicago. ... We were in Chicago when [Love Jones] was made. There was all this talk of Black love stories. When it’s good, it’s good, when it’s bad you don’t want it.
We don’t get to see images of Black people getting regular romances. When you see this you’re like oh yeah, I guess they do. It’s also a testament to Marc’s writing. It comes out in those letters that the characters leave each other. There’s something really — there’s a simplicity and a beauty that lends to this sense of intimacy that you don’t get to see on screen anymore. He’s always trying to—the economy of words because cinema is a visual language. It has to translate because people can read the images..." …
Davis brings up as an example "African filmmakers where they speak 17 different languages like in Kenya."
"That’s what we really endeavored to do, and hopefully we succeeded with that."

Watched on Friday May 2, 2025.

Watched on Friday May 2, 2025.

This review may contain spoilers.

Director Tengan said to rate this film on iMDB & Letterboxd 🗣️

Thoughts forthcoming.

Thoughts: 
Really loved that the majority of intimate dialogue in this film is pidgin (the pain and trauma of lost language is extremely poignant—and just as the grandparents lived in a “different time” and hid Hawaiian from their children, these children, now grown up, hide Pidgin from their children—not an exact comparison, but the layers are certainly there)

If your thoughts after watching this film are “oh I saw all those no tourist signs but I still want to visit!” you have missed the point and I hope your flights get cancelled without a refund. It’s not a haha funny joke to make.

The transition between the warm shelter of Kainoa’s sister’s house to the cold, empty streets felt very real and lived in.

I will say I was stressed out for a good last third of the film that the son was going to drown as a result of his father’s recklessness.

i’m an #UnculturedHomophobe because I had no idea this film was like, gay until I walked up to the theater and a drunk guy burst into a musical number. entering a space and realizing basically everyone is queer is one of the true unexpected joys in life

in contrast to the rowdier back rows or side aisles (#QueerTime) I squeezed in to a middle seat closer to the front that was very quiet (#HomophobeAisle), took a nap 3/4ths in, and woke up to sleepily watch the finale

i’ve somehow watched most of the 2003 horror films shown in the previews. they were really bad

I walked through burnt out Altadena this morning and the moments I watched and people I met, if only briefly, strike truer after having watched this film. There are bitter realities to life in the US that don’t change—but day by day one determines how to move and love forward—together.

Thank you to Jacob for the invite and the informational tid-bits about the film—and happy birthday!

—

Kaycee Moore 😭😭😭❤️‍🔥💔

The son pouring endless amounts of sugar into his bowl was accentuated by an audience member’s surprised and slightly horrified “Oh my god!”

Loved the car engine scene for how stressful it was, and all the memories of moving heavy stuff up and down rickety stairs and praying all the while that you don’t trip or drop it.

Some of the gentlest depictions of Black childhood and girlhood that I’ve seen on screen—even as said children throw rocks and insults at each other in the way growing, bumbling kids do.

I think gentle is the best way to describe Burnett’s directing style here, and so it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that the slaughtering of the sheep is used not to shock the viewer (as I had braced myself for after watching several films where animal slaughter is shown for symbolic or allegorical ends), but rather to illustrate the rhythms of labor for the protagonist (perhaps there are parallels between the defeated sheep led to slaughter and Stan’s outlook on life, but I’m hesitant to definitively claim this)

After four partial screenings (22, 13, 14, and 38 minutes respectively) spread out across three weeks, Domo and I have finished our watch of Lan Yu! We were riveted and disappointed in Han Dong.

the small white benches at the Getty Center were so uncomfortable that it feels like you’re not intended or supposed to watch the entire film. I opted to sit on the floor.

this copy is twice digitized—once from Super-8 onto I believe a tape or digital format, and then one more time. 

the relatively low budget made this film simultaneously endearing and also possible for me to grasp as a production—it feels like a work of art that is replicable, though still deeply vulnerable and personable.
as the apt title suggests, the film starts with a ritual bath. María Magdalena Campos Pons pours water into several vessels, adding flowers and ingredients to each, then collects the water into an enameled bowl that she uses to wash her feet and body. in other shots, Campos-Pons pours honey down her back or poses with a white streaked face. later in the film she experiments with cross-fading furrowed fields with braided hair and close up shots of her bare skin. throughout we hear phrases uttered in Spanish, occasionally with an echoed English translation (though I sometimes found the latter distracting), and title cards with various quotes are displayed (these are recapped one by one during the credits). I will it I was so sleep deprived that I can’t recall any of the verbal or textual content.

I had to take a break after watching, only halfway through Campos-Pons‘ rich and layered installations. thirty years of work requires time and space to breathe and reflect. will be returning soon to view the second half of the exhibit.

This review may contain spoilers.

The extremely Los Angeles opening (Shu Mai at a nonprofit gala) threw me off for like 10 minutes LOL.

More thoughts later.

Edit: some thoughts that need more edits.

It has been really rewarding seeing Andrew Ahn develop as a filmmaker. Ahn has a decade of filmography under his belt—from his debut film, Spa Night, to his now fourth feature The Wedding Banquet Ahn has grown into himself as a filmmaker, one who realizes the lives and concerns of gay men on the silver screen. I would love to see if there are echoes of his short film Dol/First Birthday in this feature. 

Where Spa Night explores the excruciating loneliness and simmering repression of a teen’s burgeoning, closeted sexuality, this film, a decade out, turns to those gays who have solidly found themselves sexuality wise, but must now juggle the pressures of career and family, both bio and chosen. 

This film has more in common with his second film Driveways than it does Fire Island—The Wedding Banquet is a film less for the young messy queers and more for the messy queers going through mid life crises. Ahn's signature directing techniques (closely framed faces, "emotional authenticity," and longer takes of meaningful gazes) are applied here to both films in their genuine, intimate intergenerational companionship.

Driveways follows a mother sorting through the accumulated hoarding of a deceased sibling (as I grow older and chat with my 40 and up coworkers, I realize that the sudden problem of deciding what to do with one’s family’s stuff after their ing is a common, stressful milestone) and raising a curious young child. These concerns are echoed in The Wedding Banquet as the characters grapple with their grand/parents, getting married and starting a family in a post-2008 recession and post-2016 world.

There's a lot here that I resonate and relate with. I love that, like Ang Lee's original film, this adaptation is transnational, something that I feel some second gen Asian American media sometimes shies away from exploring. In what almost feels like a message to a younger Ahn (or perhaps to those of us East Asians in the audience), Lily Gladstone's character Lee bemoans how buttoned up her partner and friends are about their feelings, eschewing open conflict for an arguably worse silence.

Ja-Young's conversation with Chris ached the most for me as someone who can't speak to my grandparents due to racism on one side and language barriers on the other. In portraying open communication between East Asian grand/parents and their grand/children, Ahn breaks down certain stereotypes for many and provides wish fulfillment for others.

I think the class critiques of Ahn’s work since his first feature film are absolutely relevant and valid here. Without doxxing myself, it does seem emblematic of the world/s Ahn now occupies as a filmmaker and the communities he resides in. I do wonder if he will ever return to the more honest class-conscious concerns of Spa Night in his work. And while yes, financials are still a key part of The Wedding Banquet, it remains a film about four employed (or three employed and one student who is literally the sole inheritor of an entire corporation) people who appear to be more or less financially and housing secure (in comparison to say the median disowned queer in the United Stares).

This review may contain spoilers.

The theater clapped three times—once for killing the grand dragon, once for what we thought were the credits, and once for the first post-credit scene (pretty much everyone left before the second post-credit scene).

(My ittedly myopic reflections below skew towards the Asian American—well, to be specific, Chinese American—representation in the film.)

There was a particular moment where I felt that something was majorly missing—the extra 30 minutes to an hour that the film needed, as other reviewers have expressed. Grace invites the vampires in, and the rush feels too soon, too sudden—as if the writers had struggled to find a transition point between the tension and the action. Why not let the claustrophobia and anxiety trapped within four walls simmer longer? Why not have different conversations or revelations? Or, at the very least, why not play up Grace's betrayal of the group?

Then we also see Grace burning up in flames as she enacts her revenge, one that unfortunately brought to mind several other historic moments of Asian bodies on fire.

Out of all the moments of Chinese America representation here, I think the inclusion (perhaps a modern iteration) of Cantonese operatic dance in the now much-discussed musical sequence is what got me really thinking about the place Chinese Americans have in the film (as represented through Grace, Bo, and Lisa). I will it that it took me out of the moment—a visual that reveals, I feel, some of the inner political workings of Sinners.
I understand that the majority of Chinese immigrants pre-Chinese Exclusion Act (and thus, pre-Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and the loosening of China's emigration restrictions starting in 1978) come from specific, Taishanese and Cantonese speaking regions—Guangdong province (more specifically Taishan and Guangzhou). Consultant Dolly Li confirmed in an Instagram post that the infamous "I know how you like to be licked line" is Taishanese. So I'm very curious as to the research, development and production process for the specific dance and costume style chosen. As well as, of course, the depiction of the Chinese Delta culture within segregated Mississippi. More than an inquiry using less useful metrics like "accuracy" and "authenticity," however, I find it fascinating how Sinners includes Chinese Americans as part of the larger Black US Southern community fabric woven in the film, and how this may have been influenced by more modern political categories such as "Asian American," "Yellow Power," and "BIPOC." That is, a multiracial solidarity-based political framework. While the relationship depicted between Stack, Smoke, Annie, Grace, and Bo may be based on a real world historical relationship, what does it mean to depict this relationship today in a post-1965 world where Asian Americans are, by and large, no longer legally barred from owning property or purchasing homes, or systematically segregated to the degree that Black communities remain today?

Again, I have not researched this to the extent that the film producers and consultants have, and would love to know what sources, intentions and inspirations they are drawing on. I will also edit my review as I gain additional knowledge, context, and perspective on this, as I'm sure I'm coming at some of this from a flawed angle. I watched consultant Dolly Li's Mississippi Chinese doc, which is how Ryan Coogler was first introduced to Li, and it’s left me with both a deeper understanding of the position Delta Chinese had and questions—as their children grow up with the benefits of intergenerational wealth and, more significantly, shifting perceptions of Asian Americans as “model” minorities, what happens to their relationships with Black Deltans?

I just find the specific film choices around Chinese dance and Chinese Americans a fascinating reflection, less of the past, but of present-day politics and the tints they cast over the plot, setting, characterizations, and relationships shown in the film, and what is ultimately a fictional re-imagining of the Black Delta.

When I see "a Milestone film release" I know it's going to be a good movie.

Well, all my life I wanted to get married in the church... and be blessed, have a nice house. And I wanted two little girls and two boys. That's all I wanted, just four kids.
I used to pray every night and before I went to bed and asked for something that I wanted, and I never got it or, seems like my prayers were never answered. So I just gave up.

---

...the Indians like to get together where they won't be bothered y'know watched or nothing like that and you turn loose. Man, you get out there and just be free, y'know, where nobody won't watch you, then nobody won't bother you or nothin'. Nobody watchin' your every move you make.

Thanks to Ken and Antonio for the rec.

Watched on Wednesday April 16, 2025.

A chronology of films I've added to Letterboxd. All mistakes are mine; let me know and I'll fix them.

If I added your film, I can also request to have your film removed from TMDB/Letterboxd for any reason. It may take a bit of time for Letterboxd and TMDB s to receive the ticket.

To add:
Janka: A Holocaust Survivor

• The Woman, The Orphan, and The Tiger
• Dirty Laundry
• Siam Burma Death Railway
• Francisco Babauta’s Story
• A Song For Ourselves
• Pilgrimage
• Come & Take It
• Bolinao 52
• Stateless
• Standing Above the Clouds

...plus 1027 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Surprised I hadn’t made a list for this before — films I’ve seen that explore mixed / multiracial / biracial identity and communities, with a focus on mixed white and Japanese films as that is my cultural/racial position.

Definitely missing a bunch of relevant films that I’ve watched, will update as I .

Note: I acknowledge that the English language/Western concept of “mixed” is an a. narrow, English language based and Western concept, b. used to violently flatten the specificity of Black and/or Indigenous experiences, and c. a loaded and offensive term to many multiracial and/or multiple identity people. While I group these films under this label based on my own resonances, many of the directors/participants in these films may not identify as such.

With all that being said, I am happy to remove any of the films from this list for any reason. Feel free to comment below or message me on Discord using the profile ID switchnow (previously butter-enthusiast_frog#9772).

• E Haku Inoa: To Weave a Name

  Christen being mixed race and growing up detached from her Kānaka Maoli culture complicates her return to Hawaiʻi and relationship with her mother.

• Queer Coolie-tudes

  Features two mixed race interviewees who talk explicitly about being mixed race / biracial — a Dougla woman who is seen as Black, and not specifically Indo-Caribbean, and a mixed Indo-Caribbean/Portuguese man who is mistaken as a variety of ethnicities / races, but never Indo-Caribbean or Portuguese.

• Ramen Shop

  A mixed Japanese Singaporean Chinese/Hokkien man visits Singapore to learn more about his mother’s family. 
  Deals explicitly with mixed race identity, namely the protagonist’s desire to reconnect with his mother’s culture, his loneliness and frustration with his mother’s family for cutting his mother off, and him learning about Japanese imperialism in Singapore.

• Precious Ivie
• Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China
• Some Divine Wind

  EDIT: Having rewatched, there’s a fragmentation and confusion here that resonates with me. The disappearance of the protagonist in a way represents a psychological conflict between our visibility (or invisibility) and our psychological turmoil. Some learn to balance their multiraciality (usually after many, many decades), while others are swallowed up and never re-emerge.

  
  Past review: Frankly I can’t much of this film, but from the description alone the film explicitly deals with mixed race identity and heightening the contradictions between US soldiers and their Japanese war brides, and how this manifests in their mixed race children, specifically the protagonist.

• Halving the Bones

  I haven’t watched this yet but I just know I’m going to cry through 70% of it

• August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand

  While the film doesn’t dig too deep into how Wilson being mixed/biracial impacted his work, Wilson being / appearing visibly mixed race shaped people’s first impressions of Wilson and how they interacted with him.

• Black Eagles

  Biracial identity is briefly discussed in the context of growing up Black in German society and experiencing anti-Black racism as a child.

• Boxed In

...plus 31 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

while many films explore theater projects, this list specifically collects theater either with explicit radical and/or therapeutic aims (think dramatherapy, theater of the oppressed or legislative theater) or that are healing, cathartic, and revealing in some way.

• Dwellers
• Scheherazade's Diary
• The Case You
• Sweet Sugar Rage
• Ghost Hunting
• The Wound is Where the Light Enters
• Sing Sing
• Two Cities and a Prison
• Becoming Iphigenia
• Twice Into Oblivion

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

extremely haphazard list of films i can find that mention sugar cane or are set on sugar cane plantations, sparked by a partial watch of Behind the Sun that left me extremely dissatisfied. no organization as of yet, though films i haven't seen might be towards the bottom of the list. feel free to recommend films!

• Sankofa
• Sugar Cane Alley
• Cane Fire
• Governeurs de la rosée
• The Last Supper
• Ta'ang
• Burning Cane
• In Cane for Life
• The Sugarcane Man
• Burn!

...plus 75 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Human Surge
• Reality Fragment 160921
• Your Father Was Born 100 Years Old, and So Was the Nakba
• Canada Park
• Breaking and Entering
• I'm Not Her(e): iMnOTHERe
• Chronicle of a Disappearance
• At Home But Not at Home
• Gaza Is Our Home

Movies my coworker Ken has either watched or recommended

• , Year Zero
• Patience (After Sebald)
• Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow
• Moon Rider
• A Sunday in Hell
• Krautrock: The Rebirth of
• Joy Division
• Paper Moon
• Midnight Cowboy
• Repo Man

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Evil Dead
• Evil Dead II
• Kung Fu Hustle
• Man of Tai Chi
• Shaolin Soccer

1-7: "We belong to Each Other, We belong to the Land"
9-14: "Palestine Lives, Palestine Will be Free"

South Florida Palestine Film Festival “Make Way for the Sun”
May 24th and 25th, 2025

“Make Way for the Sun” comes from a line in a poem written by the great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, and is included in the historic anthology of liberatory Palestinian poetry “Enemy of the Sun”. It is a demand and insistence on recognition and self determination for our people and all people across the Global South who refuse to be erased or defeated.

The central imagery illustrates a tatreez embroidery design called “Ain Al Shams عين الشمس ” or “Eye Of The Sun” . This tatreez is from Deir al Balah Beersheba دير البلح بئر السبع which located at the center of the Gaza Strip. The illustration is inspired by the archival work on Tirazain.com.

On Saturday and Sunday, May 24th and 25th we invite you to "Make Way for the Sun" the South Florida Palestine Film Festival honoring the rich and ongoing legacy of Palestinian film and cultural resistance, as one part of the broader movement for a liberated Palestine and a world free from imperial and colonial violence.

All funds from ticket sales after covering costs will be donated to urgently needed humanitarian aid for families in Gaza. If you
are unable to pay but would like to participate in the event,
please send us an email at [email protected] so we can figure out accommodations.

This will be a zero tolerance space for disruption, harassment,
racism, and all other forms of bullying, violence, or harm. In light of the surge in hateful attacks on Palestinians and Palestinian solidarity activists and organizers we may take security precautions to vet all attendees. The intention of this space is to be in shared learning, communion, grief, hope, and feel safe while doing so.

Free Palestine.

1. We would be freer
2. Maqloubeh VOSTA
3. Querido Pequeño Haiti
4. …what-endures …
5. 1 Million , 100 Million Trees
6. From Gaza to Cuba
7. Foragers
8. The Encampments
9. Valor & Sacrifice
10. Palestinian Women

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I have masked for the past 5 years, with many more years to come. So I pay attention to when and how films depict masking.

Loose order based on how substantial and/or positive the masking representation is.

• Compensation
• Caught by the Tides
• Glass Onion

Welcome to the 14th Annual Films of Remembrance

On behalf of the Nichi Bei Foundation and our dedicated Films of Remembrance Committee, we welcome you to the 14th annual Films of Remembrance, the premier showcase of films commemorating the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans in American concentration camps during World War II.

This year, in addition to returning to in-person screenings and discussions with filmmakers, we will once again make films available online for a global audience (with the exception of “Kintsukuroi”) from March 10 through March 24, 2025. We are also proud to provide free student access to the films again this year.

Thanks to the of our Presenting Sponsors — the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program of the California State Library and The Henry and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation — we are excited to announce our expansion to Southern California!

The 14th annual Films of Remembrance will be held on Saturday, Feb. 22 at the AMC Kabuki 8 in San Francisco’s Japantown and Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025 at the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin in San Jose’s Japantown. In addition, we will be bringing Films of Remembrance to Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo on Saturday, March 8 and to Gardena, Calif. on March 9, 2025, thanks to special partnerships with the Japanese American National Museum and the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute.

Over four days, you can view both the films and participate in in-person post-film discussions. A record total of 19 films will be presented over the four events, including films exclusive to their locations.

We thank our many sponsors, especially our presenting sponsors, for helping to make this happen.

For those who cannot make the in-person events, the films (with the exception of “Kintsukuroi”) will be accessible to stream online from March 10 through March 24, 2025. The virtual program, however, will not include discussions with filmmakers.

We thank all of our filmmakers for helping to keep our history alive through their dedicated work, and for helping to educate the broader public about the deprivation of civil liberties during World War II and its lessons for today.

We hope that you enjoy this year’s offering of in-person and virtual programming.

Films of Remembrance Committee:
Kenji G. Taguma, Executive Producer
Ryan Yamamoto
Jill Shiraki
Christen Sasaki, Ph.D.
Chizu Omori
Reiko Iwanaga
Lewis Kawahara
Nancy Ukai
Wendi Yamashita, Ph.D.
Koji Lau-Ozawa, Ph.D.
Rob Buscher
Jewel De Fremery

Technical Team:
Web Development: Gary Otake
Video Producers: Greg Viloria and Max Nihei

To Add.
Artistic Interpretations:
Uprooted (2024), Becca Jackson
The Wakasa Spirit Stone (2024), Glenn Mitsui
Loyal American (2024), Haruka Sakaguchi
Obata's Yosemite (2024), Adam Prieto
Cactus Blossoms Revisited (2024), Koji Lau-Ozawa, Brynn Saito

Untold Stories:
Murder in the High Desert (2024), Emiko Omori
Amache: An American Injustice (2024), Josh Banyard

Family Histories:
Irei: To Console the Spirits (2023), Megan Martinez Goltz
Snapshots of Confinement (2024), J.D. Gonzales

Taking a Stand:
Jim Matsuoka Will Not Be Rushed (2024), Robert Shoji
The United States vs Takahashi Hoshizaki (2023), Greg Sommers-Herivel

San Jose Songs of Remembrance:
Out of the Dust (2024), Brian Staufenbiel

Gardena Special Presentation:
Baseball Behind Barbed Wire (2023), Yuriko Gamo Romer

1. Infinity!

   Artistic Interpretations

2. The Wakasa Spirit Stone

   Artistic Interpretations

3. Loyal American

   Artistic Interpretations

4. Obata's Yosemite

   Artistic Interpretations

5. Cactus Blossoms Revisited

   Artistic Interpretations

6. A Nikkei Canadian Story

   Untold Stories

7. Grandpa Cherry Blossom

   Family Histories

8. Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song In Movement

   Taking a Stand

9. Kintsukuroi

   Showcase Presentation

10. Murder in the High Desert

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Welcome to the 33rd anniversary edition of PAFF. This year's line-up features 100+ feature length & short films that will excite, enlighten & inspire from around the African Diaspora.

Film screenings & events will take place Feb 4th - 17th.

Not available:
Win or Lose (2025) Series, Disney/Pixar
Presented in Studentfest Saturday Morning Children's Festival

Garvey's Ghost (2024) Webseries, dir. s-Anne Solomon

Listed by opening/closing night, spotlight films, features, “Black Immigrants: Telling Our Stories & Visioning the Future,” Student Fest programming, and finally shorts programs.
Unless included in a shorts series, shorts screened with features are listed directly after the feature. Short films included in “Black Immigrants: Telling Our Stories & Visioning the Future” or Student Fest AND also in a shorts series will be listed under “Black Immigrants”/Student Fest, and not the shorts series.

Missing Shorts:

Shorts Series 14

Viki323 (1437584)

1. Magazine Dreams

   Opening night

2. My Dead Friend Zoe

   Closing night

3. Nawi: Dear Future Me

   Awards Season Spotlight Film

4. Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

   Awards Season Spotlight Film

5. Fighting to Be Me: The Dwen Curry Story

   Spotlight Film

6. We Want the Funk!

   Spotlight Film

7. Young King
8. The Man
9. He Looked like a Postcard
10. Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story

...plus 138 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Clarinets and clarinet music count.

• Hard Boiled
• Defiance
• Illusions
• Paddington

  ~29:10

• Hollywood Chinese
• A Song For Ourselves
• Treasure Planet
• Gook
• Saving Face
• Curveball

  Clarinet features prominently in the soundtrack (which was apparently scored largely by the director).

...plus 17 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Like many of my other film fest lists, major WIP (sorry...)

Listing Features first in order of screening date, then shorts programs. Shorts programs will take a significant amount of time to list, due to the large volume of films I will need to add to TMDB.

1. Surrender
2. Grassroots Rising
3. Molokaʻi Bound
4. MĀHŪ: A Trans-Pacific Love Story
5. Transplant
6. Lee Soo Man: The King of K-Pop
7. Tinā
8. Forever We Are Young
9. Little Red Sweet
10. Voices of Deoli

...plus 31 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Holes, the book

• The Thin Yellow Line
• Empire Records
• Clue
• Pee-wee's Big Adventure
• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

• Repo Man
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
• Zatoichi
• The Night of the Hunter
• Kung Fu Hustle

• Sleuth
• Tom Jones
• Brideshead Revisited
• Zodiac
• The Game
• The Favourite
• The Gatekeepers
• The Great Beauty

• Bloody Birthday
• Phantom of the Paradise
• The Ice Storm

• The Aristocats
• Pitch Perfect
• Under the Same Moon

• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Party Girl
• The Aristocats
• Drop Dead Gorgeous
• Moonstruck
• Heathers
• The Devil Wears Prada

• Some Like It Hot

Evan’s recs

• Stalker
• Solaris
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Hedwig and the Angry Inch
• The Evil Dead

• Hedwig and the Angry Inch
• Monster House
• Dead Poets Society
• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Encanto

• Lan Yu
• Queer
• Weekend
• God's Own Country
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire
• Moonlight
• Fight Club
• Party Monster
• Amadeus

As the 2024 festival site was deleted before I got around to finishing this list, film order is not accurate. If you have a program with this information, please get in touch.

Not on Letterboxd:
Comedy sketch series "Only in Aotearoa – Wāhine Edition" (dir. Scotty Cotter, Maruia Jensen)

The Pacific Island Film Festival (PIFF) of New York City is an annual festival dedicated to telling a richer, more comprehensive story of the Pacific Islands. PIFF endeavors to be a platform for indigenous Pacific Island voices to be heard and recognized—celebrating, showcasing and cultivating the stories, art, talent and cultural resources of the Pacific Islands with the broader New York community. PIFF is a fiscally sponsored project of Asian CineVision (ACV).

Feature Films
Shorts Block 1: Future Voices
Shorts Block 2: Shifting Tides
Shorts Block 3: A New Narrative
Shorts Block 4: Star of Gladness

• Ngau Kahua
• DUSK
• Vakaraitaka
• As The Water Darkens
• Inky Pinky Ponky
• Hōkūleʻa: Finding the Language of the Navigator
• The Queen's Flowers
• Kūkini
• Kaniela. The Danny Kaleikini Story
• Mauri

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Features are listed in order of appearance in the program book. Shorts will be added pending time and energy. If you see a short has been added to Letterboxd, or if I've missed anything, let me know and I will edit the list.

Māoriland Film Festival is Aotearoa’s international Indigenous Film Festival, held each March in the vibrant community of Ōtaki.
The MFF is the world’s largest celebration of Indigenous storytelling with five days of screenings, interactive installation and art exhibitions, industry events and more.
The 12th Māoriland Film Festival will be held from March 26 – 30, 2025.
At the heart of Māoriland is manaaki.
We are committed to nurturing talent and ing genuine connections for everyone who participates in the festival.

1. Haruru Ana Te Karanga Ē

   Opening night special feature presentation.

2. Kōkā

   Opening night special feature presentation.

3. Shrek

   In te reo Māori.

4. The Source of Life

   Closing night.

5. Wilfred Buck
6. The Falling Sky
7. Aberdeen
8. The Haka Party Incident
9. Ngā Kōtiro o Taranaki
10. Red Fever

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

View notes for links. Links current as of 3/31/2025.

Really not sure where this was posted first, the earliest posts I'm finding date to 3/17 and 3/18/2025 with the following introduction:

"To all friends
In light of the current events in Palestine, a large number of filmmakers have made their films about Palestine available online for free.
In this post, we share with you links to films you can view and share to get our message out to the world:"

If you know who the original poster was, let me know.

I have used San José Peace & Justice Center's annotations to denote which links have English subtitles.

Non-Letterboxd Films & Video Series:
Al Jazeera Documentaries Part 1
Al Jazeera Documentaries Part 2
Al Jazeera Documentaries Part 3

Additional Al Jazeera documentaries:
Keeper of Memory
Empty Seat
Resistance Pilot
Tall al-Zaatar
Tall al-Zaatar – The Secrets of the Battle
In the Grip of Resistance

Separate Video Series:
The Palestinian Exodus Series (Broken Link)

I Am Jerusalem Video Series (NO Subtitles)

If you have corrections or additional Al Jazeera films that I missed, also let me know.

• Jenin, Jenin

  Jenin, Jenin (English Subtitles)

• The Olive Tree

  The Olive Tree (English and French Subtitles)

• Scenes of the Occupation from Gaza

  Scenes of the Occupation from Gaza (English Subtitles)

• Gaza Fights for Freedom

  Gaza Fights for Freedom (English language; NO Subtitles)

• Arna's Children

  Arna's Children (English Subtitles)

• Strawberry

  Strawberry (English Subtitles)

• The Place

  The Place (English Subtitles)

• 1948: Creation & Catastrophe

  1948: Creation & Catastrophe (English Subtitles)

• Occupation 101: Voices of the Silenced Majority

  Occupation 101: Voices of the Silenced Majority (English Language; NO Subtitles)

• The Shadow of Absence

  The Shadow Of Absence (English Subtitles)

...plus 11 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Major WIP--book is over 200 pages long and some films are not in TMDB.

Films from Moving Pictures Painted: 200 Posters from the Golden Age of Egyptian Cinema, edited by Patrick Fry and featuring articles and analysis from Joseph Fahim, Haytham Nawar and Christiane Gruber.

List includes both film stills and posters.

Not on Letterboxd or under different name:
Bayni wa Baynak (Between Us), 1953 Film Still
Yahia Al-hob (Long Live Love), 1938, pg. 8, 41
Mannet albi (The Song of Hope), 1937, pg. 9, 40
Dimaa Fil Saharaa (Blood in the Desert), 1950, pg. 9, 53

• The Greatest Sacrifice

  Film still

• Wedad

  pg. 9

• Salamah

  pg. 9

• The Straight Road

  pg. 9, 43

• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

  pg. 9, 48

• Layla, Daughter of the Rich

  pg. 9, 46

• A lie within a lie

  pg. 9, 44

• Eid Night

  pg. 9, 50

• The Thug

  pg. 9, 79

Films I’ve been able to find through the Getty Research Institute’s digital holdings. If you want to watch the Getty’s copies of these films, you’ll have to book a visit in person (sorry).

• Early Abstractions
• No. 15: Untitled Animation of Seminole Patchwork Film
• Janie's Janie
• The Adventures of a Nurse (Parts I and II)
• Losing: A Conversation with the Parents
• Nor Was This All By Any Means
• Webs
• California Stories
• Tech Knowledge
• Work of Art in the Age of Electronic Reproduction

...plus 36 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Scripts I've read in part or full. Feel free to recommend!

• Spectre

  Sony leak version

• Challengers
• First Cow
• The Devil Wears Prada
• Queer

February 6–March 2, 2025

The 14th Honolulu African American Film Festival presents films that celebrate Black excellence in art and justice. See 10 features from the US—and one from —that highlight issues relevant to our past and present.

The program is presented in collaboration with the Honolulu African American Film Festival committee: Daphne Barbee-Wooten, Ethan Caldwell, Akiemi Glenn, Tadia Rice, and Sandra Simms.

1. Dahomey
2. Following Harry
3. Kemba
4. Color Book
5. Family Tree
6. How to Sue the Klan
7. Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking
8. Murder In Harlem
9. Songs from the Hole
10. A Time To Yell: More Than A Statue

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

wip.

• Banned
• Joe Bullet
• Father & Soldier
• Far From The Nile
• Executive Order
• Death of a Whistleblower
• Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story
• Amal
• Redlights
• Power Alley

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

wip, adding shorts in.

1. We The Surfers
2. The Fire Inside
3. All We Imagine as Light
4. Resynator
5. Unstoppable
6. Mud Key
7. My Sunshine
8. Gaucho Gaucho
9. Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story
10. Adult Best Friends

...plus 23 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Ducky's BHM picks.

• Queen & Slim
• The Help
• Black Panther
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Hidden Figures
• Eve's Bayou
• Biker Boyz
• Boyz n the Hood
• Menace II Society
• Black and Blue

...plus 35 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Films exploring, either tangentially or thematically, the Holocaust and Nazism. Here I’m much more interested in films that examine the everyday Holocaust — how people became accustomed to cultures of murder, and the small ways people resisted — as opposed to films (especially films created by those nonaffected) that revel in spectacle.

• Falkenau, the Impossible
• Ave, Vita
• Fritz Bauer: Tod auf Raten
• Naked Among Wolves
• When Doctors Kill
• Pizza in Auschwitz
• Jacob the Liar
• Shoah
• Night and Fog
• Tell Me

...plus 7 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

major wip

Not on Letterboxd:
Transiversary (dir. Kamia Gutierrez, 2024, 8:04 min)
Fool's Gold (dir. Che Ortiga, 2023, 4:27 min)
TOWARD (dir. Sean Dorsey, 2022, 2:23 min)
Ghosts Cross State Lines (dir. Shawna Virago, 2024, 4 min)

Finding My Voice (dir. Rouven Gueissaz, 2024, 10:03 min)
Trans Alchemy (Alquimia Trans) (dir. Félix Endara, 2024, 8 min)
Chosen Family (dir. Salgu Wissmath, 2023, 4:34 min)

1-: Program 1: Locally Brewed
: Program 2: Documentaries
: Program 3: Music and Animation
: Program 4: International
: Program 5: Mélange of Shorts
: Program 6: Shorts Grab Bag
: Program 7: Adult Program 18+

1. En memoria
2. Navel Gazer
3. No More Longing
4. Saturn Risin9
5. Earth to KB
6. Lavender Outlaws
7. My Fierce Aunt Bianca
8. Love Don’t Bully
9. Daisy: Prophet of the Apocalypse
10. Stone

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Not on list/Letterboxd:
Culture Capital (episode 2), hosted by Felecia Hatcher.

November 7-17, 2024.
Purchase Online (geoblocked to the US) and In-Person Tickets Here.

Welcome to the 17th Annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival!

Apropos of this year’s theme, “Reflections,” it has been a year of transitions, adjustments, and anticipation for us at PAAFF. Since assuming the role of Executive Director in May, I have been fully immersed in its history, the ive community, and the promising opportunities ahead.

As we reflect on the progress over the past 17 years, we are grateful for the contributions of the founders of PAAFF and our past leaders. It is their foresight and determination that enables us to continue our mission today. With the gift of a strong foundation, we are poised to grow and evolve to meet the current needs of our community. I thank our brilliant and dedicated core team, Arzhang, Joseph, and David who fully embrace our WHY as they thoughtfully develop impactful programs and partnerships year-round. I also want to thank our generous board, who have been an invaluable resource as we embark on this period of reflection and growth. And of course, our extended team of designers, PR/Communications, social, web, logistics, and all the volunteers… you are a dream team and we thrive because of you!

We are thrilled to announce our name change to the Philadelphia Asian American Film Foundation, (still known as PAAFF). This refresh will allow us to expand our year-round offerings to include various forms of creative storytelling and cultural experiences, such as performance, visual, and culinary arts. Additionally, we are committed to collaborating with and advocating for other community organizations with similar missions. We will also endeavor to partner with local schools to provide a platform for future creatives and storytellers. This aligns with the original vision for PAAFF 17 years ago, which was to create a safe space and a ive environment to showcase the works of underrepresented AANHPI filmmakers and creatives.

Please take a moment to check out our updated mission and vision statements on our website. It is through reflection that we can envision our future.

The AANHPI community has much more to say and do! There is power (and fun) in numbers! We invite you to us on this exciting journey!

With gratitude,

Nani Shin
Executive Director

2-13: Award Nominated Shorts
25-29: Breaking the Frame: Student Shorts

1. All That We Love
2. hi ading
3. Drive to Freedom
4. Recurrence
5. Swimming Lessons
6. Threading Silence
7. Wouldn't Make It Any Other Way
8. To the Class of Us
9. Detours Ahead
10. The Queen's Flowers

...plus 29 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Since 1969, striking iconographic imagery of the liberation of Palestine has emerged from the Palestinian resistance. From the hijacking of airplanes to the live-streaming of the Al-Aqsa flood, these images become instruments that seize newspaper headlines, media screens, and trends on social media platforms to work for the Palestinian cause. They fuel the hearts of international solidarity for liberation.

During the Cold War (1968-1982) when international solidarity between the developing world and the Palestinian cause grew, Palestinian filmmakers in collaboration with different arms of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) were producing militant films destined for resistance fighters in military camps, families in refugee camps, international solidarity campaigns, progressive political organizations, activists and finally, Arab and third-world solidarity film festivals and forums. Today and since October 2023, we can witness a similar trend with regards to content creators and filmmakers from Gaza whose imagery continues to interrupt Instagram’s rigidly controlled algorithms. Their content reveals the horrors of the Palestinian struggle for survival and an unfolding Genocide, which in turn, has led to the building of spontaneous and self-organized solidarity campaigns all over the world.

IMAGES HIJACKING SCREENS FOR LIBERATION, is a film program consisting of three restored works from the film archives of the International Solidarity era and three contemporary works from post-Oslo era to the present. The program includes films by Mustafa Abu Ali, Basma al-Sharif, Arab Loutfi, Sami Al Salamoni, Mary Jirmanus Saba, and Tareq Rantisi. It explores the contexts of NGOization, donor political economy, the ideologies of human rights and contemporary art and the return of the humanitarian gaze within a dominant global economy.

IMAGES HIJACKING SCREENS FOR LIBERATION is curated by Ali Hussein AlAdawy and is presented by ArteEast. This program is part of the legacy program Unpacking the ArteArchive, which preserves and presents 20 years of film and video programming by ArteEast. The full program will be screened online on artearchive.org from October 11 – 25.

• Scenes of the Occupation from Gaza
• Cowboy
• Jamila's Mirror
• Kuneitra: Death of a City
• Home Movies Gaza
• Mahdi Amel in Gaza: On the Colonial Mode of Production

(Author's note: All errors are mine! Some corrected info, such as directors and film descriptions, may not initially display as Letterboxd takes a couple days to update corrections made on The Movie Database (TMDB). I accidentally added some programs as films, and am in the process of having these removed from TMDB/Letterboxd.)

Full Program

(adapted from 9/27/24 Instagram post)

Last updated 10/4 4:54pm
NYCFF is proud to announce its evolving program, starting with an opening social on September 27 and a workshop led by Samidoun, the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, on September 28. Building infrastructure together, open discourse (with many filmmakers in attendance), and raising funds for mutual aid in Gaza and Lebanon will remain the driving force behind the screenings and gatherings that follow.ing in solidarity with those who inspired this project, we are showing the features and shorts of many filmmakers who withdrew from festivals like IDFA and Berlin during their previous editions. Among such films are Juana Manna’s Wild Relatives, Basma Al-Sharif’s Deep Sleep, Niles Attalah’s Animalia Paradoxa, Advik Beni’s Let’s go to the Mines, and more.

Another key element of our program is presenting films primarily produced in/for organizing and communal settings, rather than for festivals. There are many examples in our Encampment-Occupation series, featuring Lily Jue Sheng’s Change, Milton Xavier Trujillo’s THE CAMPUS DOES NOT EXIST, Atish Saha and Junnie Bae’s Hinds Hall, moyah pravda newsreel’s january coda, and Newsreel’s Lincoln Hospital. We close with Ayreen Anasta’s Pasolini Pa* Palestine, and more info on a handful of mystery programs will be announced as they approach.

NYCFF has soft commitments to boycott from NYFF filmmakers who wish to remain anonymous, and will announce their withdrawals if enough others drop out with them to mitigate the risk. Our schedule will remain flexible for the duration of the festival to accommodate any filmmakers who decide to us, in solidarity with the 20+ critics & journalists who have committed to the boycott, and the filmmakers who have inspired us with their principled refusals at other festivals.

We await FLC’s response to our demands, some of which have been echoed by dozens of NYFF filmmakers and workers in the recently published open letter on Screen Slate.

1. The Case Against Lincoln Center (Newsreel #17)

   FRIDAY 9/27

   7:30-11 PM @ THE LIVING GALLERY
   OPENING SOCIAL, WITH SCREENING: The Case Against Lincoln Center

2. The Invisible Worm

   TUESDAY 10/1

   7:30 PM @ SPECTACLE THEATER
   The Invisible Worm, Rosalind Nashashibi (17 min) – this film will show on 10/1 at NYCFF and on 10/5 at NYFF (which is noted as a world premiere). NYCFF provides exceptions to Palestinian NYFF62 filmmakers who offer to show at both festivals instead of withdrawing.

3. Animalia Paradoxa

   TUESDAY 10/1
   7:30 PM @ SPECTACLE THEATER

   SCREENING: Animalia Paradoxa, Niles Atallah – USA Premiere
   Pitch withdrawn from International Film Festival of Rotterdam in protest

4. Deep Sleep

   WEDNESDAY 10/2

   7:30 PM @ STONE CIRCLE THEATER

5. Wild Relatives

   WEDNESDAY 10/2

   7:30 PM @ STONE CIRCLE THEATER

6. Before I Let Go

   THURSDAY 10/3

   2-4 PM @ MILLENNIUM FILM WORKSHOP
   SCREENING: ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING!

7. Pappyshow in the Dark Time, My Love

   THURSDAY 10/3

   2-4 PM @ MILLENNIUM FILM WORKSHOP
   SCREENING: ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING!

8. Change 变

   THURSDAY 10/3

   4:30-6 PM @ MILLENNIUM FILM WORKSHOP
   SCREENING: ENCAMPMENT-OCCUPATION

9. THE CAMPUS DOES NOT EXIST

   THURSDAY 10/3

   4:30-6 PM @ MILLENNIUM FILM WORKSHOP
   SCREENING: ENCAMPMENT-OCCUPATION

10. Hind's Hall

    THURSDAY 10/3

    4:30-6 PM @ MILLENNIUM FILM WORKSHOP
    SCREENING: ENCAMPMENT-OCCUPATION

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Films/TV Pilots on TMDB that won't import to Letterboxd:
FUCK THIS SHIT, LOVE ME! (2024)
Fanny Scat Investigates (2023, TV pilot)

Seattle Queer Film Festival 2024 Website
IN-PERSON: Thursday, October 10 - Sunday, October 13, 2024
VIRTUAL: Monday, October 14 - Sunday, October 20, 2024

"ELEVATING THE SPECTRUM OF QUEER STORIES TO HELP CREATE A JUST AND EQUITABLE WORLD!"

"This year’s theme is about feeling, healing, and everything in between that comes with our community. With over 100 films in our lineup, we’re ready to take you on an emotional journey.

These stories offer a much-needed release, arriving at a time when the world feels heavier than it should. SQFF '24 champions intersectionality, showcasing queer narratives that reflect the many layers of our identities: race, gender, social class, and more."
~ FARRINGTON, 2024 Festival Director

87-99: Virtual Only

Shorts Programs:
2-7: XD tehe LOL 💀
11-15: Fright Night!
16-22: After Dark Special!
27-31: Q-Thartic!
41-47: Let's Talk About Sex, Baby!
48-53: The Singularity is Queer!
59-63: For Documentation Purposes Only!
64-71: Busy Being: Bold, Beautiful, and Black!
74-78: International Flare!
81-86: You Can Choose Your Friends and Your Family?!

1. Ponyboi
2. Gender Reveal
3. The Yellow Sponge is the Dish Sponge
4. The Unfinished Film
5. Great Canyon
6. ILY, BYE
7. King Ed
8. Bulletproof: A Lesbian's Guide to Surviving the Plot
9. Asog
10. Power Alley

...plus 89 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

2-9: Narrative Shorts
10-17: Documentary Shorts
18-27: Features

Not added: Blue+Red=Purple (2024, dir. Brian Asey)

The film is based on the transformation of two former gang who share how they changed their lives through Christianity. We get an opportunity try to understand how systemic racism helped to create a culture of violence but also to see the power of God, his mercy and his grace.

The inaugural SAN QUENTIN FILM FESTIVAL (SQFF24) celebrating the work of current and formerly incarcerated filmmakers, will take place at the prison on Thursday, October 10, 2024. SQFF24 is designed to introduce the work of system-impacted filmmakers to entertainment industry artists and executives, showcase emerging talent and potential, and enable access to equal opportunities.
The Festival will include a Narrative and Documentary Short Film Competition, with winners selected by an Industry Jury. An Inside Jury of incarcerated people will judge a curated selection of Narrative and Documentary Features about the prison experience made by filmmakers who have never served prison time.

1. Sing Sing
2. BANG!
3. Every Second
4. In the Matchbox
5. Little April
6. Paranormal Patrol
7. Same Differences
8. Shoebox
9. Two Wolves
10. Background

...plus 17 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

this will be my more up to date list where i can change the sorting. see my other, incomplete dvd list for info on the order i acquired dvds and where i got them.

• Alias Jimmy Valentine
• The Whispering Chorus
• Old Wives for New
• Don't Change Your Husband
• Anna Lucasta
• Salvatore Giuliano
• Ultraman
• To Sir, with Love
• Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo
• Five Fingers of Death

...plus 173 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Listed by vague order of acquisition; sadly incomplete, like my horrible memory

• Casino Royale

  Folsom Goodwill

• Quantum of Solace

  Folsom Goodwill

• Kī Hō ʻalu – Loosen the Key

  Not sure where this Goodwill was in LA actually or why I was in the area. I think I missed my bus stop. Might have been the Harvard Heights Goodwill. I buying a donut and hot cocoa afterwards though I think???

• Hello Kitty Becomes A Princess

  USC Goodwill

• Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo

  USC Goodwill

• Columbus

  Thank you Derek for introducing me to this film and snagging a DVD for me in Columbus, Indiana!

• The Orator

  Thank you Derek for ordering this from like, Sweden or something!

• Eve's Bayou

  Atwater Village Goodwill after an interview at Staples during a panicked week where I thought I was going to be fired lol

• Mad Max: Fury Road

  Atwater Village Goodwill

• 2046

  Atwater Village Goodwill

...plus 177 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

wip
www.la-iff.org/programs

To add:
Kelompok Penerbang Roh (Arabic Mantra) (dir. Tunggul Banjaransari, 22 min, 2023)
A mother left her new family in Arabia then back home intending to take her child who died by hanging himself to Heaven. But she is unable to bring her child up to the ceiling of her house.

Rapsodi: Fragments of Happiness (dir. Aco Tenriyagelli, 26 min, 2023)
Rapsodi is a collage about individuals interpreting happiness in their own unique ways. From a young child on a film set, a group of aspiring stars in the midst of rehearsals, a girl at a yoga practice, to the conversation of two friends in an unexpected place. Inspired by a song by Laleilmanino, each segment is a distinctive exploration of the meaning of the word “Rapsodi” itself.

Halo, Oma (dir. Aldo Wijaya, 11 min, 2023)
An elderly woman reflects on her life choices as she struggles with isolation and loneliness.

714 (dir. Alexander Chard, 12 min, 2023)
When his wife and child choose to leave for a world beyond ours, a broken must fight his guilt and grief, and decide whether to remain in their home that haunts him, or follow them into unknown.

Thole (Boy) (dir. Edo Natasha, 11 min, 2022)
A boy with unassuming talent discovers the wisdom of his ancestor aftergoes through great lengths to achieve his artistic childhood dreams.

Home (dir. Kanya Iwana, 14 min, 2023)
In "Home", a contained, experimental short film, a lonely and paranoid Indonesian expat is forced to look inward while rehearsing an acting monologue that is too close to home - or lack thereof.

Pepadu (dir. Ming Muslimin, 16 min, 2022)
Panji, a father struggling to pay his child's school fees, is forced by economic hardship and time constraints to return to his past as a Pepadu.

Mula Ni Hangoluon (Mulanya Kehidupan) (dir. IIL Askar Mondza, 17 min, 2022)
It is said that the Batak people originated from their ancestor, Siraja Batak. From him, the descendants were born who we now know as the Batak tribe. Although there are several different literatures regarding the history of Siraja Batak, overall, it is found that the origin of Siraja Batak settled in the Sianjur Mula-Mula area.

Anak Danau (dir. Ori Semloko, 17 min, 2022)
Her mother was gone, a void in her heart. But a tiny fish, a gift from her father, filled it with hope. Until one fateful morning, when the fish was nowhere to be found.

Potret Kerukunan Antar Etnis di Indonesia: Tradisi Bakar Tongkang Bagansiapiapi Provinsi Riau (dir. Afdal Ridho Arman, 17 min, 2022)
The Bakar Tongkang tradition in Bagansiapiapi symbolizes the homecoming of Chinese descendants who settled there. Burning the boat represents their ancestors' commitment to making this port their new home. This tradition, now a symbol of inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony, continues to be celebrated by both Chinese and Malay communities in Riau

Tumatenden (dir. Micky Jacky Sambuaga, 16 min. 2022)
Rey, a photographer, was conducting a pre-wedding photo session in Likupang when he discovered a mysterious female figure appearing in the photos.

1. Shallot Salad
2. Storyboard Suli
3. Chorus of the Wounded Birds
4. Icing on Her Cake
5. Daly City
6. Full Service
7. Dominion of Darkness
8. Five Friends

Not listed: 
Web series Conference 27
Web talk-show #YELLIT From The Mountain

Vom 19. bis 29. September 2024 feiert das Afrika Film Festival Köln (AFFK) seine 21. Ausgabe mit rund 70 historischen und zeitgenössischen Spiel-, Dokumentar- und Kurzfilmen aus 23 afrikanischen Ländern und der weltweiten Diaspora. Die Regisseurin Liz Gomis ist die Schirmfrau dieser Ausgabe und übernimmt auch den Vorsitz der Jury für die Wettbewerbsfilme übernimmt.

Für einen Austausch auf Augenhöhe werden über 30 Filmemacher:innen, Produzent:innen und Gäste nach Köln reisen. Abgerundet wird das Hauptprogramm von einem lebhaften Begleitprogramm aus Live-Musik, -Talks, Workshops und Networking-Events.

FOKUS: LEGACY
Die diesjährige Ausgabe steht ganz im Zeichen des Wortes LEGACY (Vermächtnis), ein bedeutendes Thema, das in unseren ausgewählten Filmen aus verschiedenen Perspektiven beleuchtet wird. Als Filmemacher:innen und Kurator:innen sind wir selbst tief mit den Geschichten von Vermächtnis und Widerstandsfähigkeit verbunden. Ob wir das Vermächtnis feiern oder kritisieren, ob wir es annehmen oder uns dagegen wehren – wir sehen, wie eingeladene Filmemacher:innen sich mit den Überbleibseln der Geschichte
auseinandersetzen, während sie in der Gegenwart nachwirken. Wir nutzen diese Gelegenheit, um Stimmen zu verstärken, die von der Kraft der Erinnerung und dem Bedürfnis nach Heilung in afrikanischen Gemeinschaften sprechen.. Während unsere Welt mit anhaltenden Konflikten auf allen Kontinenten zu kämpfen hat, reflektieren unsere Filmemacher:innen über das Erbe des Kolonialismus, Befreiungskämpfe, Liebe, Migration, Familienbande, Kriegstraumata, Unterdrückung und Diktaturen.
Diese Erzählungen fordern uns heraus, uns mit unserer Vergangenheit auseinanderzusetzen und uns eine Zukunft vorzustellen, die auf dem Vermächtnis, das wir erben und schaffen, beruht.

1. Eat Bitter
2. Sisterhood
3. Kin’kongolo Kiniata
4. This Is Ballroom
5. Poeler Luft
6. Scaring Women at Night
7. Essex Girls
8. Hair Care
9. We Are Not Alone
10. Oasis

...plus 54 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

October 17-20, 2024, with in-person screenings on Saturday the 19th at the San Francisco Exploratorium.

This year’s festival promises films and storytelling that bring depth and breadth to disabled lives and experiences. Our festival is hybrid with four days of virtual access on Eventive and one day of in-person screenings at the Exploratorium in the San Francisco on October 19.

This festival also marks an exciting new collaboration. Superfest this year will be co-presented by the Longmore Institute on Disability and the San Francisco Disability Cultural Center!

VIRTUAL: THURSDAY, Oct. 17th @ 3-4pm PT - Superfest Kickoff with Alice Wong
us for our Superfest Kickoff Event where we will hear from Alice Wong, and spotlight her new initiative: The Disabled BIPOC Film Collective. Learn from disabled filmmakers Malak Al Sayyad and Jason DaSilva in a moderated by Superfest Co-Director Shaina Ghuraya as they discuss past productions, challenges encountered in this profession, and practical tips for creating a more inclusive industry. ASL/CART. Free and online, at: https://dcc.page/superfest24-opening. 

IN-PERSON: Saturday, October 19, 2024
Exploratorium, Pier 15, San Francisco
Matinee: 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm (doors open at 11)
Afternoon: 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm (includes discussion)
Films are different at each screenings, so you’re encouraged to us for both, as spoons allow!
ASL (Deaf interpreters) for all live dialogue, CART and closed audio description. 

VIRTUAL : SUNDAY, Oct. 20th @ 4-5:30 pm PT - Superfest Community Conversation
Get together with Superfest filmmakers and attendees for a virtual conversation with your community. What did you love? How did it feel to see our stories without the stereotypes or pity? What was your best laugh? What film went over your head? Learn from the filmmakers about their process and inspiration; chat with fellow attendees about their perspectives and interpretations. Let’s talk about it all! Bianca Laureano, our incredible Cafe Crip , will facilitate the conversation. ASL/CART. Free and online, at: https://dcc.page/superfest2024-community-chat.

1. Four Deaf Yorkshiremen's Contest
2. A Wonderful Ride
3. Dancer
4. Diagnonsense
5. Existing Patient
6. Friendly Signs
7. I Told You So
8. LUKi & the Lights
9. Mo<3Kyra
10. Mobility Rights

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Curated by Samantha Olvera (Taitano, Familian Queto)
May 1, 2024, at the Art Theatre of Long Beach.

Program Description:
This selection of short films presents a glimpse into the multilayered organizing histories of two Pacific Islander communities in Southern California. In converging distinct moments of CHamoru and Samoan collectivism, we honor the resilience and indigenous knowledeways that NHPI communities have and continue to nurture within the diaspora and beyond.

To the Pasifika elders, artists, and cultural bearers doing the work everyday. Thank you for showing us the way.

“Nobody rules us, we rule ourselves.”

• Ta Hasso I Manaina

  Like many organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kutturan Chamoru Foundation’s operations have been greatly reduced. To maintain its mission, KCF leaders will have learn how to create an in-language chant and then have it published. However, in order to do this, will have to meet online, in isolation, and learn how to work together apart.

• Magellan Doesn't Live Here

  Nearly 500 years after Europeans first arrived in Guam, Mario Borja, a Chamoru craftsman and amateur historian, reconstructs a lost history of our people, that takes us from the British Naval archives to a Pacific crossing, which will bring his crew back to Guam in a hand built outrigger called a Sakman.

  The film is a parable about the resilient spirit that is at the heart of the survival of the CHamoru people and our culture. It is both biographical and experimental. Structured around this idea of trying to get Magellan on the phone, it introduces the question of how to traverse or translate between oral and literate culture or memory. The Sakman has been navigating between these two modes of history – disappearing from one, which is enacted and chanted – some fragment of it sustained in the other, as a drawing in an archive, and then through this intrepid group of craftsman, returning again to the lived form of cultural memory.

  This dynamic marks something of the shared experience of Pacific Islanders returning to their islands, both literally, for those of the diaspora finding their ways home by boat, or by plane, or in dreams, or across the internet, and metaphorically in the sense of returning to the strength of our traditions and our connection to the land and sea that define us. All of us face the anxiety of having lost something of this connection, and the uncertainties of finding our way as we return.

• Samoan Americans in Carson

  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.

• Omai Fa'atasi: Samoa Mo Samoa
• Fåkkai

Rooted in the amplification of Pasifika narratives and the representational belonging of archival activations, Visual Communications Archives Team presents a three part series event: Pacific Cinewaves: Talanoa, A Dialogue on Samoan Stories in Carson. This series seeks to actualize an initiative to preserve the collective memories of Samoans in Carson and highlight their impact in weaving the fabric of the city. In this series we present four short films that focus on conversations surrounding youth organizations, familial obligations, gender roles, and education.

These screenings will also be paired with a Talanoa or dialogue, facilitated by filmmaker and journalist Honestine Pa'ala-Fraser, to discuss the major themes of the films and the importance of documenting Samoan narratives in Carson.

This event is FREE and open to the public! Food and refreshments will be provided.

FILM PROGRAM
Omai Fa'atasi: Samoa Mo Samoa (1979)
Vaitafe: Running Water (1981)
Samoan Americans in Carson (2017)
Come Together (2024)

DATE & TIME
Saturday, September 21 & 28, 2024
Doors open at 2:30PM
Program starts at 3:00PM

LOCATION
Carson Public Library
151 E Carson St, Carson, CA 90745

PARKING
Parking is FREE!

• Omai Fa'atasi: Samoa Mo Samoa
• Vaitafe: Running Water
• Samoan Americans in Carson
• Come Together

(WIP)

The 24th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival took place in Toronto from October 17-22, 2023, before moving to our online streaming and iNdigital Space platforms from October 23-29, 2023. The Festival celebrates Indigenous storytelling in film + video, audio, and digital + interactive art through screenings, exhibitions, special events, and more.

issuu.com/imaginenative/docs/2535_in_catalog_9.6

Missing:
NANGULVI (2022)
Follow (2023)
Nemi (2021)
The Bull of Cold (2023)
Whistling Woods (2022)
Belonging (2022)
Pasifika Drift (2023)
Entre Nous Locataires (2022)
The Sky is Very Pretty (2022)
Camping (2023)
ISHI (2023)
pî-kiwîk (2023)
Can I Love You? (2022)
D dot H (2023)
Burned (2023)
Through Brown Glass (2023)
Frank Gets The Job Done (2023)
KIN. (2022)
Dear Stephen King, instead of using Indian Burial Grounds in your books, have you thought of using European Burial Grounds? (2023)
Memories (2022)
Home (2023)
Ta'i (2023)
Starbound (2023)
He Pounamu Ko Āu (2022)
Distant (2022)
The Golden Age (2022)
kobechenonk (2022)
Nisihkason Lex (2022)
Whirlflow (2023)
Mother (EADNI) (2023)
A Boy and His Loss (2022)
Fast Eddie (2022)
i won't remain alone (2022)
Mamá (2022)

1. Fancy Dance
2. Starlight Sojourn
3. Ni Wapiten
4. The fox
5. What We See
6. Babanil
7. Plastic: A Love Letter to the Estranged
8. The Mainland
9. istén:’a
10. Aykuo

...plus 46 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Largely complete, barring errors or video installation that was not added to Letterboxd. Page numbers in film notes.

• Knife

  22

• The Dupes

  22, 68, 77

• Kafr Kassem

  22, 77

• Al-Yazerli

  22

• Dreams of the City

  25, 86, 97

• The Night

  25, 27, 69, 100

• Stars in Broad Daylight

  27, 77, 86, 97

• Stone Bird

  33, 86

• Samia

  33

• Silence

  33, 58, 98

...plus 27 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Feel free to duplicate.

Not on Letterboxd: 5-part miniseries "Dallas, 2019," dir. Darius Clark Monroe

Listed by program.
3-7 Statism. Going head to head with repressive state apparatus.
14-18 Envisages. Imagining otherwise.
21-24 Extant. Suffering through the worst of the violence, and surviving to tell the tale.
28-32 Extrasensory. Sixth senses abound.
34-38 Anthropogenic. Journeys through various man-made climate disasters.
39-44 Discompose. Confronting the internal dilemmas that are activated by external demons.
51-53 Indomitable. Communities whose resistance cannot and will not be subdued.
55-60 Embodied. Dancing, riding, skating, playing.
61-66 Propitiate. A shorts program about parenting, reparenting, and being parented.
69-72 Anima. Personal profiles that take us through the inner lives of remarkable people.
77-81 Spillikin. Tiny, intimate splinter stories from major metropolises.
82-87 Concatenate. Vertical and horizontal connections.
90-93 Bilocation. Both here and there.

1. Othelo The Great
2. Nowhere Near
3. Post Trauma
4. Boat People
5. Expanding Sanctuary
6. Criminal
7. The Battle of Empty Stomachs
8. The Queen of My Dreams
9. Dis-Ease
10. barrunto

...plus 84 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.