In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) offers the following broadcast premieres on PBS stations across the country.
These documentaries represent the breadth of the Asian Pacific Islander experience, from a profile on an artist who recreates his memories of Old Chinatown via miniature dioramas, to a Hawaii'an community's effort at honoring indigenous traditions through street art, the stories cover themes of immigration, resilience, memory and perseverance through arts, culture and historical memory.
All films will screen on PBS, PBS affiliated channels and public media-funded World Channel throughout the month of May. Check your local PBS channel and World Channel for airdates. Many of the films will be available to stream for free online for a limited time.
Mele Murals: Mele Murals is a documentary on the transformative power of modern graffiti art and ancient Hawaiian culture for a new generation of Native Hawaiians. Read my review in the Asian Reporter.
Forever, Chinatown: Forever, Chinatown is a story of unknown, self-taught 81-year-old artist Frank Wong who has spent the past four decades recreating his fading memories by building romantic, extraordinarily detailed miniature models of the San Francisco Chinatown rooms of his youth. Read my review in the Asian Reporter
Lucky Chow Season 2: Join producer and host Danielle Chang to discover how deeply Asian culture and cuisine are rooted in our everyday lives.
Good Luck Soup: Through interviews, personal home movies and thoughtful narration by the filmmaker, filmmaker Matthew Hashiguchi shows us what it was like to grow up mixed race in a predominantly white Midwestern (Cleveland, Ohio) neighborhood, where it wasn’t always welcoming or accepting.
Relocation, Arkansas – The Aftermath of Incarceration: In 1942, nearly 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were forced into prisons in the interior because they looked like the enemy. Two of those prison camps were in Arkansas, a land of deep racial divide. The film bridges remarkable stories of families who survived the internment, highlighting their experiences with prejudice and perseverance, hurt and healing, and ultimately, the triumph of reconciliation.
Finding Samuel Lowe: Three successful black siblings from Harlem discover their heritage by searching for clues about their long-lost Chinese grandfather, Samuel Lowe. Taking family tree research to an epic proportion, the siblings and 16 of their family members travel to two Chinese cities, ShenZhen and GuangZhou. Together, they visit their family’s ancestral village, finding documented lineage that dates their family back 3,000 years to 1006 BC. The trip culminates in an emotional and unforgettable family reunion with 300 of their grandfather’s Chinese descendants.
Breathin': The Eddy Zheng Story: Arrested at 16 and tried as an adult for kidnapping and robbery, Eddy Zheng served over 20 years in California prisons and jails. Ben Wang’s documentary paints an intimate portrait of Eddy — the prisoner, the immigrant, the son, the activist — on his journey to freedom, rehabilitation and redemption.
“These moving stories of individuals and communities show beyond individual’s stories, what we share as Asian Americans crosses a broad spectrum of society,” said Stephen Gong, Executive Director of CAAM. The films are made possible with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
