AAS 2019 Living Asia, Shifting Ecologies - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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AAS 2019 FILM EXPO Living Asia, Shifting Ecologies ALL FILM SCREENINGS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC* *Conference registration is not required.
Schedule Thursday, March 21, 2019 Friday, March 22, 2019 12:30pm Driving with Selvi (52 min, Q&A, India) – p. 10 8:30am Purdah (71 min, India) – p. 11 1:30pm Remittance (90 min, Q&A, Philippines & Singapore) – p. 13 9:50am Lovesick (74 min, Q&A, India & US) – p. 11 3:10pm Our Land is the Sea (26 min, Q&A, Indonesia) – p. 13 11:15am LGBTQ Shorts from Southeast Asia (58 min, Q&A, Philippines & Indonesia) – p. 14 3:45pm China, One Million Artists (53 min, China) – p. 3 12:30pm Ghost Tape #10 (28 min, Q&A, Vietnam) – p. 15 4:50pm Over The Sky (41 min, Q&A, Japan) – p. 6 1:10pm Mother, Daughter, Sister (29 min, Q&A, Burma (Myanmar)) 5:45pm – BREAK – – p. 15 7:30pm Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort 1:50pm Drokpa: Nomads of Tibet (57 min, Q&A, Tibet) – p. 3 Women Issue (120 min, Q&A, Japan, USA, Korea) – p. 6 3:00pm Noh Men: The Spirit of Noh (46 min, Q&A, Japan) – p. 7 9:45pm – END SCREENINGS – 3:55pm Shunga and the Japanese (87 min, Q&A, Japan) – p. 7 5:35pm – BREAK – 7:45pm Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. (100 min, Sri Lanka, India, UK & US) – p. 10 9:35pm – END SCREENINGS – 1
Schedule Saturday, March 23, 2019 8:30am One Dollar Series (66 min, Q&A, Cambodia) – p. 16 Film titles in each regional section are listed in order of presentation, and include 9:45am Taapar (Scorched) (23 min, Q&A, India) – p. 12 director/producer, year of release, country 10:20am Plastic China (82 min, Q&A, China – p. 4 featured, duration, film description, and distribution contacts. 11:55am Jamilia (84 min, Kyrgyzstan) – p. 4 1:30pm Playing Frisbee in North Korea (86 min, Q&A, North Korea) Schedule – p. 8 3:10pm Great Walls (28 min, Q&A, China, US & Germany) – p. 5 Screenings are located in Governor’s Square 17 3:50pm Day of the Western Sunrise (75 min, Japan) – p. 8 in the Sheraton Denver 5:15pm Tarinae (93 min, Q&A, Japan) – p. 9 Downtown Hotel. 7:00pm – END SCREENINGS – On-demand screenings are located in the Governor’s Square 9. 2
China & Inner Asia China, One Million Artists Thursday, March 21, 2019, 3:45pm Produced by Arte France. 2017. China. 53 minutes. China has been the biggest art seller in the entire world since 2012. Yet they remain relatively unknown compared to these numbers. Although two artists—Basquiat and Koons—account for 50% of the American market, China has placed 47 artists in the top 100—nearly half of them are newcomers. Through personal encounters with the most original and avant-garde artists—in their workshops or during performances—this film sets out to understand their work and what motivates them, as well as their fight against censorship. Distributed by Films Media Group, an Infobase Company. www.films.com Drokpa: Nomads of Tibet Friday, March 22, 2019, 1:50pm Directed by Yan Chun Su. 2016 (2018 Educational Release). Tibet. 57 minutes. In-person Q&A with Yan Chun Su. The grasslands of the Tibetan plateau are home to the source of Asia’s major rivers. Nearly half of humanity depends on this water for survival. Tibetan nomads, known as Drokpa have roamed on this land for thousands of years. Set in the high plateau of eastern Tibet, Drokpa is an intimate portrait of the lives and struggles of an extended family of Tibetan nomads whose life in on the cusp of irreversible change as once lush grasslands are rapidly turning into deserts, revealing the unprecedented environmental and sociopolitical forces that are pushing the Tibetan nomads to the edge of their existence. Distributed by Collective Eye Films. www.collectiveeye.org 3
Plastic China Saturday, March 23, 2019, 10:20am China & Inner Asia Directed by Jiuliang Wang. 2016. China. 82 minutes. In-person Q&A with Gary Marcuse. One of 25 films in the Global Environmental Justice Documentaries collection, Plastic China captures the striking, melancholic beauty of a vast and lifeless artificial landscape—a Chinese countryside covered almost entirely in imported plastic. Men and women build lives upon this waste, and children learn about the outside world through tattered Western advertisements and tabloid images. Selected for the series by Ken Berthel (Whittier College) as a film that inspires discussion about a number of salient topics, including globalization, modernity, the rural-urban divide, and the human and environmental impacts of consumerist culture. Learn more at: http://GlobalEnvironmentalJustice.com Distributed by Journeyman Pictures. https://www.journeyman.tv/ Jamilia Saturday, March 23, 2019, 11:55am Directed by Aminatou Echard. 2018. Kyrgyzstan. 84 minutes. This mesmerizing film, shot in Kyrgyzstan on richly saturated Super-8 footage, is a search for the heroine of Chinghiz Aitmatov’s novel about a young woman who rebels against the strict rules of her society. Contemporary Kyrgyz women, in talking about Jamilia, reveal their own desires, the social rules they chafe under and their ideas of freedom. Distributed by Icarus Films. http://icarusfilms.com 4
China & Inner Asia Great Walls Saturday, March 23, 2019, 3:10pm Directed by Bill Callahan. 2019. China, US, Germany. 28 minutes. In-person Q&A with Bill Callahan. Donald Trump has made walls into a hot topic. This documentary film examines the politics of walls, such as Trump’s and the historic barricades of the Berlin Wall and Great Wall of China, through the ways they are experienced. Great walls are brought to life with archive and contemporary footage showing how they work as sites of conservative and progressive ideology as well as emotional spaces of everyday experience. Rather than conclude that walls are either good or bad, we look at how they evoke horror and wonder. Distributed by the filmmaker. Contact: w.a.callahan@gmail.com 5
Over The Sky Thursday, March 21, 2019, 4:50pm Northeast Asia Directed by Toko Shiiki. 2018. Japan. 41 minutes. In-person Q&A with Toko Shiiki and Erik Santos. This documentary shares the power of inspiration as seen through a music teacher, Ms. Abe, and her junior high school brass band, who live around the coast of Fukushima, Japan – an area that was strongly affected by the disasters of 2011. Seven years after the disaster, Ms. Abe encountered another big challenge. However, she never gives up music and life and keeps moving forward with hope. Distributed by the filmmaker. Northeast http://tokoshiiki.com Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue Thursday, March 21, 2019, 7:30pm Asia Directed by Miki Dezaki. 2018. Japan, USA, Korea. 120 minutes. Online Q&A with Miki Dezaki. Inside Japan, the “comfort women” issue is dividing the country across clear ideological lines. Supporters and detractors of “comfort women” are caught in a relentless battle over empirical evidence, the validity of oral testimony, the number of victims, the meaning of sexual slavery, and the definition of coercive recruitment. This film delves deep into the most contentious debates and uncovers the hidden intentions of the supporters and detractors of comfort women. Most importantly it finds answers to some of the biggest questions for Japanese and Koreans: Were comfort women prostitutes or sex slaves? Were they coercively recruited? And, does Japan have a legal responsibility to apologize to the former comfort women? Distributed by the filmmaker. Contact: mikine.films@gmail.com 6
Northeast Asia Noh Men: The Spirit of Noh Friday, March 22, 2019, 3:00pm Directed by Jeffrey Dym. 2018. Japan. 46 minutes. In-person Q&A with Jeffrey Dym. One of the most distinctive aspects of noh theatre are the masks that performers wear. In many ways, the masks are what give noh its unique, mysterious feel. This documentary takes you deep into the world of noh masks: from the trees they are made from, through their carving and painting; from their selection prior to performance, to their handling afterwards; and from the hands of collectors to the newest creations. This film serves as a great introduction into noh with its overview of noh history and form, its performance footage, and its insightful backstage footage. Distributed by the filmmaker. Northeast Asia https://www.youtube.com/user/Dymsensei/featured Shunga and the Japanese Friday, March 22, 2019, 3:55pm Directed and produced by Atsushi Ogaki. 2018. Japan. 87 minutes. Online Q&A with Atsushi Ogaki. Shunga are a genre of explicit and beautifully detailed erotic woodblock prints and paintings produced in Japan from 1600 to 1900. Although this art form inspired artists as prominent as Picasso, Shunga was banned in Japan for much of the 20th century. This movie unveils the hidden story of how this unique art form has been treated viciously within Japanese social and cultural histories through interviews with historians and researchers. Distributed by the filmmaker. Contact: atsushi.ogaki@nifty.com 7
Playing Frisbee in North Korea Saturday, March 23, 2019, 1:30pm Northeast Asia Directed by Savanna Washington. 2019. North Korea. 86 minutes. In-person Q&A with Savanna Washington. Playing Frisbee in North Korea features vérité footage from inside the country, along with interviews with North Korean refugees, long time aid workers, scholars, and experts on North Korea. The images and voices in this documentary offer an authentic, life on the ground perspective of the lives and challenges of the people of North Korea. China Distribution: Contact the filmmaker. www.playingfrisbeeinnorthkorea.com & Inner Asia Day of the Western Sunrise Saturday, March 23, 2019, 3:50pm Directed by Keith Reimink. 2018. Japan. 75 minutes. Day of the Western Sunrise is an animated, Japanese language documentary about the crew of the tuna trawler Daigo Fukuryu Maru, or The Lucky Dragon No. 5. On March 1st, 1954, the fishermen onboard the Lucky Dragon survived the biggest explosion ever caused by man, the Castle Bravo thermonuclear test in the Pacific Ocean. The film tells how their lives were forever changed while showing the long-term impact of this devastating event. Distributed by Daliborka Films. www.daliborkafilms.com 8
Northeast Asia Tarinae Saturday, March 23, 2019 5:15pm Directed by Shiori Okawa. Produced by Minami Fujioka and Shiori Okawa. 2018. Japan. 93 minutes. In-Person Q&A with Shiori Okawa. “Tarinae” is war in Marshallese. 72 years ago, a Japanese soldier who perished in the Marshall Islands left behind a diary he kept every single day until his tragic death. In spring 2016, the soldier’s son visited the Marshall Islands to follow in his father’s last footsteps. Distributed by Shunminsha. www.tarinae.com Northeast Asia 9
Driving With Selvi Thursday, March 21, 2019, 12:30pm South Asia Directed by Elisa Paloschi. 2015 (2018 educational release). India. 52 minutes. Online Q&A with Elisa Paloschi. Selvi, like so many girls living within India’s patriarchal culture, is forced to marry at a young age, only to find herself in a violent and abusive marriage. One day in deep despair, she chooses to escape, going to a highway with the intention of throwing herself under the wheels of a bus. Instead she gets on the bus, choosing to live… and goes on to become South India’s first female taxi driver. Over a ten-year journey, we see a remarkable transformation as Selvi finds her voice and defies all expectations – learning to drive, starting her own taxi company, leading seminars to educate other women, and much more. Distributed by Collective Eye Films. www.collectiveeye.org Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. Friday, March 22, 2019, 7:45pm Directed by Steven Loveridge. 2018. Sri Lanka, India, UK, US. 100 minutes. Drawn from a cache of personal video recordings from the past 22 years, director Steve Loveridge’s Sundance award winning MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. is a startlingly personal profile of the critically acclaimed artist, chronicling her remarkable journey from refugee immigrant to pop star. She began as Matangi. Daughter of the founder of Sri Lanka’s armed Tamil resistance, she hid from the government in the face of a vicious and bloody civil war. When her family fled to the UK, she became Maya, a precocious and creative immigrant teenager in London. Finally, the world met her as M.I.A. when she emerged on the global stage. This film provides an unparalleled, intimate access to the artist in her battles with the music industry and mainstream media as her success and fame explodes, becoming one of the most recognizable, outspoken and provocative voices in music today. Distributed by Cinereach (https://cinereach.org) 10 www.miadocumentary.com
South Asia Purdah Friday, March 22, 2019, 8:30am Directed by Jeremy Guy. 2018. India. 71 minutes. Kaikasha Mirza, a young Indian woman, is allowed to remove her burka for the first time in order to pursue her dreams of playing on the Mumbai Senior Women’s Cricket Team. In the days leading up to the tryouts, Kaikasha’s parents give her the ultimatum that she will have two years to become a professional cricketer or they will arrange her marriage. Once married, her husband would likely not allow her to play, thus pinning all of Kaikash’s hopes on the upcoming tryouts for the Mumbai team. Kaikasha’s eldest sister, Saba, also has her own dreams of her career and yearns to become a model, but she endures harsh criticism for wearing a niqab to interviews. Heena, the youngest sister, desires to become a fashion designer or a singer, but poverty may impede her pursuits. All three girls must contend with the wishes of their father who does not believe women should work, in addition South Asia to the whispered judgment of those within their community. Distributed by Collective Eye Films. www.collectiveeye.org Lovesick Friday, March 22, 2019, 9:50am Directed by Ann S. Kim and Priya Giri Desai. 2018. India, US. 74 minutes. Online Q&A with Ann S. Kim. In India, how do you find love if you are HIV-positive? Dr. Suniti Solomon, who discovered India’s first case of HIV in 1986, and founded India’s premier HIV/AIDS clinic finds a way, by matchmaking her HIV-positive patients. Shot over eight years, Lovesick interweaves Dr. Solomon’s personal and professional journeys with the lives of two patients: Karthik, a reticent bachelor, and Manu who, like many women in India, was infected by her first husband. Told with humor and compassion, Lovesick is a surprising and hopeful story about the universal desire for love. Distributed by Women Make Movies. www.wmm.com 11
Taapar (Scorched) Saturday, March 23, 2019, 9:45am South AsiaChina Directed by Akshay Gouri. 2018. India. 23 minutes. Online Q&A with Akshay Gouri. In a predominantly agrarian society, providers of food to millions struggle to eat. Their living conditions are pathetic, often forcing them to kill themselves. Through the story of Raj Singh, the marginal peasant, who gave his all to raise a crop, but eventually, didn’t harvest it as it was much better to abandon the crop than to spend more time and money on harvest, storage and sale; and the farmer who consumed poison, but, eventually didn’t die - Taapar (Scorched) explores the several problems that have engulfed farmers and their families for decades now, and raises the question of a solution. Distributed by the filmmaker. Contact: akshaygouri2005@yahoo.co.in & Inner Asia 12
Remittance Thursday, March 21, 2019, 1:30pm A film by Patrick Daly & Joel Fendelman. 2016. Philippines, Singapore. 90 minutes. Southeast Asia Online Q&A with Patrick Daly & Joel Fendelman Based upon an original script by Patrick Daly and Joel Fendelman, Remittance is a realistic portrayal of low-wage migrant workers in Singapore shot at real locations with a cast including actual domestic workers. Following Marie, a foreign domestic worker from the Philippines, the film immerses us in the joys and hopes of the characters, while facing insurmountable setbacks, anxieties, and frustrations. Through the transformations Marie goes through as a woman dealing with conflicting obligations and aspirations, viewers better understand a global story of the commodification of labor and exportation of mothers from poor third world countries to first world nations. Distributed by Outcast Films. www.outcast-films.com Our Land is the Sea / Air Tanahku Thursday, March 21, 2019, 3:10pm Written and directed by Dr. Kelli Swazey and Matt Colaciello. 2018. Indonesia. 26 minutes. Online Q&A with Paul Rausch. Our Land is the Sea / Air Tanahku is about three generations of a Bajau family in Wakatobi National Park, Indonesia, who are navigating drastic cultural and environmental change. The family grapples with how coral reef extinction, economic change, ethnic discrimination and changing practices of Islam will mean a different life for the younger generation. This Global Workshop film by Dr. Kelli Swazey and Matt Colaciello is part of the Voicing Diversity Project, a collaboration between the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies at Gadjah Mada University and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa aimed at creating educational resources on diversity in Southeast Asia for educational institutions in the US and Indonesia. Distributed by Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawai’i. 13 www.cseashawaii.org/projects/religion-diversity/voicing-diversity-project/ IMAGE CREDIT: Matt Colaciello www.theglobalworkshop.com
LGBTQ Shorts from Southeast Asia Friday, March 22, 2019, 11:15am SoutheastChina Arranged by the Department of Pacific & Asian Studies, University of Victoria. 58 minutes (total screening time of all four titles). In-person Q&A with organizers Rosalia Engchuan and Richard Fox. This series of short films offers a cinematic introduction to some of the day-to-day struggles, desires and aspirations of the LGBTQ community in Southeast Asia. Focused on selections from Indonesia and the Philippines, these films offer rich ground for a broader discussion of questions at the intersection of political advocacy, documentary scholarship and critical theory. Asia • Contestant #4 Directed by Jared Joven and Kaj Palanca. 2016. Philippines. 18 minutes. When a young boy chances upon an old man watching a film of himself as a youthful crossdresser, it sparks an interest in the boy to find out more about the old man’s past. What he ultimately discovers will bring both & Inner Asia of them toward a richer understanding of how the weight of life and identity are carried. • Dory Directed by Beverly Ramos. 2017. Philippines. 20 minutes. A 101-year-old transwoman called Dory walks through the streets of Tondo, in Manila, where she works as a beautician. She is a proud member of the LGBTQ community, and of a religious group known as Iglesia Ni Cristro (INC). Despite facing discrimination on a daily basis, Dory has been open about her sexuality since she was young. • On Friday Noon Directed by Luhki Herwanayogi. 2016. Indonesia. 13 minutes. Wina, a transwoman, is looking for a mosque to perform the Friday prayers required of Muslim men. She is lost and gets into trouble as she seeks her destination. • The Game Kiss Directed by Paul Agusta. 2011. Indonesia. 7 minutes. Teenagers Peter and Marco are in Marco’s room playing a video game. Then suddenly Marco leans in to kiss Peter. This segment details what happens when both boys realize that their longstanding affection for one another is reciprocated. For film inquires, contact Rosalia Engchuan at engchuan@eth.mpg.de 14
Southeast Asia Ghost Tape #10 Friday, March 22, 2019, 12:30pm Directed and produced by Sean David Christensen. 2018. Vietnam. 28 minutes. In-person Q&A with Sean David Christensen. Created by the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, “Ghost Tape #10” was one of many audio tapes engineered to psychologically intimidate and demoralize the North Vietnamese Army through its depiction of the Buddhist afterlife. Broadcast throughout war zones, these soundtracks consisted of actors portraying grieving family members, or voices from the dead, longing to be reunited with their loved ones. By re-examining this weaponization of belief through the context of modern day Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American religious practice, reactions to this artifact of American propaganda lead to discussions of relationships between the living and the dead, and ask what truths, if any, still echo within this recording. Distributed by the filmmaker. www.seandavidchristensen.com Mother, Daughter, Sister Friday, March 22, 2019, 1:10pm Directed by Jeanne Hallacy. Produced by Gregg Butensky. 2018. Burma (Myanmar). 28 minutes. Online Q&A with Gregg Butensky and Jeanne Hallacy. Amae, Thamee, Ama (Mother, Daughter, Sister) gives voice to Kachin and Rohingya women calling for an end to sexual violence in conflict. The film revolves around the stories of four women: Shamima, a volunteer counselor working with survivors of military rape in the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, Dil Kayas, a teenage survivor and San Lung and Lu Ra, the sister and mother of two Kachin school teachers brutally raped and killed in 2015, allegedly by the Burmese military. Powerful testimonies from survivors, witnesses and activists explore the far-reaching impact of sexual violence and trauma upon communities, woven with stories of courageous women calling for justice and an end to impunity. Distributed by Documentary Educational Resources (www.der.org). 15 For more information: Kirana Productions (www.facebook.com/kiranaproductions). Contact: jeannemariehallacy@gmail.com
One Dollar Series Saturday, March 23, 2019, 8:30am Five Short films from the series produced by Bophana Center. 2016-2017. Cambodia. SoutheastChina 66 minutes (total screening time of all five titles). Online Q&A with Chea Sopheap. One Dollar is a participatory web documentary taking root in Cambodia, inviting emerging directors and multimedia journalists to give a voice to individuals living below the poverty line. The mission of One Dollar filmmakers will be to focus their portraits on the daily lives of men and women who fight for every dollar they make, every day, and provide them an opportunity to share their personal experiences with a global audience. This does not mean speaking in their place, but instead offering Asia them a “speaking space” that otherwise would not exist. • B-Girl Final Directed by Phally Ngoeum 2016. Cambodia. 12 minutes. & Inner Asia • Your Home Directed by Doeurn Chev and Chanrado Sok. 2016. Cambodia. 12 minutes. • Home Cemetery Directed by Phally Ngoeum 2016. Cambodia. 8 minutes. • Choices in Life Directed by Phally Ngoeum 2016. Cambodia. 11 minutes. • I Don’t Know Much About ABC Directed by Chanrado Sok and Phanith Norm 2017. Cambodia. 23 minutes. Distributed by Bophana Center. www.bophana.org www.onedollar.bophana.org 16
AEMS & AAS The ASIAN EDUCATIONAL MEDIA SERVICE (AEMS) has been part of the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1998. AEMS promotes the understanding of Asian cultures and peoples by assisting educators at all levels, from primary through undergraduate, in finding and using multimedia resources for learning and teaching. AEMS serves educators nationally and internationally through its website, which hosts an online database of nearly 6,000 records for multimedia resources. Digital Asia, an online resource from AEMS, offers clips of scholar made films of Asia with original curriculum materials developed for college and high school teachers. AEMS also publishes a quarterly electronic newsletter, reaching about 2,000 subscribers worldwide that features in-depth reviews by top scholars and educators of films about Asia, along with essays and interviews. www.aems.illinois.edu The ASSOCIATION FOR ASIAN STUDIES (AAS) is a scholarly, non-political, and non-profit professional association open to all persons interested in Asia and the study of Asia. With approximately 7,000 members worldwide, representing all regions and countries of Asia and all academic disciplines, the AAS is the largest organization of its kind. Through its publications, online resources, regional conferences, and annual conference, the AAS provides its members with a unique and invaluable professional network. www.asian-studies.org 17
AEMS & AAS AAS 2019 FILM EXPO Curator: Jason Finkelman, Director, Global Arts Performance Initiatives; Event Programming, Asian Educational Media Service Film Reviewers: Tim Liao, Professor of Sociology and Professor of Statistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Director, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies Mara L. Thacker, Assistant Professor, South Asian Studies Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Global Popular Culture Librarian, International and Area Studies Library Matthew S. Winters, Associate Professor and Associate Head for Graduate Programs, Department of Political Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign Angela S. Williams, PhD, Associate Director, Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 18
105 South Gregory, 2nd Floor Urbana, Illinois 61801 Phone: 217-333-9597 aems@illinois.edu www.aemsillinois.edu Association for Asian Studies 825 Victors Way, Suite 310 Ann Arbor, MI 48108 Phone: 734-665-2490 www.asian-studies.org 230 International Studies Building 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign, IL 61820 Phone : 217.333.7273 ceaps@illinois.edu www.ceaps.illinois.edu
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