Holiday movies to cheer up the AAPI audience weary from the hate and pandemic

Filipina American Vanessa Hudgens stars, and stars, and stars in the Princess Switch movies
on Netflix. In case you're wondering, only the smiling one on the right is Filipina American.

It’s that time of year and Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders  need Christmas movies more than ever as relief from the hate and pandemic.

What with all the negativity that could affect the mental health of Asian Americans: anti-Asian hate incidents occurring around the nation, a mutating pandemic that keeps thwarting our scientists' best efforts (no thanks to the anti-vaxxers), a stubborn U.S. Senate who can't seem to overcome its partisanship depriving Americans of President's Biden's historic Build Back Better plan that could transform our society by helping the middle-class survive decades of corporate America's greed.

Who can blame anybody for wanting a little escapism? We can use some light fare offered by the seasonal holiday-themed movies that flood our entertainment platforms this time of year to take our minds off the events that could dampen our spirits.

Most of the offerings are romantic comedies, except for Harold and Kumar, which I included because of the stereotype-busting nature of its lead characters played by John Cho and Kai Penn.

Maybe you're a student home for the holidays or you're visiting family. It's cold outside and there's a fire in the fireplace and its time to curl up on the couch. You've earned it. So we've listed some of the movies that might appeal to Asian Americans and Pacific Islander audience who want to see casts that look like them.

Princess Switch, Princess Switch: Switch Again, Princess Switch: Romancing the Star:

It's Christmas so its time for Vanessa Hudgens appearing on Netflix. The three Princess Switch movies start as a variation of the "Prince and the Pauper" but throw in mistaken identities and love interests and its all harmless but enjoyable fun.  During the course of the trilogy, one of the three reveals her Philippines heritage. In the third film of the franchise, a third look-alike appears giving us more Vanessa.  The Princess Switch trilogy offers a healthy dose of charming, light-hearted, twin-swap fun and is delightful viewing for any hopeless romantic. The three movies are Available for streaming on Netflix.

Love Hard

Love Hard is a modern-day take on the Cyrano de Bergerac story, but instead of whispering sweet nothings to the would-be Lothario, it's a case of online catfishing. The film's outcome is predictable after the first five minutes but you can't help but root for the character played by Jimmy Yang (Crazy Rich Asians, Silicon Valley). The rom-com stars Nina Dobrev (Vampire Diaries) as Natalie, Jimmy O. Yang as Josh, the guy who catfished her, and Darren Barnet (Never Have I Ever) as Tag, who Natalie thinks is her dream match. Also features Harry Shum Jr. and Charles Melton. The 2021 film can be streamed on Netflix. 

Nina Dobrev must choose between two Asian American guys in 'Love Hard.'

Last Christmas

the movie debuted in 2019 after Henry Golding shattered the Asian male stereotype in Crazy Rich Asians with his sexy, charming, leading-man handsome portrayal of the film's Nick Young. After that movie, it was easy for casting agents to cast him in similar roles. In Last Christmas, he plays the handsome, equally-charming leading man again in this romantic boy-meets-girl film inspired by George Michael's hit "Last Christmas." Playing opposite Golden is Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke, who portrays Kate, a frustrated Londoner who works as an elf in a year-round Christmas shop. It also stars Michelle Yeoh. The chemistry between the two attractive actors definitely works. Golden's role is not race-specific, but ... hell, his Asian features are clear to see.

The Christmas Bow 

The Hallmark film debuted in 2020 and stars Lucia Macarelli. The Korean American is a professional violinist who acts, not an actress who plays the instrument. She plays Kate, a promising musician whose lifelong dream of playing in the Rocky Mountain Philharmonic is put on hold by an accident. Reconnecting with Patrick, an old family friend, and his young cousin Gavin (Kenneth Cummins, “The Road Home for Christmas”), while recovering at home during the Christmas holiday, she finds love in someone who believes in her.

A Sugar & Spice Holiday

The predominantly Asian cast includes Jacky Lai, who plays Suzie, a rising young architect, returns to her small hometown in Maine for Christmas, where her Chinese American family runs the local lobster bar. Following the death of her grandmother, who was a star baker in their community, Suzie is guilted into following in her footsteps by entering the local gingerbread house competition. Everybody's favorite AAPI father Tzi Ma plays Suzie's dad and Lillian Lim plays the mother. Love interest is Billy, played by Tony Giroux, whose grandparents are from China. Lots of culturally specific references and moments in the Lifetime production.

'Sugar and Spice' could allude to the Asian touches to this movie like this
Chinese American holiday feast.

Holly & Ivy

Holly & Ivy follows Nina, a woman who finds out her fatal illness has returned, and she won’t be able to care for her adoptive kids. Her neighbor, Janel Parrish plays her neighbor Melody and offers to take the kids – Holly (Sadie Coleman) and Ivy (Piper Rubio) – to stay at her home. Handsome contractor Adam, played by Jeremy Jordan is the love interest but it is the strong performances by Chinese American actress Parrish and Nichols help convey the close friendship between the two women. Add the engaging portrayals by the two kids and before you know it, you'll find yourself emotionally invested in the character-driven Hallmark movie. Available on Apple TV or Amazon Prime.

Chinese American actress Janel Parrish stars in 'Holly & Ivy'

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas 

Tired of rom-coms and want a little zaniness for the holidays? A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas is a 2011 American buddy stoner comedy film directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson and written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. The sequel to Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008), it is the third installment Harold & Kumar franchise, and stars John Cho, Kal Penn, and Neil Patrick Harris. The film follows estranged friends Harold Lee (Cho) and Kumar Patel (Penn) as they reunite to hunt for a Christmas tree. The characters created by Cho and Penn shatter the Asian nerd model minority stereotype, which I applaud heartily. The Harold and Kumar franchise launched the careers of  three actors  (including Neil Patrick Harris) who eventually become big stars. Join the irreverence on HBO Max and Prime.

John Cho, center and Kal Penn, right, are the central figures in this zany Christmas film.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.

Star-studded AAPI Inaugural Ball celebrates Kamala Harris' history-making inauguration

On the eve of the Inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice President, a host of Asian American and Pacific Islanders held the AAPI Inaugural Ball online.

The virtual event was organized by IMPACT and Run AAPI in coordination with the Presidential Inaugural Committee. It honored and recognized Biden and Harris, the first woman, first Indian American and first African American ever to be elected Vice President of the U.S.

Near the end of the virtual event Harris appeared and told her now-familiar story of being raised by a single mother, who immigrated to the U.S. from India.

Kamala Harris celebrated with the AAPI community the night before her inauguration Wednesday.

“My mother Shyamala Gopalan arrived in the United States from India,” Harris said. “She raised my sister Maya and me to know that though we may be the first, we should not be the last. And I have carried that lesson with me throughout my career.”

The hour-long Zoom celebration featured remarks from a wide array of AAPI political leaders, organizers and artists including OMB Director-designate Neera Tanden; Reps. Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Andy Kim, and Raja Krishnamoorthi; former Olympian Michelle Kwan; actors Kal Penn, John Cho, Kumail Nanjiani, and Chloe Bennet; and performances by Japanese Breakfast, Ari Afsar, and Raja Kumari. 

The celebration should be viewed on Youtube which allows the viewer to see the live reactions of those who tuned into the event. Link Here.

The virtual AAPI Inaugural Ball on Youtube includes responses from scores of viewers, right.

Over the Moon: FilAm actress revels in her role and heritage

Cathy Ang, right, provided the voice for Fei Fei in 'Over the Moon' animated musical.

With an Asian American cast of Sandra Oh, John Cho, Phillipa Soo, Ken Jeong, Ruthi Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora and Margaret Cho, the young star of Over the Moon, Cathy Ang, in her biggest role in her budding career, steals the show.

Ang, 25, stars in Netflix's Over the Moon, an animated film featuring her as her voice a young girl named Fei Fei who builds a rocket ship to travel to space and meet the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e.

It was a “huge privilege and honor” to be part of that star-studded lineup, Ang said.

“This cast has inspired me to pursue acting,” Ang explained. “I grew up wanting to be able to be like them, and they paved the way for a lot of young Asian American artists. They lift the young artists up so well.”

She remembers idolizing Disney's animated Mulan as a young girl growing up Southern California and having an inspirational role model who looked like her, so she appreciates the chance to pass-it-forward to another generation of Asian American children.

“This is the first time that, as a Chinese Filipino-American I’m getting to play a Chinese character," she said. "So, it’s very exciting for me to be able to share my family’s culture and some of our traditions, and I feel really proud that it’s getting represented on screen and that hopefully the rest of the world will see it and get curious and celebrate it. So it means the world.”

Fei Fei;s incredible journey to the moon and the making of Over The Moon became part of Ang's own journey of her “personal identity,” she said in a Zoom interview with Asian and Asian American media.

“I feel like I’ve learned a lot more about who I am, and even though I’m Asian American, you know, I’m still figuring out what that really means and how that will translate in the art that I make," said the NYU grad.

"But it’s been really nice because I appreciate the way that my parents, who were immigrants from the Philippines, tried to impart a lot of their culture on me as I was growing up, and I realized, more so than ever that it’s a huge gift. And so, it’s made actually the dialogue between my parents and I more exciting because we have new things to talk about,” said Ang, whose father is fron Ongin and mother is from Nueva Viscaya.

I grew up in California and so I had the privilege of going to see lion dancing and dragon dancing in Chinatown and play with Chinese yoyos and we would always eat a lot of really amazing food for every birthday, for every holiday there was something to stuff ourselves with.  There was lechon, there was pancit, there was sinigang, you know, and there were so many holidays where it was just about gathering around a table and stuffing yourselves until you couldn't help but be happy together (laughs).

Although not a full-fledged musical, Over the Moon features plenty of songs allowing the movie's singing stars to shine.

Ang took part in musicals while in college and landed a role in the Broadway hit KPOP. Growing up, she says, like many girls she grew up as a Lea Salonga fan and is slightly embarrassed to tell of her first meeting with the Broadway legend. 

"Oh my gosh. After the show I did which was KPOP musical in New York, I met her because she came to greet the cast. I grew up with Lea Salonga. My parents are from the Philippines and they love Lea Salonga. I love Mulan and Jasmine. She is one of my inspirations to pursue art. I cried the whole time when I saw her. I could not talk to her. She probably thinks I was weird. She was so sweet and I was so overwhelmed to see her."

'Over the Moon' is available for streaming on Netflix.

Hollywood creatives behind energetic video rebranding AAPI activism

HAPA MAGAZINE

Represent Us Now brought together some of the biggest AAPI names in Hollywood.

The names are familiar to Hollywood fans -- Taika Waititi, Lulu Wang, Chloe Bennet, Steven Yeun, John Cho and Lana Condor, among others. The image of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is new.

The small but increasingly vocal Hollywood community of AAPI artists working in front and behind the camera are teaming up with political activists to promote AAPI pride and present the AAPI community in a more contemporary image that encourages  political activism.  

After Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, Agents of SHIELD actress Chloe Bennet teamed up with Brad Jenkins who served as associate director in the office of public engagement for the White House during President Obama’s administration.

Not long after the 2016 election, Agents of SHIELD actress Chloe Bennet Brad Jenkins, a Korean American who served as associate director in the office of public engagement for the White House during President Obama’s administration. They launched RUN AAPI (Represent Us Now) in 2017 as a way to help encourage more civic engagement from their peers.

For Bennet, a Chinese American, the campaign goes beyond politics. “We need to rebrand what it means to be Asian-American. We need to make sure we instill pride in our community,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter. “You might not be represented yet but look at what we’re doing so far. Let’s bring it all together to bring pride in our community.”

Because this is an election year, RUN launched #TheNew to draw in younger AAPI into the political world.

"Far too often, politicians and the media overlook young Asian American power and influence," said fellow RUN co-founder Brad Jenkins. "We are the fastest growing demographic in the country and yet, we are rarely given the room to share the realities we face in our day-to-day lives. Media, culture, advertising and television all go hand-in-hand with politics, and it's time we harness our collective power to get out the vote in our communities and make sure the issues facing young Asian Americans are addressed."

SCREEN CAPTURE / VIMEO

Chloe Bennet spoke at a gathering of Recognize Us Now (RUN).

#TheNew's political strategy and mobilization efforts are focused on Texas and Georgia; two new battleground states given the rising AAPI electorate. The following AAPI organizations supported the launch of #TheNew in solidarity: AAPI Victory Fund, AAPI Progressive Action, Asian Americans Rising, APALA, the Asian American Engagement Fund, the Asian American Action Fund, We Are Sikhs, National Sikh Campaign, and local community organizers and activists on the ground.

The campaign launched with a star-studded video, which was shared by #TheNew supporters Taika Waititi, Lulu Wang, Cory Booker, Ted Lieu, Nathan Chen, Ross Butler, Ai-Jen Poo, Alexander Wang, Jenna Ushkowitz, Harry Shum Jr, Joel Kim, Ella Jay Basco, Steven Yeun, Joe Zee, Prabal Gurung, Tamlyn Tomita, Lou Diamond Phillips, Brenda Song and more.

The video (below) is youthful and energetic, a far cry from the quiet and reticent community stereotype often conveyed in popular and mainstream media.

"We are your next-door neighbors. We are your heartthrobs. We are your doctors," Bennet told Clio on The Muse when describing the video's message. "We are American, all of us. We might not look it to you, but this is what the new normal in America is going to look like. I'm speaking for the Hollywood side, but I think it's also relevant on the D.C. side. We're just not represented on screen, and in an age when we're all stuck inside watching Netflix till our eyes bleed, seeing ourselves represented on screen shows you what's possible. It moves into a very tactical, winnable opportunity. You just have to tell people they matter."

As part of the campaign, (RUN) partnered with the National AAPI Power Fund and the National Education Association to commission the first-ever political opinion poll focused exclusively on young Asian Americans, 18-34 years old.

Some of the report's findings:

• 43% of registered voters are still uncertain on whether they will vote in November
• The most important issue for voter turnout is responding to COVID
• 83% prioritize containing COVID spread over reopening the economy now
• 1 in 3 report being accused of spreading coronavirus
• Young AAPI voters strongly support The Green New Deal, Black Lives Matter, and Medicare For All

“For us, Chloe and I believe a fundamental thing we want to change is we want to be a lot more out front with why our community is so important and why you need to pay attention to us," Jenkins tells The Hollywood Reporter. "You have to make the case for politicians to pay attention to our story and why we matter.”

"Celebrities are one thing," Jenkins tells Clio. "Thought leaders, influencers in their fields—whether it's journalism or advocacy or politics—they all share this feeling of being on the outside looking in at the American experience. We want to change that."

TGIF Feature: New film inspired by a Chinese legend centers on a Chinese American family

A new film from Netflix based on a Chinese legend and featuring a Chinese American family released it's trailer and it looks beautiful.

Over the Moon has a star-studded cast featuring Sandra Oh, John Cho...and newcomer Cathy Ang as hero character Fei Fei.

The family film's star-studded voice cast also includes Cathy Ang, Phillipa Soo, Ken Jeong, John Cho, Ruthie Ann Miles, Sandra Oh, Robert G. Chiu, Margaret Cho and Kimiko Glenn. It was directed by Disney veteran Glen Keane, whose credits include work on Beauty and the Beast and the Oscar-winning Kobe Bryant animated short Dear Basketball.

The official synopsis says: "Fueled with determination and a passion for science, a bright young girl Fei Fei builds a rocket ship to the moon to prove the existence of a legendary Moon Goddess, Chang'e, based on an ancient Chinese legend. There she ends up on an unexpected quest and discovers a whimsical land of fantastical creatures. "

Cho said he was particularly drawn to the film because of the way it explores a positive, loving experience in an Asian family dynamic. He explained:

"It's hard to find films that represent Asian culture, especially family dynamics, as something that's not oppressive or is attached to shame or filial piety or doing things that you don't want to do," said Cho. "This story is about an Asian family that is rooted in love. That's what gives it its heart. And I love that about this film."

AAPI Day Against Bullying and Hate Livestream tackles a legacy of hate and what needs to change

From top right, clockwise, taking part in United We Stand's online gathering: Lisa Ling, Michelle Lee and Bing Chen with Malik Pancholy

By Amy-Xiaoshi DePaola

ASAM NEWS

Jeannie Mai remembers this: her aunt’s beat-up car, spray-painted with the racial slur “g*ok.” “I was looking at it like…’huh? What’s that mean?'” she said.
She recalled that her aunt then pushed her aside, proceeded to rub the paint off with a bucket of water and sponge, saying, “Move, I got to get to work.”

Mai was less calmer with injustices in her own life, “getting into fistfights” and expelled from high school.

“I just pushed on through it like my aunt, and it wasn’t healthy for me,” she said. “It made me completely bypass the pain that it caused me… all of this hate built up to a place where I was a side of Jeannie where I’m not proud of today.”

Mai was one of the Asian Americans sharing their personal stories about bullying and hate at Act to Change’s webinar, held on Monday, what would have been Vincent Chin’s 65th birthday.

The 1982 deadly baseball bat beating of Chin “echoes” the rash of xenophobic hate crimes amid COVID-19 today, said Maulik Pancholy, co-founder of the nonprofit hoping to end bullying for all youth.

Act to Change’s event, United We Stand, commemorated the second annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Day Against Bullying and Hate, with a star-studded guest list of Asian American public figures. The non-profit, an offshoot of the White House Initiative on AAPIs during the Obama administration, produced the event with the support of 200 AAPI organizations and groups including AsAmNews.

Celebrities such as Fresh off the Boat‘s Hudson Yang, Queer Eye‘s Tan France, Never Have I Ever‘s Poorna Jagannathan, and other media influencers shared their experiences and offered advice to an audience that reached nearly over 600 at its peak.

“It’s important to speak out” about racism, said Mai, now the co-host of The Real. “Just the thought can turn to hate — and as we’re seeing today — death.”

The topic of COVID-19 related hate crimes hung over the webcast, with the first guest, actor Daniel Dae Kim, describing his reaction as “heartbroken, angry, frustrated.”

Kim was hospitalized in March for coronavirus, declaring himself “100%” better during the livestream. But the anti-Asian — particularly Chinese-centered — vitriol from social media and news reports has been far from cured.

“It was a stark moment to me, that we as Asian Americans have been asked to prove our Americanness,” he said. “We are taken to task about events happening a continent away.”

Event host Pancholy agreed. “We are American enough just by being American.”

But as Asian American celebrities shared their stories, not much has seemed to change. Many — from all generations — spoke about their peers and even adults verbally and physically harassing them, while mocking their language, physical features, and the food they ate — something commonly invoked in false statements that accuse Chinese of spreading the coronavirus by eating bats.

Michelle Lee, Allure Magazine‘s editor-in-chief, expressed particular shock that “the crazy old stereotypes” were back.

The backlash was also a surprise for CNN’s Lisa Ling of This is Life and media entrepreneur Bing Chen, who discussed how Asian American-led productions seemed to be soaring recently, with the climate being “good to Asians.”

“Now, it’s a totally different world,” Ling said. “In an instant, things can change.”

“My hope is that it doesn’t get worse for people like us,” she continued, alluding to this year’s Presidential election.

But racial profiling occurred long before the 2016 election, with actor John Cho retelling a story where his co-star Kal Penn kept getting frisked by airport security during their press tour in 2004 for Harold & Kumar, a movie series starring two Asian American leads, a “socio-political breakthrough.”

“We try to rationalize things over time, and maybe tell ourselves that it wasn’t what it was — but it definitely was,” Penn recalled.

A Harvard study confirmed that memory loss and PTSD are symptoms of trauma — and may be reflective of how Asian Americans are raised.

“I think for Asian communities, for immigrants, there’s a sense that everything’s okay,” said Padma Lakshmi, author and host of Top Chef. “Don’t complain, don’t make waves… just pretend that it didn’t happen. But it did.”

She herself endured the societal pressure to be silent about injustices, not only in the greater community, but hers as well, speaking candidly about her experiences with colorism and sexual assault.

Never Have I Ever star Poorna Jagannathan and actress Punam Patel agreed, speaking of a major gang rape and murder case in India, relating it to why diversity in media needs to include all stories, no matter how upsetting.

“We’re usually the punchline and never the plot line,” Jagannathan said. “Our struggles and pain are not represented.”

But when they are, she added, it “creates empathy and acceptance,” especially for those whose stories remain untold, such as immigrants.

Open dialogue and communication are also essential to breaking barriers and upending stereotypes — and not just against Asian Americans, Mai said.

“Chinese versus Filipino, Japanese versus Korean, which race was better?” the Vietnamese-Chinese American said, describing the hierarchical tensions that exist within the community. “Which skin color makes you more richer, the more affluent type?”

“That’s how racism starts,” she added. “You hear it somewhere and it’s taught… You need to address that or stop it if you hear it in your household today.”

Paulik agreed, saying that it is a “big responsibility” to stand in solidarity with all communities — especially in the “recent, horrific murder of Ahmed Arbery,” who was shot and killed while jogging, allegedly, by two White men.

“We all stand united to decry all hate, violence, and racism,” he declared.

Other methods to make Asian American community fully represented were discussed, such as financially supporting Asian American small businesses and creators.

Sometimes, stepping into the spotlight is “intimidating,” but that opens the door for others, said Tan France, fashion designer and one of the stars of Netflix’s Queer Eye.

“Nobody wants to be the first,” he said. “But now, I refuse to not be myself. I’m not going to hide that I’m Pakistani… raised Muslim… that I’m gay — I’m finally a person that’s allowed to be in this industry.

“It’s getting better. It really is.”

'Crazy Rich Asians' and 'Searching' make history at the box office

Henry Golding and Constance Wu star in 'Crazy Rich Asians.'

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, two movies with Asian actors in the lead roles are among the top ten in ticket sales at the same time.

Crazy Rich Asians, with its all-Asian cast, led box office receipts for the third week in a row. It took in $28.3 million over the Labor Day weekend. Searching, which debuted Friday and stars John Cho, came in fifth with a respectable $7.7 million.

In Searching, Cho plays a father who uses social media to find his daughter. The film, directed by Asian American Aneesh Chaganty, exceeded the $7 million forecasted by Box Office Mojo. RottenTomatoes.com said 90 percent of critics recommended the film.

The romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, which was made for $30 million, has continued to defy the overall comedy slump gripping the U.S. box office for the past several years. The Jon Chu-directed pic racked up over $117 million in its first three weeks, besting the $110.2 million earned domestically by the last comedy, the 2015 film Trainwreck starring Amy Schumer.

CRA's ticket sales was boosted by an unprecedented attendance by Asian Americans. Many wealthy Asian Americans bought out entire theaters in the #GoldOpen campaign.

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Netflix slates drama on Asian American immigrant family multi-generational journey

Alan Yang is one of Hollywood's busier producers.

JOHN CHO, who stars in the just-released Searching, will have a lead role in Tigertail, an upcoming Netflix feature from screenwriter and director Alan Yang that starts shooting next week.

Tigertail “focuses on two people’s poor life choices and the consequences of those decisions, exploring themes of regret, longing, passion and repression while spanning continents and generations, from 1950s Taiwan to present-day New York City.” 

The cast for the movie includes Arrival’s Tzi Ma and The Great Indoors’ Christine Ko. 

Although the movie that starts shooting next week was already in pre-produciton before Crazy Rich Asians opened, the latter's box office and critical success should help the project's marketability.

Tigertail should also beat Crazy Rich Asians' sequel to the screen; Warner Bros. is moving ahead with a sequel, but hasn’t officially greenlit it yet.

Yang won an Emmy for writing for Netflix’s hit comedy Master of None, which he co-created with Aziz Ansari. 

Tigertail, which is partially based on events in Yang's own family’s history, is just one of the projects being prduced by the busy Yang.

Yang is also executive producing an anthology series, Little America with Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, who co-wrote the Oscar-nominated The Big Sick.

Little America, which will be aired on Apple's new service, is inspired by the true stories featured in Epic Magazine and described on the site as “a small, collective portrait of America’s immigrants — and thereby a portrait of America itself.” The TV series will go beyond the headlines to look at the funny, romantic, heartfelt, inspiring and unexpected lives of immigrants in America, at a time when their stories are more relevant than ever.

Yang also has a high-profile new comedy series for Amazon via Uni TV starring Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen.
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TGIF Feature: #StarringJohnCho in new thriller 'Searching'

'Searching's director Aneesh Chaganty and lead actor John Cho.

By Brittney Le

ASAM NEWS

INDIAN AMERICAN director Aneesh Chaganty will make his big screen debut when the movie thriller Searching comes out Friday (Aug. 24).

Director/writer Chaganty and Armenian American producer/writer Sev Ohanian say they are excited to bring an Asian American face to the forefront of a Hollywood thriller. John Cho plays David Kim, whose daughter Margot (Michelle La) goes missing in a classic thriller story featuring a Korean American family. The story is told through computer screens in a unique shooting approach, as David searches through his daughter’s laptop in the hopes of finding clues before she disappears forever.

“For us, what’s so cool about it is that it’s a very classic thriller just told in a very unconventional way,” said Chaganty. “I feel like we took what is inherently a small screen device and turned it into a very big screen kind of experience.”

A USC film graduate, Chaganty became an internet sensation after he uploaded a short film titled Seeds shot entirely using Google Glass. It garnered more than 1 million YouTube views in 24 hours. He was then invited to work at the Google Creative Lab, where he developed, wrote, and directed Google commercials for two years.

n picking John Cho for the movie, Chaganty explained, “Because he’s a movie star. And he’s underutilized. He’s an incredible actor that should be more famous.”

“There’s no element of this film that tries to justify why there’s an Asian American family at the heart of this,” said Chaganty. “They’re specifically Korean American, but it is completely separate from the plot of the movie. To us, that was a victory for us, to make a movie that doesn’t justify this.”

He mentioned the Vanity Fair article that claimed Searching will be the first mainstream contemporary thriller ever to be headlined by an Asian American actor, which he thought was absurd, “because it’s 2018. For us, it was a big win.”

“The family became Korean specifically because of John, but we always wanted to cast an Asian American family,” said Chaganty.

“We want to see more diverse faces on screens, and there is a time and place for movies that are about diversity and representation, and I’ve made movies like that – my first movie was Fruitvale Station,” explained Ohanian. “This is not one of those movies. This is a regular film. It’s a thriller about a family. It’s a mystery. It’s a whodunit. So even more reason to have to normalize that. And it’s funny because John, who’s a movie star and has been in so many movies, he himself came down to tears at our premiere because he was like, he’s never seen himself in a movie with an Asian wife, with an Asian daughter.”

Debra Messing, star of Will & Grace, plays Rosemary Vick, the detective on Margot’s missing persons case. In recruiting Messing to the project, Chaganty wrote her a letter detailing why he wanted her for the role of Detective Rosemary Vick and what he thought she could bring to the film.

“When I got the script and opened it up, I literally, within a page, was like, ‘What am I reading? This isn’t a film,’” said Messing. “But I was fascinated, so I was like, alright, I’m gonna keep reading, and then the story began.”

Speaking of Chaganty, Messing explained, “And then when I read that it was a 23-year-old kid who had written it, and it was his first film, literally my head exploded. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ And I realized that I was dealing with a visionary. Here is a filmmaker who is going to be incredibly important to the future of cinema.”

“I don’t know if this is going to work, but frankly, I don’t care,” said Messing. “I just want to support him and his vision, and I want to be a part of it.”

When asked about getting to play Detective Rosemary Vick, Messing said, “I loved it. I always look for female characters that are strong but also have something real and complex that they’re dealing with. So when this came my way, I was excited. I saw a character that didn’t have to be a woman. Because it was complex enough that I could see a man playing the role, and so often we see female roles being more two-dimensional, so that was exciting to me.”

“I am a single mother of a boy, so immediately I was able to put myself in her shoes,” said Messing. “John and I spoke about this because we’re both parents. The idea that your child goes missing: what could possibly be worse? And that’s why I was like, wow, every parent who sees this film is going to immediately identify. So there’s a universality to, ‘What does it mean being a parent?’ How much will you do, how far will you go to protect them? And how much do you really know them, and how much are you really supposed to know as they grow and become an adult? It’s a very complicated thing.”

Searching opens in select theaters August 24 and nationwide August 31. 
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Pre-Oscar: Asian American filmmakers win Independent Spirit Awards

Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon at the Spirit Awards.

FORGET THE OSCARS! If you're a proponent of diversity in content, perspectives and talent in filmmaking, the really big awards night was the day before the Oscars. 

In one night, the Independent Spirit Awards gave more recognition and awards to Asian/American creatives than other award shows for film, television or Broadway.

Asian/American filmmakers and actors nabbed  awards in four categories and received nominations in several categories.

Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon won in the Best First Screenplay for the semi-autobiographical romantic comedy The Big Sick.

Chloe Zhao

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom won in Best Cinematography for his work capturing the Tuscan landscape and atmosphere in Call Me by Your Name.

Producer/director Chloé Zhao (The Rider) won the inaugural Bonnie Award, named after Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo (the first female pilot to fly for a major airline) recognizes a mid-career female director and includes $50,000 unrestricted grant for the winner. Also in this category was Korean/American filmmaker So Yong Kim.

Justin Chon, director of Gook, won the Someone to Watch Award, which recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Kiehl’s Since 1851.

Besides the winners, AAPI talent nominated in their categories included:

Producer Chloe Zhao's The Rider was nominated in the Best Feature category. The eventual winner was Get Out.

Columbus, directed by Kogonada and starring John Cho, was nominated for Best First Feature.

In the same category, Oh, Lucy, was nominated. Directed and produced by Atsuko Hirayanagi, her movie is based on her short film, a story of a middle-aged woman coming of age in a foreign environment.

Shinobu Teraijima

Shinobu Terajima was nominated for Best Actress in Oh Lucy! She lost out to winner Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri.

Chloe Zhao was also nominated in the Best Director category for The Rider.

Kogonada also received a nomination in Best First Screenplay for Columbus.

Motherland, about the young women giving birth in a Manila hospital, was nominated for Best Documentary by Filipino/American filmmakers Director/Producer Ramona S. Diaz and Producer Rey Cuerdo.

Upon winning the Spirit Award for Best Feature Award, Get Out director Jordan Peele said: "It's clear to everybody in this room, and across the country and across the world, that we are in the beginning of a renaissance right now — where stories from the outsider, stories from the people in this room — the same stories that independent filmmakers have been telling for years — are being honored and recognized and celebrated and I'm so proud to be here with this group of people receiving this."

Missed the show? Relive some of the highlights below. You can watch the entire broadcast again in its entirety via the Film Independent Spirit Awards page on Facebook Watch.

Watch for these films at a theater near you: 

• Gook was released August 18, 2017.
• Oh, Lucy was released March 2, 2018.
• The Rider will be released May 20, 2018.

(UPDATED for clarity, March 5, 12:20 a.m.) 
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Sundance film festival spotlights Asian & Asian/American filmmakers

John Cho in the feature film 'Search'

YOU WON'T FIND blockbusters with superheroes and tons of special effects at the Sundance Film Festival. Events like Sundance give independent filmmakers a chance to expose their movies to potential distributors.

Artistically, Asian and Asian/American movie makers did pretty well but whether that will translate into a distribution deal, only time will tell.

One of the movies picked up by a distributor is Search, starring John Cho and Debra Messing. Search, a taut thriller directed by Aneesh Chaganty, won the Audience Award. Sony reportedly paid $5-million for distribution rights, according to Variety.

Cho said it was “exciting” to play a member of an all Asian-American family in the movie. “I’m usually paired with someone who is not Asian, which is progressive in its own sense,” he said. 

 "I wanted to put this family on screen. I wanted to see a loving family, a family that wasn't dysfunctional,"

“But I thought to have a complete family that was all Asian-American was an interesting thing. It wasn’t what it was about, but it was a part of it, and I like that.”

Sundance has been kind to Cho. His last movie, the indie film Columbus, also debuted at the Utah venue featuring a 3-dimensional, subdued but perfect performance by the actor. The movie directed by Kogonada has been well received by critics and one of the few films with an Asian/American lead who wasn't a martial artist or a computer geek.

Computers and the Internet is central to Search, as Cho plays David, a father searching for his daughter by going through her social media accounts trying to find out what happened to her. While a helpful detective searches for Margot out in the real world, David grasps at rediscovering his daughter in an unfamiliar online landscape as he searches through the traces she left behind on her laptop.

Besides Search other documentaries and features by Asian and Asian/American filmmakers received notice at the festival's awards ceremony.

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award:

Christina Choe for Nancy, which she also directed. An aspiring writer confuses fact and fiction when she finds a couple she believes are her real parents.

Special Jury Award – Social Impact Filmmaking:

Stephen Maing for directing Crime + Punishment.  A group of minority whistleblower officers who risk everything to expose racially discriminatory policing practices and smash the blue wall of silence. 

Special Jury Award – Breakthrough Filmmaking:

Bing Liu for directing Minding the Gap (Diane Quon producing), A documentary follows Bing, who at age 24, returns home and reconnects with his friends Zack and Keire, whom he’s been skateboarding with since childhood.

Special Jury Award – Cinematography:

Genesis 2.0 to Das Peter Indergand and Maxim Arbugaev (also director). A documentary on two competing groups who hunt for mammoth tusks for entirely different reasons.

Dead Pigs

Special Jury Prize – Ensemble Acting:

Dead Pigs directed by Cathy Yan. A feature giving a glimpse of modern China through the intersection of a seemingly unconnected group of diverse people.

Best Directing for a Documentary:

Sandi Tan for Shirkers. A Chinese novelist searches for the man who stole the raw footage of her first attempt to make a movie.

Not all of these features and documentaries found a distributor. The ones that did find a distributor, such as Search, will probably get shown in local art houses or regional film festivals. Also, check the listings of your PBS station who might show them this May during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
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