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San Francisco Chronicle
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
CAAMFest films show Vietnam War is still in our DNA a half-century later
The United States marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War last week, and judging by the scarcity of events and subdued mentions in the media, Americans have moved on from one of the most disastrous events in the nation's history. But the anguish on Oakland filmmaker Tony Nguyen's face as he searches for the father he never knew in his documentary 'Year of the Cat' tells a different story. The ripple effects from a conflict that killed 58,000 U.S. troops and 3 million Vietnamese, most of them civilians, are still very much with us, and CAAMFest is helping make sense of it all. More Information CAAMFest 43 What: The nation's longest running Asian American-themed film festival. When: Thursday-Sunday, May 8-11. Where: AMC Kabuki 8, 1881 Post St., S.F.; San Francisco Museum of Art's Phyllis Wattis Theater, 151 Third St., S.F.; Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., S.F. Opening night: 'Third Act,' Tadashi Nakamura's documentary about his father, Robert A. Nakamura, now in his late 1980s, a legend in Asian American independent film circles. 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Kabuki. Followed by opening night gala at Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., S.F. Centerpiece documentary: Rajee Samarasinghe's 'Your Touch Makes Others Invisible' which examines the number of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka, most of whom are Tamils. 12:30 p.m. Saturday, SFMOMA. Centerpiece narrative: Vera Brunner-Sung's 'Bitterroot' is set in the Hmong community in Missoula, Mont. 7 p.m. Saturday, Kabuki. Closing night: 'Yellow Face,' Annette Jolles' filmed performance of the Tony Award-nominated Broadway play starring Daniel Dae Kim and Francis Jue, who are both also Tony nominated and are scheduled to appear in person. 8 p.m. Sunday, Kabuki. For tickets, a full schedule and more information: The 43rd edition of the nation's oldest Asian American-themed film festival run by the Center for Asian American Media, which runs from Thursday to Sunday, May 8-11, features a special section devoted to films addressing the legacy of a war that ended with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. 'It's important to hear from those directly impacted by war and the aftermath of war, the refugee experience,' Nguyen, whose 'Year of the Cat' plays at 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 9, at the AMC Kabuki 8, told the Chronicle. 'To be able to hear the stories of what my parents went through, what I went through growing up here, the wounds that carried over to my generation. We're trying to unpack what happened in the past that has made us who we are today and to try to get into a better, healthier place for future generations.' Like most Americans living today, Nguyen was born after the end of the war, but just barely. His mother, unknowingly pregnant, fled to the U.S. after the fall of Saigon and as a refugee was placed in tiny Seymour, Ind., where Nguyen was born in late 1975. Now a father of two, Nguyen felt it was important for his family legacy to attempt to find his father. The quest — aided by DNA tests — took him five years, during which the filmmaker said he underwent an 'inner transformation.' 'I'm really blessed to have people on my mom's side of the family, and my mother, who allowed me to question her about sensitive topics. My family has really demonstrated what love is, what love looks like,' Nguyen said. 'There are good people in the world who I couldn't have done what I did without, whether it was the YouTuber that helped me out or various family members.' 'The Motherload' also features an immigrant mother and her offspring, but takes a far different approach. The narrative film, which screens (noon Sunday at the Kabuki) stars writer and co-director Van Tran Nguyen and her real-life mother, Sang Tran. The mother and daughter attempt to heal the rift between them by reenacting, often hilariously, scenes from classic Vietnam War-themed films such as Francis Ford Coppola's ' Apocalypse Now ' and Oliver Stone's 'Platoon.' The clever movie is preceded by a short documentary, 'We Were the Scenery,' written and produced by poet Cathy Linh Che, about her parents, Vietnamese refugees who fled the war and found themselves in the Philippines performing as extras in 'Apocalypse Now.' Together, the films explore how Hollywood has often misrepresented the conflict and the Vietnamese diaspora. '('Apocalypse Now') has defined much of the American imagination of the Vietnam War, and so I wanted to add my parents voices into that space where they were not able to have a voice,' said Che, whose latest book of poetry 'Becoming Ghost' was published last month. 'As artists we are here to illuminate stories that have been erased and hidden, and as moviegoers we are also here to attune ourselves to these stories so that they can add to the fullness of our (understanding).' Other films at CAAMFest that address the war at least tangentially include a retrospective screening of Ann Hui's 1982 classic 'Boat People' (7 p.m. Friday, Roxie Theater); the first three episodes of 'Our Roots, Our Power' (2:30 p.m. Saturday, Kabuki), a Southeast Asian American Journeys docuseries; 'Cu Li Never Cries' (3 p.m. Saturday, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's Phyllis Wattis Theater); and 'New Wave' (3 p.m. Sunday, Phyllis Wattis Theater), Elizabeth Ai's documentary about a music movement that helped Vietnamese American teens in the 1980s process the trauma of the refugee experience.
San Francisco Chronicle
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Guide to CAAMFest 2025: Must-watch films that celebrate Asian Americans, past and present
As the world's longest-running Asian American-themed film festival, it seems especially timely that this year, CAAMFest turns its focus to community roots. Reflection and retrospection are key themes throughout the films screening during the four-day festival organized by the Center for Asian American Media that runs from Thursday to Sunday, May 8-11. For its 43rd year, not only will CAAMFest spotlight films that mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, but the festival's programming will also point its lens toward the next generation of Asian American filmmakers and activists. As an organization, CAAM itself is in a period of transition. Last December, the nonprofit celebrated the career of its retiring executive director Stephen Gong, capping off more than 40 years of his involvement. So it's fitting that this year's festival schedule honors the stories of Asian Americans who laid down the roots of the vibrant culture that so many enjoy today — which feels all the more important to underscore under a presidential administration that's attacking diversity initiatives and pulling arts funding. Here are seven screenings worth catching during this year's CAAMFest, which commemorate the foundations of Asian America and imagine its future. 'Third Act' Kicking off CAAMFest's opening night is Tadashi Nakamura's intimate documentary about his father, Robert A. Nakamura, known as 'the godfather of Asian American media' who directed the first Asian American feature film 'Hito Hata: Raise the Banner' (1980) and founded the first Asian American media arts organization, Visual Communications. 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 8. AMC Kabuki 1, 1881 Post St., S.F. 'Chinatown Cha-Cha' The joy, beauty and glamour of these Asian American senior dancers is a poignant delight to witness. This celebratory documentary traces the history of the nightclub dancers of San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1940s and how in older age, these former professionals inspire their peers to keep dancing. 8 p.m. Friday, May 9. AMC Kabuki 3, 1881 Post St., S.F. Making Waves: The Rise of Asian America While paying homage to the student activists at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State who birthed the Asian American movement in 1968, this moving documentary by Jon Osaki and Josh Chuck also introduces audiences to young activists like the Texas teenagers fighting to add Asian American studies to their state's curriculum. 4 p.m. Saturday, May 10. AMC Kabuki 1, 1881 Post St., S.F. Bitterroot In this feature by Vera Brunner-Sung, care takes multiple forms, from one Hmong family's intergenerational breakfasts to finding solace in natural splendor. Beautifully shot, the story follows recent divorcee Lue as he interacts with his tightly knit community, which includes NBC Bay Area anchor/reporter Gia Vang in the role of his sister, May. 7 p.m. Saturday, May 10. AMC Kabuki 1, 1881 Post St., S.F. Centerpiece Shorts A rarity for CAAMFest, this year a slate of short films get the distinction of being named a festival centerpiece. The seven-film screening includes 'Billo Rani,' a charming story about a 12-year-old figuring out how to feel about her unibrow, and 'Kumar Kumar,' a dark comedy about loneliness. 12 p.m. Sunday, May 11. Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., S.F. Palestinian Landscapes This two-film showcase asks audiences to consider Palestinians' connection to land and tradition. 'A Stone's Throw' takes an experimental approach in mapping geographies and feelings of loss, while 'Foragers' reveals how harvesting plants in Palestine has become criminalized activity under occupation. 5 p.m. Sunday, May 11. Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., S.F. Yellow Face CAAMFest's closing night screening returns to events of the 1990s in the filmed 2024 revival of David Henry Hwang's Broadway play 'Yellow Face.' Recorded for PBS's 'Great Performances,' the biting, uproarious theatrical mockumentary about casting a white actor in an Asian role for 'Miss Saigon' on Broadway features standouts like Daniel Dae Kim and Francis Jue. 8 p.m. Sunday, May 11. AMC Kabuki 1, 1881 Post St., S.F.
