Film Screenings
Concerts
Panel Discussions, Lectures, and Presentations
WEDNESDAY
6:00pm
5/1
Film Screening
Attack from Space!
Live Score by JOO WON PARK
Enjoy some classic Japanese sci-fi with a modern twist! Award-winning electronic musician Joo Won Park will provide a live score to the 1965 movie Attack from Space!, directed by Koreyoshi Akasaka and Teruo Ishii and starring Ken Utsui.
In Attack from Space!, benevolent aliens from the planet Emerald send superhero Starman to protect Earth from invasion by an evil alien race called the Spherions. When Starman arrives on Earth, he discovers a conspiracy involving Earth's top scientists, and he must root out the traitors and also stop the impending alien invasion.
Joo Won Park makes music with electronics, toys, and other sources that he can record or synthesize. He is the recipient of Knight Arts Challenge Detroit (2019) and the Kresge Arts Fellowship (2020). His music and writings are available on ICMC DVD, Spectrum Press, MIT Press, PARMA, Visceral Media, MCSD, SEAMUS, and No Remixes labels. He currently teaches Music Technology at Wayne State University.
This 75 minutes-minute film is unrated. Q&A with Joo Won Park following the screening
Co-presented by the Ann Arbor Film Festival
MONDAY
6:00pm
5/6
Film Screening
Most Honorable Son
Q/A with director Bill Kubota
Most Honorable Son is the story of Ben Kuroki, the first Japanese American war hero—an airman over North Africa, Europe, and Japan. This documentary charts Kuroki's historic, controversial journey from the day Pearl Harbor was attacked to the atomic bombings of Japan.
Join the film's director, Bill Kubota, for a Q&A after the screening.
Bill Kubota has produced, written, directed and lensed local, regional and national documentaries for broadcast since the 1980s. His national projects include co-producing the Dupont Columbia Journalism award-winning Beyond The Light Switch series for Detroit Public Television.
His work has also appeared on PBS NewsHour, ABC News, CBS News and ESPN. He’s worked as a producer, photographer, on-air reporter and news assignment manager for television stations in Lansing, Flint and Detroit. He’s currently working on short films that look at the major issues facing Metro Detroit for Detroit Public Television, One Detroit and DPTV’s Great Lakes Now.
Co-presented by Detroit PBS
THURSDAY
6:00pm
5/23
Lecture
Imperial Moods: Mid-Century Music and the Cold War
Talk & Q/A with Manan Desai
Desai's presentation explores U.S. media representations of the Third World, the global bloc of decolonizing nations in Asia and Africa during the Cold War, through the development of the mid-century music genre known as Exotica. Emerging after the Second World War, Exotica was a popular form of ersatz “world music” which, I argue, responded to anxieties around racial integration and the decolonizing world.
Manan Desai is a 2023-24 Helmut F. Stern Faculty Fellow at the Institute for the Humanities and Associate Professor of American Culture and Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies.
SATURDAY
6:00pm
5/25
Concert
Here/Now
feat. Kioto Aoki, Naomi Columna, Haruhi Kobayashi, Kenji Lee, Chien-An Yuan, and Julie Zhu
Join us for a concert celebrating the art of collaborative electro-acoustic improvisatory music featuring a remarkable line-up of APIA musicians across the Midwest for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Don’t miss this evening of musical exploration and wonder as we come together to embrace the transformative power of collaboration and creativity.
Special thanks to Asian Improv aRts Midwest
SUNDAY
1:00pm
5/26
Concert
To Heal
feat. Kioto Aoki, Naomi Columna, Zosette Guir, Zilka Joseph, Haruhi Kobayashi, Kyunghee Kim, and Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe
Join us for a safe, restorative, and inclusive afternoon concert of music and song, poetry and prose readings, and ambient electronic soundscapes in honor of AAPI Heritage Month.
‘To Heal’ aims to create a safe, restorative, and inclusive experience for attendees of all backgrounds in a celebration of healing, intersectional solidarity, and unity. Together, these elements will highlight the shared humanity that binds us all, fostering a spirit of empathy and compassion.
Special thanks to Asian Improv aRts Midwest
MONDAY
6:30pm
6/3
Food Tasting & Presentation
Salty, Sticky, Sweet
with Leo Chen, Shannon Rae Daniels, Rachel Liu Martindale at Bløm Meadworks
Join us for a unique and captivating culinary experience as we bring together three talented Ann Arbor-based Asian American culinary creatives to share a signature dish that represents their cultural heritage, personal journey, and vision for the future of APIA cuisine.
Through their stories and presentations, you'll gain insight into the cultural influences, techniques, and inspirations behind their creations. From traditional favorites to innovative fusion creations, there will be something for everyone to enjoy.
Bløm Meadworks
100 S 4th Ave STE 110, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
*Pre-Registration Required. Click HERE to register.
Special thanks to Bløm Meadworks
THURSDAY
6:30pm
6/6
Panel Discussion
Can Art Grace Our Troubled World?
with Kim Jackson Debord, Jasmine Rivera, and Michelle Yang
In a world often plagued by conflict, uncertainty, and inequity, art can offer a glimmer of hope and solace. But how exactly can art grace our troubled world?
This panel discussion will explore the power of art to heal, inspire, and bring people together. We will discuss how art can provide a platform for dialogue, foster understanding, and promote intersectional solidarity and social change.
Local APIA artists and leaders will share their insights on how art can make a difference in the world, and offer practical methods and processes for individuals to use art to create positive change.
TUESDAY
3:00pm
6/18
Film Screening
IS/LAND presents CHIMERA
Q/A with members of IS/LAND and co-composer Whodat?
Chimera is an immersive 15 minute movement-based film, performed by APIA Performance Collective IS/LAND in collaboration with University of Michigan Masters of Science researcher Do Young Kim.
By definition, a Chimera is ‘an organism composed of mixed genetic tissues’ but also, when applied to science, a goal that is ‘that is hoped for but is illusory or impossible to achieve’. Both of these definitions apply to the experiences of AAPI women—how their experiences and complex life identities are vilified and simplified by the white supremacist patriarchy, but moreso, how their achievements are also subject to the glass ceiling, with aspirations and dreams made impossible by existing social standards. Is it possible for AAPI women in this country to fully integrate into the fabric of Western society, or will they always be subjected to being othered?
This filmed performance then confronts and questions these two conceptual definitions through an immersive sound/optics environment. By creating a space where movement intersects with propulsive electronic sounds while enveloped by light, Chimera creates a space for AAPI women to liberate themselves from societal constraints and fully embody their complex life experiences—as both a form of exaltation and transformation, converging into an apex of ecstatic catharsis.
The projection backgrounds for Chimera will consist of optical imaging selected by Kim, exemplifying the cellular transformation of AAPI women through the performance experience.
Also screened will be IS/LAND shorts, including Synodic (5min), Lost Constellation (13min), and C-OMMON(S) (3min)
SUNDAY
3:00pm
6/23
Writing Workshop
Stories We’re Told, Stories We Tell
facilitated by Kyunghee Kim and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang
This workshop invites participants to explore the narratives that shape their identities and the expectations placed upon them by family, society, and personal history. Through creative writing exercises and discussion, attendees will gain insights into the stories they've been told about themselves, the stories they tell, and most critically, the stories they want to tell. This workshop aims to:
Uncover Hidden Narratives: Identify the cultural and familial narratives that influence our beliefs, behaviors, and relationships.
Empower Personal Agency: Foster a sense of empowerment by recognizing the role we play in shaping our own narratives.
Cultivate Self-Awareness: Promote self-awareness by examining how past experiences, familial and cultural expectations, and societal norms continue to shape our evolving identity.
Promote Resilience: Explore strategies for navigating the burden of familial and cultural expectations and legacy, building resilience, and embracing authenticity.
Foster Connection: Create a supportive environment for participants to share, listen, and learn from one another's experiences.