Curated and organized by the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, the AAS 2024 Film Expo will feature 22 recent documentary and independent films on issues and experiences reflecting contemporary life in Asia. Film screenings and discussions with selected filmmakers will be held from March 14 through March 16, 2024 at the Seattle Convention Center (SCC), Level 3, Room 309 and Room 310, during the Association for Asian Studies 2024 Annual Conference. All screenings are free and open to the public.
DAY 1 (March 14) Screening Schedule
1975.KIM SANG-JIN
Thursday, March 14, 2024, 10:00 AM
Directed by AN Byung-Kwon.
2022. South Korea. 75 minutes
Country/region featured: South Korea
1975.KIM SANG-JIN tells the story of a young activist whose political suicide leads to mass
campus demonstration and violent crackdown at Seoul National University, triggering a wave of
student protests against the Park Chung-hee government following the events.
Self-distributed by the filmmaker
Contact: AN Byung-Kwon, anbyungkwon@gmail.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwIu_5fLNoEdt2pELqbTp_A
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Melting Icecream
Thursday, March 14, 2024, 11:15 AM
Directed by HONG Jinhwon
2021. South Korea. 70 minutes.
Country/region featured: South Korea
In-person Q&A with scholar Jihoon Kim (Author of Activism and Post-activism: Korean
Documentary Cinema, 1981-2022 [OUP, 2024]).
In the warehouse of the Korea Democracy Foundation, old rolls of film titled, “Film damaged by
the Flood” are mysteriously found. Through the restored films and interviews with the
photographers, the documentary reveals the once forgotten images and memories of labor
struggles during a tumultuous time of Korean democracy.
Distributed by Cinema DAL.
www.cinemadal.com
https://siff.kr/en/films/30806/
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Even the Women Must Fight
Thursday, March 14, 2024, 12:45 PM
Directed and Produced by Karen Turner and Phan Thanh Hao
2023. United States. 25 minutes.
Country/region featured: Vietnam
In-person Q&A with scholar Tri Phuong.
Rare interviews with female veterans of Ho Chi Minh's volunteer youth brigades. Women tell their stories of wartime hardship and post war challenges, backed by historical footage from Northern Vietnamese combat photographers. A new view of an old war.
Self-distributed by the filmmaker.
Contact: Karen Turner at kturner@holycross.edu
eventhewomenmustfight.com
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When the Tide Goes Out
Thursday, March 14, 2024, 1:30 PM
A film by Ajay Bhardwaj.
2021. Canada. 118 minutes
Country/region featured: Canada
By tracing the history of intercommunity organizing in a strand of the South Asian diasporic labour movement in Vancouver after four decades, the film discovers the persistent albeit hidden patriarchal discourse, overwriting the gentle power that fuels the struggle. The patriarchy’s all-pervasive yet elusive presence is missing from movement art, erasing the
gendered experience of organizing from the movement’s collective memory.
Self-distributed by the filmmaker.
Contact: Ajay Bhardwaj, ajayunmukt@gmail.com
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Building Bridges: Bill Youren's Vision of Peace
Thursday, March 14, 2024, 3:30 PM
Directed by John Chrissotoffels.
2022. Aotearoa/New Zealand. 82 minutes.
Country/region featured: China and New Zealand
In-person Q&A with scholar/filmmaker Richard Bullen.
A tireless campaigner for world peace, New Zealander Bill Youren courted controversy by
visiting China in 1952, 1956, and 1960, where he witnessed events seminal in the first years of
the People’s Republic, which he captured on his 8mm camera. He also collected Chinese art,
which he exhibited throughout New Zealand as an alternative image of China to that offered by
the government and mainstream press. Bill’s story is told through his letters and publications,
and his own 8mm footage and slides.
Produced by Porter Pictures
https://www.porterpictures.co.nz
Distributed by Lime Light Distribution
https://www.limelightdistribution.co.nz/film/building-bridges-bill-yourens-vision-of-peace
