AsiaLENS
AEMS Documentary and Independent Film Series
at the Spurlock Museum
AsiaLENS is a series of free public film screenings and lecture / discussion programs -- organized by AEMS in collaboration with Spurlock Museum -- presenting recent documentary and independent films on issues reflecting contemporary life in Asia.
Local and visiting experts introduce the films and lead audiences in post-screening discussions.
All AsiaLENS screenings are FREE and open to the public.
Spurlock Museum screenings are held the second Tuesdays of September, October, and November for Fall 2014. The Spurlock Museum is located at 600 S. Gregory Street, Urbana, IL.
Full schedule for Fall 2014 is listed below.
Information on past screenings:Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
AsiaLENS Upcoming Fall 2014 Calendar:
Hafu: The Mixed-Race Experience in Japan
Tuesday, September 9, 2014 - 7:00 pm
Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory Street, Urbana, IL
Somewhere Between
Tuesday, October 14, 2014 - 7:00 pm
Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory Street, Urbana IL
Honor and Sacrifice &
He defied the Tide of Time
Double feature
Tuesday, November 11, 2014 - 7:00 pm
Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory Street, Urbana, IL
Hafu:The Mixed-Race Experience in Japan
A film by Megumi Nishikura and Lara Perez Takagi. 2013. 87 minutes. In Japanese and English with English subtitles.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014 - 7:00 pm
Spurlock Museum, Knight Auditorium, 600 S. Gregory Street, Urbana, IL
Post screening discussion with Dr. Robert Tierney (Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures and Comparative and World Literatures) and Dr. Roderick Wilson (Assistant Professor, History and East Asian Languages and Cultures).
Description:
Hafu – the Mixed-Race Experience in Japan is a journey of discovery into the complex multicultural experience of mixed-race Japanese in modern day Japan. The film follows the lives of five Hafus – the Japanese term for people who are half Japanese – as they explore what it means to be multiracial and multicultural in a nation that once proudly proclaimed itself to be mono-ethnic. For some of these Hafus, Japan is the only home they know. For others, living in Japan is an entirely new experience. And still others find themselves caught between two different worlds.
Resources:
Distributed by Megumi Nishikura
Film website: Hafufilm.com
Reviews:
The Wall Street Journal
The Japan Times
Filmmaker Interview:
Written interview with Megumi Nishikura and Laura Perez Takagi can be found here.
For a sound recording of an interview with Nishikura, click here.
Somewhere Between
A film by Linda Goldstein Knowlton. 2012. 88 minutes.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014 -7:00 pm
Spurlock Museum, Knight Auditorium, 600 S. Gregory Street, Urbana, IL
Introduction by Mai-Lin Poon (Assistant Director, Asian American Cultural Center) and post-screening discussion with Gehui Zhang (Doctoral Candidate, Department of Sociology).
Description:
Of the roughly 80,000 girls who have been adopted from China since 1989, a decade after China implemented its One Child Policy, the film intimately follows four teenagers: Haley, Jenna, Anna and Fang. These four wise-beyond-their-years yet typical American Teens reveal a heartbreaking sense of self-awareness as they attempt to answer the uniquely human question, "Who am I?" Issues of belonging, race and gender are brought to life through these articulate subjects, who approach life with honesty and open hearts.
Resources:
Distributed by Long Shot Factory.
Film website
Trailer
Reviews:
LA Times
Variety
Director's Statement:
Read the director's statement on the film website.
Honor and Sacrifice: The Roy Matsumoto Story
A film by Don Sellers and Lucy Ostrander, produced by Stourwater Pictures. 2013. 28 minutes.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014 - 7:00 pm
Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory Street, Urbana, IL
Introduction and discussion by by Louis G. Perez (Professor of History, Illinois State University).
Description:
“Honor and Sacrifice” tells the complex story of a Japanese immigrant family ripped apart by WWII. The Matsumoto family included five sons; two who fought for the Americans and three who fought for the Japanese. The eldest, Hiroshi (Roy), became a hero, fighting against the Japanese with Merrill's Marauders, an American guerrilla unit in Burma. He was born near Los Angeles, educated in Japan, and became a hero when he used his Japanese language skills and military training to save his surrounded, starving battalion deep in the Burmese jungle. At the same time his parents and sisters were living in their family’s ancestral home, Hiroshima. The story is told by Roy's daughter Karen as she discovers her father's work in military intelligence, kept secret for 50 years.
from http://honordoc.com/film.html
Resources:
Distributed by Stourwater Pictures.
Reviews:
Asian Educational Media Service
Educational Media Reviews Online
Filmmaker Interview:
Seattle's KUOW interview with Don Sellers and Karen Matsumoto available here.
He defied the Tide of Time
A film by Suzanne Concha Emmrich and Bilderall Emmrich. 2012. 29 minutes.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014 -7:00 pm
Spurlock Museum, Knight Auditorium, 600 S. Gregory Street, Urbana, IL
Introduction and discussion by Louis G. Perez (Professor of History, Illinois State University).
Description:
In the noise of today's society, the voices of the last witnesses from World War II are drowned out. He defied the Tide of Time records Japanese and Polish-Jewish witnesses before they are gone forever. Their memories tell us the incredible story of Chiune Sugihara and his saving of 6,000 refugees in the Lithuanian town of Kaunas in the summer of 1940.
Resources:
Distributed by Bilderall Emmrich KB
Last Updated October 7, 2014.
