Friday, May 7, 2021
CAAMFest 2021
A showcase of CAAM, the 11 days CAAMFest (formerly known as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival) will present 16 feature narratives, 14 feature documentaries, and many short films. Panel discussion and conversation events will also be held during the festival.
On Thursday, May 13 at the Fort Mason Flix drive-in theater, the festival opens with director Debbie Lum's superb documentary "Try Harder!" (USA 2021 | 85 min. | Documentary) about a group of aspiring seniors at one of the best and oldest high schools—Lowell High School in San Francisco.
On Sunday, May 23, the festival closes with Iman Zawahry's feature directorial debut "Americanish" (USA 2021 | 90 min.), a comedy about a group of young Pakistani-American in NYC who juggle family, career, and culture.
The centerpiece presentation for documentary is director Ann Kaneko's powerful new documentary "MANZANAR, DIVERTED: When Water Becomes Dust" (USA 2021 | 84 min. | Documentary). The film tells the story of women from different generations fighting for their land and water in Manzanar, where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II.
The centerpiece presentation for narrative is director Evan Jackson Leong's crime drama "Snakehead" (USA 2021 | 89 min.). Set in New York City's Chinatown, the film tells a story of a young woman's fight to survive among criminal human smugglers.
The festival also shines the spotlight on three prominent Asian American filmmakers: a cultural icon Margaret Cho, San Francisco native director Evan Jackson Leong, and Filipino American actor Dante Basco.
The festival's retrospectives include director Evan Jackson Leong's crowd pleasing documentary "Linsanity" (USA 2013 | 88 min. | Documentary), legendary director Wong Kar-Wai's classic "Happy Together" (春光乍洩 | Hong Kong/Japan/South Korea 1997 | in Chinese | 96 min.), and the director Lisette Marie Flanary's enchanting documentary "One Voice" (USA 2009 | in English/Hawaiian | 84 min.).
Here are my reviews (or capsule reviews if they are under hold-review status) of a few films at this year's festival.
- Try Harder! (USA 2021 | 85 min. | Documentary)
- Wuhan Wuhan (武汉 武汉 | USA/China 2021 | in Chinese | 90 min. | Documentary)
- Taipei Suicide Story (安眠旅舍 | Taiwan 2020 | in Mandarin | 45 min.)
- Out/Here Shorts
- Try Harder! (USA 2021 | 85 min. | Documentary)
Founded in 1856, San Francisco's Lowell High School is one of the most prestigious public high schools in the nation, and 70% of its students are Asian. Needless to say, getting into an elite university is the dream for most of these highly motivated nerds and their parents. But does that define these students' identities?
The director Debbie Lum and her crew followed Lowell's senior class for an entire year in and out of school and turned 300 plus hours of footage into an intimate, insightful, endearing, heartfelt, inspiring, as well as heartbreaking documentary "Try Harder!" (USA 2021 | 85 min. | Documentary). It's the best documentary I have seen this year so far.
You are already a bright star if you get into Lowell. Then the next ladder each of these high achievers has to climb is college admission, which has become more mysterious and brutal each year, and the odds are not in their favor for being Asian.
But the film shows that even though college application is a major source of these students' stress, it doesn't define who they are. These aspiring students are full of life inside and outside of the classroom. They have dreams and difficulties just like every other teenager, but they also thrive and grow every day while navigating the constant pressure from school, parents, and peers. You will meet a few impressive students who candidly share their intense senior experience, and raise thought provoking questions about the college application process.
Last fall, the San Francisco Unified School District changed the admission policy for Lowell High from merit based to random selection, and subsequently is sued over this change. Lowell's tradition and future is likely to change. But these seniors portrayed in this film give us hope for Lowell's future. The kids will be alright.
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Wuhan Wuhan (武汉 武汉| USA 2021 | in Chinese | 90 min. | Documentary)
It has been more than a year since Covid-19 broke out in Wuhan and caused the city of 11 million to lock down for 76 days. What was it like in those 76 days? The Chinese-Canadian director Yung Chang's captivating documentary "Wuhan Wuhan" (武汉 武汉 | USA 2021 | in Chinese | 90 min. | Documentary) tells the story about people in the city fighting the crisis in solidarity during those devastating moments.
With impressive access and observant lenses, the film follows several individuals representing a variety of people in the fight of this pandemic. ER Chief physician Dr. Zheng races with time working day and night to save lives in an overwhelmed hospital. ICU nurse Susu takes care of her patients with compassion and kindness; yet, in her quarantined hotel room, watching her two young children through video-chat crying and begging for her to come home, she can only quietly wipe her own tears. Factory worker Yin takes on great risks for himself and his very pregnant wife Xu by volunteering as a driver to shuttle healthcare workers in a locked-down ghost town. Psychologist Dr. Zhang comes to Wuhan all the way from Xinjiang to help patients in a temporary hospital while her own father is dying of lung cancer at home. Nine-year-old Lailai and his mother Liu are anxiously waiting for their release after being treated for Covid-19 at a temporary hospital built inside a stadium. Grandpa Shen recovers in an ICU bed without losing his grumpy temper.
Unlike another, also terrific, documentary "76 Days" (USA/China 2020) that primarily focuses on a few ICUs in several hospitals in Wuhan during the lockdown, the director Yung Chang aims to show a broader picture across the spectrum of people during the lockdown. He superbly portrays the great sacrifices and dedications from these regular citizens and how they shoulder the burden and hardship together.
Despite the heart-wrenching subject matter, the film remarkably shows us tremendous hope. When Yin's daughter is born, we know that she will be okay in the arms of these ordinary people who exhibit extraordinary humanity.
- Taipei Suicide Story (安眠旅舍 | Taiwan 2020 | in Mandarin | 45 min.)
Even though "Taipei Suicide Story" (安眠旅舍 | Taiwan 2020 | in Mandarin | 45 min.) is only the second short film from the writer-director KEFF (王凱民), his exquisite talent is evident in every carefully composed frame. His remarkable storytelling style makes you long for more from him and meet more mesmerizing characters he creates. The film had its world premiere at last year's Cannes Film Festival and won top prizes at this year's Slamdance Film Festival. Now you don't want to miss it at this year's CAAMFest.
Neatly dressed Zhi-Hao (Tender Huang) works at the front desk at a hotel in Taipei. But this is not just any hotel, it's a hotel for people to check in and then check out of their lives—a suicide hotel. Thus, the rule requires that each guest only stays for one night. The hotel staff remain emotionally detached from the guests, and they perform daily "cleaning" service as if they were working in any other hotel.
When Zhi-Hao finds out a young girl Jun-Ting (Vivian Sung) has already stayed in her room for five days, he goes to her room to enforce the hotel policy. But after he strikes up a conversation with her, he finds that he is unable to maintain his usual apathy toward hotel guests.
The director KEFF terrifically conveys the conflicting thoughts in Zhi-Hao's mind. The existence of such a unique hotel implies that the hotel staff, including Zhi-Hao, respect their guests' wishes and privacy, and provide a valuable service to them for dignified exits. They trust their guests are making the right decision. But when the guest becomes personal to Zhi-Hao, that balanced mindset is completely knocked off.
This beautiful and daunting film tells an original and philosophical story within a remarkably short running time. It puts the focuses on its characters while provoking the audience to think about the moral and philosophical question about death.
- Out/Here Shorts
CAAMFest has a reputation for curating excellent shorts programs each year. And an LGBTQ+ themed shorts program has been a staple at the festival for many years. This year's "Out/Here Shorts" assembles six interesting short films which tell personal stories.
There is no question that the pandemic had a horrible impact on everyone. It can be even harder for a gay and Chinese immigrant to anticipate the future and to survive in a toxic anti-Asian environment incited by Trump. San Francisco based filmmaker Will Zang's documentary "The Leaf" (USA 2021 | in Mandarin/English | in Mandarin/English | 4 min. | Documentary) poetically expresses his personal qualm that resonates with many.
The pandemic can also have unexpected consequences. Co-directed by Myanmar filmmaker M. Noe and Yupar Momo, the playful "Love X Bites" (Myanmar 2021 | in Burmese | 18 min.) tells a story about two girls who are assigned to the same room at a quarantine hotel and an intimacy sparks between them.
Oakland based writer-filmmaker Edward Gunawan's dreamy and elegant video essay "Driving with the Top Down" (USA 2021 | 5 min. | Documentary) connects his personal experiences as a queer Chinese Indonesian with a deeper legacy and historical context.
The directory Thy Tran's drama "Summer Winter Summer" (USA 2021 | 15 min.) unfolds a story about Duy's random hookups to fill the void and to forget Martin's disappearance.
Labels: CAAMFest
