MAY 6 - 4:00 p.m. - Directors Guild of America, Theater 3
This search for identity will lead the viewed from a bookshop
in Vancouver to a call center in India, over the pole to
(somewhere in Canada) and into the animated and imagined
mind. Who we are can be defined by what we do, what we believe
and what others think. But rarely is it as simple as what
we look like. Go beneath the surface to find what lies beneath.
TRT: 91 minutes
WHAT ARE YOU ANYWAYS? (De Toute Fa-on, Qu'est-ce Tu Es?)
(Canada, 2005) Dir.: Jeff China Stearns
Filmmaker Jeff Chiba Steams explores
his cultural backgrounds growing up a mix of Japanese and
Caucasian in a small white-bred Canadian city. This classically
animated film looks at particular periods in Jeff's life
where he battled with finding an identity being a half minority.
WHAT ARE YOU ANYWAYS? is a humorous yet serious story of
struggle and love and finding one's identity through the
trials and tribulations of growing up.
Video, 11 minutes, color, animation
COMRADE DAD (Lao Ba Tong Zhi)
(Canada, 2005) Dir.: Karin Lee
Writer/director Karin Lee reflects on
her father Wally Lee and the Communist bookstore that he
ran on Vancouver's Skid Row from the mid-1960s until early
1980s. COMRADE DAD explores both the person and the effect
that his ideological beliefs had on his family, set within
the political landscapes of Canada and China at the time
of the Cultural Revolution. It is also a little-known story
about how a segment of Vancouver's Chinese community embraced
Chinese socialism and how their idealism was affected by
a changing political climate in China.
Video, 27 minutes, color, documentary
NALINI BY DAY, NANCY BY NIGHT
(United States/India, 2005) Dir.: Sonali Gulati
NALINI BY DAY, NANCY BY NIGHT is a documentary
on outsourcing of American jobs to India. Told from the
perspective of an Indian living in the U.S., the film journeys
into India's call centers, where telemarketers acquire American
names and accents to service the telephone-support industry
of the U.S. The film incorporates animation, live action,
and archival footage to explore the complexities of globalization,
capitalism, and identity.
Video, 27 minutes, color and black & white, documentary
A CHINK IN THE ARMOR
(Canada, 2004) Dir.: Baun Mah
A CHINK IN THE ARMOR investigates racial
stereotypes while revealing what it means to be Chinese-Canadian
in today's society. Gathering a large group of volunteers
from Toronto, five of the major stereotypes will be tested
to see if they are true. Do Chinese really know kung fu?
Are they all good at math? The oftentimes hilarious results
offer a unique glimpse into Chinese-North American culture.
