2011 VNCA Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Film Festival

April 6th-13th, 2011

All films will be shown in the Formby Room of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library.

This film festival is co-sponsored by the TTU Libraries. For more information on the festival, please call 806-742-9010.

Green Dragon

• Show Times:
  • Wed. April 6th, 3:15pm
  • Tues. April 12th, 7:00pm
• Running time: 113 min.
• More Information

Green Dragon stars Patrick Swayze, Forest Whitaker, Don Duong, Hiep Thi Le, and Trung Nguyen. Set in 1975, Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps Base in Southern California, quickly becomes home to tens of thousands of Vietnamese Refugees after the Fall of Saigon. The film depicts the experiences of Vietnamese refugees as well as the Marine in charge of housing the displaced refugees in the camp while they await sponsorship and assimilation into the United States.

Play Movie Trailer:

Rashōmon

• Show Times:
  • Wed. April 6th, 7:00pm
  • Thurs. April 7th, 3:15pm
• Running time: 88 min.
• More Information

A Japanese crime mystery based on two stories written by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, this film depicts the rape of a woman and the murder of her samurai husband through the very different perspectives and accounts of four witnesses: the rape victim, the rape victim’s murdered husband speaking through a medium, the bandit/rapist, and the narrator. The accounts are so varied and tainted with ego and the motivation to save face that the truth of what happened is uncertain. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, received an Academy Honorary Award at the 24th Academy Awards, and introduced Japanese cinema to the West. The movie stars Toshirō Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyō, and Takashi Shimura.

The director, Akira Kurosawa, is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. In 1990 he received the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. After his death in 1998 he was named Asian of the Century in the "Arts, Literature, and Culture" category by AsianWeek magazine and CNN. Rashōmon is one of his masterpieces and is one of his most well known films in the West.

The Toll of the Sea

• Show Times:
  • Thurs. April 7th, 7:00pm
  • Wed. April 13th, 3:15pm
• Running time: 83 min.
• More Information

Written by Frances Marion, the film’s plot is basically Madame Butterfly, but set in Hong Kong. It is the tragic love story of a lovely Hong Konger girl who saves a drowning American man and falls in love with him. They marry, but thinking it unwise to continue their interracial romance, he leaves her to return to America. She is left pregnant and heartbroken, but hopes he will someday return to her. When he finally does return, it is with his new American wife.

The movie’s lead role is played by 17 year old Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American movie star and the first Asian American to become an international star. The film is the first major lead role for her. The Toll of the Sea is silent and is a color feature. It is the second two-strip Technicolor feature made and is the first to be widely released.

Kim's Story: The Road from Vietnam

• Show Times:
  • Tues. April 12th, 3:15pm
  • Wed. April 13th, 7:00pm
• Running time: 56 min.
• Film Website

Kim’s Story: The Road from Vietnam is a documentary film based on the inspirational life story of Phan Thi Kim Phuc (Kim). On June 8, 1972 nine year old Kim was severely burned in a misplaced Napalm attack on Trang Bang, South Vietnam. The photograph and film footage that captured the heart wrenching scene of her running naked down Route 1, a highway that ran from Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, screaming in terror and agony from third degree burns, instantly became famous and brought to light the suffering of children and civilians in the Vietnam War. The photograph is unforgettable and changed the opinions of many about the war. Kim became an iconic symbol known simply as "the girl in the picture." Kim now resides in Canada, is a UNESCO Good Will Ambassador for Peace, and travels around the world giving talks on forgiveness and peace. Kim is also the founder of the Kim Phuc Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding children injured by events in current wars worldwide.

Please be advised the film contains graphic images that might be disturbing to some audience members.

As part of The Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive’s Guest Lecture Series, Kim will be speaking in the TTU Student Union Building's Allen Theatre on Thursday April 14 at 7:00pm. See http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/GLS for more information.

Full Film Festival Schedule

2011 Film Festival Poster

• Poster for Advertising 2011 VNCA Film Festival