Resilience, ingenuity, creativity. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have enriched America’s history, society and culture and are instrumental to our past, present and future. This month, and every month, NEPM celebrates the wide array of values, beliefs and traditions and AAPI communities' extraordinary impact on our national identity. Explore these stories throughout the month on NEPM.
Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March
Tuesday, May 2 at 10 p.m.
Following the aftermath of the March 2021 mass shootings at three spas in Atlanta, this film chronicles how the Asian American community came together to fight back against hate and explores the struggles and triumphs of AAPI communities.
American Masters
Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV
Premieres Tuesday, May 16 at 9 p.m.
See the world through the eyes of Nam June Paik, the father of video art and coiner of the term “electronic superhighway.” Born in Japan-occupied Korea, Paik went on to become a pillar of the American avant-garde and transformed modern image-making with his sculptures, films and performances. Experience his creative evolution, as Academy Award nominee Steven Yeun reads from Paik's own writings.
The Long Form
Seeking Harmony for Global Asian Immigrants
Listen Sunday, May 21 at 6 p.m. on NEPM 88.5
Correspondent Sen Zhan explores three perspectives on the nature of intercultural conflict in trans-cultural Asian immigrants in western countries. When East meets West in the modern-day, it’s not only cultures that can clash, it’s also the past crashing into the present. Asians who have been formed by both cultures know this very well, and are one group among many who navigate the conflicts of trans-cultural existence.
Fanny: The Right to Rock
Monday, May 22 at 10 p.m.
Sometime in the late 1960s, in sunny Sacramento, two Filipina American sisters — June Millington, Jean Millington — got together with other teenage girls to play music. Little did they know their garage band would evolve into the groundbreaking rock group Fanny, the first all-women band to release an LP with a major record. Yet, despite releasing five critically acclaimed albums over five years, touring with famed bands and amassing a dedicated fan base of music legends including David Bowie, Fanny's groundbreaking impact in music was written out of history. And here’s the local angle: June Millington is the Artistic Director of Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen.
Connecting Point: The Music of June Millington
June Millington has been making music since she was a child playing ukulele in her native Philippines. Having moved from Manila to California in the early sixties, she and her sister, Jean, turned in their folk guitars for electric and formed a succession of all-girl bands, including Fanny. Millington is the Artistic Director at the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen. It serves as a women’s retreat, school, and recording studio. But the IMA is best known for hosting a rock and roll camp for girls.
Independent Lens: The Donut King
Monday, May 29 at 10 p.m.
An immigrant story with a (glazed) twist, The Donut King follows the journey of Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy, who arrived in California in the 1970s and, through a mixture of diligence and luck, built a multi-million dollar donut empire up and down the West Coast.
STREAM
Independent Lens: Free Chol Soo Lee
Sentenced to life for a 1973 San Francisco murder, Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee was set free after a pan-Asian solidarity movement, which included Korean, Japanese, and Chinese Americans, helped to overturn his conviction. After 10 years of fighting for his life inside California state prisons, Lee found himself in a new fight to rise to the expectations of the people who believed in him.
America Reframed: First Vote
Available with NEPM Passport
With unparalleled access to a diverse cross section of politically engaged Chinese Americans, First Vote offers a character-driven verité look at Chinese American electoral organizing in North Carolina and Ohio. The film weaves their stories from the presidential election of 2016 to the 2018 midterms, and explores the intersections between immigration, voting rights and racial justice.
Local, USA
A Tale of Three Chinatowns
Available with NEPM Passport
A Tale of Three Chinatowns explores the survival of urban ethnic neighborhoods in three American cities: Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Boston. Through the voices of residents, community activists, developers, and government officials, the film looks at the forces altering each community and the challenges that go with them, including the pressing issue of urban development and gentrification.
American Masters
Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir
Available with NEPM Passport
The story of the author whose first novel, “The Joy Luck Club,” was published to great commercial and critical success. With the blockbuster film adaption that followed as well as additional best-selling novels, librettos, short stories and memoirs, Tan firmly established herself as one of the most prominent and respected American literary voices working today.
American Experience: Plague at the Golden Gate
Discover how an outbreak of bubonic plague in 1900 set off fear and anti-Asian sentiment in San Francisco. This new documentary tells the gripping story of the race against time by health officials to save the city from the deadly disease.
American Masters
Waterman – Duke: Ambassador of Aloha
Available with NEPM Passport
Narrated by Jason Momoa, discover the inspiring story and considerable impact of five-time Olympic medalist Duke Kahanamoku. He shattered swimming records and globalized surfing while overcoming racism in a lifetime of personal challenges.
Asian Americans
Available with NEPM Passport
Asian Americans is a five-hour film series that delivers a bold, fresh perspective on a history that matters today, more than ever. As America becomes more diverse, and more divided while facing unimaginable challenges, how do we move forward together? Told through intimate personal stories, the series will cast a new lens on U.S. history and the ongoing role that Asian Americans have played.