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.
WATCH
POV: 'Who’s Afraid of Nathan Law?'
Thursday, May 1 at 9 p.m. on NEPM TV
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At 21, he was a leader of Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution. By 23, he became Hong Kong's youngest elected lawmaker. At 26, he was most wanted under the National Security Law. "Who's Afraid of Nathan Law?" offers a close look at the city's most famous dissident to uncover what happens to freedom when an authoritarian power goes unchecked.
POV: 'Liquor Store Dreams'
Sunday, May 4 at 12 p.m. on NEPM TV
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Two Korean American children of liquor store owners reconcile their own dreams with those of their immigrant parents. Along the way, they confront the complex legacies of LA's racial landscape, including the 1991 murder of Latasha Harlins and the 1992 uprisings sparked by the police beating of Rodney King, while engaged in current struggles for social and economic justice.
Antiques Roadshow: Celebrating Asian Pacific Heritage
Monday, May 5 at 8 p.m. on NEPM TV
Travel with Antiques Roadshow as it turns the spotlight on incredible items with Asian and Pacific Islands origins, including a Hawaiian kou bowl, a Ghandi presentation spinning wheel and an 1888 Joesph Nawahi painting. Which is valued at $250,000-$300,000?
Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March
Thursday, May 8 at 9 p.m. on NEPM TV
Explore the fight against Asian American hate following the March 2021 mass shootings at three spas in Atlanta. Examine how this critical moment of racial reckoning sheds light on the struggles, triumphs and achievements of AAPI communities.
Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story
Thursday, May 8 at 10 p.m.
Using his camera as a "weapon against injustice," photographer Corky Lee's art is his activism. His images of Asian American life empowered generations. This intimate portrait reveals the triumphs and tragedies of the man behind the lens.
Independent Lens: And So It Begins
Monday, May 12 at 10 p.m. on NEPM TV
A historic presidential race in the Philippines, between the son of Ferdinand Marcos and the incumbent woman VP, is seen through the eyes of Nobel-winning journalist Maria Ressa who cuts through the rhetoric despite the risks.
American Experience: 'Plague at the Golden Gate'
Thursday, May 15 at 9 p.m. on NEPM TV
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Discover how an outbreak of bubonic plague in 1900 set off fear and anti-Asian sentiment in San Francisco. This documentary tells the gripping story of the race against time by health officials to save the city from the deadly disease.
Great Performances: 'Yellow Face'
Friday, May 16 at 9 p.m. on NEPM TV
Enjoy Tony winner David Henry Hwang's comedy starring Daniel Dae Kim as an Asian American playwright who protests "yellowface" casting in the musical "Miss Saigon" only to mistakenly cast a white actor as the Asian lead in his own play.
Independent Lens: 'Meet the Patels'
Sunday, May 18 at 12 p.m. on NEPM TV
Ravi Patel is almost 30 and still single, and his tradition-minded Hindu family is not happy. After he breaks up with his white girlfriend, he enters the semi-arranged marriage system in America. "Meet the Patels" explores the influences of culture and identity on the most intense, personal, and important part of one's life: love.
Independent Lens: 'Who is Michael Jang?'
Monday, May 19 at 10 p.m. on NEPM TV
After decades in obscurity and sitting on a treasure trove of pictures, elusive San Francisco artist Michael Jang uses guerrilla art tactics to share his stunning, previously unknown work with unsuspecting audiences.
POV: 'Against the Tide'
Thursday, May 22 at 9 p.m. on NEPM TV
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Two Koli fishermen in Bombay are driven to desperation by a dying sea, testing their bond. Immerse in this tale of friendship between Rakesh and Ganesh, fractured by the weight of a changing world and a sea threatened by climate change.
Independent Lens: Hidden Letters
Sunday, May 25 at 12 p.m. on NEPM TV
The bonds of sisterhood, and the parallels of struggles among generations of women in China, are drawn together by the once-secret written language of Nushu, the only script designed and used exclusively by women.
American Masters: 'Tyrus'
Tuesday, May 27 at 9 p.m. on NEPM TV
Discover the art, life and enduring impact of Tyrus Wong, the renowned Chinese-American painter behind "Bambi" and "Rebel Without a Cause," via new and never-before-seen interviews, movie clips and art. Wong once exhibited with Picasso and Matisse.
Independent Lens: 'Free Chol Soo Lee'
Thursday, May 29 at 9 p.m. on NEPM TV
Sentenced to death for a 1973 San Francisco murder, Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee was set free after a pan-Asian solidarity movement of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese Americans helped to overturn his conviction. After 10 years of fighting for his life inside San Quentin, Lee found himself in a new fight to rise to the expectations of the people who believed in him. On his journey from an inspiring icon to a swing-shift janitor struggling with drug addiction, Chol Soo Lee personifies the ravages of America's prison industrial complex.
STREAM
Asian Americans
Asian Americans is a five-part film series that delivers a bold 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.
Local, USA: 'A Tale of Three Chinatowns'
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"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.
The Story of China
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Travel from the Silk Road to the Yellow Sea with host Michael Wood as he explores the history of the world’s newest superpower. A thrilling and moving epic of the world’s oldest continuous state with the landscapes, peoples, and stories that made today’s China.
American Masters: 'Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir'
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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 Masters: 'Waterman – Duke: Ambassador of Aloha'
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.
Fanny: The Right to Rock
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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. And here’s the local angle: June Millington is the artistic director of Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen.
American Masters: 'Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV'
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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.
America Reframed: 'First Vote'
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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