AAIFF46 Panel: Retrospectives in Dialogue

Special Guests

• 

  Abby Sun (Moderator)

  Abby Sun is Director of Artist Programs and Editor of Documentary magazine at the International Documentary Association (IDA). She was also co-curator of the 2021/2022 film series, My Sight is Lined with Visions: 1990s Asian American Film & Video with Keisha Knight.

• 

  Karen Cho (Director, BIG FIGHT IN LITTLE CHINATOWN)

  Karen Cho (曹嘉伦) is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker known for her socio-political documentaries.

  Karen’s films include; IN THE SHADOW OF GOLD MOUNTAIN, a documentary about the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act; SEEKING REGUGE, a film on asylum seekers in Canada; and STATUS QUO?, a documentary on the women’s rights movement.

  Her TV work has touched on subjects like Indigenous health and wellness, Japanese Canadian internment, Quebecois cuisine, and artist-activists around the world.

  Karen’s latest film, BIG FIGHT IN LITTLE CHINATOWN, is the story of community resistance and resilience in Chinatowns across North America.

• 

  Curtis Choy (Director, THE FALL OF THE I-HOTEL)

  An independent producer and film worker since the early 70s, Curtis Choy has contributed to numerous PBS documentaries, commercials, and feature films as a production sound mixer.

  He is the director of DUPONT GUY: THE SCHIZ OF GRANT AVENUE, THE FALL OF THE I-HOTEL, and WHAT’S WRONG WITH FRANK CHIN.

  His sound recording can be heard on THE JOY LUCK CLUB, BETTER LUCK TOMORROW, and Academy Award winner, BREATHING LESSONS.

  He was previously exploited as a camera and editing technician, film cameraman, camera assistant, and boom operator.

  From the frozen Arctic (THE INFINITE VOYAGE) to the blistering Gobi (THE SILK ROAD) to young government gunpunks in Guatemala (THE GOSPEL AND GUATEMALA), he’s totally fed up with flying Coach class.

• 

  Caroline Cabading (Restoration Executive Producer, THE FALL OF THE I-HOTEL and Executive Director, Manila Heritage Foundation))

  Caroline Cabading is a 4th generation Filipino San Franciscan and current Board President of the  Manilatown Heritage Foundation.

  Under her leadership, the organization more than doubled its income and programming capacity through a combination of social enterprises, crowdfunding campaigns, and grant awards from the California Arts Council, the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), the Alliance for California Traditional Artists, the Creative Work Fund, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the Center for Cultural Innovation.

  As a filmmaker, her Manilatown-related credits include RISE OF THE I-HOTEL (2005), CHINATOWN  (2017), and the SFAC-funded THE AL ROBLES EXPRESS (2019).

  Her current production is a-SFAC funded documentary about former activist tenants of the I-Hotel returning as residents to the new International Hotel Senior Residences nearly 42 years after the 1977 Eviction.

• 

  Tadashi Nakamura, son of Robert Nakamura (Co-director, HITO HATA: RAISE THE BANNER)

  Emmy-winning filmmaker Tadashi Nakamura was named one of CNN’s “Young People Who Rock” for being the youngest filmmaker at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and listed as one of the “Top Rising Asian American Directors” on IMDb.

  His film, MELE MURALS, a documentary on the transformative power of modern graffiti art and ancient Hawaiian culture for a new generation of Native Hawaiians, was broadcasted on PBS and Al Jazeera, and was nominated for an Emmy in 2018.

  His previous film, JAKE SHIMABUKORO: LIFE ON FOUR STRINGS, was broadcasted nationally on PBS and went on to win the 2013 Gotham Independent Film Audience Award.

  Nakamura’s trilogy of documentary films on the Japanese American experience—YELLOW BROTHERHOOD (2003), PILGRIMAGE (2007), and A SONG FOR OURSELVES (2009)—have garnered over 20 awards.

  Nakamura has a M.A. in Social Documentation from UC Santa Cruz as well as a B.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA, where he graduated summa cum laude.

• 

  Duane Kubo (Co-director, HITO HATA: RAISE THE BANNER)

  Duane Kubo was born in San Jose, California, and studied film at UCLA before co-founding Visual Communications (VC), the nation’s premier Asian Pacific American media arts center.

  Duane Kubo is co-director of the VC production, HITO HATA: RAISE THE BANNER (1980) alongside Robert Nakamura.

  Kubo taught at De Anza College in Cupertino, California and later became dean of the Intercultural/International Studies Division, teaching Asian American Studies and overseeing the Ethnic Studies and International Studies programs.

  He is now retired and volunteers in San Jose Japantown by running J-Town Community TV and the J-Town FilmFest.