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shareThis program is only available to viewers in Southern California (excluding San Diego County) from October 1, 2020 at 12pm PT to October 31, 2020 at 11:59pm PT. Click here to watch the program on Eventive.
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From professional mourners to a withering town, this program invites you to embrace death with open arms. What are the rituals with which we honor our dead, mourn the movements of the past, and heal collectively? Let us find out in a line-up that merges fiction and non-fiction. — Udval Altangerel
Watch the artist conversation featuring the filmmakers in this program below, as we discuss their creative journeys behind making their films.
In this program
BENEVOLENT BA
Directed by Diffan Sina Norman
A devout woman’s lust for virtue thrusts her family into a sacrificial slaughter of biblical proportions.
BLOOD HANA
Directed by Mary Evangelista
Lily, an introverted teen, develops a crush on her classmate, Alex. Later she falls ill from a disease called Hanahaki, formed out of unrequited love.
CLOSE TO YOU
Directed by Kevin Xian Ming Yu
A young Asian American struggles to balance their exploration of gender identity with the expectations of their immigrant mother.
HELLO AHMA
Directed by Siyou Tan
Unable to return home to attend Grandma’s funeral, a young Singaporean girl new to America searches for Grandma’s reincarnation in a pet store turtle.
JESA
Directed by Kyungwon Song
Using stop motion animation, the filmmaker interviews and questions her parents about jesa, a ritual tradition of Korea.
MAY 35
Directed by Tina Takemoto
A haunting commemoration of the Tiananmen Square uprising made from fragments of censored archival imagery transferred onto film using razor blades and scotch tape.
NO CRYING AT THE DINNER TABLE
Directed by Carol Nguyen
The filmmaker interviews her family to craft a portrait of love, grief, and intergenerational trauma.
STILL HERE
Directed by Sean Wang
In Kaohsiung, Taiwan, a few residents refuse to leave their beloved and now-abandoned village.
THE FILIAL DAUGHTER
Directed by Xiao-Wei Lu
A mixed-media documentary short covering the story of professional funeral mourners in Taiwan known as “filial daughters.”