Curated by Devin Altman, Jennifer Dao,
Anthony Francis, and Brenda Gutierrez
Testimony: Everybody Has a Story to Tell encompasses a variety of student films ranging from1989 to 1996. Re-emerging from the past, these films come back to life and have transcended time — they are still relevant struggles and issues present to this day. Through time, through race, sexual orientation, cultural upbringing, etc… each filmmaker had a story to tell. Each film is unique, and very personal to the filmmakers. This program wants to embrace all those differences and celebrate them in unity despite all their differences. The desire for wanting to express each issue through the film form is a testament to each filmmaker’s unique testimony and unites them as a whole.
Silencio (1996)
“I feel like a criminal running away from a crime I did not commit. And this crime is that I am a Filipino in America.” — Carlos Bulosan, America is in the Heart
“Silencio takes place in San Francisco, 1951. A young man of mixed-blood (Filipino-Italian) desperately attempts to adjust to his predominately Caucasian workplace by trying to “pass” as white. His efforts to assimilate enable him to succeed in the office, but end up costing him dearly in his family relations. Michael Arago made this short film in 1996 as his Master’s Thesis for San Francisco State University’s Film Production Program.” (Michael Arago)
This film is a young man’s testimony of how racial insensitivity issues can impact lives and families. (Brenda Gutierrez)
Part of CAAM Center for Asian American Media.
Country: USA
Language(s): English/Filipino
Year: 1996
Running Time: 8:48
Writer/ Director: Michael Arago
Cinematography: Michael Anders
Sound Mix: Rebecca Ormand
Daily Rains (1990)
A vivid recollection of a painful past. Traumatic events voiced with power, honesty, and reflection. Cauleen Smith paints the portrait of the female African-American experience while tight-roping the line between subjective and objective. Interlaced with abstract visual elements and first-person testimonials this short film allows the viewer to wear the lens, albeit momentarily, of a Black woman growing up in America. In an intimate, personal, and warm way, Smith has captured the experience of these three women ad infinitum. (Devin Altman)
Country: USA
Year: 1990
Director: Cauleen Smith
Language: English
Testimonies: Aundrea Gibson, Ajuana Harrison, Cauleen Smith, Janneth Vicker
Crew: Lisa Austin, Emily Cronbach, Windy Chien, Susanne Fairfax, Dave King, Tracy Thomson, Bridget Goodman
One Day at a Time (1989)
In 1989 San Francisco during the AIDS epidemic, One Day At A Time documents an optimistic testimony of coping with a terminal illness. Paul Carey explains his newly found philosophy of one day at a time, as well as newly found relationships and hopes for the future. (Anthony Francis)
Country: USA
Year: 1989
Director: Richard Morasci
Language: English
Runtime: 10:30
Camera: Freyr Thormodsson & Richard Morasci
Sound: Lidia Szajko
Slate: Nancy Ellis
Assimilation/ A Simulation (1993)
“To simulate is to feign to have what one hasn’t. But… to simulate is not simply to feign. Simulation threatens the difference between ‘true’ and ‘false’, between ‘real’ and ‘imaginary’. Since the simulator produces ‘true’ symptoms, is (s)he ill or not?”
It is easier to deal with the external manifestations of racism and sexism than it is to deal with the results of those distortions internalized. Assimilation/ A Simulation, directed by Windy Chien, is the filmmaker’s undergraduate thesis film at San Francisco State University that also screened at Sundance in 1994. The film depicts concern of racism, sexism and assimilation into Western society as an Asian woman. As a Chinese woman, she changes her appearance to look more “American” by opening her eyelids with tape, curling her hair, dressing as such, in contrast to the woman in the red. The woman in red in traditional Chinese attire, her hair up, holding a fan, is being stared at and followed by a man from the restaurant. The men who had no interest in her as a Westernized Asian woman emphasizes the Asian conquest and “exoticness” of the woman in red. Playing between the “normality” of different cultures in America, anything other than American aesthetics are sexualized and feared. For a woman who feels the need to assimilate and conform to avoid sexism, is racism. (Jennifer Dao)
Country(ies): USALanguage(s): English
Year: 1993
Running time: 13:29
Director(s): Windy Chien
Writer(s): WIndy Chien, Laurence Whiting
Sound: Brian Burman
With: Janine Shiota, GLoria Vlachos, Marion Grabinsky, Teddy Love, Patrick Herbers, Daniel Robin
Production Assistants: Lisa Austin, Chris Brown, Emily Cornbach, Jim Flannery, Jim Hazuka, Sandra Nettelbeck, Daniel Robin, Jonathan Sanford, Cauleen Smith, Michelle Taghioff