Keep track of the AAPI projects from 2020 SXSW and track when they will be avAILABLE to WATCH OR STREAM.
If we are missing a project or need to make some notes, please drop us a (kind) note at info@capeusa.org!
NARRATIVE FEATURES
I’LL MEET YOU THERE
Narrative Feature
Written and Directed bY Iram Parveen Bilal
A CAPE NEW WRITERS FELLOWSHIP SCRIPT
"I’ll Meet You There" is a family drama following the father-daughter journey of Majeed, a Chicago policeman, and Dua, his teenage ballerina daughter. Eager for a raise, Majeed is cherry-picked to go undercover in a mosque for a special FBI co-assignment. Shortly after, Baba, Majeed’s long-estranged father, shows up unannounced from Pakistan. Majeed uses Baba as an excuse to re-enter the mosque after a decade. Counter to his liking, Dua and Baba take to each other. Baba urges Dua to question her passion for dance in the name of religion. The family explores new truths about their present, past, and future until everything comes to a head in a surprise bait and switch by the FBI.
How To Watch: TBA
I WILL MAKE YOU MINE
Narrative Feature
Directed by Lynn Chen
Rachel lives in idle luxury with a cheating husband, Professor Erika juggles career demands while raising her daughter Sachiko , and struggling musician Yea-Ming is still chasing a fast-fading dream. Three women who could not be more different have one thing in common: their flawed romantic history with singer-songwriter Goh Nakamura (played by himself). When the amiable but unreliable Goh ambles back into town and into their lives, the past comes roaring back. This semi-sequel to Surrogate Valentine (SXSW 2011) and Daylight Savings (SXSW 2012) revisits the characters in a stand-alone story with a fresh new perspective.
How To Watch: Available VOD on May 26th
NINE DAYS
Narrative Feature
Written and Directed by Edson Oda
What if being born is not the beginning but the goal? In a house distant from the reality we know, a reclusive man named Will interviews prospective candidates—personifications of human souls—for the privilege he once had: to be born. Five contenders emerge. During the course of nine days, Will tests each of them, but he can choose only one. The victor will be rewarded with a coveted opportunity to become a newborn in the real world, while the others will cease to exist—nine days is everything they’ll ever experience.
How To Watch: TBA
BAD TRIP
Narrative Feature
Directed by KITAO SAKURAI
From a producer of Jackass and Bad Grandpa, this hidden camera comedy follows two best friends as they go on a cross-country road trip full of hilarious, inventive pranks, pulling its real-life audience into the mayhem.
How To Watch: TBA
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
THE DONUT KING
Documentary Feature - 2020 SXSW WINNER!
Directed by Alice Gu
Ted's story is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. It's the rags to riches story of a refugee escaping Cambodia, arriving in America in 1975 and building an unlikely multi-million dollar empire baking America’s favorite pastry, the donut. Ted sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet teaching them the ways of the donut business. By 1979 he was living the American Dream. But, in life, great rise can come with great falls.
How To Watch: TBA
BE WATER
Documentary Feature
Directed Bao Nguyen
45 years after the untimely death of martial arts legend and film star Bruce Lee, his story remains more of a myth than of a man whose life was full of complexity and struggle. Combining rare film footage and audio recordings with his own writings and interviews with his closest loved ones, Be Water is a layered and intimate portrait of an underdog who was able to transcend racism, colonialism, and xenophobia to become of one of the most influential cultural figures of our time.
How To Watch: TBA
FINDING YINGYING
Documentary Feature
Directed by Jiayan “Jenny” Shi
Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old Chinese student, comes to the U.S. to study. In her detailed and beautiful diaries, the aspiring young scientist and teacher is full of optimism, hoping to also be married and a mother someday. Within weeks of her arrival, Yingying disappears from the campus. Through exclusive access to Yingying’s family and boyfriend, Finding Yingying closely follows their journey as they search to unravel the mystery of her disappearance and seek justice for their daughter while navigating a strange, foreign country. But most of all, Finding Yingying is the story of who Yingying was: a talented young woman loved by her family and friends.
How To Watch: TBA
HAMTRAMCK, USA
Documentary Feature
Written by Razi Jafri & Justin Feltman
Once a city that was 90% Polish, Hamtramck became the first Muslim majority city in America. Now, this new wave of immigrants aim to gain representation in city hall. Throughout the election, candidates look to build support, coalitions, and partnerships across ethnic and religious lines. Weaved into the election season, the film showcases the vibrant life, celebrations, and culture of those who call this city home.
How to Watch: TBA
A THOUSAND CUTS
Documentary Feature
Directed by Ramona S. Diaz
A look at Philippine President Duterte’s controversial administration through the journey of embattled journalist Maria Ressa. Maria has become the face of the fight for freedom of the press in the Philippines and is the founder of Rappler. This independent news site has chronicled Duterte's extrajudicial war on drugs, which has left some 12,000 people dead. Rappler’s "Impunity" series called out Duterte's ruthlessness and Maria began receiving some 90 hate messages per hour. The government has tried to crack down on her reporting by filing 11 different cases against her. In 2018 Maria was named a Person of the Year in Time's tribute to journalists as one of the "Guardians Of Truth”.
How To Watch: TBA
CODED BIAS
Documentary Feature
Directed by Shalini Kantayya
Coded Bias" weaves a history of the small homogeneous group of men who defined artificial intelligence and forged the culture of Silicon Valley—a culture that is already reshaping the world. As artificial intelligence moves out of the data science labs and into the real world, bias has the potential to be deployed at scale. Emboldened by troubling discoveries, Buolamwini charts a way forward by joining the ranks of other concerned experts to form a justice league committed to the more humane and ethical use of the AI systems that will shape the future.
How To Watch: TBA
NARRATIVE SHORTS
The SXSW 2020 Official Short Film Selections shorts have been made available to stream for free thanks to Mailchimp and Oscilloscope Laboratories.
A PERIOD PIECE
Written and Directed by Shuchi Talati
Geetha, a control and order loving Indian-American woman, finally has sex with Vehd one afternoon but things quickly turn messy when period blood stains her pristine couch and a fight erupts mid-coitus.
DARLING
Written and DIrected by Saim Sadiq
An erotic dance theater in Lahore prepares for a new show just as a sacrificial goat disappears, an attractive trans girl aspires to grab the limelight and a naive young man falls in love.
REMINISCENCES OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION
Narrative Short
Written and Directed by Dean Colin Marcial
They called themselves The Green Gorillas. Like "The Breakfast Club" by way of Che Guevara, they're compassionate environmental activists struggling to change the world. There's Adrienne, a half-white political organizer with ambitions to work abroad, at odds with her boyfriend Jess, who daydreams of mind-bombs. Eddie, the class clown, is having an affair with star med student Emilia behind her boyfriend’s back. And Martin, the youngest, is dead, narrating the film as a ghost remembering the last day of his life.
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
The SXSW 2020 Official Short Film Selections shorts have been made available to stream for free thanks to Mailchimp and Oscilloscope Laboratories.
NO CRYING AT THE DINNER TABLE
Documentary Short - GRAND JuRY AWARD WINNER!
Directed by Carol Nguyen
Filmmaker Carol Nguyen interviews her family to craft a portrait of love, grief and intergenerational trauma.
THE CLAUDIA KISHI CLUB
Documentary Short
Directed by Sue Ding
For many Asian American women—and other women of color—Claudia Kishi was the first time they saw themselves in popular media. A main character in the best-selling Baby-Sitters Club books, Claudia defied stereotypical portrayals of Asian characters: she was creative, popular, and bad at school. As a blossoming artist, she was a role model for aspiring young creators—many of whom are now making groundbreaking work of their own. Asian American artists and writers share their memories of Claudia and read from their favorite books, alongside stop-motion collages that bring the character to life. Nostalgic yet timely, this film highlights the personal and universal importance of representation.
CALL CENTER BLUES
documentary Short
DIRECTED BY GEETA GANDBHIR
A cinematic tale of deportation, migration, displacement and opportunistic capitalism, Call Center Blues follows four characters as they struggle to make sense of their lives in Tijuana. Each with a vastly different story, they are all linked by their displacement and the sole choice of call center work they have in a country that is so unfamiliar and oftentimes frightening, yet other times a ray of hope. Tijuana becomes their home, a place defined by the border but yet defiant towards it, a no man's land where everything and everyone feels transient. These characters paint a picture of love, loss and longing - for home, for an American Dream deferred, and for justice.
MIZUKO
documentary Short
DIRECTED BY Katelyn Rebelo & Kira Dane
In Japanese, there's a specific word for an unborn life. Mizuko, which means "water child," is used to refer to both miscarried and aborted pregnancies. In addition to this word, there's a ritual for grief that allows women to metaphorically return their water children to the sea. Narrated by a Japanese American woman, Mizuko tells the story of her abortion in the US against the backdrop of this cultural context.