Centering the Masses: Little Tokyo Adjacent 1 – The Sound of Pleasure, Passport to my Heart & Distant Water

Visual Communications will highlight its award-winning filmography of documentary, experimental, animated, and narrative films examining the relationship between APA peoples and communities. Looking at other communities of color adjacent to Little Tokyo, we will assemble a two-part program that celebrates all the aspects that make Little Tokyo a vibrant community. Moreover,  we will examine the causes that threaten it.

All events below will be at 341 FSN (341 E 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012).

FREE ADMISSION. Capacity is limited. Informal seating is available on a first come, first served basis.

PROGRAM ONE | Saturday, April 13, 2019  |  2 PM

THE SOUND OF PLEASURE
(United States, 1990) Dir.: Eddie Wong
Visual Communications co-founder Eddie Wong profiles Chinese musical traditions as they are transplanted and flourishing through three generations of Chinese American musicians in San Francisco. The film follows the evolution of traditional Chinese music in the United States using a diverse range of interview and performance footage, ranging from traditional Chinese opera and Cantonese music groups like the Chung Wah Music Club to the influences of contemporary experimental and modern jazz composers as Jon Jang.
27 mins.

HARAÑA PROJECT/PASSPORT TO MY HEART
(United States, 2010) Dirs.: PDUB Productions
A unique collaborative hybrid documentary in which youth media makers through Los Angeles’ Pilipino Workers Center learn about the history of the uniquely Filipino courtship practice known as haraña, and then are invited to improvise a home-made play utilizing this endangered Filipino art form.
20 mins.

DISTANT WATER
(United States, 1991) Dir.: Carlos Avila
Set in 1943 Los Angeles, this moody black-and-white production from Carlos Avila (GRIMM, FOTO NOVELAS, PRICE OF GLORY) chronicles a Mexican American boy’s coming of age as he deals with a segregated swimming pool amid race riots and home-front war anxiety. A Visual Communications fiscally-sponsored project.
28 mins.