The Japanese American National Museum has commissioned filmmaker/writer Arthur Dong to curate an exhibit featuring his treasure trove of memorabilia chronicling the magic and glamour of San Francisco’s Chinatown nightclub era. The show will be an expanded version of his popular exhibition that originally premiered at the San Francisco Public Library in 2014.
News Archive - 2016
Hawaii International Film Festival
The 2016 Hawaii International Film Festival has invited filmmaker Arthur Dong to serve as a juror for their feature documentaries competition. He’ll also present a special Forbidden City, USA program, including a screening of his re-mastered film, book talk, and live performance by the Grant Avenue Follies. A book signing follows.
The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor Bilingual DVD and VOD Release
The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor is now available on DVD and streaming on Video-on-Demand. The release includes both the original English version and a Khmer version with English subtitles.
Amazon Storefront Now Open
DeepFocus Productions DVDs and books are now available on Amazon, with free Amazon Prime shipping! Note: DeepFocus DVDs sold on Amazon are home and personal use editions. For educational and institutional use DVDs, please click here.
Historic Convening of Asian American Documentary Filmmakers
What are the challenges that Asian American documentary filmmakers are facing? What does an inclusive conversation about Asian American documentary really look like? Read a report from the International Documentary Association at: http://www.documentary.org/online-feature/getting-real-16-hosts-historic-convening-asian-american-documentary-filmmakers.
From October 2021 through March 2022, the Criterion Channel presented “Stories of Resistance: Documentaries by Arthur Dong.” The collection highlighted Arthur Dong’s films streamed together in a complete retrospective for the first time. Read the Queer Review interview here. Watch the filmmaker interview streaming here.
Academy Welcomes New Asian Members
“Having witnessed the tone-deaf jabs at Asians during the Oscars, compounded with the very recent, but century-long practice of whitewashing, yellow-face casting decisions by major film productions, we felt a need to come together over this integral part of our identities” –Arthur Dong.
Read the full Hollywood Reporter article: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscars-wake-controversy-academy-leaders-934266.
Dr. Haing S. Ngor: An Angry Asian Man
In his guest column for Angry Asian Man, filmmaker Arthur Dong writes: “I was startled to see such pronounced rage from an Asian refugee in white America. Thank you, Dr. Ngor, and to all the angry Asian men – and women – for bringing to light your stories of injustice..”
Read the full post: http://blog.angryasianman.com/2016/09/dr-haing-s-ngor-angry-asian-man.html
U.S. Broadcast
In September The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor launched DocWorld, a new weekly showcase bringing the best international documentaries from around the globe. Programmed by WGBH in association with PBS, the series will present an encore broadcast of The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor on December 11, 2016 (check local listings @ http://worldchannel.org/schedule/localize/).
The Establishment
“At a time when the whitewashing of social justice movements, cinematic history, and contemporary movies remains so common, revisiting Arthur Dong’s work offers both comfort and food for thought.”
Read the full article: http://www.theestablishment.co/2016/09/06/arthur-dongs-documentary-films/.