In case you haven't seen any of it yet, you may want to check out the 35-film retrospective Race & Hollywood: Asian Images In Film on TCM. Every Tuesday and Thursday in June, the classic movie channel will air films that trace the portrayal of Asians in Hollywood. This continues TCM's annual look at Tinseltown's depiction of minorities (they previously did separate festivals focusing on African-American and gay/lesbian images).Although I have missed some of the festival, I was able to catch two documentaries (one dealing specifically with the portrayal of Asian males on the big screen and another one focusing on Anna May Wong, the first Asian actress to gain international fame). I also watched two of the films that aired last Thursday (Dragon Seed and China Sky). Some of the films coming up include the following:
Go For Broke (airing Tues 6/17 at 8 PM)
Walk Like A Dragon (Tues 6/17 at 1:30 AM)
Bridge To the Sun (Thurs 6/19 at 8 PM)
Flower Drum Song (Tues 6/24 at 11:30 PM)
Enter the Dragon (Tues 6/24 at 2 AM)
Rush Hour 2 (Thurs 6/26 at 8 PM)
The Joy Luck Club (Thurs 6/26 at 10 PM)
For more details on Race & Hollywood: Asian Images In Film (including an overview of the festival, a complete list of the movies and a photo gallery), click here.
Below are excerpts of interviews that feature such Asian performers as Ming Na, Nancy Kwan, and Lauren Tom discussing their experiences in Hollywood.
2 comments:
I am very impressed with TCM and some of their programming. These film fests featuring minorities or perceptions on race are a very cool idea.
Candy: TCM is hands down my favorite channel. They just keep getting better and better. I don't think they have done a festival feat. Hispanic images in Hollywood. That'll probably be the one they do next year.
Every July, TCM does a "Summer Under the Stars" festival where each day they do a 24 hour marathon of movies by a particular star. One year they did a day of Lena Horne movies. As you might know, many of her movie appearances consisted only of her doing a musical number. That way, when the movies were shown in the South, her scenes could be cut without affecting the plot. When TCM showed these movies during Lena Horne day, they didn't shy away from discussing how her movie roles were often cut.
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