A Must Watch: AAPI Month film Selections 2025
This Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month we’re sharing films that celebrate the creative works, history, and diversity of the #AAPI Community.
My Name is Belle (2006)
The short film My Name Is Belle examines the hardships of immigration through the eyes of a 7-year-old fictional child named Hannah. Featuring colorful paintings by Taiwanese American artist Belle Yang, this illuminating film chronicles the artist’s early memories of learning to adjust to a new culture, language, and name.
View this moving reflection of the immigrant experience.
https://video.alexanderstreet.com/p/r2vqqq2zK
The Chinese Exclusion Act (2018)
Part of the acclaimed PBS American Experience series, this documentary examines the profound impact of the 1882 law that restricted Chinese workers from immigrating to America for over ten years due to their ethnicity. Signed by President Chester A. Arthur, the act also prevented Chinese nationals already living in the US from attaining citizenship.
View this historic look at American immigration policy.
https://video.alexanderstreet.com/p/oZ0nn88EB
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Everything Everywhere All at Once was a groundbreaking film for its imaginative production and storytelling with bold characters that challenged stereotypes of Asian American representation in cinema. This genre-bending spectacle delivers a refreshingly nuanced portrayal of the Asian American immigrant experience while exploring deeper philosophical questions about the universe.
View this epic, existential film here:
https://digitalcampus.swankmp.net/tulane338467/watch/28DD3CBE5B7EE7C6?referrer=direct
Minari (2021)
As a son of Korean immigrants, Lee Isaac Chung grew up with on a family farm in rural Arkansas with many questions and uncertainties about his Korean ancestry. Chung’s semi-autobiographical film Minari is loosely based on his own family’s struggles to adapt to a new home, culture, and life working on a farm.
View this moving study of one family’s resilience and determination to attain the American Dream.
https://digitalcampus.swankmp.net/tulane338467/watch/7478190435199D96?referrer=direct
Children of the Camps (1999)
The PBS documentary Children of the Camps shines a critical light on the life stories of six Japanese Americans children who were incarcerated without due process with their families during WWII. This poignant film reveals the harrowing past and present-day consequences of these internment camps on a marginalized community of US citizens.
View this powerful film about the search for healing in the aftermath of racial oppression.
https://video.alexanderstreet.com/p/46qvA9gBk
5/5/2025
