“CHOKE MISREPRESENTATION: ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN IMAGES ON SCREEN” | World Premiere | United States | English | 60 min.
Diversity and inclusion have been hot topics in film and TV this year. A recent study by the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism found that in 2015, only 14 of the top 100 box office earners included a lead role played by an actor from an under-represented group. No Asian Americans were cast for a lead role. Additionally, Native Americans and Native Hawai‘ians/Pacific Islanders did not even register significantly in the study. The situation is changing, but is it changing fast enough? Join filmmakers and actors for an open and frank discussion about the past, present and future of Asian American and Native Hawaiian inclusion in film, television and media.
Screening: Nov. 5, 3 p.m.
About the Panelists:
Panel moderator Taylour Chang is the director of the Doris Duke Theatre. She also curates and oversees the Honolulu Museum of Art’s film and music program. Chang earned her B.A. in film studies and theatre studies from Yale University with concentrations on world cinema and sound design.
Donne Dawson is Hawai‘i’s film commissioner. She has spent more than 15 years working to build Hawai‘i’s film industry — an industry that has generated nearly $4 billion for the state’s economy.
Keo Woolford directed the feature film, “The Haumäna,” and the stage play, “Three Year Swim Club” at East-West Players. As an actor, Keo can be seen in “Hawaii 5-0,” “Godzilla” and “Act of Valor.”
Christopher Makoto Yogi is a filmmaker from Honolulu. He is a Sundance Institute and Time Warner Fellow currently in development on his first feature, “I Was a Simple Man.” His previous films include: “Makoto or, Honesty,” “Obake” (Ghosts) and “Layover, on the Shore.”
