Southern Fried Asian: ‘Far East Deep South’

June 3, 2020 Southern Fried Asian

On June 5, the Oxford Film Festival will host the virtual world premiere of the documentary feature, Far East Deep South, a film about a Chinese American family discovering its unexpected history in Mississippi. Before its premiere, the filmmakers, Larissa Lam and Baldwin Chiu, sit down for this month’s episode of Southern Fried Asian.

Baldwin and Larissa take us behind the scenes on what led to the revelation that their Californian family had roots in the American South (1:15). Larissa, the director, explains the decision to turn their original documentary short, Finding Cleveland, into a feature-length movie came about (9:00) and how their personal story fits into a larger context of Asian American history (16:00). Later, Baldwin reveals how Larissa was able to get his father to show his emotional side in the film (22:30) and why this film’s exploration of immigration and generational trauma is so timely in 2020 (26:30). Finally, they share some of the favorite things they ate while filming the documentary in Mississippi (33:30). Also, check out their music video tribute to Asian American history set to the tune of “The Schuyler Sisters” from Hamilton.