We’ve come a long way since I first wrote a New York Times editorial about the lack of opportunity for AAPIs in Hollywood. In the ensuing eight years since that was published, AAPI-led films and shows have swept the Oscars and the Emmys, anchored both the DC and Marvel Cinematic Universes, and broken box office records.
Continue reading “Gold House Teams with McKinsey & Company to Research AAPI Media Representation”
Have you even watched Enter the Dragon recently? Nielsen reporting suggests that maybe you have.
Bruce Lee’s iconic influence, epitomized by Enter the Dragon, sparked a pop-culture revolution, and remains perhaps THE critical moment for Asian Americans in Western cinema.
Continue reading “It’s a Bruce Lee Year: Return of the Year of ‘Enter the Dragon’”
Visual Communications (VC) has announced a new Special Presentation program is being added to the VC FILM FEST lineup: the Los Angeles Premiere of the Narrative Feature DÌDI (弟弟). Directed by Sean Wang, the narrative feature follows an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy who learns what his family can’t teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom. The film, which made its world premiere at Sundance, will be Wang’s fourth film at the fest.
Continue reading “‘DÌDI’ to Make its Los Angeles Premiere at the 40th VC Film Fest”
On a special Hard NOC Life, Keith chats with the creator, writer, and director of Netflix’s House of Ninjas. They talk about the journey from indie film to the top of the streaming giant and how he has been a champion of centering Asian and Asian American narratives in his work.
Hard NOC Life looks back at the highs and lows from last night’s Oscars ceremony with Avenue Q original cast member, Erin Quill!
On a new Hard NOC Life, Keith and Dominic talk about Awkwafina grand marshalling San Francisco’s Lunar New Year parade and the current state of Asian American representation in media, especially the rash of new shows on Netflix like Avatar: The Last Airbender and House of Ninjas!
I got to talk with Awkwafina about her role as Zhen in Kung Fu Panda 4 from Dreamworks Animation, and her role as Grand Marshall of the San Francisco Lunar New Year Parade, which took place last Saturday to close out the Lunar New Year 2024 observance and celebration.
Continue reading “NOC Interview: Awkwafina on Lunar New Year and ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’”
It’s safe to say that director Sean Wang is having an incredible year, despite the fact we’re only two months into it. It’s not everyday that you would receive two of the biggest news of your life all within a week.
Continue reading “‘Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó’ Director Sean Wang on the Constant Search for Identity”
Paramount+’s The Tiger’s Apprentice is available for streaming now. And we had the chance to talk to director Raman Hui about the film, as well as some favorite dim sum items to eat.
Continue reading “‘The Tiger’s Apprentice’ Director on Authenticity, Family, and Dim Sum”
First off, let me say I don’t know if this leaked news about Silk is true. It seems true-ish but also is perhaps tailored to cause a certain kind of uproar, at the expense of Asian Americans, particularly Asian American women. Supposedly, the Amazon series focused on Silk (the Asian American Spider-Man-Type-Person-Hero), led by showrunner Angela Kang, is being retooled, as per an article from The Ankler which reports that a “source close to the series claims that Silk was being refocused with a more male-skewing audience in mind.”
Continue reading “I Will Give You a “Male-Skewing” Silk if That’s What You Want, Spider-Man Folks”
The new Paramount+ animated film, The Tiger’s Apprentice, is arriving just in time for the Lunar New Year (yet two years past the Year of the Tiger). Based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Laurence Yep, it follows 15-year-old Tom Lee who, in the aftermath of his grandmother’s death, becomes the apprentice to the tiger zodiac, Hu, and rise to the occasion of becoming the guardian of an ancient phoenix.
Continue reading “Despite Potential, ‘The Tiger’s Apprentice’ is a Rushed Effort”
Paramount+ has unleashed a brand-new trailer for The Tiger’s Apprentice, a new animated film based on the popular children’s book series of the same name by Laurence Yep which inserts the mythology of the Chinese Zodiac into a modern-day story about a teenager who discovers that he comes from a long-linage of mystical protectors known as the guardians.
Continue reading “‘The Tiger’s Apprentice’ Trailer Sees Animals of the Chinese Zodiac Face a Great Evil”
Gold House and CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) have revealed their fourth annual Gold List which highlights outstanding work in film by Asian Pacific creatives in the past year.
Continue reading “Gold House & CAPE Launch 2024 Gold List to Celebrate Top Asian Pacific Film Achievements”
Kevin Tancharoen wants you to know his family came from Thailand, not Taiwan. He remembered people getting that mixed up while growing up and always forgave their errors, because when you hear it out loud, it makes sense. He finds it humorous now that he’s directing and executive producing the upcoming Netflix dark family comedy, The Brothers Sun, which centers on a Taiwanese family in the midst of a triad war.
Continue reading “‘The Brothers Sun’ Director Kevin Tancharoen Finds Humor in the Punches”
Netflix’s The Brothers Sun is more than just a drama about triads and Taiwanese gangsters. For actors Justin Chien and Sam Li, the new series, set to release on January 4, tells the story of family and two worlds coming together.
Continue reading “Justin Chien and Sam Li on Playing a Different Kind of Gangster in ‘The Brothers Sun’”
Our friends Arezou and Samira join us to review Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version!
Continue reading “The Middle Geeks Episode 61: ‘The Persian Version’ Review on the Eve of Yalda”
The past three years have been a troubling time for people. With the pandemic and the murder and hate crimes against Black and Asian Americans, it can make or break you as a human being.
Continue reading “NOC Exclusive: Trailer & Key Art for ARRAY’S ‘WHO WE BECOME’”
Before anything else, we would like listeners to know we have an episode on Palestine coming soon. In the meantime we’re sharing donation links as we have done before.
Continue reading “The Middle Geeks Episode 57: Maryam Keshavarz on Telling ‘The Persian Version’”
“Why do I have to die so you can learn your lesson?” says Kim (Chacha Tahng), the ill-fated character from the Tony Award-winning musical Miss Saigon, in Preston Choi’s This is Not a True Story. She continues on her tirade with her fellow doomed counterparts, CioCio (Julia Cho) from the tragic Madame Butterfly, and Kumiko (Jo Yuan) from the 2014 film, Kumiko: The Treasure Hunter.
Continue reading “Preston Choi’s ‘This is Not a True Story’ Examines the Dark History of Asian Heroines”
Rapper and activist jason chu releases his new album We Were the Seeds this Friday, September 15 on all streaming services.
Continue reading “Rapper/Activist jason chu to Release New Album ‘We Were the Seeds’ This Week”
Written by Lisa Sanaye Dring and directed by Jessica Hanna, the world premiere of Hungry Ghost at the Skylight Theatre Company is easily one of the best Los Angeles plays of 2023 with some of the most innovative acting, stage, and lighting design I’ve seen this year.
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Hungry Ghost’”
Paramount+ has officially released the trailer and key art for the all-new YA film Love in Taipei.
Continue reading “Paramount+’s ‘Love in Taipei’ Trailer Will Give You the Feels”
The Legacy of Yangchen is the latest book in the Chronicles of the Avatar series, and the last of the Yangchen duology. In the aftermath of the events of The Dawn of Yangchen, the airbending Avatar finds herself in the difficult position of having to de-escalate conflicts between heads of states of the Four Nations, in the midst of the threat of a powerful new weapon. To makes things even more difficult for her, she must turn to assistance from Kavik, whom she’s not on good terms, following an act of betrayal by the latter from their previous adventure together.
Continue reading “F.C. Yee Talks Exploring a Deliberate Contrast in ‘The Legacy of Yangchen’”