Asian American film festival brings movies to Thousand Oaks, Oxnard

Dave Mason, Ventura County Star
·2 min read

Movies will explore everything from discrimination to Broadway dreams this month during the Ventura County Asian American Film Festival.

Films will screen Saturday and on May 18 at the Grant R. Brimhall Library, 1401 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks. On May 25, they'll screen at the South Oxnard Library, 4300 Saviers Road in Oxnard. They're being shown during Asian American Heritage Month.

This is the first Asian American film festival presented by the Ventura County Japanese American Citizens League, said organizer Janice Tanaka, a Thousand Oaks resident.

Screening Saturday in Thousand Oaks are:

  • 10 a.m. “Go Back to China.” After exhausting her trust fund, Sasha Li must return to China to work for her family's toy business.

  • 12:30 p.m. “Istikhara, New York.” The film follows Roza, a 20-year-old aspiring Broadway actor.

  • 2:30 p.m. “Seadrift.” The documentary is about a Vietnamese refugee who kills a fisherman in Seadrift, Texas. The movie goes on to show the war over fishing territory and the Ku Klux Klan's intimidation and other hostilities against Vietnamese refugees on the Gulf Coast.

The festival will continue at 1 p.m. May 18 in Thousand Oaks with “No No Girl.” The movie follows a young Japanese American who tries to uncover a secret about her family, whose members were imprisoned in an U.S. internment camp during World War II. Director Paul Daisuke Goodman will answer questions afterward.

Tanaka said her own parents were sent to a U.S. camp and that the incarceration ended her father’s boxing career. Her father and other first-generation Japanese Americans, or nisei, didn't want to burden their families with stories about their internment, said Tanaka, who became a filmmaker telling stories about the camps.

Two Filipino American movies packed with music will screen May 25 in Oxnard:

  • 10 a.m. “The Girl Who Left Home.” An actress must make a difficult decision when her family’s restaurant faces foreclosure. Director Mallorie Ortega will answer questions about the musical.

  • 12:30 p.m. “Yellow Rose.” A 17-year-old girl wants to become a country-western singer, but has problems such as her mother being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Screenings are free, but registration is required at vcjacl.org. For details, email infovcjacl@gmail.com or call 310-948-4808.

Dave Mason covers East County for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at dave.mason@vcstar.com or 805-437-0232.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Asian American Film Fest launches Saturday in Thousand Oaks, Oxnard