ASIAN AMERICANS
SYNOPSIS
Asian Americans is a 5-hour documentary film series that delivers a bold, fresh perspective on a history that matters today, more than ever. As America becomes more diverse yet more divided, how do we move forward together? Told through intimate and personal lives, the series casts a new lens on how one group of Americans, who were long excluded and considered outsiders, have played a central role in shaping the nation’s story. Asian Americans premiered on PBS in May of 2020. The series is narrated by Daniel Dae Kim and Tamlyn Tomita, episode producers are S. Leo Chiang, Geeta Gandbhir and Grace Lee. and Renee Tajima-Peña is series producer.
Asian Americans is a production of WETA Washington, DC and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) for PBS, in association with the Independent Television Service (ITVS), Flash Cuts and Tajima-Peña Productions.
SCREENINGS
PBS prime time broadcast – The WORLD Channel – Korean Broadcasting System – Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film FestivalS
“A sweeping look at Asian Americans’ impact on society, politics and pop culture from the mid-19th century through 9/11.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
“A landmark program spanning 150 years that couldn’t arrive at a more timely moment.”
LOS ANGELES TIMES
“The most ambitious documentary project ever to chronicle the history of the Asian-American community.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Asian Americans, a new five-part PBS series co-produced by Renee Tajima-Peña, Grace Lee, S. Leo Chiang, and Geeta Gandbhir has managed to do a rarity within the genre of Asian American film and video: addressing the need to make Asian Americans visible while simultaneously exploring deeper issues of race, racism, immigration, citizenship, and history that confront and engage the viewer in the ongoing need for social change. This series comes at an especially pertinent time when the seemingly arcane “yellow peril” racism of decades and centuries past has disturbingly resurfaced with the new COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating that history can and does repeat itself. The series argues for the urgency in using media—in this case, television documentary—to condemn the violence that continues to plague not only Asian Americans, but others similarly implicated by virtue of their marginal status, including African Americans, the working poor, and immigrants.”
Film Quarterly
