You may have heard of the Cinema Pacific Film Festival, but have you heard about the DisOrient Film Festival? This festival is different, but similar to Cinema Pacific; instead of showcasing films from just the Pacific bordering countries, DisOrient showcases films created by Asian Americans in the US.
DisOrient started in 2006 and is reaching its 10th year next year. On their website the festival states: “DisOrient is a grassroots and volunteer-run film festival committed to presenting honest portrayals of the diversity of the Asian and Pacific Islander American experience.” The films they choose are recent and usually undistributed.
I would completely recommend attending this festival. I went for the first time this past weekend and was completely blown away by the dedication and passion of the volunteers. They had a few feature films as well as many shorts and a music video. All of these films stayed true to their goal of presenting “honest portrayals of the diversity of the Asian and Pacific Islander American experience”. My favorite features this year were A Leading Man and The Act of Killing. My favorite shorts were The Last Piece, Dress, and Cantonese Style!
Because this festival is a cultural festival, it really lets people who are not familiar with the culture get more acquianted with it. There are many aspects that would be recognizable to an Asian American and not to someone with that background. The Q&As that they have after every showing are also very helpful to initiate discussion of any kinds of isseus that were raised in the film. Usually the director is there, so the audience can really get a more indepth view on why the film was the way it was.
Although this festival will not be back for another year, it is definitely one of many film festivals to look out for during the spring time in Eugene.
Check out their website HERE!