TFTV student filmmaker Andy Zhao’s film Asian and American is featured in the annual documentary showcase What’s Up, Docs?, streaming digitally for the first time through The Loft Cinema. This year’s lineup features 15 short documentaries made by TFTV students, and focuses heavily on Tucson and some of their own personal experiences.
Zhao, a Film & Television junior, decided to focus on a topic that he has known since childhood. In his film Asian and American, the “and” between identifiers acknowledges the cultural tightrope walked by Asian-Americans. Especially during adolescence, people of color experience a push toward Americanization that causes an obscuring of the self and disconnect from one’s heritage. Zhao explores this phenomenon in his latest documentary through profiles of three young Asian-American individuals that have experienced a similar separation from their roots. Shoon Shojima, Sandy Trieu, and Matthew Potwardowski share their stories of growing up Asian in America. The profiles include their struggles with masculinity, identity, and conformity and the ways in which they have begun to reconnect and remain in touch with their culture.
Asian and American is one of fifteen documentaries in What’s Up, Docs? streaming for free through The Loft Cinema.
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