Blog

Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady on Capturing Detroit

Detroit-area native Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady filmed Detropia with the hopes that the rest of the United States would recognize a bit of themselves in the Motor City — unemployment, the decline of manufacturing and municipalities, and the new…

Seeking Asian Female: Do Asian Women Have “White Fever”?

Seeking Asian Female

Steven is an aging white man obsessed with marrying an Asian woman, dreaming of a devoted young wife. Sandy is the young, feisty, ambitious Chinese woman he finds online. This engaging documentary follows their tumultuous love story. (more…)

Steven of Seeking Asian Female Talks about Online Dating, “Asian Fetish,” and Relationship Advice

How would you define “asian fetish” (a.k.a., crudely, "yellow fever")? According to Urban Dictionary, it is “a term usually applied to white males who have a clear sexual preference for women of Asian descent, although it can also be used…

Director Debbie Lum on Romance, “Rice Kings,” and Reluctantly Appearing in Her Film

Reality is a slippery medium. Just when a documentary filmmaker thinks she understands a story, people surprise her. Such it was for Debbie Lum. When she first started filming Seeking Asian Female, Lum hoped to dissect a cultural phenomenon that…

The Undocumented

In the past 15 years, more than 2,000 dead migrants have been found in the vast borderlands between Sonora, Mexico and Tucson, Arizona. The film tells the story of border crossers who perished while trying to cross an unforgiving desert…

Border Crossing by the Numbers

Juan Manuel, featured in The Undocumented, lived in the United States more than 15 years. Eventually, he was deported to Mexico, away from his children. He died crossing the U.S. border to see his kids again. “I think Juan Manuel’s…

Director Marco Williams on the Making of The Undocumented

[caption id="attachment_3919" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Filmmaker Marco Williams, director of The Undocumented[/caption] Since 1998, more than two thousand dead bodies have been found in Arizona’s Sonora Desert — the remains of “border crossers” who perished en route to the United States…

The Island President

Jon Shenk’s The Island President tells the story of former president Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a man confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced—the survival of his country and everyone in it. After bringing…

‘As I Am’ Filmmaker Alan Spearman Makes Moving Portraits in South Memphis

We sat down with Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Alan Spearman about his experiences in making the short film, As I Am, paired with The House I Live In, airing Monday, April 8 at 10pm (check local listings). Both films shed light…

Kind Hearted Woman

In a special two-part series, acclaimed filmmaker David Sutherland (The Farmer’s Wife, Country Boys) creates an unforgettable portrait of Robin Charboneau, a 32-year-old divorced single mother and Oglala Sioux woman living on North Dakota’s Spirit Lake Reservation. Sutherland follows Robin…

Filmmaker David Sutherland on Making Kind Hearted Woman

We sat down with acclaimed filmmaker David Sutherland to talk with him about his unforgettable portrait of Robin Charboneau, a 32-year-old divorced single mother and Oglala Sioux woman living on North Dakota’s Spirit Lake Reservation. His film, Kind Hearted Woman — a special…