TO THE HANDS
Directed by Robert Istad
Produced by Alex Nelson
USA, 2023, 1 hour 6 minutes
TO THE HANDS is a choral-theatrical exploration that lives between social consciousness and live acoustic performance. Anchored by Pulitzer Prize-Winning Caroline Shaw’s 2016 eponymous work, itself responding to Buxtehude’s Ad Manus cantata from 1680, the film draws out a centuries-old question made urgent again: How do we tend to the wounds in our hands?
Q&A with filmmakers to follow last film
STANDING THE HEAT
Directed by Steven Dallas
USA, 2024, 8 Minutes 44 seconds
I explore and compare how the Traditional Hoghan stacks up against modern engineering and the heat.
Q&A with filmmakers to follow last film
YONSEI
Directed by Rachel Michiko Whitney, Jeff Mizushima
Written by Jeff Mizushima, Rachel Michiko Whitney
USA, 2025, 36 minutes
Feeling stuck in her acting career, RACHEL decides to write and star in a film about her mother, who was a struggling Japanese American actress in 1980s Hollywood. But as she tries to adapt her mother’s story, and digs deeper into her grandmother’s history being sent to and falling in love in a Japanese American incarceration camp during WWII, she is torn between exploiting her family and friends to create a compelling narrative and honoring their privacy. *Yonsei means fourth generation Japanese American
Q&A with filmmakers to follow last film
VOICES OF LITTLE TOKYO
Directed by Nana Nakano
USA, 2025, 14 minutes 57 seconds
Little Tokyo is one of the three remaining Japantowns in the United States. While it attracts many tourists, the community is also home to many small legacy businesses and low-income households. In 2021, developers proposed the Fourth and Central Project, which aims to revamp the Cold Storage buildings right outside Little Tokyo. This brings up concerns revolving
environmental, gentrification, and displacement. Being recognized as one of America’s most endangered historic sites, community leaders are actively working to oppose the development project while residents and business owners worry that they would be affected again.
Q&A with filmmakers to follow last film
HANDS WRAPPED
Directed by Reef X Applebaum
USA, 2024, 10 minutes
Hands Wrapped is a raw cinematic documentary showcasing the mental and physical journey of Casey Macias as he prepares for and competes in his professional boxing debut. Through brutal training sessions, mental battles, and personal sacrifices, the film captures the unseen struggles that pave the path to becoming a pro. As Casey pushes his body and mind to the limit, viewers are given an inside look to the heart, grit, and resilience that are needed
Q& A with filmmakers after all films have screened.