Afterbirth / conceived by Will Connell, Jr., Jason Hwang ; produced, directed & edited by Jason Hwang.

Format:

Video

Contributor:

Hwang, Jason, director, producer.

Series:

Academic Video Online

Language:

Chinese

English

Subjects (All):

Asian Americans--Interviews.

Asian Americans.

Asian Americans--Ethnic identity.

Genre:

Documentary films.

Interviews.

Short films.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (36 minutes)

Place of Publication:

San Francisco, CA : Center for Asian American Media, 1982.

Language Note:

In Chinese and English.

System Details:

video file

Summary:

Afterbirth poetically explores the unpredictable relationship between appearance and identity, challenging notions of cultural essentialism with a call for spiritual transcendence. A "documentary" montage featuring white, black and yellow Chinese characters, some fictional, others real, confront the meaning of language, ritual and skin color to realize a true Asian American identity. Produced in 1983, the cast includes Jack Tchen, now director of New York University's Asian/Pacific/American Institute; Gopal Sukhu, now chair of the Chinese Language department at Columbia University; Fay Chiang, former director of Basement Workshop, now Program Developer at Project Reach, a youth crisis center in NYC's Chinatown; experimental media artist Shu Lea Cheang; and the director, Jason Kao Hwang, now a highly-regarded jazz violinist/composer. (see jasonkaohwang.com) Afterbirth premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in 1983.

Notes:

Title from title screen (viewed May 27, 2021).

OCLC:

1255892718

Publisher Number:

ASP5119160/marc