Dr. Christina Yang was one of the first Asian American women on screen for the millions of viewers of Grey’s Anatomy. Despite “Yang” being the sixth most popular Chinese surname, the actress Sandra Oh is of South Korean descent. Still, Yang was a household name, maybe the only Asian household name in television until the commercial successes of Michelle Yeoh and Bowen Yang.
It’s only fitting then that Oh is the opening shot of The A List, a documentary created by filmmaker Eugene Yi and produced by HBO. It features 15 interviews with distinguished Asian Americans in fields from journalism to entertainment to the restaurant industry.
“There could not be more than one of us,” Oh says in The A List. “Now, I am only interested in telling stories where characters have that cultural dimension.” Her most recent producing credits include Killing Eve, Umma, and Can I get a Witness?, all featuring Asian American leads.
The A List is featured at the DisOrient film festival’s 21st anniversary this March 13 to 15 and 19 to 22. The theme this year, selected by program director Jo Fujiwara-Morozumi, is “Rising Tides, Crashing Waves,” and is meant to speak to the post-COVID resolve and represent a more complete side of the Asian American story.
“Now that ‘immigrant’ has become a bad word in mainstream media, we’re trying to look at films that will have an impact but also high-quality art,” says organizer Pamela Quan.
In The A List, Oh, Yia Vang, Amanda Nguyen, DJ Rekha, Connie Chung, Kumal Nanjiani, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Bowen Yang, Kathy Masaoka, Manny Crisostomo, Cliff Kapono, Schuyler Bailar, Nergis Mavalvala, Haroon Mokhtarzada and Madelyn Yu are featured against a stark grey background. They speak to the spectrum of experiences Asian Americans live every day.
“Even now when it feels like there is more representation, it’s still like narrative plenitude. Seeing so many of our stories so we’re not hanging everything on each one that comes through,” Yi says. “So we can see the complexities of our communities reflected.”
The commonality of Asian Americans is the respect and responsibility they feel to the generation that brought them to America in the first place, and the desire to continue to take advantage of the American experience.
“Orientalism was a concept in understanding how Asian bodies were othered throughout history and in the media,” says festival creator Jason “J” Mak. “‘DisOrient’ is to literally flip that on its head.”
Mak studied ethnic studies and general sciences for undergrad at the University of Oregon, and his parents owned the former Louie’s Village restaurant on Franklin Boulevard. He then got a master’s in Asian American studies at UCLA. While at UCLA, through the EthnoCommunications program, he created the documentary film Selling Louie’s Village (Without Breaking the YOLK). After 40 years of business, Louie’s Village closed in 2013.
“The film was about the memory of the restaurant as home,” Mak says. The film features interviews with his family about living in Eugene and existing as Asian Americans.
“I think Americans don’t want to see what real Chinese food is,” Susanna Louie says in the film. “I think they’re afraid of it.”
Mak says his film showed everywhere but Eugene. Starting the DisOrient festival was an attempt to bring the Asian American film community to Eugene. Mak served as the executive director for the first five years of the festival and remains on the board.
This year’s festival will also feature About Face, a feature documentary on the yellowface movement in dance, directed by Jennifer Rita Lin; The Road to Sydney about a master Philippine dancer’s journey with gender affirming care and rekindling the relationship with his father, directed by Benito Bautista; and Remathu: People of the Ocean about the first Micronesian and Indigenous person, Nicole Yamase, to dive the Challenger Deep, the deepest place known in the ocean, directed by Daniel H. Lin.
Since its inception, the vision has only gotten bigger and more organized. It serves as an artist-focused retreat, prioritizing films that feature both representation and social justice.
The DisOrient festival runs in person March 13 to 15, and virtually March 16 to 22. Visit DisOrientFilm.orgt o purchase tickets and for more information.
This story has been updated.