Setting the Record Straight

When Crazy Rich Asians broke box office records last year, much was made of the fact that it had been a quarter century since Hollywood had produced a feature film starring Asian American actors (1993’s The Joy Luck Club) and, well, how come? Was it the industry’s propensity to whitewash? Producers who only cast folks they knew? Or a more unambiguous form of racism? Largely missing from the discussion were decades of Asian American indie films and documentaries that, while not picked up by Warner Bros., had nevertheless captured scenes of Asian American life in ways that director Jon M. Chu’s film—an otherwise delightful rom-com about Singaporean 1 percenters—never could have.

Among the most prolific chroniclers and champions of the Asian American experience is the Los Angeles–based media collective Visual Communications. Best known as the longtime host of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, the organization has been documenting aspects of California life for nearly half a century that few filmmakers or photographers have, likely the first feature film made by and about Asian Americans.