Superfest Disability Film Festival Short Films Screening

Recognizing the need to stay engaged and inspired while maintaining social distancing during the COVID-19 crisis, the Asian Art Museum is shifting its programs to online platforms. While the museum is closed, we are hosting a range of virtual public programs to both connect with our audiences and support the work of our artistic and creative communities. 

Hosted by the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University, the Superfest Disability Film Festival is the longest running disability film festival in the world. For more than 30 years, Superfest has celebrated cutting-edge cinema that portrays disability through a diverse, complex, unabashed, and engaging lens.   

This showcase, presented by the Asian Art Museum in partnership with the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability, highlights some short films from previous Superfest festivals that explore the intersection of disability and Asian or Asian American identity. 

After the screening, a panel of Asian American leaders in the disability community will share their reactions to the films and how they resonate with the panelists’ personal experiences. Panelists include Diversability founder Tiffany Yu, science fiction author and blogger Claire Light, UC Berkeley Professor of Anthropology Karen Nakamura, and actor James Quedado. 

All films will play with audio description and captioning. ASL and live program captioning provided upon request; please contact Emily Beitiks by Apr. 26 at [email protected].  

Additional funding for this event was provided by the Longmore Institute on Disability and the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at UC Berkeley. Sponsorship provided in part by the Robert and Colleen Haas Distinguished Chair in Disability Studies.

Films (in order of presentation): 

The Nature of Pleasure. “The Nature of Pleasure” is by Thanh My Diep, who works as an artist at Creativity Explored. According to Thanh, “The film expresses my feelings about sexuality and disability. Many people understand what I mean, but others do not recognize people with disabilities as sexual beings.”  (8 mins) 

When Brenden Met Hiroe. A photographer from Australia returns to Japan to reunite with his friend Hiroe, who he met at a blind and deaf/blind workshop the year before. The pair spend an unforgettable day together. (23 mins) 

Rhizophora. Forty years after the Vietnam War, the toxic remnants of Agent Orange have not faded. A dreamlike meditation on the impact of war and the resilience of humanity, “Rhizophora” follows 11 disabled Vietnamese youth on a whimsical, poignant, and whirling journey through a day in their lives. (16 mins) 

Traveller. A young woman born with a disability searches for a career despite rampant discrimination. She travels to Japan where she finds strength in disability activism and community, and returns home with a newfound sense of pride. (25 mins)