Center for Asian American Media

• Public Broadcast
• Programs
• Upcoming Broadcasts

Upcoming Broadcasts

June 15, 2009 at 10PM
THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN by Brittany Huckabee
(Co-presented by WETA on America at the Crossroads)

 
A small university town in West Virginia becomes the unlikely battleground for the soul of Islam in America when Asra Nomani fights for the right of women to pray alongside men in the local mosque. A thoughtful, even-handed documentary about a community struggling with change while trying to hold itself together.

 
Puerto Rican-American rapper Hamza Pérez pulled himself out of drug dealing and street life 12 years ago and became a Muslim. Now he’s moved to Pittsburgh’s tough North Side to start a new religious community, rebuild his shattered family and take his message of faith to other young people through hard-hitting hip-hop music. NEW MUSLIM COOL takes viewers on Hamza’s ride through streets, slums and jail cells — following his spiritual journey to some surprising places in an America that never stops changing.

 
Filmed over 23 years, THE BETRAYAL is the Academy Award®-nominated directorial debut of renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras in a unique collaboration with the film’s subject and co-director, Thavisouk (”Thavi”) Phrasavath. After the U.S. government waged a secret war in Laos during the Vietnam War, Thavi’s father and thousands of other Laotians who had fought alongside American forces were abandoned and left to face imprisonment or execution. Hoping to find safety, Thavi’s family made a harrowing escape to America, where they discovered a different kind of war.

Premiering on Independent Lens on January 1, 2008
NEW YEAR BABY by Socheata Poeuv
(a co-presentation with ITVS)

Born in a Thai refugee camp on Cambodian New Year, filmmaker Socheata Poeuv grew up in the United States never knowing that her family had survived the Khmer Rouge genocide. In “New Year Baby,” she embarks on a journey to Cambodia in search of the truth and why her family’s history had been buried in secrecy for so long.

January 2008
OUT OF THE POISON TREE by Beth Pielert

An American survivor of the Cambodian genocide hopes to unlock the mystery of her father’s disappearance in 1975. Thida Butt-Mam’s quest for the truth stirs up the fractured pieces of one family’s nightmare, unearths an unimaginable heartbreak, and ultimately shines light on a people’s broken silence.

CAAM distributes this film through our Educational Distribution department.

Hailed as one of the most devastatingly funny troupes of the past decade, the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors are an audacious Asian American sketch comedy troupe from San Francisco. This project provides not only a rousing introduction to the group, but also an entertaining examination of the social ramifications of why a troupe like the Warriors, no matter how funny, may never have the mainstream popularity they deserve. Utilizing a combination of personal interviews and live concert footage, the documentary traces the struggle that the fringe artist faces, and how that battle is complicated further by cultural identification.
CAAM distributes this film through our Educational Distribution department.

Beginning 2008 through the Presidential Elections
“The Diversity Beat” (a National Minority Consortia collaboration)

 
“The Diversity Beat: NMC 2008 Election Initiative,” a multi-platform initiative designed by the National Minority Consortia, will demonstrate how diversity can be incorporated into public broadcasting as a central premise of covering a national news event, while also signaling public broadcasting’s commitment to diversity in public affairs reporting. “The Diversity Beat” will bring to PBS and public radio election-related stories from different communities within the growing minority electorate. We have structured the initiative around cross-collaborations with broadcast and online news outlets, community partners, and young minority journalists.