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DVD Collection

The Asian Studies Center has an extensive collection of fiction and non‑fiction films available to borrow. Visit the center or contact us for more information.

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Amerasians Country/Region of Focus: Vietnam
Length: 060min
Type of Film: Documentary
Language: English

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Description: The Vietnam War left not only bomb craters, forests destroyed by napalm, and vast numbers of casualties. The war also left about 100,000 fatherless children—Amerasians, who, because of their appearance, became outcasts from society. In 1988, after Congress passed the Amerasian Homecoming Act, Vietnamese youngsters who could prove they had been fathered by an American were issued with a ticket to fly to the U.S., and granted six months’ upkeep here. Overnight, society’s lowest ranks became "golden children" able to take a whole family to the U.S. But proving one’s paternity wasn’t a simple matter. For many, all that was left were physical traits suggesting American parentage and, with luck, an old photo of a father in uniform. To date, 38,000 offspring have moved to the U.S., and this video introduces us to a number of Amerasians, some who have moved, and others who are about to leave Vietnam. The reality that confronts them in the U.S. can be a challenge. Even if their look is no longer a problem in the melting pot of American society, the culture shock is considerable—language, food, culture—so much is strange to them, and they feel themselves to be neither Vietnamese nor American. For the first time in their lives, they learn to be proud of themselves as Amerasians.The Vietnam War left not only bomb craters, forests destroyed by napalm, and vast numbers of casualties. The war also left about 100,000 fatherless children—Amerasians, who, because of their appearance, became outcasts from society. In 1988, after Congress passed the Amerasian Homecoming Act, Vietnamese youngsters who could prove they had been fathered by an American were issued with a ticket to fly to the U.S., and granted six months’ upkeep here. Overnight, society’s lowest ranks became "golden children" able to take a whole family to the U.S. But proving one’s paternity wasn’t a simple matter. For many, all that was left were physical traits suggesting American parentage and, with luck, an old photo of a father in uniform. To date, 38,000 offspring have moved to the U.S., and this video introduces us to a number of Amerasians, some who have moved, and others who are about to leave Vietnam. The reality that confronts them in the U.S. can be a challenge. Even if their look is no longer a problem in the melting pot of American society, the culture shock is considerable—language, food, culture—so much is strange to them, and they feel themselves to be neither Vietnamese nor American. For the first time in their lives, they learn to be proud of themselves as Amerasians.

Three Seasons Country/Region of Focus: Vietnam
Length: 110min
Type of Film: Feature
Language: English and Vietnamese with English Subtitles

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Description: Vietnamese-American Tony Bui's Three Seasons has the distinction of being the first American production to shoot in Vietnam since the war. Set in modern-day Ho Chi Minh City, the film is a triptych of stories about characters dealing with loss and redemption: an American veteran searches for a daughter he fathered during the Vietnam War; a young woman harvests lotus blossoms for a reclusive leper-poet; and a lonely cyclo driver offers love to a world-weary prostitute. The three stories subtly converge to deliver a portrait of a strife-worn society attempting to heal itself.

Gao Rang (Grilled Rice) Country/Region of Focus: Vietnam
Length: 052min
Type of Film: Documentary
Language: In French & Vietnamese with English subtitles

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Description: The war in Vietnam was the most filmed conflict in world history. Unlike thousands of Western journalists, the small band of North Vietnamese and NLF cameramen have been largely forgotten, despite the fact that they founded Vietnamese cinema. This documentary tells the story of these cameramen/soldiers. In their own words, they describte their experiences filming in compat, first against the French and later the Americans.

Raise the Bamboo Curtain: Vietnam - A Personal Journey with Rick Ray Country/Region of Focus: Vietnam
Length: 095min
Type of Film: Documentary
Language: English

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Description: In 1997, when Rick Ray (noted director of 10 Questions For The Dalai Lama) visited Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma to produce his landmark film (later narrated on PBS by Martin Sheen), these countries were thought of as sites of war and suffering. To some extent, Burma (called Myanmar by it's repressive, authoritarian regime) is still the land that time forgot, as depicted beautifully but tragically in this film. However, both Vietnam and Cambodia have emerged as major tourist destination. Ray's film offers an amazing glimpse at a time when these countries were just emerging from behind the Bamboo Curtain.

Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining Country/Region of Focus: Japan
Length: 024min
Type of Film: Documentary
Language: English, Japanese

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Description: This short documentary encompasses a series of twenty three component parts, mainly located in the southwest of Japan. It bears testimony to the rapid industrialization of the country from the middle of the 19th century to the early 20th century, through the development of the iron and steel industry, shipbuilding and coal mining. The site illustrates the process by which feudal Japan sought technology transfer from Europe and America from the middle of the 19th century and how this technology was adapted to the country’s needs and social traditions. The site testifies to what is considered to be the first successful transfer of Western industrialization to a non-Western nation.

Jinnah Country/Region of Focus: Pakistan
Length: 110 mins
Type of Film: Feature (Region 2)
Language: English

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Description: An epic biopic about the life of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the man who founded the Muslim nation of Pakistan in the wake of Great Britain's relinquishment of control over India. After his death in 1948, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Christopher Lee) awaits final judgem

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