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The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation is proud to announce the 14th Annual Asian American
Film Series, a free event held on Fridays in July at the Alhecama Theatre. In an effort to explore the
history and cultures of the Asian communities that once thrived in and around the Santa Barbara
Presidio area, this series includes films that speak to the Asian American experience in the US. A Q&A
and reception will follow each film screening.
Seating is first come, first served. Parking will be available for free in the Panino lot (Santa Barbara &
Canon Perdido Streets) and El Presidio SHP Canon Perdido Street lot.
This film series is made possible by the generous support of the George H. Griffiths and Olive J. Griffiths
Charitable Foundation.
2023 Film Selections:
Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066
July 7th, 2023 – 6PM
This is an award-winning documentary feature film about the false information and political influences
which led to the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. Alternative Facts sheds light on the
people and politics that influenced the signing of the infamous Executive Order 9066 which authorized
the mass incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans. The film exposes the lies used to justify
the decision and the cover-up that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Alternative
Facts also examines the parallels to the current climate of fear, targeting of immigrant and religious
communities, and similar attempts to abuse the powers of the government.
Followed by a Q&A with Director Jon Osaki
Liquor Store Dreams
July 14th 2023 – 6PM
Director and liquor store baby, So Yun Um and her father have never seen eye to eye on anything,
especially not her career choices. Although his liquor store has provided her financial stability to dream
big, there’s tension between father and daughter, and how their Korean culture and store have had a
complicated past within a Black community. So goes on a journey to unpack this tension as well as the
generational divide between her and her father. Liquor Store Dreams is a portrait of two second
generation Korean Americans trying to create their own future by honoring their parent’s past through
understanding and healing.
Followed by a Q&A with Director So Yun Um and Producer Eddie Kim
The Donut King
July 21st 2023 – 6PM
Everything you thought you knew about the donut begins with Ted Ngoy. This is the unlikely story of a
Cambodian refugee arriving in America in 1975 and building a multi-million-dollar empire baking
America’s favorite pastry, the donut. Ted’s story is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and
redemption. It’s the rags to riches story of a refugee escaping Cambodia, arriving in America in 1975 and
building an unlikely multi-million-dollar empire baking America’s favorite pastry, the donut. Ted
sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet teaching them the
ways of the donut business. By 1979 he was living the American Dream. But, in life, great rise can come
with great falls.
Followed by a Q&A with a To Be Announced special guest
Chinatown Rising
July 28th – 6PM
Against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-1960s, a young San Francisco Chinatown
resident armed with a 16mm camera and leftover film scraps from a local TV station, turned his lens
onto his community. Totaling more than 20,000 feet of film (10 hours), Harry Chuck’s exquisite
unreleased footage has captured a divided community’s struggles for self-determination. Chinatown
Rising is a documentary film about the Asian American Movement from the perspective of the young
residents on the front lines of their historic neighborhood in transition. Through publicly challenging the
conservative views of their elders, their demonstrations and protests of the 1960s-1980s rattled the
once quiet streets during the community’s shift in power. Forty-five years later, in intimate interviews,
these activists recall their roles and experiences in response to the need for social change.
Followed by a Q&A with Co-Director/Producer Josh Chuck and Co-Director/Producer/Director of
Photography Harry Chuck