NewFilmmakers Los Angeles May Film Festival InFocus: Asian Cinema & InFocus: Immigration

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) hosts its May Monthly Film Festival, which features its annual InFocus: Asian Cinema program and  InFocus: Immigration  program. The day also includes the west coast premiere of Dillon Tucker’s narrative feature Pure O, and opens with a selection of student animation in the CSULB Animation Showcase.

The day opens with the CSULB Animation Showcase, a juried selection of student short films from California State University, Long Beach’s Animation program will show a variety of films in different mediums from CG, stop motion, traditional hand drawn and hybrid approaches. Each film is a result of at least 1 year of work and development and represents each director’s unique perspective and creative vision.

Day begins with InFocus: Immigration, a collection of films that tell stories of emigration, immigration, immigration policy and the experiences of being a first or second generation immigrant. From not feeling like you quite fit in anywhere, to exploitative workplaces to being left behind when a family member emigrates, to finding community, the life and death stakes of border crossings and the effects that draconian immigration policies have on wider communities. 

The day continues with InFocus: Asian Cinema, a program that spotlights Asian and Asian-American talent and storytelling in front of and behind the camera. Stories include a fierce boxer misunderstood by her first-generation immigrant mother, a thrilling heist in urban Taiwan, a first-born girl in China struggling with the place in her family following the birth of her baby brother, an intergenerational story of one women’s seeking of an abortion in Texas, a hired tutor with a growing sense of unease, an aunt’s dilemma in the face of her sister’s conservative parenting, an exploration of the promises of skin bleaching through horror, and a poetic portrait of intercultural appreciation and grief. 

The night concludes with the west coast premiere of narrative feature Pure O, writer-director Dillon Tucker’s directorial debut which world premiered at SXSW. The film explores pure obsessional OCD, a particularly intrusive form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, through Tucker’s own personal lens and lived experience. A messy, honest and ultimately hopeful story about mental health, recovery and connection.