#debbie lum

‘Try Harder!’ ⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎: Sundance 2021

Despite my good grades in high school, I wasn’t terribly ambitious. I wanted to be an artist and didn’t aim for any Ivy League or private colleges. My father had by then died of complications of MS and thus couldn’t offer any financial assistance. Neither my mother nor father had a college degree. As first generation college students, it’s a credit to my parents’ low-key pressure that all three…

Our #Sundance2021 #review of high school #documentary #TryHarder:

Marking the second feature film by San Francisco-based filmmaker Debbie Lum, Try Harder! follows the seniors at Lowell High School and their pursuits in the Holy Grail – an Ivy League education. Filmed at San Francisco’s top-ranked public high school, Lowell has a student body mostly comprises Asian Americans – earning its nickname of an ‘Asian Excellency’ school. Therefore, it is no surprise…

 They’re All So Beautiful: Episode 1 - “What is ‘Yellow Fever’?”

Webseries for Debbie Lum - Seeking Asian Female, 2012

A breakdown of my thoughts on the site They're All So Beautiful!

Part I

Here are two free docs courtesy of PBS for your viewing pleasure. They're made by women and are about them, but not strictly just for them. There's plenty to learn from the films here:

"Wonder Woman: The Untold Story of American Superheroines"  http://video.pbs.org/video/2331042879

Featuring interviews from Gloria Steinem, Kathleen Hanna, Shelby Knox, and yes, Wonder Woman herself, Lynda Carter, "Wonder Woman" is a playful, yet serious exploration on the history of superheroines. From the awkward to the disempowering moments like superwomen losing their powers for love or the story behind Wonder Woman's kind of creepy creator, very little of mainstream comic book lore is left untouched (more alternative comic books are glossed over, as their reach is limited). The documentary wonders a bit, bouncing from history to psycholical impact of repeated messages of docility with wobbly transitions. It's so short, partly because there aren't that many female superheroes as there are damsels in distress and partly because of its focus on American superheroes alone. 

Director: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan

Seeking Asian Female http://video.pbs.org/video/2365001610

Starting with a collage of white men confessing their fetish for Asian women, the movie settles on one man's creepy quest for love and fulfillment of his, uh, desire. This is a personal topic for the director, having brushed past men with "yellow fever"  many times before. While the racist critique of the fetish (exoticizing the "other," reducing individuals to stereotypes) isn't mentioned past the first half, the movie narrows in on its subject once several cultural clashes after he proposes to a woman from China he's never met before. Language and cultural barriers drag the director into the drama, which makes for a very tense finale. Again, brief, but powerful, this documentary exposes the harmful side of such an obsession and the hurt it can inflict on both parties. 

Director: Debbie Lum

Vimeo link to Seeking Asian Female, the full documentary by Debbie Lum.