The long-running, San Francisco-based non-profit organization Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) continues their dedication to presenting rich and diverse Asian American experiences through their project, Memories to Light: Asian American Home Movies.
Three years ago, this project started with a personal submission from filmmaker Mark Decena– a collection he called The War Inside— and the initiative has since expanded to include 19 families and 180 films. Not only are these families getting their aging reels digitized, they’re also contributing to something even bigger, and that’s piecing together Asian American histories with their personal stories.
“These films provide a quietly powerful and emotionally resonate counter to the historically inaccurate and unrepresentative stereotypes of Asians and Asian Americans in media such as the “Suzy Wongs,” houseboys and ninjas that have dominated the mainstream culture for far too long,” CAAM points out in their Memories to Light Campaign page.
If you have 8mm, super-8, or 16mm films that you would like to donate to CAAM, see here to find out more about the application process. Or if you would like to donate to the campaign and keep the home movies rolling, check out their crowdfunding page.
Featured image courtesy of CAAMedia.org.
