AAPI Heritage Month Programming on WETA World

May 3

The Ainu are the indigenous people of northern Japan. They were once subjected to cultural assimilation policies, and many of their traditions were lost. But now, young Ainu are spearheading a movement to restore their heritage. In BARAKAN DISCOVERS: AINU – A NEW GENERATION, host Peter Barakan meets an artisan who recreates old craft items; performers with a new take on traditional singing and dancing; and a YouTuber who presents language lessons. He also looks at the oppression of the past, and the possibilities that exist in the future.

May 5

At the start of World War II, as the US Government prepared to forcibly remove and incarcerate all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, a small number of Japanese Americans took their fate in their own hands and fled the coast, becoming refugees in their own country, on a forced migration into the unknown. Before They Take Us Away is the first documentary to chronicle the untold stories of the “self-evacuees” who spent the war years outside the camps, as they struggled to rebuild their lives and overcome poverty, isolation, hostility and racial violence.

May 13

An idealistic, young journalist in Beijing profiles China's biggest real estate speculator. Their divergent life experiences and clashing values reflect the generational and societal changes happening in the country.

May 14

Likened by Buddhists to the Vatican City, Ganden is considered the most influential monastery of Tibetan Buddhism. GANDEN: A JOYFUL LAND is a revealing, intimate look at the lives and remembrances of the last remaining generation of monks to have studied at the renowned monastery in Tibet where the Dalai Lama’s lineage began.

May 17

UNCONDITIONAL: HEALING HIDDEN WOUNDS is a revealing documentary about the home healthcare crises of mental wellness. Mental health issues and questions of emotional wellness challenge some 50 million family caregivers each year, and often they do not know it. Filmed over seven years, the cinéma vérité film follows three very different families as they discover the impacts, stresses and rewards of caregiving for their loved ones living with disabilities.

May 18

Vietnamese boat refugee, Lauren Vuong, embarks on a decades long search for the heroic captain and crew of a US cargo ship that rescued her at sea at 7-years-old and saved her family and 57 other immigrants from certain death. Capturing the American hope and the American dream, this documentary is a universal tale of war, desperation, survival, and the serendipitous heroes who embody the best of humanity. This is a story needed now more than ever given the current anti-immigrant and anti- refugee rhetoric in the US and globally.

May 21

Cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, has one mission: to preserve Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. These laws prescribe a mandatory death sentence for disrespecting The Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) and life imprisonment for desecrating the Holy Quran. With millions sympathetic to his goal, Rizvi holds the state under his spell and silences anyone attempting to change the law by condemning them to death.

May 25

BLURRING THE COLOR LINE follows director Crystal Kwok as she unpacks the history behind her grandmother’s family, who were neighborhood grocery store owners in the Black community of Augusta, Georgia during the Jim Crow era. By centering women’s experiences, Kwok poses critical questions around the intersections of race, power, and identity in the American South.

May 25

ALTERNATIVE FACTS: The Lies of Executive Order 9066 tells the untold story of false information and political influences which led to the World War ll incarceration of Japanese Americans. The film also examines the parallels to the targeting of groups today and similar attempts to abuse the powers of the government.

May 25

Emmy-Award-winning filmmaker Bill Einreinhofer reflects on the time he spent in China, what he discovered, what he learned and the dramatic changes he witnessed. His pictures include original interviews and scenes shot throughout China, as well as little seen historical footage discovered in the most unlikely of places: America’s National Archives and the Library of Congress.

May 29

Asian American Stories of Resilience reflects the complexities of Asian American experiences in this critical moment. These two films focus on family and heritage, identities, and immigration and deportation.