Asian-American students study for hours on end. Asian-American women are demure and soft-spoken. Asian-American men have small penises. These stereotypes have plagued Asian-Americans for centuries, but Jason Mak is ready to take a stand to obliterate such thoughts through his DisOrient Film Festival this weekend.
Mak, a 2000 graduate of the University and the current diversity consultant for the city of Eugene, came up with the idea of the DisOrient Film Festival while working on his master’s degree in Asian-American Studies at UCLA. A filmmaker himself, Mak got involved with various Asian-American film festivals, and this sparked in him a plan to bring such a festival to Oregon, where no Asian film festivals existed.
“I’d been talking about this since I went to my first Asian-American film festival. I kept thinking, ‘Geez, I wish Eugene had something like this,’” Mak said. “I just felt like there was nothing for Asian-Americans, especially in the arts such as film.”
So Mak returned to Eugene with the seed planted. He began teaching Ethnic Studies at Lane Community College, and in November, he began recruiting volunteers for the DisOrient Film Festival. Sisters Becky and Christy Leung becameinvolved because of their interest in Asian-American films, but they also saw an opportunity to open people’s minds and spread the word about talented filmmakers who don’t normally get the spotlight.
“I think that Asian-American films aren’t recognized because most directors aren’t mainstream. So this is a good way to open up the doors for Asian-American filmmakers,” Becky said, adding that it is important for University students to come see these films. “I think it’s good to be more cultured. You don’t normally see these types of films in the theaters.”
The films slated for the first DisOrient Film Festival range from comedies such as “Dick Ho: Asian Male Porn Star,” which explores the myth of Dick Ho, a 1970s porn star rumored to have a 13-inch penis, to dramas such as “Innocent,” a film that chronicles the difficulties of growing up in a new environment. Shorts also play a big role in the DisOrient Film Festival. Viewers will have seven chances to catch a series of quick, but often powerful, flicks.
While all of the films don’t deal directly with stereotypes, it is a theme found in many of them. Mak feels this is important to address because Asian-Americans are under- and misrepresented in media.
“There are films like ‘Slaying the Dragon,’ where Asian-American women represent this history of Eurocentric Hollywood cinema that has portrayed Asian-American women as the exotic, geisha-dragon-ladies who will walk on your back and do you sexual favors,” Mak said. “For the Asian-American men, it’s the nerdy, stereotypical Long Duk Dong from ‘Sixteen Candles.’ Those types of representations have been part of the Asian-American community for a long time. The DisOrient Film Festival is about giving artists an outlet to express what it’s like, not simply about ethnicity, but also about them as artists.”
The inaugural DisOrient Film Festival opens Friday at the Bijou Art Cinemas, located at 492 E. 13 Ave. “Only The Brave,” a moving film that captures the lives of the Japanese-American men who served in the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team begins at 5:45 p.m. It is the only major motion picture ever to be made from the perspective of these heroes, who famously rescued 211 men of the Texas “Lost Battalion” from the Germans and suffered more than 800 casualties of their own. Director and screenwriter Lane Nishikawa will be present answer questions and discuss his film following the screening.
The cost is $10 for students and $15 for the general public, which also includes a reception at Blue Luna Club following the second screening that starts at 8:25 p.m.
The festival continues Saturday at the Lane County Fairgrounds, where the 21st annual Asian Celebration will be taking place. There will also be screenings of movies at DIVA, at 110 W. Broadway in downtown Eugene. For a full list of screenings and events, as well as times and prices (many movies are free or on a $2 to $10 sliding scale), visit www.disorientfilm.org.

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