Description

Today, we have the luxury of being able to document our lives in an instant, but during the Great Depression and into the 1950s, this luxury was almost nonexistent. Filmmaker and director Ali Kazimi knew he stumbled upon a rare artifact when he found himself in an online bidding war for film footage from 1936 to 1951. The old home movies had a name attached to it, Silas Fung, and offered a little-seen glimpse into how a Chinese family embraced American customs.

Fung was a first-generation Chinese American commercial artist who had a passion for filming home movies. Restoring Fung’s films took years, but Kazimi succeeded in keeping this family’s archive intact. What he found was a look at everyday life, from ice cream cakes on birthdays, to an obsession with the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair.

The touching documentary RANDOM ACTS OF LEGACY transforms a nostalgic story into an unfiltered perspective on a Midwest family of color during a significant period in American History, bringing to life an untold story about the first generation Chinese experience.

— Anna Leal

Co-presented by: Center for Home Movies, Consulate General of Canada

Credits

Producer: Ali Kazimi
Writer: Ali Kazimi
Cinematographer: Ali Kazimi
Editor: Ali Kazimi, Gary Popovich
Music: Phil Strong

Preceded By

1. 

   It Is What It Is

   Cyrus Tabar / Shorts / USA / 2016 / 8 mins

   Seeking to understand the fracture in his family, Cyrus embarks on a journey into the dark and nebulous corners of family history.

   Precedes: Random Acts of Legacy

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