The Fact of Asian Women (DVD)

Contemporary Asian American female actors re-enact scenes from popular Hollywood films. Featuring three generations of Asian American femme fatales in Hollywood, the film re-examines the fantastic figure of the "lotus blossom" and "dragon lady" exemplified in the roles played by Anna May Wong in the 1920s-1940s, the "prostitute with a heart of gold" embodied by Nancy Kwan in the 1960s" and the contemporary "dominatrix" Lucy Liu. Performing these characters, young contemporary actors collide with the "ghosts" of Asian women in Hollywood through the revised endings of their major films performed on the streets of San Francisco. The actors then discuss sexuality in their roles and in terms of their own self-formation as actresses of color.
Directed by: Celine Shimizu
Runtime: 26 minutes
Release year: 2002