Back in September, Chicago Reader critic grise Jonathan Rosenbaum made an observation during the NYFF Film Criticism in Crisis? panel that the cinetrix has been thinking about a lot this week. He was making a point that perhaps journalism is what's in crisis--"freedom of the press v. truth," my scribbles read--when he used the example that then-Democratic nominee Barack Obama was identified by the press as black, yes, but he's also white. 
Or, perhaps more accurately, the cinetrix would argue, given Obama's Hawaiian upbringing, hapa. It's a tricky term for multiracial folks of various stripes and, as such, should be wielded with care, but I'd like to see the concepts behind it get more play in the media at large. A girl can dream, right?
My pal Tommy introduced me to this word back in 1992, and I've been thinking about him a lot this week, too. He and my friend Sumathi and I spent a magical night at the Falcon Inn, a townie bar in Hyde Park, [gulp] sixteen years ago, drunkenly watching the returns that decided the last election to leave me feeling this giddy.
One place to start exploring hapa culture is at the Anthology Film Archives this coming Monday, November 10, at 7:30 p.m., where the Flaherty Seminar will present the second portion of its NYC monthly screenings series, featuring works based on the 2008 Flaherty Seminar theme "The Age of Migration."
The November 10th program will feature short works from German-Japanese filmmaker Sylvia Schedelbauer, whose films negotiate the space between broader historical narratives and personal, psychological realms mainly through poetic manipulations of found and archival footage, and Canadian-Japanese filmmaker Alison Kobayashi, who plays the part of every character in her rich narratives inspired by found objects that contain traces of private experiences. Alison Kobayashi will participate in a post-screening discussion moderated by Pamela Cohn.
Films and videos to be screened:
· Remote Intimacy (Sylvia Schedelbauer, 2007/8, 14 min., USA) A meditation on dreams, nightmares, desire and the im/possibility of belonging.
· From Alex to Alex (Alison Kobayashi, 2006, 6 min., Canada) Kobayashi plays the roles of two teenage boys in this exploration of performance, gender, and desire.
· Memories (Sylvia Schedelbauer, 2004, 19 min., Germany) A complicated family lineage shapes this filmmaker's construction of identity, memory and history.
· Dan Carter (Alison Kobayashi, 2006, 15 min., Canada) The life of an unseen man is revealed through his found answering machine messages.
General admission tickets to the Flaherty NYC series at the Anthology Film Archives are $10. Tickets are $8 for Anthology members and students with valid I.D. Tickets can be purchased online by visiting http://www.flahertyseminar.org/rffs_flah_NYC_tickets.asp.
*Post title taken from Kip Fulbeck's photography exhibit. Top still, Kobayashi in Dan Carter. Bottom still, Kobayashi in From Alex to Alex.
