Fest Documentaries Focus on Asians in Anglo Worlds

The sixth annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific American International Film Festival continues at UCLA’s Dickson Art Center Auditorium on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and at Melnitz Theater on Saturday and Sunday at 5 p.m. Among the 16 films and videos to be presented are three excellent half-hour documentaries on what it is like to be an Asian in America and Britain. All of their makers have hit upon simple yet original and revealing ways to explore this question of cultural identity.

With “Yellow Tale Blues: Two American Families” (screening Thursday), co-directors Christine Choy and Renee Tajima have turned their camera on their own families--and then intercut scenes of their anything-but-exotic daily lives with clips from 80 years of American movies, illustrating the ignorant and oppressive stereotypes Asian-Americans have had to endure and overcome.

Filmmaker Charles Davis discovered that 80% of all Southern California doughnut shops are owned or operated by Cambodians, and in his “Cambodian Doughnut Dreams” (Saturday at 7:30), he interviews three refugees from the despotic Pol Pot regime who are working hard to rebuild their lives in America while not forgetting the cruel loss of loved ones who did not make it to the United States.

Gurinder Chadha’s “I’m British but . . .” (Saturday at 7:30) shows that the recent emergence of British Bhangra music, in which traditional South Asian music is fusing with rock and even rap, signifies that Indian-Pakistani-Bangladesh styles are emerging within British popular culture, reversing an ancient trend in which South Asians erased their own heritage in adopting British ways.

Information: (213) 206-FILM, (213) 206-8013.

Aron Ranen’s “Sex and Religion,” which will be presented at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Vidiots, 302 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, and 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Onyx Cafe, 1804 N. Vermont Ave., is made up of three documentaries that take a cool, matter-of-fact look at two perennially hot topics.

“Television Believers” (1986) convincingly argues that televangelist/faith healer Peter Popoff’s psychic powers consist of a concealed transmission link to his wife, who feeds him crucial information about his followers obtained from cards they have filled out just before his meetings; the crunch comes when Ranen confronts Popoff’s believers--and Popoff himself--with his evidence.

“Suburban Submission” (1987) introduces us to a totally ordinary appearing suburban woman who is in fact a dominatrix who enjoys her work as much as her clientele. Her open, frank discussion of what she does--and her teen-aged daughter’s reactions to it--is demystifying but also depersonalizing in effect.

“Portraits: Two Male Hustlers” (1980) introduces us to two teen-agers who support themselves as transvestite prostitutes. The overall impact of the three documentaries to make us feel that sex and religion in America can be sad phenomena indeed.

Information: (213) 306-0477.

To commemorate the first anniversary of the death of John Hampton, the Silent Movie’s original proprietor, the theater is presenting a special double feature Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. The innocently racist but ever-romantic “The Sheik” (1921), with Rudolph Valentino, is paired with Cecil B. DeMille’s “Male and Female” (1919), a witty, sophisticated adaptation of James M. Barrie’s “The Admirable Crichton,” in which spoiled British aristocrat Gloria Swanson and her family’s butler Thomas Meighan find the social order reversed when they’re shipwrecked on a tropical island. Leave it to DeMille to work in one of his trademark bathtub scenes--and even a flashback to ancient Babylon! Be prepared for the film’s realistic ending to take you by surprise.

Information: (213) 653-2389.

Note: “Critic’s Choice” will present Thursday at 8 p.m. in UCLA’s Melnitz Theater Charles Burnett’s recent “To Sleep With Anger.” Serving as moderator in a discussion after the film is critic Harriet Robbins. Burnett and the film’s star, Danny Glover, will attend, schedules permitting.

Information: (213) 206-FILM.