"Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Recognizing and Reckoning with Our Nation’s History of Anti-Asian Racism," May 26 (online) with Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania.

The Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania will host "Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Recognizing and Reckoning with Our Nation’s History of Anti-Asian Racism" online on May 26. 

Chengdu Gourmet, Everyday Noodles, Pusadee's Garden, Sakura Teppanyaki and Sushi, and Taiwanese Bistro Cafe 33 among Pittsburgh Magazine's "Best Restaurants in Pittsburgh."

Chengdu Gourmet, Everyday Noodles, Pusadee's Garden, Sakura Teppanyaki and Sushi, and Taiwanese Bistro Cafe 33 made a list of the 31 Best Restaurants in Pittsburgh by Pittsburgh Magazine dining critic Hal B. Klein. The list is notable this year not only for its composition but for its ethics and motivations.

This list is dedicated to everyone who works in the hospitality industry. To that end, I’ve decided not to name executive chefs in each restaurant’s information bubble, as is typical for our list. This isn’t meant to diminish the importance of an executive chef to a restaurant; instead, see it as a reflection of the reality that restaurants are a holistic operation.

To all the dishwashers, servers, bartenders, chefs, line and prep cooks, managers, bussers and hosts, you deserve unyielding esteem. This pandemic exposed much of the dark side of the restaurant world — the parts we’re not supposed to think about when we’re out to dinner. Wage disparities, often stemming from tipped-wage power dynamics, were exacerbated as servers were thrust into the role of teaching a new dining etiquette to a sometimes politicized public. Punishing hours in cramped, poorly ventilated kitchens were always part of the typically unseen working conditions for many back-of-house staff; now those conditions put those workers at a high risk for contracting COVID-19. Lack of healthcare for too many people who work in restaurants, along with an at-will labor policy that left thousands of people without jobs at a moment’s notice, resulted in many feeling anchorless and, frankly, scared. An even brighter spotlight was fixed on the urgency for a long-overdue reckoning with systemic, overt and unconscious forms of racial, gender and sexual discrimination that have for generations plagued the industry.

Tickets now on sale for Japanese animated films Children of the Sea (海獣の子供), Weathering With You (天気の子), Lupin III: The First (ルパン三世), and Promare (プロメア), in Pittsburgh from June through September as part of latest GKIDS series.

Tickets went on sale from today, May 14, for four Japanese animated films that will play in Pittsburgh from June through September as part of a GKIDS series: 

• Children of the Sea (海獣の子供) - June 13 (dubbed in English), June 15 (with English subtitles)
• Weathering With You (天気の子) - July 25 (dubbed), July 27 (subtitles)
• Lupin III: The First (ルパン三世) - August 29 (dubbed), August 31 (subtitles)
• Promare (プロメア) - September 16 (dubbed), September 19 (subtitles)

"Speaking Up and Out: A Poetry Reading with Sally Wen Mao," May 19 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh will present "Speaking Up and Out: A Poetry Reading with Sally Wen Mao" on May 19 as part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

As part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, join the Asian Studies Center and the Global Hub for "Speaking Up and Out: A Poetry Reading with Sally Wen Mao."

Sally Wen Mao is the author of two collections of poetry, Oculus (Graywolf Press, 2019), a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and Mad Honey Symposium (Alice James Books, 2014). The recipient of a Pushcart Prize and an NEA fellowship, she was recently a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library, a Jenny McKean Moore Writer-in-Washington at the George Washington University, and a Lannan Foundation Resident in Marfa, Texas. She has taught poetry at Cornell University, The George Washington University, Hunter College, Sarah Lawrence College MFA program, Catapult, Poet's House, and the 92 Street Y, among other places. Her poetry and prose have appeared in The Best American Poetry, The Paris Review, Poetry, Harpers Bazaar, The Kenyon Review, The Georgia Review, Guernica, and A Public Space, among others. She is a Kundiman fellow in both fiction and poetry, and most recently, she was a Shearing Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute. You can learn more about Sally's work at https://www.sallywenmao.com/.

Sally will read some of her work before a Q&A session. Audience participation is encouraged.

It runs from 7:00 to 8:00 pm and registration is required.

Eriko Hattori, Paul Peng among those featured in Change of Course exhibition, May 13 through June 19 at Brew House Association.

via erikohattori.com

Eriko Hattori and Paul Peng are among the local artists featured in the Change of Course exhibition at the Brew House Association on the South Side from May 13 through June 19.

Presenting the work of six emerging artists, Change of Course orients the viewer towards landscapes of reimagined archetypes, blurred memories, hidden histories, and queer folktales; all against the backdrop of a global pandemic. In a time of profound uncertainty, these artists are radically present with themselves, their work, and each other.

Change of Course features new artworks using tradition materials such as oil paint, plaster, graphite, and pastels. With an experimental attitude around process, the artists have developed their own visual language and nuanced tonalities to explore uncanny worlds of their own design.

Timed tickets are required for the opening weekend, but no reservations are required for the rest of the exhibition. The Brew House Association is located at 711 S. 21st St. #210 (map).

Jet Li movie cancelled for Carrie Carpool Cinema, replaced with Shogun Assassin, May 22.

The 1980 film Shogun Assassin will play outdoors at the Carrie Furnaces as part of Carrie Carpool Cinema on May 22, replacing the originally-scheduled 2006 Jet Li movie Fearless (霍元甲). A TV Guide review provides a summary:

This violent Japanese adventure is surprisingly good, though it doesn't have much of a plot. The focus is on Lone Wolf (Tomisaburo Wakayama), an "official decapitator" running around the country with his young son in tow, seeking revenge on the men who killed his wife. As narrated by Lone Wolf's son, the story becomes a weird sort of near-comic adventure. SHOGUN ASSASSIN was actually edited down from two films in the popular Japanese "Lone Wolf" series, BABY CART AT RIVER STYX and SWORD OF VENGEANCE. The American dubbing is quite good, with voices provided by Mark Lindsay and chanteuse-comedienne Sandra Bernhard. Lindsay was formerly a member of the 1960s rock group Paul Revere and the Raiders, which also provided the soundtrack for the American release.

Doors open at 7:45 pm and the movie starts at 9:15, and tickets are available online. Carrie Blast Furnaces is a designated National Historic Landmark in Rankin (map).

Philippine film The Woman Who Left (Ang Babaeng Humayo) available to stream online via Harris Theater, through May 31.

The Harris Theater is presenting the 2016 Philippine film The Woman Who Left (Ang Babaeng Humayo) online through May 31.

Winner of the Golden Lion at the 2016 Venice Film Festival, Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz’s epic story of revenge deferred functions as a tale of urban theater and class warfare. After 30 years in prison, a woman discovers that her friend and fellow inmate committed the murder of which she was accused. This leads to her release and subsequent discovery of the man who framed her. Inspired by Tolstoy, THE WOMAN WHO LEFT is a sensitive expression of family and forgiveness.

A portion of the proceeds through this month will go to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Harris Theater.

Vietnamese-American author Viet Thanh Nguyen (online) at Pittsburgh International Literary Festival, May 19.

City of Asylum will host Vietnamese-American author Viet Thanh Nguyen online for its Pittsburgh International Literary Festival on May 19.

Vietnamese-American novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses The Committed, his much-anticipated sequel to his Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Sympathizer. This newest novel is fierce in tone, capacious, witty, sharp, and deeply researched. The Committed marks not just a sequel to its groundbreaking predecessor, but a sum total accumulation of a life devoted to Vietnamese American history and scholarship. It asks questions central to Vietnamese everywhere—and to our very species: How do we live in the wake of seismic loss and betrayal?

The hour-long talk begins at 7:00 pm and is free and open to the public, though registration is required.

Kusama: Infinity available to stream via Harris Theater, through May 31.

The 2018 documentary Kusama: Infinity is available to stream online via the Harris Theater through May 31.

Now the top-selling female artist in the world, Yayoi Kusama overcame impossible odds to bring her radical artistic vision to the world stage. For decades, her work pushed boundaries that often alienated her from both her peers and those in power in the art world. Kusama was an underdog with everything stacked against her: the trauma of growing up in Japan during World War II, life in a dysfunctional family that discouraged her creative ambitions, sexism and racism in the art establishment, mental illness in a culture where that was particularly shameful and even continuing to pursue and be devoted to her art full time on the cusp of her 90s. In spite of it all, Kusama has endured and has created a legacy of artwork that spans the disciplines of painting, sculpture, installation art, performance art, poetry and literary fiction. After working as an artist for over six decades, people around the globe are experiencing her installation Infinity Mirrored Rooms in record numbers, as Kusama continues to create new work every day.

Actually, the film is always available to stream via its official site, but through the 31st some proceeds will go to support the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Harris Theater.

Chinese film My Love (你的婚礼) remains in Pittsburgh through May 17.

The 2021 Chinese movie My Love (你的婚礼), which opened in Pittsburgh on May 7, will remain here through May 17. A synopsis, from the distributor:

This is a romance and lovely story for over 15 years between a boy and a girl. Back in high school, Zhou Xiaoqi (Xu Guanghan) was a student with swimming speciality. You Yongci (Zhang Ruonan) was a transfer student of the same high school. At the first sight, Zhou fell in love with You. Before Zhou expressed his true feelings, You left without saying goodbye. Zhou holds and protects this young and ignorant pure love inside his heart for over 15 years…

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront (map), and tickets are available online.