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The Center for Asian American Media (Caam) announces its slate of programs for CAAMFest 2025, taking place May 8-11 in San Francisco, with nearly 40 films from Asian America and beyond, as well as panel discussions and other events. This year’s programming provides a look at how the roots of Asian America have shaped this present moment, with themes including the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and the creative and nurturing contributions of Asian American women.

“At a time when it feels particularly fraught to express stories from communities of color, Caam is doing what we’ve done for over 40 years—sharing films from Asian America to a wide array of audiences,” says Caam’s Director of Programs Don Young. “Watching these stories, in a theater full of friends and neighbors, is an opportunity to laugh and cry and ultimately to celebrate human experiences that transcend bounds.

Director Aj Schnack takes viewers on an informative journey across Alaska in his documentary Majority Rules. Released in 2024, the film examines recent electoral reforms in the state, which eliminated traditional party primaries and introduced ranked choice voting. Drawing from interviews on both sides of the issues, Schnack aims to present an unbiased look at these changes and their potential wider implications.

Majority Rules centers on Alaska’s decision to open up its primaries and implement ranked ballots for certain races. This new system was unexpectedly put in place following the death of long-time Congressman Don Young. His vacant seat triggered a special election where the reforms could be tested for the first time. Viewers are shown campaign battles between familiar figures like Sarah Palin as well as new contenders embracing altered strategies.

On the national level, Schnack explores ongoing debates around modernizing America’s voting processes. While some see reforms as making elections more representative,...

Representative Mary Peltola was elected to a full term in the House, according to the Associated Press. Peltola fended off three conservative challengers, defeating Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich, as well as Libertarian Chris Bye. Results of the ranked choice election were announced on Wednesday.

The Alaska Democrat first won the seat in an August special election following the death of longtime Republican Rep. Don Young. Peltola, who is Yup’ik, is the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress and the first woman to hold Alaska’s House...

Republicans have a certain obligation to act as if everything President Biden does is an assault on American values. His sweeping pardons this week of thousands who were jailed for marijuana possession — and announcement that the drug’s federal classification will be reevaluated — are no exception.

But, perhaps because the nation overwhelmingly believes that cannabis should be legal, and the issue doesn’t stoke the culture war like matters of race, gender, and sexuality, the right-wing outrage machine had a mostly quiet reaction to these executive orders. Indeed, over the past year or so,...

John Oliver isn’t overly thrilled about the U.K.’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss, calling her a number of things on Sunday night’s episode of “Last Week Tonight,” including “Margaret Thatcher if she were high on glue” and “dollar-store British Leslie Knope.” But he does think Truss was gifted a pretty easy first week in office — thanks to Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

Truss was elected earlier this year to succeed Boris Johnson, after he bowed to public pressure and resigned. In a speech on Monday, Truss took a moment to pay tribute to Johnson, saying “You were admired, from Kiev to Carlisle.” Following that statement, Truss was met with a long pause before the room lightly applauded — something Oliver took great joy in making fun of.

“Ok, a couple things there. First, the U.K. goes above Carlisle, so that’s basically admission that everyone north of...

James Corden was pretty shocked after Sarah Palin lost her bid to replace longtime Republican Don Young for Alaska’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, especially considering she lost it to a Democrat in the deep-red state. The late night host was “rocked” by the fact that an “unhinged Republican” didn’t win, considering their apparent popularity in politics right now.

With her win in a special election to replace the late Young, Democrat Mary Peltota becomes the first Alaskan Native to serve as a lawmaker in Congress for the state. Peltola’s win is monumental for Democrats, as Young held the seat for 49 years until his death in March.

“It was a surprising loss,” Corden said. “Unhinged Republicans seem to be all the rage these days. I’m blown away here, I am.”

Corden continued to marvel about Alaska being flipped blue, especially after Young won re-election 24 times in his career,...

Sarah Palin lost Alaska’s special election to fill its lone Congressional seat to Democratic challenger Mary Peltola Wednesday, once again sparing the United States from sending the former Republican vice-presidential nominee to Washington for a second time.

Peltola, a former state lawmaker, becomes the first Native American and the first woman to represent the state in Congress — as well as the first Democrat to do so since 1972. She will serve out the remaining months of the late Republican Rep. Don Young’s term before vying to serve a full...

Sarah Palin was defeated Wednesday in her effort to win an Alaska U.S. House seat, as Democrat Mary Peltola emerged the victor in the state’s first ranke–choice voting election.

Palin, the former governor of the state and the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee alongside John McCain, sought to succeed Rep. Don Young (R-ak), who died in March.

Peltola will be the first Democrat to win statewide federal office since 2008. She also will be the first woman and first Alaska Native American to hold the seat.

No candidate got more than 50 of the vote in the August 16 election, forcing the race into ranked-choice tabulations. In the second round, Peltola received 51.47 of the vote vs. 48.53 for Palin.

Palin was elected governor in 2006 but resigned the post three years later as she set out on a career as a political commentator and reality show host. She faced a crowded field in the special election,...

On Episode 21 of Season 9 of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver did not hold back in taking jabs at people and companies whose recent actions warrant, at the very least, some verbal reprisal. Some of the “victims” included Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Alaskan Senate Republican candidate Kelly Tshibaka, late Republican Congressman Don Young, Sarah “[expletive]” Palin, and perhaps most surprisingly of all, Last Week Tonight’s own network’s streaming services HBO Max....

John Oliver called Sarah Palin many things on Sunday night, from a “bulls—” peddler to a “grifter.” But during “Last Week Tonight,” he had a new one for the former Alaska governor now seeking a seat in U.S. House of Representatives: He compared her to a walrus penis.

Oliver kicked off the show with a recap of midterm elections across the country, including in Alaska, where candidates are currently vying for the congressional seat vacated by Don Young, who died earlier this year. Of course, Oliver didn’t have many kind words for the memory of Young himself.

The host called up a clip from an interview conducted in the late congressman’s office, which was decorated by a slew of mounted animal heads, various pelts, and more, which Oliver described as “striking, and always seemed to have the capacity to surprise.” In the video, Young proudly bragged about...

John Oliver took another swipe at all the changes happening at Warner Bros. Discovery and this time he addressed the shows getting pulled from HBO Max.

The Last Week Tonight host took on the possibility of Sarah Palin taking over congressman Don Young’s position after his death. Oliver teed up his jab at the streaming platform by mentioning a publisher quoted in The New Yorker that stated that “Sarah knows how to work a crowd … but it’s Sarah, Inc.’ …”

Oliver took the name “Sarah, Inc.” and said it sounded like “a title of a sitcom starring Kat Dennings that’s already quietly disappeared from HBO Max.”

The comedian then added, “HBO Max, It’s a series of tax write-offs to appease Wall Street.”

HBO Max has been making a series of changes as they work to combine the catalogs of the aforementioned streaming service with Discovery+. This week,...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is attempting a political comeback by running for the Alaska Hosue seat recently vacated by the late Rep. Don Young, and unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to have the support of her former in-laws.

It was recently revealed that Jim and Faye Palin, the parents of Todd Palin, hosted an election-night party in support of her Republican opponent Nick Begich at their home for over 100 people. It wasn’t reported if Todd was at the party, but he certainly had an invite.

After polls closed in the special general election on Tuesday, Palin had a three-point lead on Begich. They were both slightly outperformed by Mary Peltola, a Democrat who so far has 38 of votes in the Alaska At-large District special general election, not enough to take a majority

While counting votes will wrap up by the end of this month, it is predicted no...

President Joe Biden celebrated his biggest legislative accomplishment with a large-scale signing ceremony at the South Lawn of the White House, as he promised to promote $1.2 trillion legislation as an example of his administration’s ability to get things done.

The event on a chilly November day drew lawmakers, governors and mayors from both parties, but it also created a bit of a split screen moment for cable news, given the ongoing trial of Kyle Rittenhouse. CNN and MSNBC went to Biden’s remarks, but Fox News stayed with the trial, featuring the infrastructure signing in a small box.

NBC News and ABC News did special broadcast reports.

“Too often in Washington, the reason we don’t get things done is because we insist on getting everything we want,” Biden said before about 800 people. “With this law, we focused on getting things done.”

The signing ceremony drew a handful of Republicans in the Senate,...

The Center for Asian American Media (Caam) wrapped up this year’s festival, CAAMFest 2021, with 11 days featuring drive-in, live online screenings, and on-demand programs. CAAMFest 2021 presented a diverse slate of over 50 events, complete with an opening weekend of drive-ins at Fort Mason Flix, high energy filmmaker summits, and virtual programs. With over 10,000 attendees, the festival gave an expansive look into the multitude of Asian and Asian American experiences.

Surprisingly, no one film won multiple accolades. SXSW premieres featured prominently in this year’s selection. Debbie Lum‘s “Try Harder!” — a documentary featuring Sf’s most prestigious high school, Lowell High — opened this year’s CAAMFest. “Inbetween Girl” by Mei Makino and “See You Then” by Mari Walker also returned from Texas to sweep the narrative awards in San Francisco. Festival-appointed highlights did not go unnoticed either. Centerpiece presentation documentary “Manzanar Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust” took home the Jury Mention...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Joining in the international celebration of Federico Fellini's 100th birthday, Criterion is thrilled to announce Essential Fellini, a fifteen-Blu-ray box set that brings together fourteen of the director's most imaginative and uncompromising works for the first time. Alongside new restorations of the theatrical features, the set also includes short and full-length documentaries about Fellini's life and work, archival interviews with his friends and collaborators, commentaries on six of the films, video essays, the director's 1968 short Toby Dammit, and much more.

The edition is accompanied by two lavishly illustrated books with hundreds of pages of notes and essays on the films by writers and filmmakers, as well as dozens of images of Fellini memorabilia. Essential Fellini is a fitting tribute to the maestro of Italian cinema!

Fifteen-blu-ray Special Edition Collector's Set Features

New 4K restorations of 11 theatrical features, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks for...

Even before it began, 2019 has been hailed as the year of marijuana, with good reason: the number of Americans who support legalization has reached record highs, and an increasing number of Democratic presidential candidates are advocating for drug reform and an end to our draconian, racist drug laws.

On Thursday morning, Reps. Tulsi Gabbard (D-hi) and Don Young (R-ak) introduced what they called a “landmark” piece of legislation, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2019, which is “the only bipartisan piece of legislation that would allow states to make independent choices about their marijuana programs,...

Even with the government shutdown that’s been ominously hovering over Washington these past three weeks, there’s still a fresh Congress in town. That means the nation’s 535 lawmakers are in the first stages of trying to get their favored pet issues on the radar of party leaders. That focused energy and flowery optimism that marks the start of any new Congress is different this year for marijuana proponents, because this time around they believe they can actually pass some sweeping cannabis reforms.

At this time two years ago,...