KUCI: Subversity

Director Hieu Tran's short, Squared, screening at the 2014 Vietnamese Film Festival, addresses sexual expectations and prejudices and challenges conventional wisdom about sexual practices, endowment size and sexual enjoyment of Queer Asian males. He is interviewed by Subversity Show host Daniel C. Tsang.

Queer activists the world over will find this new documentary about coming out refreshingly different. Instead of the typical coming out story from a gay or lesbian teenager or adult, Fan Popo's latest film, "Mama Rainbow," focuses rather on mothers of gay males or lesbians - and how they have become advocates for their offspring. Interviewer: Daniel C. Tsang.

Nicholas Wrathall, director of "Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia," discusses his documentary on the public intellectual that spans Gore Vidal's privileged upbringing to his historical fiction and provocative essays challenging the state, while speaking truth to power. He is interviewed by host Daniel C. Tsang for KUCI Subversity Online.

A captivating documentary, "Big Joy", captures the pansexuality and poetic and cinematic genius of James Broughton, whose involvement in the San Francisco Renaissance predated the period of the Beats.

Subversity Online interviews co-director Stephen Silha, a first-time filmmaker, on the life and impact of the affectionate and fairy-like poet, who continued writing into the end of his life in his eighties. In his senior years, Broughton is also engaged in a long relationship with another, younger man. Silha discusses in the interview why he made this film and their use of archival footage, as well as where the Broughton archives are located.

In the best of times, committed relationships across geographic and political boundaries are daunting and hard to realize. Israel-born director Michael Mayer has put on the silver screen (at Outfest Los Angeles 2013) a daring gay love story, "Out in the Dark," involving a Palestinian Birzeit University psych student, Nimr (played by Nicholas Jacob) and attorney Roy (played by noted Israeli actor Michael Aloni). Mayer is interviewed by show host Daniel C. Tsang.

One of the hardest things to do in life is to forgive hateful acts, especially perpetrated by someone on yourself. Documentary filmmaker Jason Cohen's "Facing Fear", featured at the 2013 Outfest Los Angeles, offers convincing evidence that reconciliation and forgiveness are still options even for a gay-bashing victim (Matthew Boger) and his then-neoNazi perpetrator (Tim Zaal). On Subversity Online, host Daniel C. Tsang talked with today Cohen about his film and explore the issues of forgiveness and hatred.

Chinese democracy activist Wang Dan spoke on May 25, 2006 at UC Irvine on "Rethinking the Past and Looking to the Future of China." He was a key student leader at the Tienanmen protests in 1989.

This show first aired on KUCI on the Subversity Show on June 19, 2006.

A group of surfers in search of the "perfect wave" encounter political dissidence and state genocide in Papua New Guinea and teach villagers to surf. This Subversity Online interview is with director, writer and producer of "Isolated", Justin LePera. Interviewer is Daniel C. Tsang.

Blasting across the U.S. and into Asia is $upercaptalist, an independently produced drama that is intelligently written, exquisitely acted, fast-moving and fun to watch. It depicts a smart Asian American Cornell graduate and newly minted hedge fund trader, Conner Lee (played by Derek Ting) sent to Hong Kong to orchestrate the downfall of a major Hong Kong shipping conglomerate. Interview 30 August 2012 with Derek Ting by Daniel C. Tsang for Subversity Online edition.

British journalist and author Ben White discusses the dark realities facing Palestinians behind Israel's facade of a democratic state. He spoke 7 May 2012 at University of California, Irvine, during "Palestine Liberation Week" - sponsored by UCI's Muslim Student Union.