Nonprofit Asians Are Strong is calling on the public’s help in funding a self-defense program for Asian seniors with a first-of-its-kind in-language curriculum. Headquartered in San Francisco, the organization has collaborated with martial arts and self-defense experts to develop over the past three years what it says is a unique self-defense program tailored for Asian seniors. As they have successfully launched a 10-week, in-language curriculum with the San Francisco Chinatown YMCA, they now aim to make this program widely accessible by digitizing and translating it for global distribution.
When “Elemental” director Peter Sohn and producer Denise Ream first saw their seven years of hard work on the big screen, they experienced what they describe as being similar to parents feeling the prideful moment of watching their child graduate. The filmmakers first saw the finished product at the Stag Theater at Skywalker Ranch in California, where they experienced an overwhelming wave of memories of their time spent developing the movie. Along with animators, Sohn and Ream noted “Elemental” to be the most challenging Pixar film they have ever tackled.
As video after video turned up showing elderly Asians in the Bay Area being belted with chairs, punched, randomly stabbed or flung to the ground, Hudson Liao.
Stand With Asians and Asians Are Strong are using laughter to combat Asian hate and foster solidarity with a comedy fundraiser happening in San Francisco.