IU's Asian Culture Center is celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month by organizing screenings on the Chrome extension Netflix Party 8 p.m. every Saturday from April 4 to May 2.
"Always Be My Maybe" and "Tigertail" are two movies that were presented last two Saturdays. This Saturday, it will screen “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.”
Daniel Park, an ACC graduate assistant, said in April the center would celebrate the heritage month for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by presenting Asian American movies.
“I think playing a movie that’s part of our heritage is proof that we should be proud of what we have,” Park said.
A film will not screen April 25 because of dead week.
Park said people who want to join the event must have a Netflix subscription, which is one of the barriers for having this virtual event.
People have reached out and said they'd like to participate, but they don't have Netflix accounts, Park said. Unfortunately, there’s nothing that can be done about that.
Student assistant Kevin Phan said time difference is also a barrier because not every student is in Bloomington right now.
“There’s also an internet barrier because not everyone has access to the internet, so we can’t reach a wider audience,” Phan said. “There’s some drawbacks but I think overall it’s going pretty well.”
Even if a lot of Asian Americans are being targeted by racism at the moment they're still proud of what they do, Park said. With the coronavirus pandemic, he said there’s a lot of racism and hate crimes directed at Asian Americans.
Park said many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are underrepresented in the media, so by celebrating heritage month through cinema, they want to show their support towards Asian American and Pacific Islanders works.
“I think having this heritage month is an even better way for us to work and grow as a community,” Phan said.
