Pacific Arts Movement

San Diego has been called many things – including a paradise. It’s also a refugee city, a cluster of neighborhoods, a militarized zone, a border town. And Asian American. This collection of four short documentaries, commissioned on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the San Diego Asian Film Festival, maps many such San Diego’s – across ethnicity, geography and history. At the same time, they hold on to some notion of paradise, however illusory: a haven from war, the dreams of an immigrant, precious teenage reminiscences, solace in the afterlife, and spaces for creative expression.

A meditative time capsule of a documentary, exploring the physical and emotional landscape of an often overlooked San Diego neighborhood at a key moment of change.

With silent conflict brewing within young and old Latinx alike, god fearing macho facades must fall. Mental health is not a curse. No es brujeria.