Occupational Hazards (Shorts Program)
Thank you for your interest in working as an Asian in America. We are so proud of your contributions to this country. Your hard work has greatly benefited and helped sustain this global empire of capitalism and conquest. As long as you follow our rules, you won't have to worry about any of the occupational hazards. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact HR.
We Were the Scenery
Directed by Christopher Radcliff
Runtime: 15 minutes
The story of Hoa Thi Le and Hue Nguyen Che, who, in 1975, after fleeing the Vietnam War by boat and docking in the Philippines, were utilized as background extras in the filming of APOCALYPSE NOW.
No Land Beneath Our Wings
Directed by Vimel Meng
Runtime: 14 minutes
When Asian immigrant and working-visa holder Iris discovers that her work has been erased once again during a key presentation, she decides to fight back. Trapped by her visa status yet desperate for justice, she hunts for lost footage that could expose her manager’s racism — only to confront what resistance might cost her. As colleagues stay silent and the system tightens around her, Iris must choose between survival and defiance — in a world that never promised her land beneath her wings.
Denial
Directed by Katherine Ichinose
Runtime: 5 minutes
How to Find a Career that Loves You Back
Directed by Ethernet Wang
Runtime: 25 minutes
Khloe, an isolated young trans woman, works for Scryr, a defense-technology startup that uses AI to militarize surveillance. This job offers Khloe stability, a rare commodity for a trans American like her.
Scryr sends her to represent the company at a college career fair alongside Joyce, the one other trans woman at the company.
Over the course of the two-day work trip, Khloe quietly questions the violence of her work when she can’t stop looking at the students she recruits: wide-eyed and desperate for a life free from uncertainty, just like her. Meanwhile, the experienced Joyce shows Khloe the ropes, and the two women fall in love.
As her intrusive thoughts about leaving her job behind become intolerable, Khloe breaks down in Joyce’s arms. She begs her to leave everything behind with her. Although Joyce knows Khloe’s disillusionment all too well, she is unable to imagine a better future for herself.
Joyce watches Khloe walk away into a life of uncertainty, leaving both women alone, again.
Horse Fly
Directed by Alex Park
Runtime: 14 minutes
In a future of fragmented nation-states, a disillusioned intelligence officer serves as the final human authority for an automated drone system, bearing the silent moral weight of lethal strikes she experiences only through a screen.
Daily Worker
Directed by Ting Su
Runtime: 10 minutes
Digitizing union newspapers in the quiet of a darkroom, a filmmaker reflects on her relationship to labor and the meaning of work.
Sands Street
Directed by Claro de los Reyes
Runtime: 18 minutes
A steward and a welder from different backgrounds forge an unexpected bond in 1940s Brooklyn.
Frozen in Time
Directed by Caleb Soon
Runtime: 4 minutes
A music video for "Frozen in Time" by Vinius, which, through playful surrealism, explores the post-2020 social malaise experienced by many Americans, alienation from nature, and feeling stuck in an endless cycle of meaningless labor.
Shitfly
Directed by Julian Park
Runtime: 15 minutes
In a burning city at the end of the world, a delivery driver must journey to visit his ailing father before it’s too late.
In-Person
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Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute
Sat, May 30 · 4:05 PM – 6:05 PM
Virtual
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Available to viewers in the United States
June 1–7, 2026