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Schedule

Tuesday, January 31, 2023
6:30 p.m. Film Screening
7:45 p.m. Discussion with Director Crystal Kwok

Blurring the Color Line is inspired by Crystal Kwok’s grandmother’s family grocery store in segregated Augusta, Georgia. Her family grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood in the South during the Jim Crow era, and the film documents their stories about their personal experiences that expose the problematic, racialized society.

The film decenters existing narratives, instead showcasing perspectives from both the Chinese and Black communities and opening up uncomfortable but necessary discussions between marginalized groups.

Join Asia Society Texas for a screening of Blurring the Color Line, a documentary that explores the experiences of Asian Americans in the Jim Crow era South.

Blurring the Color Line
United States, 2022, 77 minutes
Director: Crystal Kwok | Language: English

About the Speakers

Director, writer, and producer Crystal Kwok is an award winning filmmaker who established her career in Hong Kong as an actress, writer, director, and talk show host. She won the audience choice awards at the 2000 Deauville Asian Film Festival for her debut feature-length film, The Mistress. She was commissioned by Canal Plus to document A Day in the Life of Jackie Chan and has created The Culture Cubs, a bilingual edutainment video series for young children. She has written and staged several original plays about sensitive women’s issues.

As a strong women’s advocate, her talk show Kwoktalk broke boundaries in Hong Kong with conversations about women and sexuality. Having moved back to American soil after being overseas for a couple of decades, Kwok now embraces issues closer to home — that of her Asian American heritage. Kwok is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Hawaii in Performance Studies, and a recipient of the prestigious East West Center Scholar Award. Kwok hosts a radio talk show and podcast, Kwoktalk, on KTUH 90.1FM, addressing racial and gender issues with a multicultural perspective.

Dr. Michelle Tovar is the Director of Education at the Center for African American Military History, Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, in Houston, Texas. In this role, she is responsible for developing, implementing, and evaluating museum education programs for diverse audiences and expanding the museum's engagement with the public, educators, and students. Dr. Tovar's goal is to build authentic partnerships with local and national organizations dedicated to education, social justice, and history. She is an advocate for BIPOC representation in formal and informal learning environments. She is a Smithsonian Latino Museum Studies alum, a Fulbright-Hays scholar, and serves as a Houston Coalition Against Hate Board Member. In 2020, Dr. Tovar was awarded the American Alliance of Museums Ed Com Award for Excellence in Practice.

About the Moderator

Mei Qi is a Development Manager at Asia Society Texas, where she supports the mission of providing diverse programs in arts and culture, business and policy, and education that celebrate Asian and Asian Americans. In addition to targeted fundraising and donor and audience engagement, she also coordinates the organization’s volunteer and internship programs and contributes to internal Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion task forces. Previously, she worked in the Business & Policy programs department and led the Young Leaders Institute for high school students during the summer. Before joining Asia Society, she was an intelligence editor with the global security team at AIG Travel Guard, and also has five years of experience working with broadcast and government news in the Washington, D.C., area. She graduated the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill with a B.A. in International Studies (Asia focus), a B.A. in Political Science, and a minor in Chinese, and subsequently earned a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. Mei has studied at the National University of Singapore and continues to seek opportunities to learn, travel, and eat.

Asia Society Texas Business & Policy Programs, Endowed by

Huffington Foundation

Business and Policy programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by Bank of America, Muffet Blake, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and United Airlines. Major support comes from Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, Nancy Pollok Guinee, and Mary Lawrence Porter, as well as The Brown Foundation, Inc. and Houston Endowment. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Asia Society Texas Center, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing the best in public programming.

Business & Policy Presenting Sponsors

About Asia Society Texas

Asia Society Texas believes in the strength and beauty of diverse perspectives and people. As an educational institution, we advance cultural exchange by celebrating the vibrant diversity of Asia, inspiring empathy, and fostering a better understanding of our interconnected world. Spanning the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, our programming is rooted in the educational and cultural development of our community — trusting in the power of art, dialogue, and ideas to combat bias and build a more inclusive society.