Fugetsu-Do
Dir. Kaia Rose, 2021, 12 mins

Fugetsu-Do is a family-owned confectionary shop that has been at the heart of Little Tokyo for 115 years. The shop is filled with brightly colored wagashi, or mochi, and over a century of memories shared by the community. Filmmaker Kaia Rose tells the story of how the family who has owned it for three generations has struggled to “live the American dream twice.” Rose interviews shop owner Brian Kito, a shokunin, or master of the art of wagashi-making, who shares his family’s story and how the shop’s thriving nature is emblematic of the immigrant experience and his family’s own drive to survive.

Morkovcha (Korean Carrot Salad)
Dir. Lidiya Kan, 2021, 22 min.

Lidiya Kan’s deeply personal documentary about ethnic Koreans from Russia and the post-Soviet territories making their new home in New York City shares her family’s unique history through fragmented memories, conversations with her mother, and animated family photos. Central to the film is morkovcha, the Korean carrot salad born from the Russian Korean diaspora, whose name symbolizes the merging of two worlds: “Morkov,” the Russian word for carrot, and “Cha,” a phonetic variation of the Korean word for salad.

Followed by remarks by filmmakers Lidiya Kan and Kaia Rose, and Rob Buscher, Lecturer, Asian American Studies Program, University of Pennsylvania.

Please stay for a catered reception to celebrate the series finale.

Presented by the Penn Museum and cosponsored by Penn's Asian American Studies Program, Center for East Asian Studies, Cinema and Media Studies Program, James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies, and Wolf Humanities Center, and the Philadelphia Folklore Project.