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Associated Press

Korean-American film director Eugene Yi has always been interested in the term AAPI – Asian-American and Pacific Islander – and which ethnicities it includes.
“When we’re talking about Asian-Americans or Asian people in the US, oftentimes it’s people who might look like you and me, and maybe not people who look like Zohran Mamdani,” he says, referring to New York City’s mayor, who was born in Uganda to a family of immigrants from India.
“Why is that when this term is supposed to be so capacious and so inclusive?”
So Yi was beyond excited when approached to helm a new HBO documentary dedicated to AAPI identity and community.
Timed for release during AAPI Heritage Month this month, The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas is now streaming on HBO Max. It is the latest in “The List Series” created by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, a franchise that has previously produced documentaries on prominent black, Latino and LGBTQ Americans.


Deep-diving into AAPI stories
In the documentary, Yi captures no-frills, intimate interviews conducted by journalist Jada Yuan with 15 people of AAPI heritage across industries. They include television broadcaster Connie Chung and “Basement Bhangra” party creator DJ Rekha. Actors Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani and Bowen Yang – who are sometimes more associated with comical roles – also shared their thoughts on identity and belonging.
“When talking to people who are professionally funny, oftentimes they’re really comfortable not being funny [in unscripted conversation],” Yi says. “I appreciated that chance to get a little bit deeper into some of their stories.”
Yia Vang, chef and owner of Vinai, a Hmong restaurant in the US city of Minneapolis, filmed his A List interview three years ago. Since then, he has been featured in various cooking and lifestyle shows. Vang, who was born in a refugee camp and settled with his family in Wisconsin when he was four, likened the experience of being interviewed on camera to a confessional.
Vang tearfully recounts to viewers how his desire not to be “the weird kid” drove him to throw out school lunches of sticky rice and fermented vegetables packed by his mother. He did not expect to get emotional, but the memory sparked a core life lesson.
“I will never, ever try to be ‘cool’,” Vang says. “That’s why I guess I get so intense about like, how we do our food here. Not because I’m chasing perfection or some kind of award, but I just want to make sure I stay true to the integrity that [my parents] laid before me.”
In what Vang calls “full-circle redemption”, those dishes he used to throw out are now on his restaurant’s menu.

Last month, Vang got a taste of reactions to the documentary back home at a Milwaukee Film Festival screening. He definitely was not seen as the weird guy.
“The audience really connected because I’m a Wisconsin boy,” Vang says. A few approached him just to say, “It’s so awesome to see a Midwest kid in there.”
Fast-growing but unrecognised
Asian-Americans make up one of the fastest-growing US populations. Still, adults in the US have a harder time recognising the influence of AAPI people than people from other racial groups, according to a new survey by The Asian American Foundation.
The annual Social Tracking of Asian-Americans in the United States (Staatus) Index, done in partnership with research organisation Norc at the University of Chicago, found that four in 10 US adults could not think of a single famous Asian-American; Jackie Chan, who is not American, was among the most frequently named. About half were unable to name examples of famous native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
“It’s an indication of just how, for most of America – and our data shows this as well – people get most of their information about Asian-Americans not so much from direct contacts, but from the media,” says Norman Chen, CEO of The Asian American Foundation.

Chen recently attended a screening of The A List. He applauded the breadth of personal stories Yi and his team had curated. It is a film he is not sure would have been made a decade ago. So, it was gratifying to see how moved the audience was by stories recounted by celebrities and everyday people.
“Even people that we don’t know have such powerful stories [that] show you the depth and richness of our community and the struggles that we’ve had to go through in multiple generations,” Chen says.
‘Rebuilding and reclaiming and taking up space’
When Yi and the crew started working on the documentary, Kamala Harris – then the vice-president of the United States – was running against Donald Trump for president. Now under a Republican Trump administration that opposes diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Yi acknowledges that the documentary might come off as inherently political.
“What I’ve certainly seen during this stretch of time – just speaking for myself – is just how quickly things can backslide and how quickly people can be erased,” Yi says. “We literally have people being disappeared on the streets and we literally have histories being erased.”
He is especially gratified that some of the documentary’s older participants related to historical events, such as a story told by activist Kathy Masaoka, whose mother was held in Japanese-American incarceration camps. Yi hopes people recognise the struggles AAPI people have endured in the past and present while building community.
“We can really move forward from this moment in terms of rebuilding and reclaiming and taking up space with confidence and hope again,” he says.


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HBO’s The A List explores AAPI stories with names like Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani

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Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani on the set of The Big Sick, in a screenshot from The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas. Photo: courtesy of HBO

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(From left) Tamlyn Tomita, Ming-Na Wen, Lauren Tom and Rosalind Chao in a still from The Joy Luck Club.

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Lifestyle

Entertainment

The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas, a new documentary on HBO, dives into what it means to be of AAPI heritage in the US


The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas, a new documentary on HBO, dives into what it means to be of AAPI heritage in the US.


Asian diaspora

HBO and Max

HBO’s The A List explores AAPI stories with names like Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas, a new documentary on HBO, dives into what it means to be of AAPI heritage in the US

Deep-diving into AAPI stories

The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas, a new documentary on HBO, dives into what it means to be of AAPI heritage in the US