Pittsburgh Sakura Project Fall Planting Day, November 8.

The Pittsburgh Sakura Project will hold its 5th annual Fall Planting Day on Saturday, November 8, at North Park. As the flyer says, the group plans to plant an additional 12 trees near the Boathouse (map) from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. Those interested in participating should RSVP by emailing PittsburghSakuraProject at gmail.com. Equipment will be provided, but work clothes and gloves are recommended.

The Pittsburgh Sakura Project has been planting cherry blossom trees, and other foliage, since 2009:

We plan to plant 250 ornamental cherry trees around the greater Pittsburgh region over a 10-year period, in honor of the 250th anniversary of the founding of Pittsburgh in 1758. Our aim is for lovers of cherry blossoms to enjoy beautiful, mature cherry trees in the Pittsburgh region. The PSP will enable visitors to Allegheny County parks to enjoy the unique scenery of Sakura and strengthen bonds within the local Japanese community by creating a focal point for cultural and personal exchange. By adding the new element of Sakura to existing park scenery, we create a new aesthetic while preserving the woodland scenery, an example of cultural harmony and environmental sustainability for future generations.

"Hidden History: Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War" at IUP, November 3.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania will host author Ruthanne Lum McCunn and her lecture "Hidden History: Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Civil War” on November 3.

She will be talking about her research and writing on Asian American history and, in particular, her recent book Chinese Yankee, which deals with Thomas Sylvanus (Ah Yee Way), a Chinese-American Civil War veteran and Indiana County resident.

The lecture begins at 7:00 pm in room 201 Stapleton Library (map), and is free and open to the public. McCunn will also be giving a talk on this topic Historical and Genealogical Society of Indiana County on November 1 at 1:00 pm.

"The Memory Project and New Voices in Chinese Documentary" at Pitt, October 31 and November 1.

The University of Pittsburgh will host "The Memory Project and New Voices in Chinese Documentary" on October 31 and November 1. The Film Studies Program provides a summary of the touring documentary exhibition:

WU Wenguang, one of the founding figures in Chinese independent documentary, brings three young filmmakers from China to present their collective work, “the Memory Project.” The project is based at Coachangdi Workstation in Beijing. From there, young filmmakers fanned out to return to family villages and their own pasts, real and imagined, to inquire about The Great Famine of 1959-61 — a disaster of whose memories have been actively abandoned by the state. Aiming to create a “folk memory archive,” the project, which combines documentary films, oral history records, and live performances, presents an alternative narrative of Chinese history than the one written in official textbooks. As these young filmmakers search for the distant memory from an old generation that is still living in rural poverty, their encounter with the past reveals as much about the wish for memory as of memory itself and of the interesting role of film in such projects of retrieval.

The Department of English has a schedule for the two-day event. On October 31, two documentaries by Zhang Mengqi will be shown from 7:00 pm: Self-Portrait and Three Women and Self-Portrait: At 47 KM. On November 1, from 1:00 pm: Huamulin, Boy Xiaoqiang and Children's Village. A discussion with the filmmakers and with Pitt faculty members will begin at 4:10. All events will be held in 224 Langley Hall (map), and all are free and open to the public.

Korean Buddhist monk's tour stops in Pittsburgh, October 27.

The Buddhist monk Beop-ryun Sunim (법륜스님) is on another speaking tour of the world, and will be in Pittsburgh on October 27. The Korean-language talk begins at 7:00 pm in the Korean Community Church Rectory at 623 High Street in Sharpsburg (map).

Hot pot place moving into to old Pizza Sola location in Oakland.

Temporary signage just went up at 114 Atwood Street (map) for TOP Shabu-Shabu & Lounge. Until July, the space was home to Pizza Sola.

Four Japanese movies, one Taiwanese, part of 2014 Three Rivers Film Festival in November.

The Three Rivers Film Festival, which runs in Pittsburgh from November 7 through November 22 at nine local theaters, announced its schedule of films today, a lineup that includes five Asian movies, four of which are Japanese: the Hiyao Miyazaki classic Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し); the animated Welcome to the Space Show (宇宙ショーへようこそ) ; the adult comedy R100; and a documentary on Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (夢と狂気の王国). The Taiwanese-French drama Stray Dogs (郊遊) is included among the roster of foreign-language movies .Schedules are currently available online, and there will be more detailed posts on the movies in the next two weeks.

Angry Asian Man blogger Phil Yu at Pitt, October 25.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Student Alliance will host Phil Yu, the blogger behind Angry Asian Man, on Saturday, October 25. A 2010 KoreAm profile described the site as

the whirling core of the networked Asian American community, the hyperconnected hub where tens of thousands of people dock each day—sometimes hourly—to find out what’s happening in the cultural, media and political landscape of the nation’s most dynamic emerging population.

The event starts at 7:00 pm and is held in the William Pitt Union Ballroom (campus map).

Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania Student Halloween Mixer and movie Dark Water (仄暗い水の底から), October 24.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania is hosting a Student Halloween Mixer on Friday, October 24, at Point Park University. The event includes free candy, an introduction to local Japanese-related student groups, a presentation on yōkai, and a screening of the 2002 film Dark Water (仄暗い水の底から)).

The evening runs from 6:00 through 11:00 pm in Lawrence Hall's 2nd floor multipurpose room (map). More information is available on the event's Facebook page.

Documentary Last Days in Vietnam at Harris Theater, from October 24.

The 2014 documentary Last Days in Vietnam will play at the Harris Theater from October 24 through October 30. A synopsis, from the film's official site:

During the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance crumbles. The United States has only a skeleton crew of diplomats and military operatives still in the country. As Communist victory becomes inevitable and the U.S. readies to withdraw, some Americans begin to consider the certain imprisonment and possible death of their South Vietnamese allies, co-workers, and friends. Meanwhile, the prospect of an official evacuation of South Vietnamese becomes terminally delayed by Congressional gridlock and the inexplicably optimistic U.S. Ambassador. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, a number of heroic Americans take matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in a desperate effort to save as many South Vietnamese lives as possible.

A September 4 New York Times review says of the documentary and its filmmaker, Rory Kennedy:

Perhaps the most striking thing about “Last Days in Vietnam,” Rory Kennedy’s eye-opening documentary about the 1975 evacuation of the American Embassy in Saigon, is how calmly it surveys what was once among the angriest topics in American political life. The story is full of emotion and danger, heroism and treachery, but it is told in a mood of rueful retrospect rather than simmering partisan rage.

Showtimes haven't yet been announced. The Harris Theater is located downtown at 809 Liberty Ave. in the Cultural District (map).

1963 Japanese movie Matango (マタンゴ, Attack of the Mushroom People) at Hollywood Theater, October 28.

The Hollywood Theater in Dormont will show the 1963 Japanese movie Matango (マタンゴ) on October 28. An SFX review provides more information about the "anti-drug" tokukatsu movie:

A yachtful of seven disparate characters are stranded on a mysterious island. Making a home in a deserted wreck, they discover that food is scarce, except for the mind-altering mushrooms that cover the island. One by one, they succumb to their hunger, and turn into monsters.

. . .

In the States, Matango was retitled as Attack Of The Mushroom People. Although the “mushroom monsters” that pop up at the end are gloriously silly, that monicker doesn’t really do it justice. With its eerie environments – a fog-shrouded beach of black sand; a gangrenous ghost ship – and its cast of self-serving scumbags, this is a surprisingly bleak, disquieting B-movie.

The show starts at 7:30 pm, and tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students. There will be food and drink:

Mushroom delicacies will be served by Wild Purveyors, and Night of the Living Stout beer served by Full Pint Brewery. Doors open at 6:30pm.

The theater is located at 1449 Potomac Ave. in Dormont, and is accessible by Pittsburgh's subway/LRT at a block south of Potomac Station.