Kelly Yang part of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures series, October 24.

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures will present Kelly Yang on October 24 as part of its "Words & Pictures" series.

New York Times bestselling author Kelly Yang is back with another heartwarming and inspiring story of Mia and friends!

Mia Tang is going for her dreams! After years of hard work, Mia Tang finally gets to go on vacation with her family — to China! A total dream come true! Mia can’t wait to see all her cousins and grandparents again, especially her cousin Shen. As she roams around Beijing, witnessing some of the big changes China’s going through, Mia thinks about the turbulent changes in her own life. Mia is more determined than ever, now that she finally has . . . room to dream!

Kelly Yang is the author of Front Desk, which won the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and was chosen a Best Book of the Year by NPR, the Washington Post, the New York Public Library, and may others. Kelly’s family immigrated to the United States from China when she was a young girl, and she grew up in California, in circumstances very similar to those of Mia Tang.

The online lecture starts at 6:00 pm and is free, and will be available online for one week.

Virtual Reading & Conversation: "Dear Memory: Letters on Writing, Silence, and Grief” by Victoria Chang (w/ Kao Kalia Yang, “The Late Homecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir”), October 27 online with White Whale Bookstore.

Bloomfield's White Whale Bookstore will host an online reading and conversation on October 27 with Victoria Chang and Kao Kalia Yang.

We’re looking forward to virtually welcoming Victoria Chang to Pittsburgh in celebration of her most recent book: Dear Memory: Letters on Writing, Silence, and Grief. She’ll be joined in conversation by Kao Kalia Yang, who’s the author of The Late Homecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir.

Both books are available for purchase via White Whale. The talk begins at 7:00 pm and registration is required.

OCA Pittsburgh Free Medical and Dental Clinic, October 18.

The Organization of Chinese Americans Pittsburgh Chapter is hosting its annual Free Medical and Dental Clinic, with Chinese-language support, on October 18 at Montefiore Hospital in Oakland (map). The clinic takes place from 6:00 to 10:00 pm on the hospital's 9th floor. Registration is strongly encouraged and can be completed by calling the numbers on the flyer: either Tong-change Lee at 724-309-5942, or Ru Tong at 412-403-4166.

"Asian American shorts," part of SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival, October 10 in Aspinwall.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center and SCREENSHOT:ASIA will present a collection of Asian American short films on the 10th as part of October's inaugural SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival.

The first annual SCREENSHOT: ASIA Film Festival will take place October 6-10, 2021. In its inaugural year, the Festival will screen features from all over Asia as well as highlight some lesser-known Asian filmmakers through a shorts program.

This screening is a variety of shorts from the Asian diaspora. In Koreatown Ghost Story, a young woman gets more than she bargained for at the acupuncturist. Hawaiian Soul tells a fictionalized account of 1970s native activist George Helm. In Tammy, a skater learns what it's like to be upstaged by another Asian American girl. These and more in our shorts program!

For more information about the film festival, click here.

The event starts at 2:00 pm at the Outdoor Pavillion at Aspinwall's RiverTrail Park (map), accessible by city buses 1, 75, and 91. Registration is required and can be completed online.

Chinese film Back to the Wharf (风平浪静) at Pitt, October 7 and 9.

The Chinese film Back to the Wharf (风平浪静) will play at the University of Pittsburgh on October 7 and 9 as part of the SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival. From a January Variety review:

The son of a midlevel official in a coastal fishing town, Song Hao (Zhou Zhengjie) is a bright student who’s robbed of the automatic college place he has rightfully earned. His position has been given to close friend Li Tang (Gao Yuhang), the son of powerful local mayor Li Weiguo (Jin Hui). In a feeble attempt to dress up his unethical decision as some kind of long-term benefit for the school, Song Hao’s headmaster (Zhou Jianya) tells the boy, “I prioritize the collective over the individual.”

Things go from bad to catastrophic in the first of many scenes taking place in pelting rain and howling wind that serve as visual metaphors for the protagonist’s sorrows and struggles. Intending to visit Li Tang’s upmarket home, Song Hao accidentally enters the wrong house and is mistaken for a burglar. In the confusion, Song Hao stabs owner Wan Yuliang (Zhao Longhao), who later dies. With his father Song Jianhui (Wang Yanhui) also implicated in this crime, which could ruin his career and destroy the family’s reputation, Song Hao flees to faraway Guangzhou, where he takes a lowly job in a masonry factory. Unbeknownst to father and son, Li Tang is aware of their transgressions and has chosen to remain silent.

It plays at 6:30 pm on the 7th and 12:00 pm on the 9th, at the Frick Fine Arts Buliding (map) both days. Tickets may be purchased online.

2020 Japanese film Wife of a Spy (スパイの妻), October 9 at Pitt, part of SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival.

The 2020 Japanese film Wife of a Spy (スパイの妻) will play at the University of Pittsburgh on October 9 as part of the inaugural SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival running October 6 through 10. From an NPR review:

Wife of a Spy is a Hitchcockian thriller by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a top Japanese filmmaker whose work has never gotten the attention that it deserves in the U.S. His heroine is Satoko — superbly played by Yu Aoi — the innocent, big-hearted wife of Yusaku Fukuhara, a prosperous import-export merchant and amateur filmmaker in the city of Kobe.

In a 1940 Japan bursting with nationalistic fervor, the Fukuharas tempt fate by pointedly living in a Western-style house, wearing Western clothes, and sipping Western whiskey. Things get even stickier when Satoko's husband returns from Japanese-occupied Manchuria with a beautiful young woman and evidence of military atrocities.

Faced with this, Satoko doesn't know how to react. She and her husband launch into a marital dance of trust, suspicion and betrayal. Is Yusaku abandoning Satoko for a new woman? Will he sell out his country, and their shared life, by revealing the army's abuses? Will Satoko help him do so, or will she save herself by turning her husband in to the righteous military policeman who has fancied her since childhood? The answer will involve deceit, torture, murder, hidden manuscripts and midnight escapes.

It plays at the Schenley Plaza Tent at 8:30 pm. Tickets are required and can be purchased online.

Sushi Kim 2 opening downtown on October 5.

Sushi Kim 2 has announced it will open downtown on October 5. The first Sushi Kim closed its famed Strip District restaurant in 2019 and announced the opening of a new spot in July. It will be located at 110 Smithfield St. (map). The new restaurant boasts of a sushi bar and "traditional Korean kitchen," and has posted its menu on its new website:

Korean film An Old Lady (69세) at Pitt, October 9.

The 2019 Korean film An Old Lady (69세) will play at the University of Pittsburgh on October 9 as part of the SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival.

A 69-year-old woman has to find justice for herself when she faces doubt and disdain from authorities who can't imagine her as the victim of sexual assault.

The movie starts at 5:00 pm in 125 Frick Fine Arts (map). Registration is required.

Taiwanese film As We Like It (揭大歡喜), October 7 at Pitt.

The 2021 Taiwanese film As We Like It (揭大歡喜) will play at the University of Pittsburgh on October 7 as part of the SCREENSHOT:ASIA film festival. A synopsis, from Taiwan Cinema:

When Rosalind hears that her father had vanished into thin air after being kicked out of the family business, she came back to Taiwan with her cousin Celia to look for him. During the search, she met Orlando, a racing driver, and they fell in love with each other at first sight. Nevertheless, since Rosalind didn’t believe in true love, she disguised as a man and pretended to be her own cousin. After she transformed herself into a man, she started a role-playing game with Orlando, claiming it to be a test…. As We Like It is the sequel to CHEN Hung-i’s debut feature Candy Rain. Inspired by As You Like It by William Shakespeare, it’s set in Ximending in Taipei in 2021. The most unique feature of this production is its all-female cast. It tries to discuss gender politics, role-playing and human desire in the future.

The movie starts at 8:30 pm on the patio behind Posvar Hall (map). Registration is required and can be completed online.

2004 Studio Ghibli film Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城) in Pittsburgh, October 24, 25, and 28.

The 2004 Studio Ghibli film Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城) will play in Pittsburgh on October 24, 25, and 28 as part of Studio Ghibli Fest 2021. From the distributor:

From director Hayao Miyazaki and the legendary Studio Ghibli, Howl’s Moving Castle is an Academy Award®-nominated acclaimed fantasy based on the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones.

Sophie, a quiet girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl. The vain and vengeful Witch of the Waste, jealous of their friendship, puts a curse on Sophie and turns her into a 90-year-old woman. On a quest to break the spell, Sophie climbs aboard Howl's magnificent moving castle and into a new life of wonder and adventure. But as the true power of Howl's wizardry is revealed, Sophie finds herself fighting to protect them both from a dangerous war of sorcery that threatens their world. Featuring the voice talents of Lauren Bacall, Christian Bale, Billy Crystal, Blythe Danner, Emily Mortimer and Jean Simmons.

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theaters in Monroeville, North Hills, and Robinson, and tickets are available online. The October 24 and 28 shows are dubbed in English while the October 25 show is in Japanese with English subtitles.