近江八景 Eight Views of Oomi, Japanese chamber music recital, April 20 at Pitt.

Local musicians devon osamu tipp, Kanoko Kamata, Trē Seguritan Abalos, and Satoshi Itoh will collaborate on a Japanese chamber music concert on April 20.The show is free from 5:00 pm in 205 Bellefield Hall in Oakland (map).

Filipino restaurant, from Rafael Vencio of Amboy Urban Farm, coming soon to Pittsburgh's North Side.

via @amboy_urbanfarm_pittsburgh 

Chef Rafael Vencio recently announced on social media that he is working on opening a Filipino restaurant on Pittsburgh's North Side. It will be located at 400 East Ohio St. (map), in what used to be a Subway but has been vacant for many years. Rumors of a possible Filipino spot here first turned up online last fall.

Vencio operates Amboy Urban Farm and has been visible in running various iterations of Filipino food pop-ups.

Kick Rocks at Carnegie Museum of Art, featuring screenings of Virtually Asian and Everything Everywhere All At Once, April 27.

Kick Rocks, featuring screenings of Virtually Asian and Everything Everywhere All At Once, will be part of this year's Annual Film Series at Carnegie Museum of Art on April 27.

This program explores the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, and how these genres can serve as tools to question and understand the world around us. Astria Suparak, curator, artist, and programmer of the 2024 Carnegie Museum of Art Film Series, will introduce the films.

Kick Rocks runs from 2:00 to 5:00 pm and tickets are available online.

Screening of Lost Soulz and panel discussion with director Katherine Propper, among others, April 5 at CMU.

On April 5 the Carnegie Mellon University International Film Festival will host a screening of Lost Soulz and a panel discussion with its Asian-American director Katherine Propper and actor Sauve Sidle, moderated by Jordan Montgomery, the CEO of Driving While Black Records.

Lost Soulz spins the poetic tale of rising rap sensation Sol, who abandons everything and everyone he knows to drift across the country in a once-in-a-lifetime road trip with some friends and mutual artists. Spurred on by producing original music and the constant thrill of seeking something more, Sol learns to make himself at home in strange places, and how to garner fame through epic (and oft-unconventional) means. But the truth remains that Sol is running from something, and the slow-burn pangs of a guilty conscience seem to chase his van down across the breadth of the Texas desert, even into California and the L.A. promised land.

The events start at 6:30 pm at the McConomy Auditorium in the Jared L. Cohen Center on the CMU campus (map), and tickets are available online.

Asia Pop Lecture Series: Xin Wang and Asian Futurism, April 10 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Xin Wang as the April 10 instsallment of the Asia Pop Lecture Series.

Xin Wang is a curator and art historian based in New York. A PhD candidate in Art History at New York University, writing a dissertation on Soviet Hauntology, she held curatorial and educational positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, and received the Warhol Foundation's Arts Writers Grant in 2021. Publications such as "Asian Futurism and the Non-Other" have been widely translated and taught in university curriculums. She has served on jury panels for The Shed, the Creative Capital Grant, and Anonymous Was a Woman, as well as a regular visiting critic at Yale University's MFA program in Photography. She served as the Chief curator of the 4th art and technology-themed biennial program - titled "To Your Eternity" - at Beijing's Today Art Museum in Fall 2023.

The talk starts at 6:00 pm in 202 Frick Fine Arts (map).

Playing Through Capitalism: Squid Game in/on Platform Economy, April 3 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures will present Dr. Seung-hwan Shin's colloquium Playing Through Capitalism: Squid Game in/on Platform Economy on April 3. It runs from 12:00 to 1:00 pm in 1219 Cathedral of Learning.

Pitt hosting Dr. Esther Kim Lee, author of Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era, April 11.

The University of Pittsburgh's Humanities Center will host Dr. Esther Kim Lee for a discussion of her book Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era on April 11, 2024.

The talk is based on the recently published book Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era, which traces the history of yellowface, the theatrical convention of non-Asian actors putting on makeup and costume to look East Asian. Using specific case studies from European and U.S. theater, race science, and early film, the book examines the development of yellowface in the U.S. context during the Exclusion Era (1862–1940), when Asians faced legal and cultural exclusion from immigration and citizenship. By examining the makeup technology of yellowface, the talk analyzes how theatre historians should rethink key foundational concepts and historical narratives. It questions the dominance of mimesis in discussions of acting and racialize performances and argues for a broader conceptualization of theatre history.

The talk runs from 12:30 to 2:00 pm and is hybrid, held in both 602 Cathedral of Learning and online via Zoom.

SUGA | Agust D Tour 'D-Day' The Movie in Pittsburgh-area theaters, from April 10.

The upcoming concert film SUGA | Agust D Tour 'D-Day' The Movie, with Suga of Korean pop gropu BTS, will play in Pittsburgh-area theaters from April 10.

The eagerly awaited film of BTS SUGA’s Encore Concert bursts onto the big screen worldwide! As the grand finale of the world tour, “SUGA | Agust D TOUR ‘D-DAY’ THE FINAL” marked the culmination of 25 concerts held in 10 cities, which captivated a total audience of 290,000 throughout its run. Experience the pulsating energy and excitement of “D-DAY’ THE FINAL” on screen, everything from the exquisite sounds traversing the boundary between “21st Century Pop Icon” BTS member SUGA and solo artist Agust D, electrifying performance, explosive energy, to special duet stages featuring fellow BTS members RM, Jimin, and Jung Kook.

It plays locally on April 10, 11, 12, and 13 at---on varying days---the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theaters in McCandless, Monroeville, and Robinson, and tickets are available online.

2023 Japanese animated film Spy x Family Code: White (劇場版 SPY×FAMILY CODE: White) in Pittsburgh from April 18.

The 2023 Japanese animated film Spy x Family Code: White (劇場版 SPY×FAMILY CODE: White) will play in Pittsburgh from April 18.

He's a spy. She's an assassin. Together, Loid and Yor keep their double lives to themselves while pretending to be the perfect family. However, their adopted daughter Anya, a telepath, knows both of their exciting secrets unbeknownst to them. While under the guise of taking his family on a weekend winter getaway, Loid's attempt to make progress on his current mission Operation Strix proves difficult when Anya mistakenly gets involved and triggers events that threaten world peace!

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront, AMC CLassic South Hills, and the Cinemark theaters in McCandless, Monroeville, and Robinson. Tickets are available online: please note, some shows are in Japanese with English subtitles and others are dubbed in English.

2024 Japanese animated film Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom (機動戦士ガンダムSEED FREEDOM) in Pittsburgh, May 7 and 8.

The 2024 Japanese animated film Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom (機動戦士ガンダムSEED FREEDOM) will play in Pittsburgh on may 7 and 8.

C.E. (Cosmic Era). An era in which there are human beings called Coordinators, born with superior physical and mental abilities thanks to genetic modification, and humans called Naturals who are born naturally. The “Mobile Suit Gundam SEED” series depicts the conflict between Coordinators and Naturals within this C.E. setting. “Mobile Suit Gundam SEED” (2002~2003), set in the year C.E.71~, and “Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY” (2004~2005), which depicted C.E.73~, were broadcast as TV animation. The story then continued in various other media. Now “Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM,” depicting an entirely new story set in C.E.75, will make its long-awaited theatrical debut featuring a special introduction from the director and voice cast.

It is scheduled to play locally, so far, at the Cinemark theaters in McCandless, Monroeville, and Robinson. Tickets are available online: the May 7 shows play in Japanese with English subtitles, while the May 8 shows are dubbed in English.