Film Screening & Live Music in Honor of Asian American Heritage Month: An Evening with Toko Shiiki and Erik Santos

Film Screening, Live Music & Reception

in Honor of Asian American & Pacific Islander
Heritage Month

A Thousand Pebbles on the Ground, a short film by Japanese Filmmaker Toko Shiiki.

Synopsis: Roger is a medical lab technician near Philadelphia working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic; he is Chinese-American and facing rising anti-Asian sentiment. He’s grieving the loss of his father, but he loves to perform and make people laugh.

Q&A with Ms. Shiiki will follow the screening (running time: approximately 25 minutes).

The event will also feature live music by Erik Santos (musician, composer, and Associate Professor of Composition and Performing Arts Technology at the University of Michigan), sharing his father, Rosendo Santos’ music and personal story of moving to the US from the Philippines.  At age 11, Rosendo Santos started composing band marches, instrumental and vocal scores, and Catholic masses. He was later named a UNESCO scholar and received the Composer of the Year Award. In Manila, he was Composer of the Year in 1956 and 1957 and won 12 prizes consecutively in composition contests. Most recently, he received the title of “The Philippine Composer of the Century.” (More information here.)

Registration includes light appetizers  (軽食) from Mei Japanese Restaurant and two drink tickets. (Beverage Sponsor: Asahi Super Dry).