OPENED (2009, 16mm & Super 8mm, Run time: 12:25 | USA
www.jomijomi.com

Opened, is a short poetic film that follows a Vietnamese woman named Lena who is in 
search of the opening of her eyes through blepharoplasty surgery. But it is her interactions with her daughter and a stranger, that challenges her plan. Which eye will she open? Her physical eye or her self-accepting spiritual eye?
 
Eyelid surgery has become increasingly common for Asian women in the United States. This film brings to light a pressing issue that is fast becoming the norm in Asian American communities.
 
Opened, highlights the struggles Asian women encounter when dealing with mainstream media’s ideal of beauty. This film hopes to establish the importance facial features have in linking us to our cultural identity, and ancestral past. Spend the evening with filmmaker, Van Nguyen-Stone, invited Asian American artists and community members, to discuss Asian American identity and ways we can work through cultural and societal challenges through art.
 
Spend the evening with filmmaker Van Nguyen- Stone, invited Asian American artists and community members, to discuss Asian American Identity and ways we can work through cultural and societal challenges through arts.