Podcast: Dakota Arsenault of Contra Zoom Celebrates Asian American Cinema

By: Dakota Arsenault –

In a new feature to Aesthetic Magazine, we are proud to announce that we are the new presenting partner for Toronto-based film podcast Contra Zoom. Your host, Dakota Arsenault, goes in depth about everything film; from lists, to reviews, and more!

On this episode Rachel Ho, who previously appeared on episode 129: Make/Remake Rebecca, comes on to celebrate Asian American cinema. We talk about some of the bigger classic films like The Joy Luck Club and Better Luck Tomorrow up to more recent films like The Farewell and Crazy Rich Asians. We even spend some time discussing film tourism with the idea that studios will only make English language films with Asian casts (like Mulan or Memoirs of a Geisha) if they are set in Asia.