Saturday, April 11

Q&A: Kelly Marie Tran discusses Asian representation in ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’

This post was updated March 7 at 4:52 p.m. Kelly Marie Tran is redefining what it means to be a Disney princess in 2021. The alumna stars as the titular warrior princess in Disney’s latest animated film “Raya and the Last Dragon,” which releases Friday in theaters and through Disney+ premiere access. Read more...

Photo: (Left to right: Courtesy of Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images, courtesy of Disney)


UCLA film student draws on Filipino heritage in thesis project ‘Beauty Queen’

From medical school to film school, Myra Aquino’s journey is rooted in her Filipino heritage and passion for the arts. In 2020, the UCLA MFA film student received one of the six grants awarded by the Caucus Foundation for Producers, Writers & Directors, which helped her complete her thesis film “Beauty Queen.” The foundation also selected Aquino as this year’s first-place Gold Circle winner, providing her with a $60,000 Panavision camera package rental and highlighting her film at the Caucus’ virtual 38th Annual Awards Gala on March 4. Read more...

Photo: UCLA MFA film student, Myra Aquino, pays tribute to her Filipino heritage and family through her thesis film, “Beauty Queen.” (Antonio Martinez/Daily Bruin)


Book review: ‘Klara and the Sun’ beautifully presents robot’s quest to understand humanity

Beginning with a gentle pull, “Klara and the Sun” ends with a powerful yank on readers’ heartstrings. Released March 2 by the Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, “Klara and the Sun” takes the classic science fiction trope of artificial intelligence running rampant and weaves it into a very human story of love and companionship. Read more...

Photo: (Courtesy of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)




Q&A: Director of ’76 Days’ Hao Wu speaks on humanizing the statistics of COVID-19

After more than a year of COVID-19 worldwide, “76 Days” looks back at the selflessness and suffering in the early days of the pandemic. Shortlisted for the documentary feature category in the 2021 Oscars, MTV Documentary Films’ “76 Days” records the first three months of lockdown in Wuhan, China, during early 2020. Read more...

Photo: (Courtesy of MTV Documentary Films)


Alumni couple cultivates online community around Filipino Instant Pot recipes

Tisha Gonda Domingo and Jorell Domingo are co-founders of the largest Filipino Instant Pot community on the internet. The married UCLA alumni made their Facebook group, Filipino Recipes Instant Pot Community, in 2018 with the hopes of creating a space for people to learn about and enjoy Filipino culture, Tisha said. Read more...

Photo: What began as a Facebook group by alumni Tisha Gonda Domingo and Jorell Domingo to fill the void of Filipino recipes online has now turned into a cookbook co-authored with four other writers. (Sakshi Joglekar/Daily Bruin staff)