Using mixed filming formats, photography and cinematic styling, LA-based director Anthony Pham explores the significance of the word ‘yellow’—a pejorative term used to describe people of East or Southeast Asian descent.  

Pham’s short documentary collects different interpretations of the racial slur from a diverse cross-section of Asian personalities, which include director and actor Justin Chon, femdom practitioner Mistress Lucy Sweetkill, visual artist and NOWNESS contributor Andrew Thomas Huang, and model and transgender advocate Geena Rocero. 

“Yellow manifests the power of this traditionally racial term,” says the producer Abby Wu, “it reveals personal struggles with Asian stereotypes, and questions, as well as goes in search of, a space for ownership and disruption.” The film is poetic, fluid and engenders intimacy between the audience and the central figures who candidly speak about their personal experiences and reconciliation with—or total rejection of—the term ‘yellow’. 

“This film sends out a universal message to all who are seeking a glitch in the dominant narrative,” says the producer, “A space between full submission and subversion, and an unapologetic way to celebrate fluidity and freedom.”